George Henry Durrie (1820 - 1863)

Hendrick Conover:

William I. Conover, Marlboro, New Jersey;

Marian Conover Baird, Marlboro, New Jersey;

Anna B. Conover Longstreet, Marlboro, New Jersey;

Barbara Johnson, Princeton, New Jersey;

Rafael Osona Auction, Nantucket, Massachusetts, May 20, 1994.

Anne Bowne Conover:

William I. Conover, Marlboro, New Jersey;

Marian Conover Baird, Marlboro, New Jersey;

Joe Hammond, New Jersey

Martha Young Hutson, George Henry Durrie (1820-1863) - American Winter Landscapist: Renowned Through Currier and Ives, (Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Museum of Art/American Art Review Press, 1977), pp. 28-32;

Remi Spriggs, “Living with antiques: An Americana collection in New Jersey,” Magazine Antiques (April 2005), 94-105;

Leslie and Peter Warwick, Love At First Sight: Discovering Stories About Folk Art & Antiques Collected by Two Generations & Three Families, (New Jersey: 2022), pp. 257-61, fig. 431-7.

Joseph Hammond, "Durrie Conover family," Maine Antiques Digest, August 1994.

New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey, Early Arts of New Jersey, Paintings, Silver, Glass, 1750-1850, January 17 through March 3, 1952.

George Henry Durrie (1820 - 1863) was an American artist whose rural winter scenes became popular when reproduced as lithographic prints by Currier and Ives. He was born in Hartford Connecticut and was a self-taught artist in his teens, painting portraits in the New Haven area. In 1839 he received artistic instruction from Nathaniel Jocelyn, a local engraver and portrait painter. After 1842, he settled in New Haven, but made painting trips to New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Around 1850, he began painting genre scenes of rural life, as well as the winter landscapes that became popular when Currier and Ives published them as lithographs. Four prints were published between 1860 and 1863 when Durrie died in New Haven and six additional prints were issued posthumously.

Durie painted 37 portraits on his first trip to Freehold, New Jersey in 1840, and returned on a second trip to Marlboro upon growing demand for his works in 1841. From December 1841 through July 1842, he was under the patronage of Judge James S, Lawrence and received 25 more commissions, five of which were the Conovers. His record book indicates in May and June, 1842 he painted portraits of Tunis V. Conover, his wife Rebecca C. Conover, and their three children: Hendrick, Anne, and William. Tunis Vanderveer Conover (1802-1864) and his wife Rebecca Crawford Conover (1812-1897) lived on a 180-acre farm in Marlboro, New Jersey. Tunis owned several other large farms and his property became noted as a showcase farm from the mid-19th century until 1948 when it was sold out of the family. Durrie lived with the Conover family while he painted their portraits. (A pencil sketch on paper titled At Tunis Conover's / June, from Durrie’s sketchbook executed in June 1842 apparently shows the tenant house on the Conover farm where he stayed. The three children depicted may well be Hendrick, Anne, and William. The sketchbook is at the New Haven Historical Society.) He also gave the Conovers a portrait of himself when he left.

Hendrick Conover was born 1831 and was the eldest son, depicted in his portrait at age eleven. His sister, Anne Bowne Conover (1833-1852), age nine in her portrait, died of consumption at the age of nineteen years old. Hendrick received the title to the homestead farm, subject to life rights in the house and support of his parents. In 1854, Hendrick married Emma Taylor (1834-1904) in Imlaystown, New Jersey. They had two children: Anna B. Conover (1873-1850) and Marion A. Conover (1877-1957). Hendrick and Emma Conover remained on the Marlboro farm until 1864, when they purchased several lots and houses on McLean Street, Freehold. Shortly after, they moved into one of their properties in that village, where they became respected members of the community. Hendrick became a member of the local Freemason's lodge in 1863, and invested in 1867 as incorporator of the Monmouth County Agricultural Railroad, a popular civic venture that did not succeed at that time. Between 1860 & 1870, Hendrick speculated in local real estate, at times in partnership with various relatives. In 1866 title to the homestead in Marlboro was sold to John McLelland of NYC for the sizable sum of $30,000. However, Hendrick's younger brother, William, remained in possession and occupancy of the farm until his death in 1902. Apparently the property was used as collateral with absentee speculators, subject to unrecorded mortgages that allowed the Conovers full use of the property. By the late 1860's, Hendrick had gone on to a career as an investor, while retaining an interest in the distillery in Marlboro. Nevertheless, he experienced serious business reverses, which ultimately left him and his wife without significant financial resources. He and his wife eventually moved back to the farm, which was by then being worked by brother William. Hendrick and Emma had no children.

The obituary of Hendrick Conover, taken from the Monmouth Inquirer for July 2, 1885, tells of his unfortunate and untimely end. Hendrick S. Conover, died at the residence of his brother W. I. Conover, in Marlboro Township, on Wednesday, June 24, in the 54' year of his age. Mr. Conover was the son of Tunis V. Conover and Rebecca Conover, deceased, and first saw the light in the old homestead where he died. At one time he was rich and influential but met with reverses at a later period of his life. For a number of years he conducted a distillery on his farm in Marlboro Township, being well known in Freehold and vicinity. About a year ago he had an operation performed in New York to remove a cancer from his tongue, from the effects of which he never entirely recovered. His funeral took place on Friday afternoon at the residence of his brother, Rev. .J .J Baker, assisted by Rev's S. W. Wells and H. F. Stillwell, officiating. Interment in the Brick Church yard.

Emma (Taylor) Conover stayed on as a widow in Freehold for a number of years but late in life married Charles F. Cox of Mount Holly, New Jersey. She died in their winter residence in Florida in February 1904. The Conover portraits, including that of Hendrick, remained at the farm in Marlboro until the death of William in 1902. By the terms of his will, the household contents were equally divided between his two daughters, Anna B. and Marian Conover. Four of the five Durries, plus an earlier pastel of Rebecca by Micah Williams, were owned by Marian C. Baird, of Marlboro, until the mid-1930s. At that time, the portraits of Tunis V., Rebecca C., and William I. Conover, were purchased by Mrs. J. Amory Haskell and given to Monmouth County Historical Association in 1937. The portrait of Hendrick may have become the property of Marian Baird's sister, Anna B. Longstreet.