Berrien-Cass County MI Archives Biographies.....Wilson, Charlotte "Lottie" January 9, 1854 - January 16, 1914
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deanna West berrienmigenweb@yahoo.com March 20, 2010, 1:22 pm

Source: Research Files
Author: Nelson Hill

Lottie Wilson, was a native of Niles, Michigan. Her mother was Henrietta (Hill)
Wilson. Henrietta's father was Henry Nelson Hill, her brother was Gamaliel Hill.
Henry Nelson Hill is my Great Great Grandfather, and Gamaliel Hill is my Great
Grandfather. Many of the Hill family members are buried in Barron Lake Cemetery,
Cass county, Michigan. 

Lottie - was born in Niles, Michigan in 1854, Charlotte "Lottie" Wilson painted
her interpretation of a significant meeting
between the famous abolitionist speaker Sojourner Truth and Abraham Lincoln
while living in Washington D.C. An earlier version "Freedman's Progress" by
Frank Courter. - "President Lincoln With A Former Slave.
 
The original oil was destroyed by fire in 1902, fortunately a photographer,
Frank Perry had taken photos of the it and Charlotte "Lottie" Wilson took on the
monumental task of reproducing the painting from the photos earlier taken.
The Niles Community Library Purchased the painting in 1982

About the artist:
Artist name: Lottie Wilson - (January 9, 1854 to January 16, 1914)   Used her
maiden name for her wonderful and varied works of art.

She was the first colored person to attend the Chicago Art Institute in Chicago,
Illinois. Lottie always used her maiden name for her professional work.

Lottie Wilson was married three times. Her first husband was James Huggart, her
children's father. He died not long after daughter Caletta (See portrait on
Berrien County site - under our family photo section) was born.
Lottie painted a picture of her daughter Caletta, after her death, which
occurred when she was about eleven years old in 1885.  Her second husband was
Wesley Jackson, her third and last husband was Daniel Moss. Lottie Wilson was
one of a few black women artists in the later part of the 19th, century. She
taught art classes at her home but also painted china and was a fine sculptress.
She painted a portrait of Booker T. Washington and gave it to Tuskegee
Institute, a portrait of Charles Sumner which she gave to the Provident Hospital
in Chicago in 1892. Her husband Daniel Moss married another woman after Lottie
died, and after that, many of Lottie's paintings, pottery and sculpted pieces
became a mystery as to their location. 

 Lottie moved to Washington D.C., shortly after her daughter Caletta died. She
painted the wonderful picture of Abraham Lincoln and Sojourner Truth sometime
around 1902.

Sadly, all of Lottie's three children died. On Lottie's headstone is the name
Dennis Daisy (died 8/30/1876 - age 1 month) and also Caletta (1874 to 1885). In
referencing Daniel and Lottie (Wilson) Moss in the 1910 census, filled out in
Niles, Michigan; Lottie states that she had three children, none of which were
alive by that time. Two children mentioned here are buried in Silverbrook
Cemetery, Berrien county in the Wilson Plot which had 5 graves in it. We don't
know why her son was given the name  Dennis Daisy. In the family plot there
rests Lottie, Calvin Wilson, Henrietta Wilson, Caletta, and Dennis Daisy, six
names but only five plots, so we are perplexed about that. Perhaps because the
one child was only a little over one month of age, they might have shared a
grave for his little coffin. 

The Cameo around her neck is a portrait of daughter, Caletta.

Contributed by: Nelson Hill , who is collecting information on Lottie and her
art work. If you know of such pieces for view and history, please contact him
at: cehill@voyager.net




Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/berrien/photos/bios/wilson610nbs.jpg

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/berrien/bios/wilson610nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/

File size: 4.1 Kb