Mortgaging the Farm by Pendleton's Lithography

This black and white print depicts a farmer stopping for a drink at an establishment "licensed to retail spirits." He is offering a paper, presumably the mortgage for his farm, in payment of the alcohol. A hay wagon pulled by oxen waits in the road. A distillery is visible in the background with a cross above its chimney indicating its priority to serious drinkers. A verse describing the evils of drink appears below the title. In the companion print, Lifting the Mortgage (DL.60.2983), the farmer redeems himself by signing a temperance pledge.

This print was produced by Pendleton's Lithography. John B. Pendleton (1798-1866) was one of America's earliest lithographers. Along with his brother William Pendleton (1795-1879), he started a lithograph printing house in Boston in 1825. The firm printed portraits, landscapes, sheet music covers, and other illustrations. Not long after it opened in Boston, the Pendleton brothers moved their lithograph business to New York City. In 1829 or 1830, John B. Pendleton moved to Philadelphia and briefly operated the firm Pendleton, Kearny, & Childs with Francis Kearny (1785-1837) and Cephas G. Childs (1793-1888). Pendleton then worked as a carpenter and proprietor of a planning mill until 1851.

Currently not on view