Condition:Excellent - Portrait documented - Alabama Portraits Prior to 1870, complied by the Colonial Dames in the State of Alabama, published in 1969.
Description: Young bride stands beside her seated husband in her
History:Painting has been professionally cleaned and restored. Frame has had some repair at corners and edges. Known in family as 'The Bride and Groom.' Izora was the only daughter of The Rev. and Mrs. John Bell Hamilton (Sarah Ann Alderson), Columbia, TN. Painting is from time of Izora's marriage in 1851 at age 17. In 1853 she died in childbirth; her baby lived only one day. Portrait remained in Hamilton home (now known as Kennedy Place), inherited by the Hamiltons' nephew and adopted son, Thomas Hamilton Williams (who was first cousin of Izora), then his daughters Irene and Carrie Williams, then their niece, Emily Irene Williams Cater, then her daughter, Alleen Williams Cater.
Notes:Izora and her infant son died in 1853. They were said to have been the first people buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Columbia, TN. A contemporaneous newspaper account of her funeral goes to great lengths to describe her fine character and demeanor. Her husband later remarried. Family understanding is that Mr. Wilson's second wife died young. Nothing more is known of him. There is a remarkable companion painting of Izora and her baby son 'asleep' in death, with her mother grieving over them and an angel hovering above with the crown of eternal life and pointing toward heaven.
