Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

is a gift which either a man possesses at
birth or must continue to lack all his life.
The career of Daniel F. Wentworth, the
eminent artist, of Hartford, Connecticut,
who is so well known as a painter of landscape
and cattle scenes, goes far to prove
this. He manifested his taste for drawing
at an early age, and before he could read,
he began drawing little pictures, a talent
which he possessed in common with his
two brothers. Indeed, he cannot remem-
ber when he was not able to draw.
Mr. Wentworth is a member of an old
New England family, a direct descendant
of Elder William W., who came from England
about 1620 and settled in Maine, and
a son of George B. and Comfort Whitney
(Fisher) Wentworth. His father was a
native of Greenwood, Maine, where he
was born, in 1820. He was the son of a
farmer, but farm life became irksome to
him and he went to sea, making several
voyages in coasting vessels, and afterwards
learned the trade of cabinet making,
at which he became an expert. He
possessed in a marked degree the talents
which his sons inherited, and often made
his own designs for his work. About the
time of his marriage he removed to Norway,
Maine, and engaged in the furniture
business for a few years. He then made
his home for about one year at Westfield,
Massachusetts, after the expiration of
which he came to Hartford, Connecticut,
where he spent the remainder of his life,
and eventually died, in 1903, at the age of
eighty-three. In Hartford he became in-
terested in antique furniture and was con-
sidered expert authority along that line.
In 1862 he enlisted in Company B, of the
Twenty-second Regiment, Connecticut
Volunteer Infantry, and served with that
body through the term of his enlistment,
and was honorably discharged with a noncommissioned
rank. He was a member of
Robert Tyler Post, Grand Army of the
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
344
Republic. His wife, who was Comfort
Whitney Fisher before her marriage, was
a daughter of John and Lucy Fisher, of
Bath, Maine. George B. and Comfort W.
(Fisher) Wentworth, were the parents of
five children, one of whom died in infancy,
and another in his sixteenth year. Those
who grew to maturity were as follows
George William, now deceased; Daniel
F., the subject of this sketch ; Adaline,
who became the wife of Linwood Morgan,
of Springfield, Massachusetts, and is now-
deceased.
Born November 1, 1849, at Norway,
Maine, Daniel F. Wentworth, son of
George B. and Comfort Whitney (Fisher)
Wentworth, went with his parents while
still an infant to Westfield, Massachu-
setts, and thence to Hartford, Connecticut,
which has continued to be his home
through the most of his life. It was at
Hartford that he received his education,
attending the local public schools for this
purpose, and then upon completing his
studies, secured a position with Isaac
Glazier, at that time a prominent picture
dealer in Hartford. Mr. Glazier indeed
was the first one who sold paintings in
that city. He was a man of much artistic
taste, and maintained quite a large gallery,
so that young Wentworth came in contact
with a distinctly artistic atmosphere
and was privileged to see and criticize
under the guidance of his employer many
excellent works of art. The natural talent
already displayed by him was stimulated
and formed by this training and he grew
to have a passionate fondness for the art
which he was destined to make his career
in life. At first he received very little
formal instruction and developed his tal-
ent principally in his spare moments, but
with the true artist's perseverance, he
made use of every means of instruction
and help that came within his reach and
had that keenest of pleasures which is to
: