The subject was the daughter of Payson Merrill and Emma H. (Strong) Merrill of New York. She married John Vosburgh Irwin (1874-1967) at Brick Presbyterian Church on November 21, 1905. Irwin was an estate lawyer and served as a trustee of The New-York Historical Society from 1935 until his death.

This view of an unidentifed upstate New York canal town and canal locks is a preliminary unpublished sketch by engraver John Hill. It is from an original study by his son, John William Hill (q.v.), for the projected Erie Canal Series of engravings. The Society owns a trial proof in line only from the plate engraved from this working sketch. This proof has a watercolor wash added as a guide for the development of aquatint tones.

The dates 1860-1862, inscribed subsequent to the actual execution of this drawing, indicates a broad working period for this study. It was done, however, in one sitting and not over a period of years, as may be deduced from the inscription.

In 1814, in order to provide protection for the city of New York against a British invasion by way of the Long Island Sound, fortifications were erected at Hallett's Point on the Long Island shore, on Mill Rock in the East River, and a series of entrenchments, blockhouses and barrier gates were constructed across upper Manhattan Island. This is a view taken from the interior of Fort Stevens, looking west across Hell Gate and the East River with the blockhouse on Mill Rock in the distance.

In 1814, in order to provide protection for the city of New York against a British invasion by way of the Long Island Sound, fortifications were erected in upper Manhattan. This view shows the exterior face of the fortifications at McGown's Pass. Fort Clinton is at the left, Nutter's Battery at the right, and the Barrier Gate and blockhouse in the center. Nutter's Battery apparently derived its name from Valentine Nutter, whose house stood nearby.

This a preliminary study for the oil painting (42 3/4 x 110, copyrighted by the artist, 1892-93) owned by the Albany Institute of History and Art, which depicts the operation, in August 1831, of the first railroad in New York State between Albany and Schenectady. The donor was informed by the artist's wife in the 1920s that when the painting was being considered this sketch was also submitted to illustrate the possible range of subject matter.

The home of Thaddeus David, an ink manufacturer, is on David's Island in Long Island Sound off the New Rochelle shore and near Glen Island. David was long a resident of the community and the island was known by his name for half a century of more. In 1862 he leased the island to the United States government, and during the civil war a large military hospital was established there.

A pamphlet entitled Fifth Avenue, printed for the Fifth Avenue Bank of New York (1915), illustrates Hawley's view (p.329) and calls it an "oil painting" executed for John D. Crimmins and in his collection. A careful comparison of the published view and the Society's watercolor would suggest they are identical, and that the Crimmins' painting was the watercolor now owned by the Society.