W/Hole History
An initiative to present a more full and honest history.
The house is not half large enough for us all.
Maria Cole to Thomas Cole, 1842
The following is an account of the historic individuals known to have lived and labored here from 1836 to 1846.
Click the arrow to the right of each person to discover their history. The histories of these individuals shed light on the topics of of slavery, mental health, women’s rights, immigration, and more.
Period(s) of residency, as currently known, either through a census record, letters, or oral history.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1821–1884
Maria Bartow (1813-1884) was a niece of Uncle Sandy, and a daughter of Maria Thomson and Steven Bartow. Her sisters were Emily, Harriet, and Frances Bartow. She married Thomas Cole in 1836.
Thomas Cole, Portrait of the Artist’s Wife (detail), 1836-48, Graphite with white watercolor on light brown paper, 12 1/2 x 9 5/16 in. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Maxim Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Watercolors and Drawings, 1800-1875, 55.716.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1815–1846
John Alexander “Uncle Sandy” Thomson (1776-1846) was the head of household at Cedar Grove c. 1821-1846. With his brother Thomas Thomson (d. circa 1821), and sister Catherine Thomson (d. circa 1826), he instigated building of the Main House in 1815.
Frederic Church, Alexander Thomson, 1846. Pencil and ink on paper, 7 x 9 5/16 in, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1821–1881
Emily Bartow (1804-1881) was a niece of John A. Thomson, and a daughter of Maria Thomson and Steven Bartow. Her sisters were Harriet, Maria, and Frances Bartow. When her uncle, John, passed away in 1846, ownership of the property passed to Emily. As a woman, she was only able to own property because she was not married.
Emily Bartow’s signature.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1821–1894
Frances Bartow (1815-1894) was a niece of Uncle Sandy, and was a daughter of Maria Thomson and Steven Bartow; her sisters were Emily, Harriet, and Maria Bartow. Frances’ story intersects with pivotal moments in the history of mental health. She was documented as “insane” on the 1870 census, during the time when federal censuses accounted for people with mental, intellectual, and physical disabilities from 1840 to 1890. Between 1846-1848, Frances received treatment at the Hartford Retreat for the Insane, an early example of “moral treatment” in the United States during the first generation of asylums in the country. No personal records of hers have yet been found.
Further Reading
Regarding Frances Bartow by 2021 Cole Fellow Adaeze Dikko
Understanding Frances Bartow’s Stay at the Hartford Retreat for the Insane, 1846-1848 by 2022 Cole Fellow Beth Wynne
Frances Bartow’s signature.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1821–1904
Harriet Bartow (1808-1904) was a niece of Uncle Sandy, and a daughter of Maria Thomson and Steven Bartow. Her sisters were Emily, Maria, and Frances Bartow. Harriet was a teacher, and the flower garden outside the Main House was generally referred to as hers in letters.
Further Reading
Harriet was the recipient this unsigned Valentine in c. 1835/36.
Frederic Church, Harriet Bartow (?), c. 1844-5. Graphite on Paper, Olana State Historic Site.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1817–late 1840s
Daughter of James Thomson and niece of John A. and Thomas Thomson.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1840
An unnamed, free, Black woman was listed on the 1840 census as living here at the property as a laborer. Based on her age range and New York State laws, she was very likely born as an enslaved person between 1741 and 1785 (slavery was legal in New York State until 1827). She was likely a live-in laborer at the property, as the census accounts for people where they lay their head. She may have labored in cooking, cleaning, laundering, or caring for the children, dairying, and/or other essential work.
Further Reading
Regarding the Free, Black woman documented as a Cedar Grove resident, 1840 Census by 2021 Cole Fellow Adaeze Dikko
Contextual Research on the Unnamed, Free, Black Woman and Other Laborers at Cedar Grove by 2022 Cole Fellow Beth Wynne
1840 federal census (edited to show the Thomson-Bartow-Cole household)
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1847–1857
Sarah Cole (1805-1857) was a professional artist who made paintings, drawings, and engravings. Her brother was Thomas Cole. After emigrating to the United States with her family in 1818, she lived primarily with their parents in New York City and made regular journeys to Catskill to visit her brother. After Thomas’ death, Sarah began to live in the Cole family home. She exhibited and sold her work to help provide for herself and her family.
Further Reading
Read an 1836 account of what it was like to travel to and from the historic property in Sarah’s own words.
Thomas Cole, Sketch of Sarah Cole (detail), c. 1840. Albany Institute of History and Art.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1836–1848
Thomas Cole (1801-1848) began coming to the Catskills in 1825. He and Maria Bartow were married in 1836, after which he moved in with Maria and her family. Read his full bio.
Further Reading
Asher B. Durand, Portrait of Thomas Cole, 1837, oil on canvas, 30 1/4 x 25 in. Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA, Gift of Zenas Crane, 1917.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1841-42
Mentioned in two letters from Maria Bartow Cole to her husband Thomas Cole. She was possibly a tutor or companion to their children, Theodore and Mary.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1842
Mentioned in a letter written by Maria Bartow Cole.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1841-42
Mentioned in letters as driving a cart, meeting the sisters in the drive with a lantern, and transporting the many letters that came and went to/from the house.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1844
Mentioned in a letter as farming the land.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1842
From Denmark; mentioned in as “one of our household.”
[…] by the by I must introduce you to Peter, as he is one of our household. He is a very civil Dane, was very destitute & could get no work, so Unc S. [John A. Thomson] took him in.
Maria Bartow Cole to Thomas Cole, February 10, 1842, New York State Library, Thomas Cole Papers, Box 4, Folder 2.
Occasional long-term visitor to Cedar Grove: 1835-36, probably as early as 1820
Son of James Thomson and brother of Charlotte Thomson. He witnessed Thomas Cole and Maria Bartow’s wedding on November 22, 1836
Lived at Cedar Grove: late 1840s
Described by Louis Legrand Noble as “his [Cole’s] man Martin.”
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1844
Mentioned in a letter written by Maria Bartow Cole.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1838–1928
Theodore A. Cole (1838-1928) was the son of Thomas Cole and Maria Bartow.
William Sidney Mount, Sketch of Theodore A. Cole (detail), 1843. Pencil on paper, 9 3/4 x 6 1/2 in. Toledo Museum of Art.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1839–1894
Mary Cole (1839-1894) was the daughter of Thomas Cole and Maria Bartow.
Mary has been running about to day with a slip of Paper in her hand, begging for a Pencil to write to Papa. She woke one morning when it was yet quite dark, talking about Papa, wanting to go to him. She asked me if Papa had come home, I asked her why she thought so, she said “I did see Papa” I then said where, she answered “in the room sitting in the rocking chair.” She had evidently had a very vivid dream about you. She persisted in saying that she has seen you.
Maria Bartow Cole to Thomas Cole, December 23, 1841. New York State Library, Thomas Cole Papers, Box 4, Folder 2.
Brandow & Jenne, Mary Cole (detail), unknown date. Carte de visite photograph, Thomas Cole National Historic Site.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1843–1913
Emily Cole (1843-1913) was a professional artist and the daughter of Thomas Cole and Maria Bartow. She used Thomas Cole’s New Studio as a studio and exhibition space, and was known for her botanicals and hand-painted china.
Further Reading
Emily was the focus of the 2019 exhibition The Art of Emily Cole, curated by Amanda Malmstrom.
Unknown photographer, Emily Cole (detail), unknown date. Carte de visite photograph in album, Thomas Cole National Historic Site.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1847 (2 days)
Elizabeth Cole (1847) was the daughter of Thomas Cole and Maria Bartow; she lived only 2 days.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1848–before 1875
Thomas Cole II (1848-1919) was the son of Thomas Cole and Maria Bartow.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1844–1846 (presumably)
Frederic Church (1826-1900) was Thomas Cole’s student from 1844-1846, during which time Church presumably lived in a building owned by the Thomsons. Church later was responsible for the building of Olana, his home directly across the Hudson River from Cedar Grove.
Lived at Cedar Grove: 1845–1847
Benjamin McConkey was Thomas Cole’s student from 1845-1847.
The 1840 Federal Census lists 11 people as living on the property in that year.
Click the image below to see the census in detail.
“Old Studio with Thomas Cole’s son Theodore and three unidentified farm workers,” c. 1910, Thomas Cole Site Archives
This project has been funded in part by National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Telling the Full History Preservation Fund, with support from National Endowment for the Humanities.
Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of the National Trust or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
