Hepzibah Swan lived in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 in the late 18th century/early 19th century. She was prominent in the social life of Federal-era Boston. Lifelong friends included revolutionary war heroes Henry Knox

Henry Knox

Henry Knox was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War....

 and Henry Jackson

Henry Jackson (general)

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 19 October 1747, Henry Jackson was the youngest son of Joseph and Susannah Jackson. Before the War for Independence, he was an officer of the First Corps of Cadets in Boston, which was disbanded during the British occupation...

.
In 1776 she married Scotland-born James Swan

James Swan (financier)

James Swan was an early American patriot and financier. Born in Fifeshire, Scotland, he moved at a young age to Boston, Massachusetts. In the 1770s and 1780s he worked as a clerk, and became increasingly involved in the political, military and economic life of the city...

, and in the course of the marriage had four children: Hepzibah, Sarah, Christiana and John. Swan's social activities included hosting the Sans Souci Club, which was devoted to unserious pursuits like card-playing. The Swan's country house in Dorchester was designed by Charles Bulfinch

Charles Bulfinch

Charles Bulfinch was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first native-born American to practice architecture as a profession....

 around 1796. Bulfinch also designed the Beacon Hill row-houses Swan had built for her three daughters as dowry, 1804-1805. Swan was a member of the Mount Vernon Proprietors

Mount Vernon Proprietors

Mount Vernon Proprietors is a real estate firm located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded at the end of the 18th century, it developed land on the south slope of Beacon Hill into a desirable residential neighborhood.-History:...

, the first real estate developers of Beacon Hill.

Swan commissioned several portraits from painter Gilbert Stuart

Gilbert Stuart

Gilbert Charles Stuart was an American painter from Rhode Island.Gilbert Stuart is widely considered to be one of America's foremost portraitists...

, including one of her husband, her friends Henry Knox and Henry Jackson, and others. Her own portrait was also painted by Stuart, and is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...

.

Further reading

• Allen Chamberlain. Beacon Hill: its ancient pastures and early mansions. 1925.
• Eleanor Pearson DeLorme. The Swan Commissions: Four Portraits by Gilbert Stuart. Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter, 1979), pp. 361–395.
• S.E. Morison. Harrison Gray Otis: 1765-1848; the urbane Federalist. 1969.

External links

• Dorchester Atheneum (Description of the Swan summer house in Dorchester, Massachusetts).
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Portrait of Swan's daughter, Hepzibah, by Gilbert Stuart, 1808.