Jacob Baker
Portrait of Kezia, 1846 
Croft, Menard County, Illinois 
18 by 15 inches
Illinois State Museum Collection,
Gift of Mrs. John Ryan, Delavan, Illinois

With this hand-painted portrait, Jacob Baker is commemorating the marriage of his daughter Kezia. Jacob and his wife Susanna were pioneers, who were married in 1803 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania and were living in Warsaw, Kosciusko, Indiana in 1822, when Kezia was born. She was married, on her birthday, twenty-one years later to John Fleger in Wayne, Ohio. 

Jacob painted this portrait three years later. We do not know if he painted it from memory or from life, but it has fine details of her face and her costume. Perhaps reading was a favorite pastime of hers. In the age before photography became widely available, this portrait would serve to help Jacob and Susanna remember their daughter.

The family kept it for generations and then donated it to the Museum to share with the public. 

Does your family have some photographs that commemorate events like marriages? What details are included that help you remember the event?