Mary Clifford Greene (Mrs. Samuel Coffin Eastman)

Description

Mary Clifford Greene (Mrs. Samuel Coffin Eastman) as a young woman with earrings and a brooch. She was born on July 27, 1834, in Providence, Rhode Island, and married Samuel Coffin Eastman of Concord, New Hampshire, in 1861. According to "Who's Who in New England" (1916), Samuel Eastman was a prominent Corcord citizen; he was president of the Concord Mutual Fire Insurance Co., the New Hampshire Savings Bank, and the Concord and Portsmouth Railroad, among others. His many achievements included twelve years as Concord city treasurer and two years in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman had three children, but only one daughter named Mary lived to adulthood. Mrs. Mary Clifford Greene Eastman died in Rye, New Hampshire, in 1895.

John Adams Whipple, a leading Boston photographer, was of one of the first to practice daguerreotypy in the United States. He was originally a chemist, and when the daguerreotype process came to the U.S. in 1839, he supplied new photographers with the chemicals they needed. However, the fumes caused problems with his health and by 1845 he was listed in Boston city directories as a photographer with Albert Litch. This daguerreotype of Mary Clifford Greene has "Whipple's Patent" embossed on the matte, possibly referring to Whipple's first patent for taking daguerreotypes, granted in 1849.