Thaddeus Defrees (Defriez) was born in Boston, MA on September 27, 1855, the youngest of three children. His parents were Georgianna and William, a machinist. Thaddeus’s grandfather, William Henry Defriez Sr., immigrated from England
Defrees’s style of painting shows strong influence of the French Barbizon School. He was active in the White Mountains from at least 1877 until his death. He exhibited at the Boston Art Club in January, 1878. He was artist-in-residence at the Thorn Mountain House and, later, the Wilson Cottages.
The Proctor family of Jackson, NH was related to the Wilsons of Wilson Cottages. Alice Protor has related that the Proctors always referred to Defrees as “Jan.”
Defrees died suddenly while traveling in Venice Italy July 9, 1888. A Memorial Stone for Defrees can be found in the Southborough Rural Cemetary in Southborough, MA. Click here for more information.
On November 22nd and 23rd of 1888 his estate auctioned 188 oils and watercolors at Noyes, Cobb & Co. in Boston. Titles included scenes of Venice, Italy, and France as well as many Jackson and NH scenes. Titles in the auction catalog were often not very specific, but likely NH views included: “New Hampshire Scenery”, “Falls at Jackson NH”, “Old Farm-House”, White Mountains”, “Mountains New Hampshire”, “Landscape New Hampshire”, ” Jackson”, “Old Mill”, “Lake and Mountains”, “Interior Farm House”, “Old Mill, Lincoln, N.H.”, and “Midsummer Morning Ellis River”.
Photos
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- TDefrees 1883
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- Thaddeus Defrees (1855-1888)
Signatures
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- 1880
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- 1882.1883
Gravestone
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- Memorial to Thaddeus Defrees Located within the Southborough, MA Rural Cemetary
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- Enlargement from the Memorial
Photo Credits
Courtesy of Alice Proctor
References
Susanne Germone (Thaddeus’s 2nd cousin, three times removed)
New Hampshire Scenery