Androscoggin Historical Society acquires Hannah True portrait

AUBURN — The Androscoggin Historical Society has acquired an oil portrait of Hannah Harrington (Frost) True for its collection.
True was the first wife of John Fogg True, inventor of True’s Elixir. The portrait was donated by Phoebe Lowell, of Lewiston.
True was born on March 20, 1823, in Norway, Maine, and married John Fogg True on May 3, 1846. She died on Oct. 10, 1861, at the age of 38. She and her husband moved from Dexter to a home on Drummond Street in 1854. That year, she won prizes from the Androscoggin County Agricultural Society for her picture frames and woolen hose.
The couple had four children, Henrietta Adelaide True, who married Henry Lowell; Abraham Frost True; Blanche Maude True, who married Walter I. Parsons; and Josephine E. True, who died at age 12.
The portrait was painted by artist, Amasa (Asa) Hewins who was born in Sharon, Mass., on July 11, 1795, and died in Florence, Italy, on Aug. 18, 1855. He was living in Dedham, Mass., when he painted the portrait. It is probable that he traveled to Auburn and painted the portrait here.
The portrait measures 33x 40 inches, framed in a 2.5-inch wide gold gilded wood frame. The portrait shows True seated with a shawl over her right arm and her left hand on the book “Rose of Sharon.” The portrait is hanging in the Clarence E. March Library at the Androscoggin Historical Society.