Further Information on the Mehetabel May Dawes Portrait

   I have received a further email from the Curator at the Evanston History Center. The Mehetabel May Dawes portrait is in their collection and the artist is listed as John Johnston, who also painted the William Dawes portrait. Johnston (Johnson) was an artillery officer in the Revolution who served in the artillery company that used the guns mentioned in the Dawes post before the war. That portrait of Dawes was most likely painted sometime after the war.
  The curator also advised that the Mehetabel May Dawes portrait has been altered to show her age later in life. The obvious question is did Johnston alter a portrait by another artist or did he alter one of his own? If I hear anymore from the curator I will post it in this blog.
   I guess I should point out that the reason the two Dawes portraits are in the Evanston, IL Historical Center is that they are located in the house which was owned by Charles Gates Dawes, who was the great-great-grandson of William Dawes Jr ,and the son BGen Rufus Dawes, commander of the famed Iron Brigade in the Civil War from 1863-1864. Charles Gates Dawes served as Vice-President under Calvin Coolidge and shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. After his wife's death, the family home was donated to be used as the center for the Evanston Historical Society.

Dawes Home/Center

Charles Gates Dawes