USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume II > Part 44
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20. Quoted by C. O. Cornelius : "Early American Furniture."
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John Pride was known as a potter in Salem in 1641 as was also William Vincent, who had a house in Potter's field about the same year; Thomas Archer ( 1671-1703) was another. Sometime after 1641 William Osborne founded a brickworks at Danvers which manu- factured bricks and simple red earthenware for many years. The industry must have lapsed for a time, however, for about 1750 bricks being unobtainable in Danvers, a brickmaker, Jeremiah Page (1721- 1806) was induced to leave Medford to work the local clay. His son John continued after him. Others followed this example, brickworks were operated by Joseph and Israel Putnam, by Nathaniel and Jotham Webb in the eighteenth century, and by Josiah Gray in the early nineteenth century. There were seven Osbornes recorded as potters in the eighteenth century and seven more who spelled their name Osborn. Danversware was probably the product of all these craftsmen. Nearly every Essex County town had its local potter as well as its smith, but the style of their ware is not recorded; it was probably useful but not prized.
The textile crafts were practiced from the very beginning to sup- plement clothing and household linen brought from England.
While the spinning of yarn was done at home by various mem- bers of the household, weaving it into cloth was a trade for men. Itinerant weavers would go from house to house, or they would be urged to settle in a community where there was enough demand for their services. As the weaver became prosperous he owned several looms and hired help. William Rix, before mentioned, was a weaver in Ipswich.
The woven cloth was principally woolen and linen for utilitarian purposes. As the skill of the weaver increased, linen was woven in a number of patterns, with different colors forming checks. On a journey through the county in 1795 William Bentley "purchased a check handkerchief red and white from the loom of a daughter-in- law who was at work."21 Bridal linen, woven by the bride herself, has been preserved, beautiful in texture and design.
Silks were not successfully manufactured in the county and to wear them seems to have been considered, as well as extravagant, "intoler- able" in "persons of mean condition." Haniell Bosworth, the cow- herd, was fined ten shillings each for his two daughters who had
21. "Diary of William Bentley."
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chosen to wear silk, though the wife of John Kimball was allowed to wear her silk scarf unquestioned when he demonstrated his financial independence. While men and women were strongly discouraged by the clergy and government from decorating their persons with finery "altogether unsuteable to our povertie,"22 women were urged to occupy themselves with needlework, perhaps with the idea that their feminine love of beauty would be turned to useful account in a way which would keep them quietly at home. The advantages of such occupations are pointed out to the young in the verse which forms a part of the sampler in the parlor of the Whipple house in Ipswich and also in a later one in an attic room of the Lee mansion in Marblehead :
"How blest the maid whom circling years improve, Her God the object of her warmest love, Whose useful hours successive as they glide, Her book, her needle and her pen divide."
Probably the activity with book and pen referred to the maid's education. When this was complete, the needle would not need to give up so much of the useful hours to the other two.
And "the selection of design, the care in piecing, the patience in quilting, all make for feminine contentment and domestic happiness."23
This last psychological remark refers to the making of patch- work quilts, one of the earliest arts to be practiced in Essex County, and a very old art in England. It consisted of piecing together bits of material of different colors to form a pattern; these pieces tradi- tionally had to be scraps of any stuff that happened to be in the house- hold, and new material could not be bought and cut up for the pur- pose. The wrong side, or lining of the quilt was one plain piece of material, and there was an interlining between the patchwork and the lining for warmth. To hold the two together, to keep the interlining from slipping, stitching was necessary. The stitching was done accord- ing to a design; this was the quilting, which was often seen to best advantage on the lining, making it as beautiful as the patchwork itself. The design of the patchwork was usually geometric; the quilting design consisted of flowing lines. These patterns were often tradi- tional and had their special names, as the patterned weaves of linen each had its name.
22. Proclamation of General Court, 1651.
23. Quoted by G. F. Dow : "Old-Time New England," Vol. XVII, No. 4.
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Most of the examples which have been preserved are naturally not of the oldest period. A beautiful quilted counterpane made in 1770 by Anne Cleaves, of Beverly, is illustrated in G. F. Dow's article in "Old-Time New England" for April, 1927.
Besides its psychological value in making for feminine content- ment the making of quilts was a popular art because of their usefulness as a warm bedcovering. Even more frequently used for that purpose than quilts were the "rugs" which are often mentioned in the inven- tories of the period as part of a bed's furnishings. Rugs were made of thick wool with a shaggy nap. In the same inventories "carpets" are mentioned in connection with tables. "A presse and a litle Table with ther Carpets, £1. 10s" were part of the house furnishings of the Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, of Rowley. In the wealthier houses these car- pets might be Oriental, or they might be made of "Turkey work," an early form of embroidery which had been made in England before the Pilgrim emigration and was very popular with the colonists. Colored yarns were threaded into a foundation cloth to form a pattern, knotted and cut to make the pile. Turkey-work was used for carpets, furniture coverings, and cushions. Very few examples remain, because of the perishable nature of this work and the practical uses to which it was put. Embroideries which were more ornamental and less utili- tarian, even though more delicate, have been better preserved. A piece of this kind is the drawn work in ecru linen thread done by Anne Gower, wife of John Endicott, in 1628, now in The Essex Institute of Salem.
Crewel work was very popular in England in the seventeenth century; this was embroidery done on linen with loosely twisted wool yarns called crewels; the design was inspired by the painted India cottons which were much admired in England at that time, and were later brought home from the East by the Salem and Newburyport ships. The colonists attempted the same Oriental motives with the material at hand. Their versions were simpler than the English ones, the designs freer and more sketchy, the stitches less elaborately varied. Individually American, also, were the bright colors derived from the natural dyes of the woods and fields. Pale yellow was obtained from exposure of the woolen yarns to the sun, richer shades from sumach, golden rod, hickory bark, and mayweed; brown from walnut bark, purple from oak and maple, red from the cochineal and
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madder which were imported, golden rod and alum mixed with indigo for green. Blues of different shades were obtained by more or less protracted dipping in indigo vats always standing at the back of the house for laundry purposes. The popularity of the indigo dye may account for the blue and white type of work, an example of which is a counterpane worked in blue on a homespun linen sheet, in Tops- field, 1790,24 or the imported Canton ware brought in through the China trade may have inspired it.
Crewel work was used for bed hangings, mantle valances, table covers, and wall pockets, and was popular in both the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1793, Susannah English, of Salem, showed her friends a "specimen of her employment at school, nearly three feet by two, edged with points and tufts upon them, 8 sprigs with balls of gold within the edging, flowerpots and flowers at the lower corners of gold, between them a pot with flowers of Cruel. 2 birds between of gold bodies and one in the centre of the same. Above are worked 2 false pocket holes forming an apron." In The Essex Institute is preserved a piece of embroidery worked in dull colors on ecru linen canvas by Mary Hollingworth, wife of Philip English, a merchant of Salem in 1765.
Embroidered pictures done in petit point were also fashionable in England and copied in America, often worked from English designs. However, Miss Derby, of Salem, had John Singleton Cop- ley's help in making her very elaborate piece in 1765; in a harvest scene full of animation with four differentiated trees, birds, stags and lambs, he painted the faces of the harvesters for her.
Another type of embroidered picture was done in silk floss on satin and other materials, with even more of the composition painted in. One such piece worked by a Salem girl at Miss Peabody's School shows the use of velvet inlay to depict Cornelia and the Gracchi.
Tufted embroidery on bedspreads, candlewick work, netting for canopies, may be minor skills among the arts of embroidery and needlework, but they were extensively made and used and have quali- ties of design as good as the more elaborate forms.
The sampler first served as a record of embroidery stitches and patterns, in place of the rare and expensive pattern books. The earliest samplers were not necessarily worked by young children and
24. G. F. Dow: "Old-Time New England," Vol. XVII, No. 4.
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were elaborate with flowers, birds and animals, and many intricate stitches. The strips of linen on which they were embroidered were narrow in shape because the looms on which they were woven were narrow. Later the samplers took, on the function of a primer for the young; they became wider and took on a border. This is the type of sampler that is typically American.
The sampler of Hannah Johnson, of Newburyport, is an inter- esting one. In the centre was a tree with fruits and flowers, with a bird roosting among them, a cow and a stag on either side, and two other birds, white and black, as large as the beasts; two baskets of flowers are symmetrically arranged, and nearly as large as the tree. Butterflies flit around nearly as large as the birds and the beasts.
This freedom from the restraint of measurements may be a result of Oriental influence ; it is certainly in the interests of the design.
Another sampler of 1787 in the Lee mansion at Marblehead rep- resents Adam and Eve and the tree of knowledge with the snake curled around it. In the same collection, Polly Ellis, aged fourteen, embroidered what may be intended for a story. Reading from left to right a young lady stands with a parasol in her hand; then a house with all the windows carefully embroidered, then a tree, with a bird flying around it, and in the right hand corner a young man bowing to another young lady.
The alphabet, in small and capital letters, and sometimes numerals, are common to nearly all the samplers. For the young girl these may have been meant as a help in learning to read and write, but when done by a more experienced worker, they were used as models of lettering for marking linen.
The same pride in lettering is also found on more durable mate- rial. The stonecutter exhibited his skill similarly. On the gravestone of Dean Parker Noyes, at Newburyport, who died in 1787, is an alphabet cut at the bottom, with samples of letters in capitals and in italic script, for good measure. The gravestone, which is quite unusually elaborate with angels' heads, a border of oak leaves, and scroll decoration, is signed Paul Noyes; he probably cut the alphabet to advertise his ability, for he was evidently well satisfied with his job.
Paul Noyes was a stonecutter of Newburyport who made grave- stones during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. In his inven- tory, 1810, are mentioned thirty-two gravestones valued at $172,
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pieces of marble $2.50, rough stones $6.50, 1,770 feet of freestones $480, stone cutting tools and foils $4.25 The stonecutter was the sculptor of the first two centuries, and these were the materials with which he worked.
The earliest existing stone in the county is said to be that at North Andover, dated 1668. Surviving stones erected before 1725 are rare. James Dickinson died at Rowley in 1705; on his stone is cut in relief a death's head with wings attached and an hourglass. There are other stones in the same burying ground dated 1710-12 and 1722; the same conventional symbol is cut on each : a crude circle for a head, within which are two small circles for eyes, an inverted V for a nose, a straight horizontal line for a mouth.
Death's heads or angels' heads are usually found on almost all the stones of the eighteenth century. An elaborate and grim reminder of the duality of life and death is sculptured in relief on the stone of Mrs. Susannah Jayne, of Marblehead.26 The upper half of a grin- ning skeleton is surrounded by a symbol of eternity, a snake swallow- ing its own tail, and holds in one hand the sun and in the other the moon. The snake is inscribed within a square the two upper corners of which are filled with angels' heads, the two lower contain bats. On top of the frame is an hourglass braced with two carven bones. Scroll-work and moulding complete the memorial. The stonecutter was Henry Christian Geyer, who worked in Boston about the time of the Revolution. County boundaries did not restrict stonecutters any more than other trades and professions.
A more cheerful stone is that of Captain George Jewett, who died at Rowley in 1776. An inscribed verse tells of the alternative suf- ferings or joys to one of which the departed spirit will be alloted according to his nature. The coy set of the head over the verse and the jaunty halo above it leave no doubt to the observer which of the two fates was to be the happy lot of the deceased.
Attempts at portraiture were variants of the commoner symbols. They appear as early as 1720 if the crude cutting on the stone of William Buttolph, of Salem, may be taken for a portrait.27
Undoubtedly the sculptured stone of Mrs. Anna Barnard, 1774, wife of Rev. John Barnard, of Marblehead, was so intended and that
25. S. Perley : "Essex Antiquarian," Vol. III, No. 12.
26. The stone is illustrated by G. F. Dow: "Arts and Crafts in New England."
27. Illustrated by H. M. Forbes : "Old-Time New England," Vol. XIX, No. 4.
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of his colleague, Rev. William Whitwell, 1781, was executed with equal fullness of individual contour and decorative simplicity of clothing. The folds of the robe in the portrait, 1775, of Nathaniel Rogers, in Ipswich, are less precise, but the treatment of facial struc- ture, brow ridges, eyes, nose, mouth and cheekbones, high and nar- rowly placed, even the squaring of the chinbone suggest the same hand. The stone of Rev. Nathan Holt, 1792, is the only one of its kind in the Peabody burying ground. His wigged head is turned fully forward, but his body is turned in three-quarter view in contrast to the square shouldered ingenuousness of the last three mentioned. Very dignified and imposing he is. It seems to have been intended that in death as in life the clergy should impress themselves on the community with all the vigor that local sculpture could command; the best stones ensure that their works shall be remembered.
Sculptures on many stones only appear to be portraits, such as the relief of Judith Thurston, buried in Georgetown, 1788. The body is cut in profile, but the head is turned sharply to look full-faced over the shoulder with fixed stare. The stone of Dorothy Bradford, in Rowley, 1792, is decorated with the same figure and face, apparently not only done by the same stonecutter, but probably with a stencil. Joshua Osborne was buried in Peabody in 1794. His hair rolls in stony curls over his head, wings fit his shoulders like a cape. The modeling of eyes, nose, and mouth give him an expression which once seen is long remembered. It will be remembered, at least, until seeing the portrait of Polly Very, Salem, 1804, whose face is identical. Polly differs in that she has braids which fall in front of her shoulders. She has no wings, but the branches of a weeping willow fall gracefully toward her.
The willow, alone, or in combination with the urn, marks the dividing line between the centuries. The era of imitative classicism invades even the realm of the dead. The stones of the early nine- teenth century were graceful, however, though there is little variety. Stencils seem to have been used invariably, until, toward the middle of the century, when conventions seem to have disappeared, other than the ornate use of marble (rare until 1840). The third generation of the Republic sprinkled its monuments with embellishment, as it sprinkled its architecture, its painting, and itself with superficiality; but this was long after the vital colonial needs had been satisfied.
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The attention given to art while these needs were being satisfied is best observed in a general survey covering a century, roughly from 1730-1830.
By the middle of the eighteenth century great progress had been made in the comforts of living. Craftsmen who had crossed from England found increasing patronage from the colonists during the first hundred years. Local skill had increased with their coming, taste had been formed where previously there had been no time to think consciously of the matter at all. Apprentices who had flourished under local tutelage imparted their knowledge and their local varia- tions to younger men. By the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century there was sophistication, ease, and the conse- quent attention to the arts which expand with leisure.
This leisure appears great by contrast with the years of the Revo- lution when there was hardship. Though refinements may be observed in the surroundings, restraint is evident also. These people are of the same stock as their forebears. Both private and public economy are subject of address; vanity must be watched. As late as 1784 a cor- respondent of the Salem "Gazette" observes that "the extravagances of the present day are fully demonstrated in the broadcloth coats and silk gowns " and after enumerating many similar vices, such as powder, feathers, etc., winds up: "O! the degeneracy of the times !"
This is the reflection of the seventeenth century; this is the race sheltered by sturdy timbered dwelling, which ate from wooden plates, which drank from stout tankards, whose stools and tables had straight stiff legs. But it is more than a reflection, for the source of the image has changed. Vanity is watched with a smile. Looking more intently, one discerns it.
Henry Flynt, in an address to the ladies of North America, in 1762, closes in this manner : "All I think at present that can be rea- sonably expected or desired of you, is to consent to lay aside all super- fluous Ornaments for a Season-after which they shall be surely returned to you again with Interest. You shall be clothed in Purple, and Scarlet, and Fine Linen of your own, and with other glorious Apparel; which, if possible shall add a Lustre to your native
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Charms."28 What a condescension when compared with the stern- ness of a century before !
The tide of maritime prosperity which followed the Revolution and the contact with foreign lands that went with it not only encour- aged this condescension toward vanities but also brought to blossom the outstanding Essex County art, wood-carving. But it is important to note that shipbuilding gave this impetus to a craft which was already established and to a great extent characteristic of the region. Vessels had been built in the county as early as 1641; the wood- workers employed in the yards had turned to other occupations in dull seasons, and the embellishment of furniture and architecture shows their skill.
In the furniture making there was room for the specialist and the cabinetmaker appears in the eighteenth century, added to the numbers of turners or joiners who handled any form of woodwork. Specialization led to the study of construction of the piece, "without relying on the heaviness or solidity of the various members. Thus the vertical supports were reduced to a minimum, delicately turned or carved with curved forms."29 The point to notice here is that these curved and carved forms have evolved from a far plainer structure ; the entire structure has been refined, not merely the surface decora- tion, and this perhaps is the indication of a similar change of personal character. It hints, as much as the observed change in the attitude towards manners, at a new way of thinking of material possessions. In the minds of the people there is a just balance between essential simplicity and essential decoration.
Inventories30 of shops show that most of the furniture was made of species of wood which were then cheap and that it was probably intended for the great class of people of small means. Matthew Severett, of Marblehead, in 1745, had maple valued at 3/5 penny a foot, oak at 3/7 penny, pine at 33, and a specimen of walnut at 31/2 pence, but black walnut belonging to Joseph Symonds, of Salem, in 1769, was worth 8 pence a foot; he also had cherry at 12/3 pence. Mahogany is occasionally listed, but in small amounts; in 1770 it cost 18 pence per foot. In 1776 Oliver Moody, of Newbury (port) had 82 feet of poplar and 52 feet of ash valued at 17 shillings. Poplar
28. Boston "Gazette," November 2, 1762.
29. C. O. Cornelius : "Early American Furniture."
30. Esther Singleton: "The Furniture of Our Forefathers."
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was probably used for cheap chair frames, for half a cord of it is valued at 10 shillings in the Beverly chair shop of John Corning in 1734.
Those who strove to please the wealthier trade were fewer in number, but had greater opportunity to exercise artistic individuality. An example in point is Sewall Short, who died in 1773 at Newbury- port. His total estate was assessed at £897, a sum rather above the fortune of the average artisan. His work must have been of more than ordinary merit, for pieces left unfinished at the time of his death were valued above the normal price for finished work. The following unfinished items were all made of mahogany, which partly accounts for the high valuation, but it also suggests that the furniture must have been well made, for the inferior workman did not ordinarily use expensive materials : A desk and bookcase were valued together at £15; another desk was put at £6-15, and a plain desk at £4-0; a book- case was £4-0, and a plain bookcase was £3-0. Of course, it is impos- sible to estimate to what extent these figures depend on size or work- manship actually performed, but the difference in price between desk and plain desk and between bookcase and plain bookcase possibly indi- cates the extra value set upon superior design and workmanship involved in carving the more expensive pieces.
These furniture craftsmen were influenced to no small extent by Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Sheraton importations, but they were artists enough to redesign on their own account, and accordingly many deserve credit above that given the ordinary copyist. Whether the object of design is a rushbottomed, slatbacked chair, or veneered secretary, design is of a complementary importance to workmanship. One individual who had become artistically conscious of his identity was Joseph P. Goodwin, who advertised, in 1771, that he had set up business in Salem: "He makes best mahogany chairs, couches, easy chairs, sofas, and anything in the chair-making business. N. B. he has got two sorts of chairs made by him which are called as neat as any that are made in Boston."31
Although the Boston craftsmen were apparently esteemed in their own day, the woodworkers of Essex County were as important as any. Their products was sold not only in Essex County and in New Eng- land, but in the South as well. Salem and Marblehead were the recog-
31. E. Singleton : "The Furniture of Our Forefathers."
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nized centers, and from them and other towns nearby production sprang plentifully. Combinations of cabinetmakers are recorded. One of the most enterprising was the partnership formed by the San- dersons, Elijah and Jacob, with Josiah Austin, in 1779. It was in the nature of a cooperative venture to which cabinetmakers, carvers, gilders, turners, upholsterers all contributed. Cargoes of the tables, desks, mirrors, and chairs which they made were shipped twice a year to the South, the West Indies, Africa, and South America. The names of ten contributing cabinetmakers and the interest of each is given in an invoice of 1803. Elijah Sanderson, himself, contributed the furni- ture having the highest value on this occasion; his share amounted to $1,337. His furniture was initialed, indicating its worth and importance, but except for rare instances when this practice was car- ried out, it is impossible to authenticate the furniture; the cooperative nature of the enterprise meant that the design of one was in general the design of all. For example, Daniel Clarke is known to have drawn and cut patterns and to have done carving, turning, and reeding for the Sandersons from 1794-1803. Samuel McIntire, more famous for his houses, did the same at various intervals from 1795-1808.32 And there were many others who billed to the Sandersons for work done.
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