Hepzibah Swan
Hepzibah Swan (née Clarke) lived in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 18th century/early 19th century. She was prominent in the social life of Federal-era Boston. Lifelong friends included revolutionary war heroes Henry Knox and Henry Jackson.
In 1776 she married Scotland-born James Swan,[1] and in the course of the marriage had four children: Hepzibah, Sarah, Christiana and John. Swan's social activities included hosting the Sans Souci Club, which was devoted to unserious pursuits like card-playing. The Swan's country house in Dorchester was designed by Charles Bulfinch around 1796. Bulfinch also designed the Beacon Hill row-houses Swan had built for her three daughters as dowry, 1804-1805. Swan was a member of the Mount Vernon Proprietors, the first real estate developers of Beacon Hill.
Swan commissioned several portraits from painter Gilbert Stuart, including one of her husband, her friends Henry Knox and Henry Jackson, and others. Her own portrait was also painted by Stuart, and is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Further reading
- Allen Chamberlain. Beacon Hill: its ancient pastures and early mansions. 1925.
- Eleanor Pearson DeLorme. The Swan Commissions: Four Portraits by Gilbert Stuart. Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter, 1979), pp. 361–395.
- S.E. Morison. Harrison Gray Otis: 1765-1848; the urbane Federalist. 1969.
External links
- Dorchester Atheneum (Description of the Swan summer house in Dorchester, Massachusetts).
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Portrait of Swan's daughter, Hepzibah, by Gilbert Stuart, 1808.
