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In 1821, John and Mary Stiles and their two daughters Lydia and
Mary
moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, where Mrs. Stiles's parents
lived.
Mary Maccarty Stiles was the granddaughter of the Reverend
Thaddeus Maccarty
and her family was part of Worcester's social elite. The couple
probably
commissioned these miniatures around 1825 from Eliza Goodridge,
who had
known the family in Templeton and remained friendly with Lydia
Stiles
(Foster) for most of her adult life. Goodridge was at the
beginning of
her career when she painted these portraits, and the corrections
to Mr.
Stiles's shoulder and alterations in the position of his arm
reveal her
struggles depicting human anatomy.
John Stiles was born in Keene, New Hampshire, and lived in
Templeton,
Massachusetts, after his marriage to Mary Maccarty in 1801. There,
he
became a successful merchant and served as town clerk and
selectman. From
1810 to 1813, Stiles was the town's representative at the
Massachusetts
General Court. His personal and business correspondence, including
letters
to his wife and to his political colleagues, are preserved in the
American
Antiquarian Society's manuscript collection.(1) Stiles maintained
a library
that included printed ephemera relating to American history. In
1822 he
donated two early broadsides to the Society, including a 1766
denunciation
of the Stamp Act and an announcement for a 1779 political
convention.(2)
In the twentieth century, a descendent gave several volumes from
John
Stiles's personal library, including Salma Hale's Annals of the
Town of
Keene (1826) and Aaron Hall's A Sermon Against Profane Swearing
(1790).
The portrait of Mary Maccarty Stiles shows her at around fifty
years
of age wearing a sheer bonnet and patterned shawl. Her death,
about ten
years later, was caused by a runaway horse and was described in
detail
in the Worcester newspaper: '[T]he horse rushed furiously from the
stable
and up the avenue into the main street, crossed over from the east
side
to the west side-walk, turned down the side street amidst the
people walking
there.... [H]is breast came in contact with an aged lady, Mrs.
Mary Stiles,
who was dashed upon the brick pavement, the horse falling upon
her.'(3)
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1) John William Stiles Papers 1792-1838, American
Antiquarian Society Manuscript
Collection.
2) See BDSDS 1766 'Countryman' and BDSDS 1779F
'Proceedings,' American Antiquarian
Society Broadside Collection.
3) Massachusetts Spy, August 8, 1838, p. 3.
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