Edward Dalton Marchant’s portrait of Samuel Beals Thomas and his family provides a glimpse into the family’s life and social standing. The setting is likely the parlor or sitting room at Thomas’s inn and coffee house in Worcester, Massachusetts. The fine furniture and crystal, as well as the clothing and jewelry worn by the family mark their wealth. Thomas and his wife, Sarah Kellogg, are pictured with their two adopted children, Abigail and Pauline, who were the orphaned daughters of Thomas’s deceased brother.