A letter sent 27 years ago… finally answered

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Written By John Freitag

In 1998 Strafford Historian Gwenda Smith wrote a letter to Eilzabeth Markin of The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford Connecticut. Markin had published an article in the November 1976 issue of The Magazine Antiques on the early 19th century portrait painter Zedekiah Belknap. Belknap who lived in Weatherfield, specialized in portraits of storekeepers and others who had prospered in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Smith was writing in regards to the portraits of Jedediah Harris and his wife Judith Harris which hang in the Morrill Memorial Library. Smith felt they might well be among the over 200 hundred portraits done by Belknap. Harris was the mentor and business partner of Senator Justin Morrill, and Morrill gave the first library to his hometown and named it the Harris Library.

Emily Esser, an American Folk Artist Specialist, on January 24, 2025 wrote to the Morrill Memorial and Harris Library saying "I've just been unearthing old records to do with American folk painters and found (in Gwenda's letter) mention of a pair of portraits that may or may not be the work of Zedekiah Belknap. Do you happen to still have a pair of the paintings hanging around?

Melissa Strayton, the Morrill Memorial and Harris Librarian, immediately wrote back the next day and sent copies of the portraits, to which Esser replied in less than an hour, "They're Belknap's! Looks like Gwenda was right on. Congrats to her and you. Great portraits.

Harris Portraits

Portraits of Jedediah Hyde Harris (1784-1855), and his wife, Judith Young Harris (1787-1850) hang in the Morrill Memorial and Harris Library across the street from the Harris home from the early to mid 1800s.

John Freitag

I first moved to Strafford in 1971 while doing two years of civilian service as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. I was involved primarily in organizing food co-op and NOFA, a farmers co-op. In 1976 I moved back with my wife Lisa and our 3-month-old son to work at Rockbottom Farm. I worked there for the next 6 and a half years. In 1983 I started working at the Newton Elementary School as the custodian/bus driver. I worked there until the summer of 2016. I have been involved in many civic organizations and town government positions over the years, including serving for 14 years as President of the Strafford Historical Society. My over 28 years of covering Strafford news for the White River Valley Herald has also given me insight into our community.

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The history of Strafford’s stores