The George Caleb Bingham Chronology is based on the work of previous Bingham biographers: John Francis McDermott, George Caleb Bingham: River Portraitist (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959); E. Maurice Bloch, The Paintings of George Caleb Bingham: A Catalogue Raisonne (University of Missouri Press, 1986); and on expanded research.
To see the chronology in historical context click here.
| Year | Bingham’s Life |
| 1834 | As an itinerant portrait artist, George Caleb Bingham paints in Arrow Rock and Columbia, Missouri |
| 1835 | January – April – in Columbia, Missouri; May – travels to Liberty, Missouri, but delayed two weeks en route by a form of small pox that caused him to his hair (he will wear a wig the rest of his life), Liberty, paints portraits; November – opens a studio in St. Louis |
| 1836 | In Saint Louis; 14 April – marries Sarah Elizabeth Hutchison in Boonville, Missouri; by November – returns to St. Louis; travels to Natchez, Mississippi |
| 1837 | In Natchez, Mississippi, 26 March – son Isaac Newton born; 27 May – in Columbia, painting portraits; 27 July – purchases lot in Arrow Rock where GCB eventually builds a home and studio for himself and his family |
| 1838 | In Columbia through February; March and early June, studies in Philadelphia and probably visits New York City and introduces himself at the Apollo Gallery; July, August – in Missouri; September – exhibits Western Boatmen Ashore at the Apollo Gallery in New York City; November, December – paints portraits in Missouri |
| 1839 | In central Missouri; Mid-March – returns to St. Louis where he spends most of the year; 5 December – fire in St. Louis studio destroys paintings |
| 1840 | January – in St. Louis; mid-February – in Fayette, Missouri – painting portraits; May – in Arrow Rock – paints political banner for the Saline County delegation to the state Whig convention; Mid-June – attends state Whig convention in Rocheport, Missouri; Autumn – after Whig victory of William Henry Harrison, moves family to Washington DC |
| 1841 | 13 March – son Newton dies; 15 March – son Horace born; April – August – paints portraits in Petersburg, Virginia; September – visits family home in Virginia; October – returns to Washington, DC |
| 1842 | Throughout year – GCB paints portraits in Washington, DC.; November – Elizabeth and Horace travel to Boonville, Missouri |
| 1843 | January – May – paints portraits in Washington, DC; Elizabeth and Horace return in March; June – visits Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts exhibition; July – December – paints portraits in Washington, DC |
| 1844 | January – May – in Washington, DC; September – Bingham family resides in Boonville, Missouri; October – GCB attends state Whig convention in Boonville; November & December – in Jefferson City painting political portraits |
| 1845 | January – paints in St. Louis and in central Missouri; 14 March – daughter Clara born; 4 June – exhibits paintings in St. Louis; sells home in Arrow Rock, convinced that though he loves the region, he cannot support his family there; returns to St. Louis |
| 1846 | June – nominated by Whig party as candidate for state legislator from Saline County; August 14 – wins popular vote by three ballots defeated; 20 November – electoral opponent Erasmus Sappington contests vote in the legislature; 12 December – through Democratic party chicanery, seat given to Sappington |
| 1847 | In Arrow Rock and St. Louis, Missouri |
| 1848 | April – son Joseph Hutchison born; 14 April – GCB participates in Whig convention in Boonville; July – accepts nomination to run for state legislature; 11 August – wins election to state legislature; 24 November – wife Elizabeth dies of consumption; GCB considers resigning seat, but J.S. Rollins convinces him serving will take his mind off his grief; December – son Joseph dies; late December; Legislature appoints GCB to Committee on Federal Relations |
| 1849 | January/ February in Jefferson City; Spring – opens a studio at the Western Art Union in Cincinnati; July – August – paints in New York City and travels to Philadelphia; October 5, in Liberty, Missouri; 2 December 1849 – marries Elizabeth Keller Thomas in Columbia, Missouri |
| 1850 | January – November – works in Columbia and St. Louis; November – travels to New York to submit paintings to the American Art-Union |
| 1851 | January – April – paints in New York; Early May – returns to Arrow Rock; May – mother, Mary Bingham, dies in Arrow Rock; June – November – GCB paints at a studio in Columbia, Missouri, but also travels to Boonville, Independence, Kansas City, and Liberty; November – St. Louis |
| 1852 | January – April – paints in St. Louis, Columbia, and Jefferson City, Missouri; 19 April – attends state Whig convention in St. Louis; May – in Boonville and Columbia, Missouri; 3 June – serves as delegate to the Whig national convention in Baltimore; travels to Philadelphia and New York; 27 June – arrives in Philadelphia to make arrangements for John Sartain to engrave The County Election; 28 October – returns to Columbia; November and December – in Glasgow and St. Louis |
| 1853 | January and February – in St. Louis; 10 March – travels to New Orleans and Kentucky to exhibit and to sell subscriptions for prints of The County Election; 15 September – travels to New York and then Philadelphia to direct John Sartain’s engraving of The County Election; 30 September, travels to New York, views the Crystal Palace exhibit; then travels to Philadelphia where he stays through the winter to work with Sartain. |
| 1854 | January – August – GCB in Philadelphia; September – December – in Missouri |
| 1855 | Late January – GCB returns to Philadelphia; late in June – returns to Missouri; paints portraits in the Independence/ Liberty /Kansas City region; Mid-September – works in Columbia, Missouri; 14 November – in Jefferson City painting and involved with Whig politics; 1 December – speaks before the Missouri legislature |
| 1856 | January – May – in Columbia; 6 May – arrives in St. Louis; 2 June – in Louisville, Kentucky; Summer – GCB in Boston and Philadelphia preparing historic portraits for Missouri capitol; 14 August – travels with family to France; 1 November – arrives in Düsseldorf |
| 1857 | In Dusseldorf |
| 1858 | In Dusseldorf |
| 1859 | 12-14 January – attends the National Art Association meeting in Washington, DC; late January – delivers completed Washington and Jefferson portraits to Jefferson City. During acceptance ceremony, gives speech in support of Union; February – April – travels to St. Louis, Columbia, Jefferson City, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Brunswick, and St. Louis, Missouri; Early June – sails for Europe; 12 June 1859 – Father-in-law Robert Stewart Thomas dies in Kansas City; by September – Bingham family has returned to the United States; December – Baptist Female College (later Stephens College) in Columbia appoints Eliza Bingham chair of the music department |
| 1860 | 12-13 January, attends National Art Association meeting in Washington, D.C.; early March – returns to Columbia, Missouri; late April – St. Louis; mid-September – in Lexington, Kansas City, and Independence, Missouri |
| 1861 | 7 January – in Jefferson City to set up portraits of Clay and Jackson in the House of Representatives; 12 January – older brother Matthias Amend Bingham dies near Houston, Texas; 6 March – GCB travels to Harris County, Texas, to settle Matthias’s estate; Mid-May – returns to Kansas City; 29 June – GCB volunteers with the U.S. Volunteer Reserve Corps, Van Horn’s Battalion and is given rank of captain; 21 September – son James Rollins Bingham born |
| 1862 | 4 January – Governor Hamilton Gamble appoints Bingham state treasurer; family moves to Jefferson City |
| 1863 | In Jefferson City as State Treasurer of Missouri |
| 1864 | 10 June – daughter Clara marries Thomas Benton King; August – GCB purchases home in Independence, Missouri |
| 1865 | GCB completes term of office as state treasurer; buys a home in Independence, Missouri |
| 1866 | 1 June – GCB announces candidacy for Congress from Sixth District; 6 October – loses congressional bid at nominating convention |
| 1867 | In Independence; completes equestrian portrait of General Lyon in late March |
| 1868 | 28 May – GCB serves as elector at Democratic state convention |
| 1869 | March – in Columbia; October 1 – Independence voters elect GCB as school board director; Son Horace leaves for California and is never seen again |
| 1870 | April – GCB sells home in Independence, Missouri; 6 May – moves to Kansas City and opens studio over Shannon Dry Goods Store at 3rd and Main |
| 1871 | January – February – Jefferson City; March – August – in Kansas City; September – November – Columbia; November – Kansas City; Late December – Philadelphia with John Sartain about the engraving of Order No. 11 |
| 1872 | Late January – GCB in Philadelphia supervising John Sartain as he engraves Order No. 11; 10 May – in Kansas City selling prints of Order No. 11; July – in Baltimore; August – October – vacationing in Colorado with wife Eliza; 20 November – in Kansas City and surrounding towns painting portraits |
| 1873 | April – GCB in Houston and Austin, Texas, completing settlement of brother Matthias’ estate; May – Kansas City; July -Marshall and Arrow Rock, Missouri; August – in Kansas City; 3 September in Columbia, Missouri; September – in Louisville, Kentucky – exhibits Order No. 11 and Washington Crossing the Delaware at Louisville Industrial Exposition; October – in Kansas City painting portraits, with so much work that he cancels a planned trip to New York |
| 1874 | 11 May – state authorities appoint GCB president of the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners; 31 July – accepts Democratic candidacy for Congress from 8th District; 24 August – withdraws name from congressional race; September – attends Democratic convention in Kansas City; December – in St. Louis exhibiting The Puzzled Witness |
| 1875 | January – Governor Charles H. Hardin appoints GCB Adjutant-General of Missouri; 19 January – GCB in Jefferson City; February – in Clay County, Missouri – investigating the Pinkerton attack in on the Samuels family: mother, stepfather, and half-brother of Frank and Jesse James; March – April – in Stone County, Missouri enforcing judicial order in an area overtaken by the Ku Klux Klan. After his visit, vigilantism ends |
| 1876 | 23 February – April – in Washington, DC to present war claims for state; May and June – in Jefferson City; October 24 – resigns position of Adjutant-General due to ill health; 3 November – Eliza Thomas Bingham dies at Fulton State Mental Hospital |
| 1877 | 19 January – University of Missouri board of curators appoints GCB professor of art; March – state legislature authorizes GCB to paint historical picture of Jackson before Civil Court of Louisiana; June – GCB appointed professor of art of University of Missouri’s newly established School of Art; July – September – GCB in Boonville and Columbia painting portraits; November – in Kansas City |
| 1878 | January – St. Louis and Kansas City; February and March – in Washington, D.C.; May – visits daughter Clara (Mrs. Thomas Benton King) and her family in Stephensville, Texas; 18 June – Kansas City – marries Mrs. Martha Livingston Lykins; Summer – honeymoons in Colorado; November 8 – Kansas City – Robert E. Lee Monument Association appoints GCB a commissioner; 21 November – GCB arrives in Richmond, Virginia for Lee Monument meeting; 6 December – in Columbia and Kansas City |
| 1879 | 28 February – ill with pneumonia and unable to give promised lecture on art at University of Missouri; 1 March – J. S. Rollins reads speech; 7 July – George Caleb Bingham dies of cholera morbus in Kansas City |
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