Ammi Phillips (1788-1865)

William Shuneman (1766-?) was descended from early New Netherlands settlers. The Son of well-known Reverend and patriot Herman Shuneman (1712-1794) of Utica, New York, he resided in Catskill (Green County), New York. One of his brothers, Martin Gerretsen Shuneman (1764-1827), was elected to the 9th Congress (1805-1807). Like his older brother, William Shuneman was involved in politics as town clerk from 1790-1791 and appointed to Justice of the Peace in Catskill in 1810. The second painting in the present lot depicts his second wife, Eliza Demyer Shuneman (1769-1851) whom he married on September 10th, 1801.