Forty-First Annual Meeting 661
President Johnson then introduced Mr.
Walter D.
McKinney, a life member of the Society,
who had pre-
viously presented the rare original
painting of Simon
Kenton, and who had brought to the
meeting a painting
of Thomas Walker Cridland. Mr. McKinney
came for-
ward with the painting in its pioneer
frame, which he
presented to the Society in the
following interesting and
informing address.
THOMAS WALKER CRIDLAND
Two years ago it was my privilege to
place in the custody
of this Society, the portrait of Simon
Kenton, the Kentucky and
Ohio pioneer, which had been in the
family of Thomas Walker
Cridland for almost ninety years.
At that time, I made some remarks about
Kenton, also about
the portrait, the hand-made frame and
the man who made it, and
who had preserved the portrait. These
remarks were published
in the QUARTERLY of January, 1925.
Today it is my added privilege to place
in the custody of
this Society, the portrait of the man who
made the frame around
the portrait of Simon Kenton and also
that around his own por-
trait, and who also was a Kentucky-Ohio
pioneer, Thomas Walker
Cridland, of Lexington, Kentucky, and
Dayton, Ohio.
This portrait and frame, like the
others, have at least three
qualities which should make them of
value and acceptable to the
Society, namely: The historical value of
the subject, the artistic
value of the portrait, the workmanship
of the frame.
I shall speak briefly on these in
reverse order.
THE FRAME
The frame, like the one on the Kenton
portrait, was designed
and made by Cridland; the processes were
fully described in the
QUARTERLY before mentioned, but to those
who have not read the
article or who may not have access to
it, I desire to. say that the
frame was made of rough pine, two by
four studding, carved into
form by hand; the ornamentation was made
of glue putty, from
hand-made originals and then covered
with gold leaf, making the
beautiful frame you see. Such a frame
required about two
months to make and as it was made some
eighty years ago and
662 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
was hand-wrought, should pass as a
fairly good antique, prized
in these days.
THE PORTRAIT
The portrait was painted by Edwin
Cridland of Newport,
Kentucky, an artist of the highest
order, from 1840 to 1875.
It was he that painted the famous
picture of "still life", an old
violin on a barn-door. So perfect was
this painting in every detail
that when it was first exhibited, a
fence was built around it to
prevent persons from touching it to, see
if it were a real painting.
This artist painted with almost
photographic detail and
smoothness. My recollection is that he
received two hundred and
fifty dollars for this picture and that
later it sold for many thou-
sands of dollars.
With all his talents he could not turn
his art into money.
He would paint only as the spirit moved
him; would not sell an
original painting except under great
necessity and then at a sac-
rifice; and his portrait painting had to
be done to suit him and
not his customers. He died in humble
circumstances, but as I
remember him, he was a high-class,
artistic gentleman. He was
a cousin of Thomas W. Cridland who was
about thirty to thirty-
five years of age when this portrait was
painted.
THE SUBJECT
Thomas Walker Cridland, born in
Leicester, England, Oc-
tober 1, 1811, came to America with his
parents and his grand-
father's family in 1820 and settled in
Philadelphia. There he was
apprenticed to a frame- and looking
glass-maker. In 1834, he left
Philadelphia with his wife and babe, and
settled in Lexington,
Kentucky. Here he engaged in business as
an artist, frame-
maker, gilder, portrait and landscape
painter.
About 1840, learning of the discovery or
rather development
of the daguerreotype, he journeyed back
to Philadelphia to learn
from Samuel F. B. Morse himself the art
of the daguerreotype.
Samuel Morse was not only the inventor
of the telegraph, but was
one of the foremost artists of his day
(a painter and sculptor),
and associated with John W. Draper in
making the first practical
daguerreotype--Cridland had made frames
for Morse in Phil-
adelphia.
With apparatus, plates, chemicals, etc.,
Cridland returned to
Lexington, and became, as far as he was
ever able to learn, the
first man to introduce the photographic art west of the
Alleghanies,
and made the first daguerreotype.
Then came the ambro type (commonly
called the "amber
Forty-First Annual Meeting 663
type"); the ferro type or tintype,
the photograph and today we
have the last word in the Vitaphone, the
moving, speaking photo-
graph.
So much for Cridland's activities in
introducing the photo-
graphic art into this section of the
United States. Art was his
means of livelihood and he was indeed an
artist in temperament
and in the highest meaning of the word.
But in a man's service to his fellow
man, uninspired by gain
or self-enjoyment, lies his true value
to society; and there should
be a place in history for such strong,
modest characters as Thomas
Walker Cridland, who did so much for the
liberty of the bodies
and souls of the men and women of
America.
About the time that Cridland came to,
Lexington, Kentucky,
the anti-slavery agitation began to take
form. In the rear of his
residence was a slave-pen and
sales-market, and he and his family
were obliged to listen day and night to
harrowing sounds and to
witness heart-rending scenes, husbands
separated from wives,
children from parents, sold and widely
separated.
Elijah Lovejoy was murdered in Illinois
for advocating anti-
slavery. The North and South were both
alarmed by what might
be the economic effects of anti-slavery.
Cassius M. Clay, a young
Kentucky firebrand, had, while at Yale
College, caught the spell
from William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell
Phillips, and fear-
lessly took up the discussion of
anti-slavery in Lexington. Crid-
land took up the cause. He also made
frequent trips to Cincin-
nati for goods and materials, where he
met Lyman Beecher and
his family. His adventures and
experiences with escaping slaves
cannot be rehearsed here, but they were
recited from time to
time to Lyman Beecher, his son Henry
Ward and his daughter,
Harriet Beecher Stowe. The latter also
visited Cridland in Lex-
ington, to see for herself, and there
obtained much of the at-
mosphere of "Uncle Tom's
Cabin."
During this tremendous agitation, was
born the famous (or
at the time infamous) "Underground
Railway", an invisible chain
of determined and fearless men, who
inspired by righteousness,
aided certain black men, women and
children (slave and free)
to reach the free land north of the Ohio
River. Cridland became
a member of this "chain" at
one of the starting points. (My
mother tells of black men being placed under her bed
with the
admonition to her not to fear if she
heard any noise during the
night, for all would be well.)
It is history how Cassius Clay had his
print shop destroyed
and was obliged to leave Kentucky, and
how the anti-slavery agi-
tators and workers were driven out of
the South. With them
came Cridland in 1852 to Cincinnati and
then to Dayton, where
664 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
he lived the remainder of his life,
except for a few years in Cali-
fornia.
In 1859, at Dayton, he made a photograph
of Abraham
Lincoln pronounced one of the best ever
made of Lincoln. It
was copied extensively.
However, he continued his efforts for
equal rights of man
and woman everywhere. He was not a
public speaker nor writer,
but powerful and convincing in
conversation.
He counted among his friends the great
liberty-loving minds
of his day, including the Clays, the
Beechers, William Lloyd
Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Lucretia
Mott, Mary A. Livermore,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B.
Anthony, and the great artists
of his time.
His religious thoughts were in harmony
with those of Rev.
William Ellery Channing, that
distinguished Unitarian divine
who found God and good in everything.
Cridland loved the
trees, the streams, the beasts, the
birds, the flowers and all man-
kind. He walked with them and talked
with them and repro-
duced them in his paintings. The last
act of his life was to finish
a landscape of a Southern California
scene. He brought it home
and laid him down to rest amidst those
he loved--a fitting ending
for a long and useful life. He died at
Los Angeles, California,
November 25, 1891, and was buried at
Dayton, Ohio.
He truly "touched no subject that
he did not adorn." Thomas
Walker Cridland was my grandfather.
(Applause.)
A vote of thanks was extended to Mr.
McKinney
for his gift and address.
President Johnson: "We are
somewhat unfortu-
nate in the matter of our program,
because of the unex-
pected absence of Mr. and Mrs. Richard
J. Jones, who
were here, prepared to take part, but
were called away
at the last moment, yesterday, by the
illness of the only
sister of Mr. Jones. I have here a letter from Mrs.
Jones, addressed to Mr. Galbreath,
expressing regret at
their inability to be present, and
promising to address
the Society at some future date. I
think I need offer no
other explanation of their absence from
the meeting.
We sincerely trust that Mr. and Mrs.
Jones will come