Joseph Lewis Cunningham or J. L. Cunningham worked as an auctioneer 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 first half of the 19th century. Among the many lots he sold were birds, horses, real estate, furniture, sea captains' charts, telescopes, American and European artworks, fishing line, feathers, fabric, guns, musical instruments, fruit trees, flower seeds, printers' equipment, and books.

Biography

His business partners included John J. Linzee (Linzee & Cunningham, India Wharf

India Wharf

India Wharf was one of the largest commercial wharves in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by Charles Bulfinch, it was built in 1804 to accommodate international trade...

) and Lemuel Blake (Blake & Cunningham, "respectable auctioneers and commission merchants")

In the early 1820s he conducted his auctioneering from nos.2-3 Liberty Square; a fire in 1825 forced him to move. In 1826 he built Corinthian Hall, at the corner of Milk Street

Milk Street

Milk Street is a street in the financial district of Boston, Massachusetts.Milk Street was one of Boston's earliest highways. The name "Milk Street" was given to the street in 1708 due to the milk market at the location...

 and Federal Street

Federal Street (Boston)

Federal Street is a street in the Financial District of Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to 1788, it was known as Long Lane. The street was re-named after state leaders met there in 1788 to determine Massachusetts' ratification of the United States Constitution...

, and used "the first floor of the building for his extensive auction rooms." "Mr. J. L. Cunningham has erected a noble building ... where formerly stood the mansion ... of Judge Paine. It has a number of fine halls in the second and third stories, and on the lower floor, is a spacious and commodious auction room; adoining which, on each street, are several neat and elegant shops. The halls will be much wanted, and Mr. Cunningham is entitled to some thanks for thus arranging his costly building to the public convenience and accommodation."
He married three times, in 1807 to Sarah Inman Linzee (1787-1820), in 1821 to Mary Ann Inman (d.1825), and in 1828 to Catherine Amory. He lived in Boston on Somerset Street (ca.1807) and Bedford Street (ca.1823). He attended Trinity Church

Trinity Church, Boston (Summer Street)

Trinity Church was an Episcopal church in Boston, Massachusetts, located on Summer Street. It housed Boston's third Anglican congregation...

.

He died in 1843, and was "buried in vault no.32 under old Trinity Church, Boston, afterwards removed to Mt. Auburn cemetery

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as "America's first garden cemetery", or the first "rural cemetery", with classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain...

 in Cambridge." A trade auction of "books, stereotype plates and stationary, formerly held by J.L. Cunningham" brought in an "amount ... unusually large, between 80 and 100,000 dollars."

Auctions conducted by J.L Cunningham

• 1815
  • "Many thousand volumes of standard European and American publications," "the whole stock of books and stationary of the late firm of West & Blake"
  • "Entire stock of Col. John Boyle, bookseller"

• 1820
  • Library of Jacob Abbot Cummings
    Jacob Abbot Cummings
    Jacob Abbot Cummings was a bookseller, publisher, schoolteacher and author in Boston, Massachusetts, in the early 19th-century.-Biography:...
    
     (Blake & Cunningham)

• 1821
  • "Collection of cabinet paintings. ... Many of them have adorned the galleries of the Duke of Buckingham, Marquis of Stafford, Cardinal Woolsey, Lord Fife, Henry Hope, &c." 164 works, including (copies of) Rembrandt's "Achilles;" Titian
    Titian
    Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
    
    ; Watteau's "Garden at Versailles;" Thomas Sully
    Thomas Sully
    Thomas Sully was an American painter, mostly of portraits.-Early life:Sully was born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, to the actors Matthew and Sarah Sully. In March 1792 the Sullys and their nine children immigrated to Richmond, Virginia, where Thomas’s uncle managed a theater...
    
    's "Taking of Major Andre" at Doggett's Repository of Arts
    Doggett's Repository of Arts
    Doggett's Repository of Arts was an art gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, located at 16 Market Street. Its proprietor, John Doggett, was a gilder and framer with a retail shop near the gallery...
    
      (Blake & Cunningham)

• 1823
  • "Furniture of a lady leaving the city," including "astral lamp - portable desk - an elegant urn"
  • Furniture of "a gentleman removing from the city"
  • "330 bales Russia feathers"
  • "Family horse and chaise"

• 1824
  • "50 dozen 18-thread cod lines. ... 5 sacks first quality live geese feathers"
  • "Stock of a rectifier of spirits"
  • "Cider and porter bottles, China ware, Naples soap, and brushes"
  • "Swedish iron"
  • "Music types"
  • "Paintings by some of the old masters, in handsome gilt frames, some of which were recently imported from London. ... Titian, Rubens, De Heem, Ruysdaal, Vanderveld, Brughel, Wouvermans;" also marble busts of Rubens and Raphael. At Doggett's Repository
  • "Madras handkerchiefs, splendid patterns"
  • "Canary birds, cages, &c."
  • "Furniture for a grocery store, such as standing casks and kegs, scales and weights, lot of measures, tea cannisters, counters and drawers, empty pipes and barrels, stone jars"
  • "That valuable parcel of real estate, lately the property of Rebekah Parrott, deceased, situate at the corner of Liberty-square and Kilby"
  • "4 cases of preserved insects"
  • "Nautical instruments, charts, &c. ... of the late Capt. Charles S. Winship"
  • "Parlor fenders"
  • "A small, handsome, and well-broke poney, with an English-built gig
    Gig (carriage)
    A gig, also called chair or chaise, is a light, two-wheeled sprung cart pulled by one horse.-Description:Gigs travelling at night would normally carry two oil lamps with thick glass, known as gig-lamps. Gig carts are constructed with the driver's seat sitting higher than the level of the shafts. ...
    
    "
  • "Six oven stoves, new"
  • "300 roles of French paper hangings. ... Also - a printing press"

• 1825
  • Art collection of "N. Delvaltooth;" including works by (or after) Claude Lorrain
    Claude Lorrain
    Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French Claude Gellée, , dit le Lorrain) Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French...
    
    , Rembrandt, Watteau.
  • "1 brass turning lathe; a small lot of seamen's clothing; 100 lbs. Bologna sausages; a few boxes of Spanish cigars, &c."
  • "Shares in the South Boston Bridge Corporation. ... Shares in the Dorchester Turnpike Corporation" at Merchant's Hall
  • "Cabinet stock ... at the cabinet manufactory of the late Thomas Emmons"
  • "Splendid collection of alabaster ornaments" at Concert Hall
    Concert Hall (Boston, Massachusetts)
    The Concert Hall was a performance and meeting space in Boston, Massachusetts, located at Hanover Street and Queen Street. Meetings, dinners, concerts, and other cultural events took place in the hall.-Architecture:...
    
    
  • Furniture; "also - a pair of duelling pistols
    Duelling pistol
    A duelling pistol is a pistol used in a classical duel. As a general rule, they are single-shot flintlock or percussion black powder pistols which fire a lead musket ball...
    
    ; ... ebony German flute; ... gold watch; ... 3 boxes French cordials" at "the Julien Auction Room, corner of Milk and Congress-streets"

• 1826
  • Furniture of the Tontine Coffee House, Washington St.
  • "200 looking glasses"

• 1829
  • "600 double tulips, and 100 ranunculus
    Ranunculus
    Ranunculus is a large genus of about 600 species of plants in the Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus include the buttercups, spearworts, water crowfoots and the lesser celandine....
    
     roots, just received per Agnes, from London"

• 1841
  • "The celebrated Conway Medicines ... recipes, medicines prepared and ready to be sent out"
  • "Private library ... of a gentleman deceased. ... A solar microscope"
  • "Valuable cow and calf"
  • "Elegant oil paintings ... 64 ... original pictures and facsimilie copies .... from some of the most celebrated pictures in ... the Louvre, the Hague and Amsterdam" at Harding's Gallery
    Harding's Gallery (Boston)
    Harding's Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, exhibited works by European and American artists in the 1830s-1840s. The building on School Street also housed a newspaper press; the Mercantile Library Association; the Boston Artists' Association; and artists' studios...
    
    
  • "That valuable estate, no.57 Mount Vernon Street," Beacon Hill

• 1842
  • "Collection of beautiful green-house plants - among them many fine varieties of roses, callas, verbenas, heliotropes
    Heliotropium
    Heliotropium is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. There are 250 to 300 species in this genus, which are commonly known as heliotropes ....
    
    , azalias"
  • "French fruit trees, just imported ... varieties of ... apples, plums, apricots, cherries, peaches, and grape vines"
  • "Dutch canary birds, chiefly good singers"
  • "Parlor organs"
  • "About 30 oil paintings, recently finished by C. Drew
    Clement Drew
    Clement Drew was an artist and "dealer in picture-frames" in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. He specialized in marine paintings. He kept a studio on Court Street , Tremont Street , Copeland Street , and Tremont Temple...
    
     ... views of well known places in America, chiefly in the neighborhood of Boston: among them several views of Boston Light
    Boston Light
    Boston Light is a lighthouse located on Little Brewster Island in outer Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The first lighthouse to be built on the site dates back to 1716, and was the first lighthouse to be built in what is now the United States...
    
    , storm, shipwreck, several views of the coast of England, &c."