Sarah Spotswood Fontaine & John Winston Fontaine

Name/Title

Sarah Spotswood Fontaine & John Winston Fontaine

Entry/Object ID

2023.30.28

Description

Photographic portrait of Sarah Spotswood Fontaine and her nephew, John Winston Fontaine, standing arm-in-arm. It was taken in wintertime; they are wearing coats and hats and all but one of the trees behind them are bare of leaves. An unknown woman and several buildings are in the background. Inscription in blue pen on the back reads: John Fontaine & Sallie F. Sampson

Made/Created

Date made

1920 - 1935

Notes

Original

Provenance

Notes

The date and occasion of this photograph are currently unknown. The two people are both descendants of Patrick Henry related to the Fontaine family: Sarah Spotswood Fontaine, a great-great-granddaughter of Patrick Henry, was born on January 18, 1848, at "Fontainbleau" in King William County, Virginia. She married Henry Sampson on June 23, 1873, and they had one daughter, Corrie Dandridge Sampson (1874-1903). They lived in North Carolina in 1880 and moved to Texas sometime thereafter before 1900. She died on May 25, 1935, in Roseboro, North Carolina. John Winston Fontaine, a great-great-grandson of Patrick Henry, was born on January 27, 1887, to Rev. Patrick Henry Fontaine (1841-1915) and Annie Elizabeth Redd (1847-1936) at "Elmo" in Halifax County, Virginia. He never married and did not have children. John was a professor of music who taught at several colleges, including Atlantic Christian College (later Atlantic University) in Wilson, North Carolina. He died on August 21, 1973, and was buried with his parents in Amis Chapel Cemetery in Granville County, North Carolina. Sarah Fontaine Sampson was his aunt. This item was given to PHMF on May 3, 2023, by Monique and Philip Heller. They inherited this object and the others in this accession from her stepmother, Catherine Spotswood Fontaine Lawrence (1938-2015), who was Sarah Fontaine Sampson's great-niece and John Fontaine's niece.