Itinerant Limner - New England

REV. ELISHA SNOW (ca. 1798)

At the age of 59 (about the time this painting was done), Elisha Snow , patriarch of Knox County Snows, and founder of several generations of Con Artists had settled in as a "new-born" Christian and minister of the church in South Thomaston . Cyrus Eaton in his History of Thomaston, Rockland and South Thomaston describes Elisha Snow: "This gentleman, who, during the busy and exciting scenes of the Revolution,had lapsed into worldly-mindedness and indifference to religion, now, with characteristic energy, entered upon a course in accordance with the great change he had experienced. " In a word, Elisha Snow, former purveyor of spirits, boat builder, miller, and Tory in his sympathies during the Unpleasantness, had presumably experienced a wave of remorse.

It may be useful at this point to describe the remarkable characteristics of the successful Con Artist. No matter what claim he may make upon our credulity, he is apt , in the full heat of making proposals, propositions and promises believe full heartedly in what he is saying. This performance will, upon completion, be immediately followed by fixing his audience with a gimlet eye as he pauses to appraise the reactions to his declarations. Elisha Snow, minister of the Christian gospel, who obtained his large holding of land abutting the Wessawesskeag River by signing a promissary note to the English Lieutenant who held title, never paid the estate of that owner for the property. The owner died at sea on his way back to England. No effort was made to discover his heirs. Rather, this "artist" freely and openly congratulated himself for his "great good fortune" attendant upon seizing this splendid property. Though a Tory in his actions, he managed to escape the judgment of the new Americans first, by leaving town after having turned over most his holdings to his sons, and secondly, returning as a person deserving of a new respect and attempting to convine a not wholly credulous citizenry of his sudden and miraculous conversion.

This painting, painfully crude and inept though it is, does capture something

of the intensity of this very judgmental character, set in his opinions and deaf to contrary points

of view. Eaton remarks that Snow "was too impetuous and overbearing for fairness;

anticipating the arguments of an adversary before they were fully enunciated, and

confusing rather than convincing him, by a witty reply, when he could not find a

reasonable one. "These characteristics have survived into subsequent generations of Snows,

who, for some unknown reason, look back with pride on their relationship to this gentleman.

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