Antiques Decorative (Sussex) has dated this American Portrait Oil Painting to the 1800s.
This is an independent date report produced by Sellingantiques using its own proprietary system. The process uses the photographs shown on this page. The system is never told the date the dealer has declared. This report shows that the two dates corroborate.
American School | Circa 1800–1825 | Oil Painting
1735–c.1826), an American Revolutionary War veteran and early pioneer associated with Virginia and Fayette County, Ohio.
The sitter is portrayed in a dark coat with a high white cravat and rich ochre-coloured neckcloth. His strong facial features, direct gaze and restrained expression are characteristic of the formal portraiture of the American Federal period.
The painting is presented in an attractive, richly ornamented gilt frame, with decorative leaf-and-scroll mouldings that complement its early nineteenth-century appearance.
Beyond its decorative appeal, the portrait has a particularly interesting historical association with early American settlement, frontier commerce and the family history of Sears, Roebuck & Co.
William Roebuck and America's Early Pioneers
William Roebuck belonged to a family established in Virginia and subsequently associated with the settlement of Fayette County, Ohio, during the early nineteenth century.
He is described in later biographical and genealogical sources as a farmer and Revolutionary War soldier.
An interesting reference to the Roebuck family appears in Rufus Putnam's Pioneer Record and Reminiscences of the Early Settlers and Settlement of Fayette County, Ohio, published in 1872.
The publication records “Roebuck's grocery” as the first grocery opened in Fayette County, situated approximately one mile below the homestead of the well-known pioneer Funk family, near the East Fork in what became Paint Township.
An entertaining account describes Adam Funk visiting the grocery with companions and purchasing a pig whose skin was subsequently used as an improvised container for whiskey — a remarkable anecdote illustrating the everyday life of the early Ohio frontier.
Historical census records also document members of the Roebuck family living in Paint Township during the nineteenth century.
Although the original account does not give the grocery proprietor's first name, the possible connection with William Roebuck remains an interesting subject of historical research.
The Sears, Roebuck & Co. Family Connection
The Roebuck family is of particular interest because of its researched genealogical association with Alvah Curtis Roebuck (1864–1948), the American entrepreneur who partnered with Richard Warren Sears to establish the famous Sears, Roebuck & Co. retail business.
Published nineteenth-century biographical material identifies William Roebuck as the father of Reuel Roebuck. Subsequent genealogical research suggests a line of descent through Reuel Roebuck, George Roebuck and Samuel Roebuck to Alvah Curtis Roebuck.
This proposed lineage would identify William Roebuck as the great-great-grandfather of Alvah Curtis Roebuck, although further primary documentation is required to establish the complete family connection conclusively.
Antiques Decorative (Sussex) has dated this American Portrait Oil Painting to the 1800s.
This is an independent date report produced by Sellingantiques using its own proprietary system. The process uses the photographs shown on this page. The system is never told the date the dealer has declared. This report shows that the two dates corroborate.
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Early 19th Century American Portrait Oil Painting
