Sixth-plate daguerreotype portrait of a young girl seated with a cloth doll held across her lap, posed frontally against a plain studio backdrop. The subject is identified by a contemporary handwritten note housed within the case as “Ellen Louisa Church (Gorton), age 8½ years.” The image is a polished silvered copper daguerreotype, presented under glass with a gilt mat, and remains sealed in its original period housing. The child’s hairstyle, dress with gathered bodice, and the careful inclusion of the doll align with mid-19th-century American studio portrait conventions.

The handwritten inscription further notes that the photograph was “taken by first photographer in Friendship N.Y.,” with a date of 1844 written at the lower right. While no photographer’s imprint is visible on the plate or case, the inscription itself is part of the object and provides direct period attribution and local context, tying the image to the earliest adoption of daguerreian practice in a small western New York community. Such localized identifications, especially naming both sitter and place, are uncommon survivals within early American daguerreotype portraiture.

The daguerreotype is housed in its original hinged case with gilt mat and paper backing intact. The interior includes the handwritten identification slip, and the verso retains the original paper seals, confirming the plate has not been reopened since the 19th century.