Provenance:
Commissioned by Oliver (1778-1867) and Alice Ray Culver (1789-1860), Rochester, New York;
to their daughter Caroline Cordelia Culver Ely (1818-1892), Monroe County, New York;
by descent within the Culver/Ely/Smith families through the 20th century;
a bequest to the Strong Museum, Rochester, New York and later deaccessioned; 
thence acquired by the present owner.

Caroline Cornelia Culver was born on April 8, 1818, in Brighton, Monroe County, Massachusetts to Oliver and Alice Culver, originally of Hartford, Connecticut. Oliver's father, William (1755-1788), served in Captain George Pitkin's company and was engaged at the Battle of Lexington, among the earliest conflicts of the Revolutionary War, fought in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775. He was also a soldier in both Colonel Benjamin Hinman's regiment at the Siege of Boston and Colonel Erastus Wolcott's regiment which occupied the city after the British evacuation.

By 1815, his son Oliver had relocated to New York with his wife, becoming a prosperous farmer and pioneer of Monroe County, where he raised sheep, swine, corn, oats, rye, and wheat. Caroline married Lorenzo Douglas Ely (1809-1881) on June 15, 1841, and the couple had five children together. The Elys owned several farms in Brighton and Irondequoit, where they raised cattle and Morgan horses. The family was among the earliest breeders of blooded Jersey cattle in the county and enjoyed the position of largest Jersey breeder in western New York for many years. Caroline Ely died in Rochester on May 29, 1892.