A Pair of Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Olney, circa 1830

An educator, prolific text book writer and civic leader, Jesse Olney (1798-1872) was a prominent figure in nineteenth-century Connecticut. The son of Ezekial Olney (1740-1826), a Providence ship-builder and captain during the Revolutionary War, he was born in Union in Tolland County and after completing his own education, became a teacher and school administrator. He married Elizabeth Barnes (1811-1893), the daughter of Eli Barnes of New Haven in 1829 and these portraits were probably rendered soon after their marriage. At the time these portraits were painted, Olney was the Principal of the Stone School in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1833, the couple moved to Southington where Olney held several local and statewide civic offices before moving to Stratford where he died in 1872 (see Herman R. Timlow, Ecclesiastical and Other Sketches of Southington, Conn. (Hartford, 1875), pp. 466-467). The portraits descended in the family of the sitters, most likely to their son James Brown Olney (1833-1900) and thence to his son Jesse Watson Olney (1874-1954) and his wife, Marie Catherine (Nelson) Olney (1873-1959), the last family owner of these works.