Sepia Saturday: Vinnie Ream

Lavinia Ellen Ream was born on September 25, 1847

in a log cabin in Madison, Wisconsin

to Robert and Lavinia (McDonald) Ream.

Robert was a surveyor and civil servant

in the Wisconsin Territory. 

The Reams also operated a stage coach stop --

Madison's first hotel -- in their home.

Guests slept on the floor.

Young Lavinia, known as Vinnie,

was a young woman of great promise.

She attended college in Columbia, Missouri

where her innate artistic ability blossomed.

In 1861, her family moved to Washington, D.C.

Vinnie became one of the first "women"

(she was a mere 14-year old when she was hired) 

to obtain employment with the federal government.

She worked as a clerk in the dead letter office

of the postal service beginning in 1862. 

Her employment there continued until 1866.   

That's impressive in itself.

But it was just a foreshadowing of her greatness.

In 1866, at age 18, she became the first woman

to receive a commission from the U.S. government

to create a statue.

She was awarded the commission 

for the full-size Carrara marble statue of Lincoln 

by a vote of Congress on July 28, 1866. 

She worked for a time in a studio

 in the basement of the Capitol.

Later, she traveled to Europe's art centers 

and while living in Rome, produced a finished marble figure

from her plaster model.

When the statue was complete, she returned to the U.S.

On January 25, 1871, her statue of (now-deceased)
President Abraham Lincoln was unveiled in the

Capitol Rotunda. 

In 1878, when she was 30, she married Richard L. Hoxie,

a member of the Army Corps of Engineers.

 They had one son and Richard's career took them

to postings in Montgomery, Alabama and St. Paul, Minnesota.

They eventually returned to Washington, D.C. 

Vinnie continued her career as a sculptor.

Among a number of well-known statues,

including this likeness of Sappho,

in the collection of Smithsonian's American History Museum,

she created the sculpture of Sequoyah,

the first Native American to be commemorated

by a statue in the Capitol's Statuary Hall.

She died on January 12, 1914.

She and her husband are both buried 

in Arlington National Cemetery,

across the Potomac from Washington, D.C.

 Her grave is in Section 3, site 1876.

(Interestingly, she's distantly related

to some of my Biggs cousins,

Dave and John Ream. . . )

photos from Library of Congress photo collection

Sepia Saturday