The subject was the son of James Harper (b. 1740) of Ispwich, England, who settled in Long Island before the Revolution. His brother, James Harper, was mayor of New York from 1844 through 1845, and grandfather of the donor.

Christina Arcularius was the wife of prominent New York City grocer Samuel B. Harper. Her father, Philip Jacob Arcularius (1747-1825), emigrated from Germany to New York City and worked as a baker with his brothers, supplying bread to soldiers during the Revolution. After his marriage to Elizabeth Grim, Arcularius entered his wife's family's tanning business and soon thereafter began a career in local politics, first as assistant alderman and then as state assemblyman. Christina's remarkable Biblical sampler, made in 1792, survives at the Historical Society (1957.208). Christina had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. She lived to be eighty-three years old.

The subject was the son of Pierre Jay, a prosperous merchant and ship owner, and Judith (François) Jay, Huguenots of La Rochelle, France. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Augustus Jay escaped to America, living first in the Carolinas, later moving north to Philadelphia, and finally settling in New York. He became a freeman in New York in 1700-01 and rapidly established himself as an influential and wealthy merchant. Chief Justice John Jay was his grandson.

Louise Lennox Whitney was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the daughter of Marcus Fayette Whitney and Mary Ann (Stayner) Whitney. She married Charles Washington Wright on June 4, 1849. Her portrait was a gift to the Society from the artist, her grandson.

Maria C. Wood was the daughter of John Wood of New York. She married Augustus Washington Clason (d. 1853), a New York merchant and member of the Chamber of Commerce, on August 6, 1819.

The subject was a prominent Boston lawyer and an uncle of the sculptor John Rogers. The donor was the subject's grandniece.