Blickensderfer, William Jacob Davenport, Adelaide Hutchings Davenport, Harriet Grant Chesebrough Dewing, Clark Leonard Dewing, Hiram Duffy, Edward Gildemeister, Clara Parsons Hanrahan, John T. Hoit, Edward B. Hoyt, Joseph Blachley Jones, Cortland Mead Lathrop, The Reverend Edward Lockwood, Judge Charles Davenport Machlett, Raymond R. Palmer, Delos Peters, The Reverend Cyril S. Quintard, Elizabeth Quintard, Mary “Polly” Selleck, Charlotte Gregory Selleck, George Selleck, Harriet Banks Selleck, James Weed Selleck, Captain William Studwell, Theodore Towne, Frederick Tallmadge Waterbury, Captain Marcus Wilensky, Julius Morris Introduction

The Stamford Historical Society Presents

Best Face Forward
Portraits from the Society's Collection
April through September 2009

Harriet Grant Chesebrough Davenport (1812–1895)

Oil on canvas Artist unknown M647j-1 Gift of James Don Miller

Harriet was the daughter of Robert and Content Chesebrough of New York City, where her father was a successful dry goods merchant and importer of fine porcelains. Escaping a raging cholera epidemic in the city, Harriet came to Stamford with her family in 1832 for an extended stay. Here she met Theodore Davenport, a most eligible bachelor of 40, at a party at the Davenport mansion on Main Street. Theodore was a founder of the Stillwater and Roxbury Mills on the Rippowam River, producing iron goods and wire. When Harriet and her family returned to the city, the “all important question” was settled by letter and she and Theodore were married in 1833. They had four children, Theodore Jr, James, John and Helen. His sons later carried on their father’s manufacturing business and his many interests in the local banking community.

Harriet became active in women’s volunteer organizations, including the Stamford Exchange for Women’s Work and the Civil War Ladies’ Soldiers’ Aid Society.

She was the great-grandmother of Virginia Fessenden Miller, late wife of the donor.

This mid-19th century painting is mounted in a highly stylized Renaissance Revival frame of the period.

Davenport Exhibit
The Stamford Ladies Soldiers' Aid Society

Image © Stamford Historical Society