Sprague, Isaac, 1811-1895

LC control no.	n 85039359
Descriptive conventions	rda
Personal name heading	Sprague, Isaac, 1811-1895 *Browse this term in* LC Authorities or the LC Catalog
Birth date	18110905
Death date	18950313
Profession or occupation	Painter
Found in	His Flowers and ferns of America, 1885: t.p. (Isaac Sprague) LC in OCLC, 7/17/89 (hdg.: Sprague, Isaac, 1811-1895) NUCMC data from Hingham Pub. Lib. for Sprague family bicentennial papers, 1709-1973 (Isaac Sprague, great-great-great-grandson of Anthony Sprague (1636-1719), was born in Hingham on Sept. 5, 1811 to Isaac Sprague (1782-1826) and Mary Burr (1781-1856). He was apprenticed to an uncle at a young age to learn the trade of carriage painting. In his spare time he liked to paint pictures and gained a reputation as a painter of birds. He eventually caught the attention of John James Audubon, whom he accompanied as painter and naturalist on a trip to the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers in 1843. Isaac married Hannah Colbath of Middleton, N.H. in 1844, and they had one daughter together. They moved to Cambridge, where Isaac started working for Professor Asa Gray as an illustrator for his lectures. Hannah died in 1849, and in 1854 Isaac married Sarah Eaton (c. 1818-1870) of Roxbury. They had two sons together and moved to Wellesley Hills. Isaac continued painting and illustrating into the 1880s, becoming one of the best-known botanical illustrators of his time. He died on Mar. 13, 1895)