Susan Burling was the daughter of Thomas Burling (d. 1832) and Susan Burling (d. 1831) of New York. This miniature may have been painted as an exchange portrait for that of the subject's husband, John Cowman, but the two are clearly of different styles and by different artists. Dating is based on hair and dress styles.

Helen Murphy was the daughter of Daniel T. Murphy of New York. Her husband was a distinguished staff diplomat from Argentina who served in Washington, D.C. from 1882 to 1886, and in 1895 held the post of first secretary.

The subject was the daughter of Charles H. Meade and Henriette (Thieriot) Meade who were married in 1873. Her mother was the niece of the donor.

The subject was the younger daughter of Joseph Marié and Josephine (Hubbard) Marié of New York. Miss Marié wrote magazine articles and books of a religious nature, one of which was "Let No Man Put Asunder" (1898). Peter Marié was her uncle.

Mrs. J. Lawrence Lee (née Margaret Livingston), the daughter of Henry Beekman Livingston and Mary (Livingston) Livingston, was born in New York and died at Lenox, Massachusetts, where the family had a summer home.

Margaret Adelaide Wolfe was born in New York, the daughter of John Wolfe, the noted art collector. She married Grenville Kane in 1881. Mrs. Kane was a director of the New York School of Applied Design for Women, and was on the national board of the Camp Fire Girls.

Mary B. Morris was the wife of the head of the banking firm, Richard Irvin & Company. She took an active interest in charitable work and was president of the Samaritan Home for the Aged and of St. Mary's Free Hospital for Children.

The subject was the daughter of Alexander Cumming McWhorter and Phoebe (Bruen) McWhorter of Newark, New Jersey. She married Alexander William Macomb (1798-1827) in Newark on March 9, 1826. This miniature portrait of her was a gift to the Society from her nephew.