New Boston Historical Society
New Boston, New Hampshire
"Reverend John Atwood and his Family" portrait by Henry Darby at the MFA
Reverend John Atwood and his Family
How a famous painting went from New Boston to old Boston
The MFA website has a good description of the portrait, although they added one year to the age of the artist. Henry F. Darby was only sixteen years old in 1845 when he made his painting of the Atwood family. He was a guest of the Atwoods for three months in their home on Green Street in Concord, and he was paid fifty dollars for the life-size group portrait.
Reverend John Atwood (1795-1873) - undated photo
New Boston home built by Rev. Atwood - now the Daniels home at the top of High Street
The pictures on the wall of the Atwood parlor are an engraving, "Samson Carrying off the Gates of Gaza," and a painting of a gravestone inscribed "John" in memory of an infant son of the Atwoods who died in 1832. (Visit the MFA website for a higher-resolution image.)
An article by Inge Hacker in Volume LXI of the Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin (1963) contains a detailed description of the portrait and a biography of the artist, Henry Darby (1829-1897) of North Adams, MA. When Darby was thirteen, he watched a itinerant portrait painter at work and then attempted his own portrait under the painter's supervision. The following year Darby was invited to paint another family's portrait, a commission for which he was paid. He later wrote, "My first professional adventure was not attended with any disaster." Henry Darby painted portraits for about fifteen years, then he became an Episcopal minister.
Do you see the boy on the footstool in the lower-left corner of the portrait? Of the six children of John and Lydia Atwood who survived infancy, Solomon Dodge Atwood is the most well-known in New Boston. As an adult, Solomon was for many years a prominent storekeeper and postmaster in our town. In 1864 he married Florence Adelaide Dodge (1841-1929) of Francestown, and they had nine children, six girls and three boys. One of their daughters, Myrtie Mae Atwood, took many fine photographs of the family and of New Boston in the 1890s. You may see some of her photos on our Glass Negatives page.
Myrtie's 1890 photo of her 18-year-old schoolteacher sister Annie (left)
The footstool in the 1845 painting is still in the family's possession.
David Woodbury, the Historical Society president, spoke about "The Atwood Family of New Boston" in July of 2025. While preparing his presentation, David found in the museum files several typed letters from the MFA to Miss Annie Atwood of New Boston, dated 1959-1962. It seemed that Annie and Florence, who were 87 and 85 in 1959, wanted to find a good home for the portrait of Reverend John Atwood and his family.
The Historical Society did not have copies of the handwritten letters that Annie wrote to the MFA, so we contacted the Boston museum to see if they could provide the other half of the correspondence. Carly Bieterman of the MFA had all the Atwood letters scanned and sent to us — we are grateful for her assistance!
The photo piqued Thomas's interest. He drove sixty miles to New Boston to see the painting for himself, then asked if he could have the portrait taken to the MFA, where it could be viewed in better light. The painting is eight feet wide and six feet tall, therefore the museum needed to rent a truck and ladders, at a cost of thirty dollars. The canvas was slightly damaged when it was removed, but it was restored by the MFA. In early 1961 Thomas Maytham arranged for a museum benefactor, Maxim Karolik, to purchase the Atwood portrait for the MFA for $2,000. The painting is now displayed in the museum's Linde Gallery.
Solomon Atwood's home at the top of High Street, where Annie and Florence lived with the Atwood portrait
The Atwood portrait in the MFA, with one of my daughters for scale — Dan R. 2025
