Shared Photo: Descendants of Henry & Alice Lake (Hung as a Witch) by Michael Steven Ford

Question

My drawing in tribute to my ancestors of the Lake family of Tiverton, RI & Fall River, MA. This piece depicts Alice Lake, hung as a witch in Dorchester, MA. Her husband fled to Portsmouth, RI with their sons, who later fought in King Phillip's War and received land grants in Tiverton, where the family resided, working as shipbuilders, carpenters, and fishermen. The early Lake generations married descendants of Earle's, Briggs, and Cornell's, (who were ancestors of Lizzie Borden, who also happened to be my great grandmother and her siblings' Sunday School teacher in Fall River). My later Lake ancestors married descendants of Martin's of Swansea's Martin house, depicted bottom right, and Moulton's of Rehoboth, MA.

I wanted to share this family photo of Rebecca Cornell with the community. Date: Oct 2017.

Click here for the image details page or here for the full-sized version (3886 x 2913).

Comments

Absolutely beautiful!

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Incredible! Thanks for sharing.

Answer 1

Nice drawing.  Thanks for sharing with us.

Answer 2

Very nice. I especially appreciate the headstone image, Is that from the headstone of an ancestor of yours? It is quite similar to an image in an archaeology book I have, labeled from Exxex County, Massachusetts (probably in the 1770s). It is really interesting to see it in your drawing. If you took it from a specific headstone, do you know who the artist was?

I am also interested in the house in the lower right, very nice depiction. The scaffold is a great center piece.

How large is the piece? Any idea how many hours you spent on it?

Comments

Thank you.  My drawing is 24" x 30".  I didn't count the hours, but it was a lot of work.  The original headstone I drew this from was carved by John Hartshorn, one of the earliest rural carvers of Essex Co., MA (1650-1737), though I can't find the info of which headstone or cemetery it came from, it was not one of my ancestors- but I like the style with the mask-like face with segmented lines ending in birds heads above the face. When I googled John Hartshorn it said that in 1708, this was his newest lunette design.  The house I drew is the Martin House and Farm in North Swansea, Massachusetts.  My great grandmother, Lillian Candace Lake, depicted here in cameo, gets her middle name from her grandmother Candace Mariah Moulton who got her name from her grandmother, Candace Martin (spelled Candis on her gravestone).  The image of King Phillip to the left of the Martin house, was drawn from a wood cut done by Paul Revere.  Most of the rest are old family photos.

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Thank you, it is nice to know the details. In my archaeology class we spent several hours taking about the cemeteries and style of house in early New England settlements. Thank you for sharing the drawing and the details of the research and work you put into it.

Answer 3

Beautiful Drawing! Thanks for sharing!

Answer 4

What and amazing drawing very beautiful thank you for sharing

Answer 5

Beautiful and talented artwork  Michael.  I have heard of Alice Lake with my genealogy research.  I relate on the Borden side but not to the Cornell families. Thank you for sharing this. :)