Engraving

Title:

John Ledyard

Object Name:

Engraving

Object ID:

1995.588.07

Creator:

Unknown

Date:

1874

Description:

Portrait of John Ledyard (1751-1788), by unknown artist, produced for John Adams Aiken and given to Frank S. Streeter (1853-1922), 1874. Reproduction, engraving on paperboard. Bust length portrait of a man facing slightly right. Wearing coat, dark waist coat, white cravat with frill; hair neatly parted in center. Watermark upper center:"ZONEN". Text block printed below image: "JOHN LEDYARD Born at Groton, Connecticut, 1751. Member of the first class in Dartmouth College. While a freshman, absents himself without per- / mission for three months in rambles among the Indians of Canada and the six nations. Leaves the college in a canoe made with his / own hands and descends the Connecticut alone to Hartford. A sailor before the mast, goes to Gibraltar and the Barbary Coast / returning by the West Indies. Appears in London and there meets Captain Cook, then about to sail on his last voyage / round the world, to a points in corporal of marines. [Dartmouth College seal] On this expedition is absent for years, visiting the south / Sea Islands, China, Siberia, the western coast of North America, twice entering the Arctic Seas in the quest for / the Northwest Passage. Returns to America, publishes his travels and endeavors to enlist merchants in com- / merce with the East. Is next seen in Spain and in Paris there meeting Jefferson, American Minister at the / Court of France, whom he impresses with his project for the exploration of the territory between the Pacific / and the Mississippi, which twenty years later was tra - versed by Lewis and Clark, under the auspices of Mr. Jef- / ferson, then President. Unites with John Paul Jones in an undertaking to establish trading - posts on the north- / west coast and to traffic in furs, which fails for want of adequate capital. Determined to explore western north / America, presents himself St. Petersburg and from Empress Catherine secures a passport across her dominion to Bering Strait. / Reaches Yakutsk on the Lena, when he is recalled because of the jealously of Russian fur-traders, and under guard sent back to the / confines of Poland where he is dismissed with a demand never again to enter the empire. Resolves to explore Africa, and while / fitting out his caravan dies at Cairo, 1788, at the age of 3-7. In college, he was a favorite with his fellow students, not / unduly diligent in study, facile in acquisitions, impatient of discipline. Elsewhere men paid tribute to his kind and lovable dispo- / sition, his unselfishness and philanthropy. He foresaw and foretold the commercial future of western north America and the far / East. His was the Dartmouth spirit. This imprint is No. 10 [in pencil] of a series of 20, and is given by John Adams Aiken, Dartmouth, '74, to [handwritten in pencil] Frank S Streeter of the class of 1874: / Loyal trustee of the College, Sagacious and Sound." Center of text box is an emblem for Dartmouth College. Written on reverse in pencil "Carded Engraving". Unframed.

Material:

Paper

Dimensions:

H-19.4 W-13.5 inches

Provenance:

Presented to Frank Sherwin Streeter, who was born on Aug. 5, 1853 in East Charleston, VT. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1874. He married Lillian Carpenter on Nov. 14, 1877 in Bath, NH. Lawyer, admitted to the bar in 1877, he practiced law in Concord, NH. Member of the NH legislature, 1885; president NH Constitutional Convention, 1902; clerk Concord and Montreal Railroad; director Concord Electrical Company, Page Belting Company, First National Bank and trustee at Dartmouth College. He died in Concord on Dec. 11, 1922.

Credit Line:

New Hampshire Historical Society Collection
New Hampshire Historical Society Collection

People:

Ledyard, John (1751-1788), Streeter, Frank S. (1853-1922)

Subjects:

Ledyard, John