EZRA AMES, MINIATURE SELF-PORTRAITS ON IVORY Left, c. 1790 Righr, c. 1800 Owned by Miss Elizabeth S. Edwards, Ames's great-granddaughter (Photographed by Irwin F. Cortelyou) On the property of Jesse Emes there was a stone house which had been built by Christian Bergh in 1771.42 It is not certain just how soon after his purchase of the property on August 2 8, 1790, Captain Jesse moved his family into this house at Staatsburg. The family was certainly well established there by August 21, 1791, when his daughter SaUy, Ezra's sister, was married to Ezekiel Mulford,43 the youngest son of Captain David Mulford, a neighbor in Staatsburg.41 So far no record has been found to show that Ezra Ames accompanied the family on its move to Staatsburg. The earUest estabUshed date in the artist's chronology, aside from that of his birth, is May 1790, when he was working as a painter of all sorts at Worcester. He possibly did not see his family at Staatsburg until 1793. The chronicle of the intervening three years, based largely on the artist's Account Book for this period, is the subject of the next chapter. "Ibid.,11. "Smith, 236. 48 Sutliff, 20. :36