George Decas and the Legacy of Cephas Thompson

In 1968, Attorney George Decas purchased the historic Colonel Peter H. Peirce House at 132 North Main Street in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Decas was not only a respected lawyer, being a partner in the firm Decas, Murray, and Decas, but also a passionate local historian. He authored a book on the Peirce family and avidly collected artifacts connected to Middleborough’s rich past.

One of Attorney George Decas’s greatest interests was the work of Cephas Thompson.

Cephas Thompson (July 1, 1775 – November 6, 1856) was a successful, self-taught, early nineteenth-century portrait painter in the United States, who was born, died, and lived most of his life in Middleborough, Massachusetts.

During his lifetime, he produced portraits throughout New England and from 1800-25 also made annual trips to the south during the winter months to paint in Alexandria, Virginia, Baltimore, Maryland, New Orleans, Norfolk, Virginia, Philadelphia, and the Carolinas and Georgia. When about fifty years of age, he settled permanently in his home in Middleborough.

Cephas Thompson was not only a gifted portrait painter, but he was also the inventor of the Delineating Machine, patented in 1806. To delineate means to trace the outline of; sketch or trace in outline; represent pictorially. The machine was to be used for copying charts, landscapes, and entire paintings.

The art museum at Colonial Williamsburg highlighted Thompson’s pattern in a recent exhibit. The exhibit depicted how the Delineating Machine was used to reproduce the same image in various sizes. This allowed his work to be quickly replicated and allowed changing the size of his work for a variety of uses. (Think of it being like ordering school pictures where you can have an 8X10, a 5X7 and wallet size versions of the same shot.)

Most of the patents prior to 1836 were lost in the December 1836 fire. Only about 2,000 of the almost 10,000 documents were recovered. Little is known about Thompson’s patent as only the patent drawing is available. A copy of this original patent is among the treasures that Acquired George Decas acquired and is among the artifacts at the Peirce House. An unknown draftsman in 1845 delicately invoked the spirit and appearance of Cephas Thompson Delineating Machine shown in this post.