Isaac Augustus Wetherbee, 19th Century Portrait Painter & Photographer
Isaac Augustus Wetherbee (also spelled Wetherby) was born in Providence, Rhode Island on December 6th, 1819 to Isaac Wetherbee and Sophia Greene. He was painting in the Norfolk County / Boston area in the late 1830′s and 1840′s. The 1842 Boston City Directory lists him as a portrait painter and he is thought to have been one of the earliest Daguerreotype photographers. According to the 1850 census, he painted portraits for a living and was supporting his young wife, Catherine, and their two children in Milton, Norfolk County (Massachusetts). Moving to Iowa City by the late 1850′s, Wetherbee shifted to photography and is well known for early street views. He died in 1904.
Reference note courtesy of Garth’s Auctions, Delaware, Ohio.