Lecture: Eleazer McComb, Colonial Family Artifacts

FREE Lecture presented by the curator of the exhibit, Brian Miller, HOF Assistant Curator: Wednesday, June 20, 7 p.m., Historic Odessa Foundation’s Bank Building Meeting Room.
Discover some interesting facts about one of Delaware’s colonial statesmen, Eleazer McComb and his family. Hear about the content of his fourteen letters to his future bride and learn about the artifacts that have been brought together to paint a broader picture of his life. A brief tour of the parlor exhibit will be offered at the conclusion of the lecture.
Together again for the first time in over two hundred years are fourteen letters that Eleazer McComb wrote to his future wife Lydia Irons and other artifacts related to the McComb family. Step into the Corbit Sharp House parlor (a National Historic Landmark House) to view the display of McComb’s colonial portrait by Charles Willson Peale and his wife’s portrait by James Claypoole, both owned by the Historic Odessa Foundation. McComb’s portrait has hung in the Corbit Sharp house since the 1930’s.
To complement the paintings, there is another portrait pair by Claypoole, that of Lydia’s parents, Thomas and Jennette Irons of Dover, on loan from the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs. Also on view and reunited with the other artifacts for the first time in centuries is the McComb monogrammed silver tea service, on loan from the Delaware Historical Society. The exhibit also includes a beautifully stitched 1765 McComb family pocketbook, books from the family library, an illustrated family coat of arms, and other related artifacts from private collections.
This exhibit reunites McComb family artifacts to create a window into the life of one of Delaware’s colonial statesmen. Eleazer served Delaware in the Continental Congress, as Delaware’s Auditor of Accounts, as director of the Bank of Delaware, and as businessman in Dover and Wilmington. Discover that there is more to Eleazer McComb than just a painted portrait.