Photographic portrait of Henry Davis of Noank, CT

glass negative

Glass plate negative, bust portrait of Henry Elliot Davis (1825-1909) by E.A. Scholfield (1843-1930); includes glass plate paper sleeve with penciled notation "portrait of Henry Davis; #1858."; image of a seated, mustached man wearing jacket over shirt and tie, the lower button undone, revealing a vest and watch chain; hands resting on his lap.
Noank, CT, resident and employee at the Palmer shipyard, in 1880 Davis was appointed by US Government to transport the 220 ton, 70' tall red granite obelisk, 'Cleopatra's Needle', a gift from the Egyptian government to the United State, across the Atlantic to Central Park, New York, aboard an Egyptian freighter modified to his design; the obelisk remains the oldest outdoor monument in New York City; later appointed US Assistant Superintendant of Lifesaving Stations; also supervised the construction and building of the Morgan Point Lighthouse and the Deacon Palmer house. both in Noank; career may be traced in US Census reports: 1860, occupation: shipjoiner; 1870, occupation: house carpenter; 1880, occupation: "Gone to Egypt for the obelisk"; 1890, occupation: Government employee.