Samuel Isham (May 12, 1855 – June 12, 1914) was an American portrait and figure painter.
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Early life
Samuel Isham was born in New York City on May 12, 1855. He was the son of William Bradley Isham (1827–1909) and Julia Burhans (1827–1907). His father was a leather merchant who owned downtown factories and warehouses on Gold and Cliff Streets, and became vice-president of the Bank of the Metropolis and the president of the Bond and Mortgage Guarantee Company. Among his siblings was Charles Bradford Isham, who married Mamie Lincoln (granddaughter of Abraham Lincoln); and Julia Isham, who married historian Henry Osborn Taylor.
After preparing at Phillips Academy, he studied at Yale, where he was a member of the third editorial board of The Yale Record, and graduated in 1875 with a B.F.A. degree.
Career
After Yale, Isham traveled abroad for three years and then studied law at Columbia Law School, beginning in the fall of 1878, and was admitted to the bar. He began practicing in the office of Lord Day & Lord before forming a partnership with George E. Coney in 1881.