William H. Machen

He was the oldest son of Augustine Ulysses Machen, a government-employed civil engineer, and Agatha Kuyke of Werkendam, the Netherlands.

In 1847 Augustine, Agatha, son William, along with his four brothers and two sisters sailed from Rotterdam for America.

At the suggestion of Bishop Amadeus Rappe of Cleveland, Augustine and young William traveled on horseback to Toledo in February 1848 to inspect a 100-acre (0.40 km2) farm at the town‘s edge.

The farm setting gave William ample subjects for his paintings—landscapes, game birds, animals, rivers and streams.

He exhibited his work at the Pennsylvania Academy, the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and the Detroit Museum of Art.

He served as organist and choir director for St. Francis de Sales church in Toledo for several years.

He maintained a single register of his works which is now preserved in the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.