Home of Sarah Lockhart Allen
31 Chestnut Street
The daughter of a sea captain and merchant, Sarah Lockhart Allen
(1793-1877) was born in Scotland and by 1842 was listed as living
at 34 Chestnut Street. It is thought that she lived abroad in Europe
and studied art until she was fifty years old. A miniaturist and
crayon portraitist, Sarah was described by Salem historian Joseph
Felt as having “discovered much ability in this branch.”67
The Peabody Essex Museum (see S45) owns
several examples of her work, including a small portrait of Charlotte
Story Forrester of Marblehead whose father dressed as an “Indian”
to throw tea into Boston Harbor and later served as a surgeon during
the Revolution. While Sarah Allen lived at 34 Chestnut Street earlier
in her life, she moved to this house in later years. She died at
age eighty-four, and is buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery. She never
married, and left her estate to her nieces Margaret L. Davis, Mary
S. Sweetser, and Elizabeth Allen, to ensure their financial independence.
Notes
67. Felt, Annals of Salem (Salem, Mass.,
1842), 80.
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