From Pine Plains to Chicago: The Journey of the Allerton Portraits

How did two oil-on-canvas portraits of 19th century Pine Plains residents — Dr. Cornelius Allerton and his mother, Lois Allerton — by acclaimed itinerant portrait painter Ammi Phillips make their way into the permanent collection at the Art Institute of Chicago?

The answer lies in the fascinating history of the Allerton family.

A descendent of Isaac Allerton, who arrived in America on the Mayflower, Reuben Allerton was born in 1753. He studied medicine in New Haven, Conn., and served in the Revolutionary War as a regimental surgeon in the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. He established a medical practice in Amenia in 1778. In September of that year he married Lois Atherton in Sharon, Conn. Her grandfather was an early settler of that town.

Following their marriage, the Allertons purchased a farm in Amenia. Their first child, Cornelius, was born there in July 1779.

Like his father, Cornelius studied medicine in New Haven and returned home to set up a medical practice. According to Isaac Huntting’s 1897 book “History of Little Nine Partners, of North East precinct, and Pine Plains, New York, Duchess County,” Allerton arrived in Pine Plains in 1810. However, the Allerton family’s history, written in 1898, states that he moved to Pine Plains in 1803. In either case, he was the first doctor to serve the community. Huntting mentions no other before him.

In 1813, Cornelius married Clarissa Husted, whose family resided in Hammertown. They had three children who lived past infancy. Their daughter Sarah was a schoolteacher in Pine Plains. Cornelius stood out for his “quick repartee and ever-ready wit,” according to Huntting, who also referred to the doctor as “the most conspicuous man in town.” Allerton served as a physician in Pine Plains until his death at age 76 in 1855. 

The portraits of Cornelius and his mother were painted by Phillips in either 1821 or 1822. Phillips often included items in his work that would provide clues to the subject’s background and identity. Allerton is seated holding a copy of “Parr’s Medical Dictionary.” The small saddled horse in the background has been interpreted as either a sign of wealth or an indication that he was ready to travel to his patients.

His mother’s portrait shows her holding a copy of the Gospel Herald, an evangelical newspaper that was published in New York City from 1820 to 1827. During a long career, Phillips painted at least a dozen portraits of Pine Plains residents. Several of which can be viewed on the website of the Little Nine Partners Historical Society.

The portraits’ journey from Pine Plains to Chicago was likely due to the business career of Cornelius Allerton’s nephew Samuel Waters Allerton, born in Amenia in 1828. Samuel left home at the age of 14 and, with a brother, rented and owned farms in western New York. He became an expert livestock trader, which led him further west. His relationship with wealthy cattle ranchers brought him to Illinois as the Civil War began.

In 1863, Samuel borrowed money to buy every hog in Chicago and made a financial killing by selling them to the U.S. Army. He became one of the largest farmers in the country, owning 78,000 acres between New Jersey and Nebraska. Samuel Allerton helped organize the Chicago Union Stockyards and the First National Bank of Chicago. He also played a role in organizing stockyards in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Baltimore and other cities. At one point, the Chicago Tribune rated him the third-richest person in the city.

Samuel often traveled between Chicago and the East Coast, and it is likely he came to possess the family portraits done in Pine Plains and brought them home to the Windy City. His only son, Robert Allerton (1873–1964), became a noted philanthropist and donated the portraits, along with thousands of other works, to the Art Institute of Chicago. Robert served as a trustee and honorary president of AIC and was such a generous patron that the main building of the museum was renamed the Allerton Building in 1968.

During his lifetime in Pine Plains, Cornelius Allerton donated land for the Methodist Church and Evergreen Cemetery, where he is buried. Over 800 miles away in Chicago, his portrait, and that of his mother, are currently off view, part of a rotating collection of early American paintings in the museum’s permanent collection.