From Uncle Ferris, Christmas 1880
This portrait of Mary Scott Moran (later known as Mary Moran Tassin) was sketched by her uncle, Stephen James Ferris. The image is inscribed “Uncle Ferris, Christmas 1880, To Mary Moran,” suggesting it may have been given as a Christmas gift or was a portrait undertaken during a holiday gathering. Mary was born in 1868 to the East Hampton artists Thomas and Mary Nimmo Moran and would have been about 12 years old in this picture.
The artist, Stephen Ferris, was married to Thomas Moran’s sister Elizabeth and lived in Philadelphia. Like Thomas Moran, he studied etching in Philadelphia with the engraver and printer John Sartain. Ferris taught art at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women for 26 years and was particularly known for his etchings of portraits and figures.
Much of the information we have on Mary Scott Moran Tassin is through the moments she shared with her more famous family members. For example, we know she and her sister, Ruth B. Moran, accompanied their father to the Grand Canyon around 1910, because we have a photograph of the sisters with Thomas Moran.
The East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection holds a few local sketches Mary Scott Moran Tassin made, and she clearly had artistic talents. In 1895, Mary married Wirt de Vivier Tassin, a prominent metallurgist, geologist, and chemist, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton. Wirt worked for the United States Geological Survey, the United States Navy Yard, and the United States National Museum (now the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History) and later for the United States Navy Yard. The Tassins would live in Washington, D.C., following their marriage. When Wirt died in 1915, Mary chose to remain in Washington. However, when Mary died in 1955, she was buried in East Hampton with her siblings and parents. Following her death, many of her father’s materials were given to the East Hampton Library in what is now known as the Thomas Moran Biographical Art Collection.
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Andrea Meyer is a librarian and archivist in the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.