Nahant Harbor Review - Nahant, Massachusetts USA

NAHANT HARBOR REVIEW • MAY 2006 • Page 19Daniel WebsterAnd His Many Visits to 339 Nahant RoadCirca 1874 Circa 1874Daniel Webster, though he never had a home atNahant, had very intimate relations here, in the family ofhis son’s father-in-law, Mr. James W. Paige. Mr. Paigethen owned what has since passed into the name of hisson-in-law, and been known as, the Abbott Lawrenceplace, opposite the Public Library on Nahant Road.In the year 1852, Mr. Webster failed of the nominationfor the presidency, at the Whig Convention in Baltimore.Shortly after this, and voicing the sympatheticconcurrence of his Nahant friends, in the general wave ofdisappointment which followed, Mr. Webster was given areception at the home of Mr. Paige, and the citizens ofNahant were invited there, to meet the distinguishedlawyer and statesman. (A meeting it was still cherished inthe memory of one, at least, as a privilege indeed.)From that time, Mr. Webster’s health was rapidlydeclined; and in October of the same year, he died at hishome in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Only a short timebefore his death, he was again at Nahant, where he wasseen one quiet Sunday evening, walking in the street, veryfeeble and leaning for support on the arm of his son’sfather-in-law, Mr. James Paige.If you have something you wouldlike to share on this page, pleasecontact the author:Summer In Nahantc/o Bumper GoodingPO Box 5, Nahant, MA 01908Or email: sumnerkimball@aol.comIn the political circles of 1846, no portrait painter was more in demand than GeorgePeter Alexander Healy. He was the choice of the fifteen New York Whigs—the dininggroup known as the Hone Club—to depict their champion, Daniel Webster (1782-1852).Philip Hone had feared that Healy “is so much in vogue that the time and price requiredfor our picture may be beyond our patience and money.” To their immense pleasure,however, Healy accepted the commission at a cost of $550, which included the frame.Webster posed in Washington as the long-winded debate about Oregon’s boundary gotunder way, and the exhausted senator at times dozed off during the sittings. The portraitwas received in New York on April 25. “This ‘counterfeit presentment’ of our honorarymember, the distinguished Massachusetts senator,’ wrote Hone, “is a great picture—thebest that has been done of him.”Daniel Webster by George Peter Alexander Healy (1813—1894), oil on canvas,1846. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; transfer fromthe National Gallery of Art; gift of Andrew W. Mellon, 1942.SOURCES: Above: 1846 Portrait of America, National Portrait Gallery, 150thAnniversary Publication. 1996.Text and photos for this article were provided by the Nahant Historical Society. Aspecial thanks go to Calantha Sears and Bonnie D’Orlando for their assistance.