Upholstered wingback commode chair has four turned Sheraton legs. Has replacement of original soiled handsewn homespun linen (remnants in this file), now an orange fabric with potted and vining flower design. Solid pinewood seat under cushion has center hole with fitted removable wooden disc.
This chair was from the Pownall home at Gap, where it was used by Dickinson Gorsuch, Maryland slaveholder, during his recovery from wounds sustained during the Christiana Riot of Sept. 11, 1851. His father and two others were killed during the skirmish at the home of freedman William Parker, and Dickinson was transported to the Pownall home for recovery. William Parker later published his story in the "Atlantic Monthly" in 1866, making it highly publicized.
This incident "is an important example of the struggle over the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act and the escalating tension between the North and the South. This act gave slave owners broad powers to recapture runaway slaves". (ExplorePAhistory.com)
Polaroid photos of chair before re-upholstery, in file.
Likely Lancaster or Chester Co.
Provenance
Provenance: Chair owned by the Pownall family & given in 1973 to the Lancaster County Historical Society by Mrs. Levi Pownall of Lancashire Hall (569-7279).
It was initially loaned to the Heritage Center (# L.77.9 and # 161.64.80) but soon donated to HCLC. Board minutes of Dec. 8, 1975 include Richard F. Smith's Museum Committee report noting a donation of a "Sheraton armed wing chair commode, used by the Pownall home in nursing Dickinson Gorsuch following Christiana Riot in 1851." Later unsigned note (Bruce Shoemaker?) states John Aungst of LCHS was consulted & chair was removed 11/9/84 from list on LCHS loan form, settling an apparent question of ownership.
Corn knife used by one of the Black resistors in the Christiana Riot on September 11, 1851. Wrought iron long curved blade of 19.5" is fitted into oak or ash turned handle rounded terminal end. Tang of blade extends through length of handle and protrudes at terminal where it is clinched.
The Christiana Resistance resulted from the efforts of a Maryland slave holder to claim fugitives hiding in the home of Willam Parker, a free black man living in Chritiana, PA. This corn knife was used by one of the black resistors during this confict. The bloody confrontation, occurring in September of 1851, resulted in the death of Edward Gorsuch, the slaveholder, and the escape of William Parker and the fugitive slaves to freedom in Canada.
This picture was taken in 1913. I paid 7 dollars 34 cents for it. I was 15 years & 3 months old when I enlisted in the year 1864 at which time it was first taken at Carlisle, Penna. John L. Hackman.
Oscar Hackman gave it to me Sarah E. Warner, Nov. 6, 1957. Oscar is 89 years old now [and in] April 1958 he will be 90 years. One son and one daughter of John and Sarah Hackman had. Oscar is John's son, Lizzie Stiner, sister of Oscar, [is] 85 years old 1957.
I was named after John's wife Sarah Elizabeth Neissinger Hackman. My grandma was Sarah's sister, Fiona Neissinger Hollinger. Oscar is the last of [the] family of Hackmans. I am on the Hollinger-Neissinger side of family. Great Aunt Sarah (?), Oscar's mother __ __ is also the discharge of 1865 of John L. Hackman here ___ time 1957.
Linen edging around pale red frame. Adhered to a cream colored fabric within frame are eight (4 inch x 3 inch) watercolor paintings. 5 sets of Asian men (1 enthroned in middle) and 3 sets of women in Asian dress, mostly upper class.
One of three framed by The James Buchanan Society in 1938.
Date Range
1840s
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
DAC
Storage Wall
Island 5
Storage Cabinet
Unit 46
Storage Shelf
Shelf 4
Object Name
Picture
Object Names
Paintings of Asian Men and Women
Material
Fabric, Wood
Height (cm)
46.6725
Height (ft)
1.53125
Height (in)
18.375
Width (cm)
50.8
Width (ft)
1.6666666667
Width (in)
20
Condition
Fair
Condition Date
2000-08-10
Object ID
W.1938.004.003
Notes
Painted Asian people on small oblongs of bamboo pith. They are painted with heated paint with a small brush (perhaps only two or three hairs). The heated paint on the bamboo gives the raised effect that looks like embroidery.
Pieced quilt of silks, cotton batting, glazed cotton back, cut in 2 halves, made by Quaker Deborah Simmons Coates, wife of Lindley Coates (1794-1856). Has 19 horizontal bands of dress silks (many produced by Harmonist Community) in alternating triangles arranged in Birds in the Air or Flying Geese pattern using the template method. Large triangles of varying patterns alternate with large triangles with 3 smaller appliqued triangles of contrasting patterns. Colors are browns, tans, beiges, electric and royal blue, peach and green. Each quilt half has a green silk binding on the three outside edges, and tan silk on the inner vertical cut edge. Quilting patterns are clamshell, diamond, cross in a square and diagonals.
At quilt center is a cream-colored triangle with an abolitionist stamp depicting a kneeling enslaved Black male in chains over the words: "Deliver me from the oppression/ of man." This stamped triangle was cut in two when quilt was divided; image now hidden by modern binding. According to Cuesta Benberry research, this image of a kneeling enslaved person originated with the English ceramic firm of Wedgwood in the late 1700s. See items 08.242 and 42.76.11 in the collectiosn of Metropolitan Museum of Art for seals with a similar motif. The Wedgwood family were ardent abolitionists, decorating various ceramics with this image, resulting in its rapid adoption by American anti-slavery groups. Used in many forms and media over the years, it remains the logo of the still-existing Pennsylvania Abolition Society and appears on organization's official publications.
Lindley and Deborah Coates, of West Grove, Chester Co., married there on 12/16/1819 but lived near Christiana in Sadsbury Twp., Lancaster Co. They attended Sadsbury Friends Meeting House near Christiana. Ardent abolitionists, their home was what is now designated station #5 on the Underground Railway. Lindley became President of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1840, before William Lloyd Garrison. Deborah Coates became a Hicksite Quaker minister according to historian Beverly Wilson Palmer. Hicksites were the more radical Quakers, named after leader Elias Hicks.
Provenance
Quilt passed to son Simmons (1821-1862) & wife Emeline Jackson. (Deborah Coates lived w/ widow Emeline on her Chester Co. farm (Evergreen Hall in West Grove) for many years following Simmon's 1862 death. See census records). Descent to their daughter Elizabeth Jackson Coates who married Marriott Brosius, U.S. congressman from Lancaster. The quilt was then divided between their two daughters, donor's maternal grandmother Graceanna Brosius Biddle and her sister Gertrude Coho Reinhartson. The two halves were then reunited when given to donor, Marjorie Ayars Laidman. Deborah S. Coates was donor's great great great grandmother.
Overall good condition. Two halves of quilt (with recent inside binding on cut edges) are "mounted" on cotton muslin, side-by-side. Silks show significant deterioration -- cracking, splitting and abrasion -- with some losses. Binding also has deterioration with some losses. (See 1985-86 condition report by conservator Linnea Davis.)
Documented in Quilt Harvest #448-B (records in Archives).
Object ID
G.86.05
Place of Origin
Sadsbury Twp.
Credit
Gift of Marjorie A. Laidman, Heritage Center Collection
Ribbon from the 10th reunion of the veterans of the 45th Pa. Volunteers held at State College, PA on 26 September 1919. Likely attended by Blanton C. Welsh.
Provenance
Provenance: Passed down through the family, Blanton Charles Welsh to Emilie Benson (Welsh) Wiggin to Nancy Jane (Wiggin) Townsend.
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This ribbon was in an envelope which contained item numbrs #24-#31.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Long Rifle; percussion cap; curly maple stock; iron barrel stamped "H. GIBBS" on top of barrel. Brass fittings and patch box. Some rust on iron and brass parts. Approximately .40 caliber muzzle. 44" barrel with an overall length of 61 inches.
See notes for information on Gibbs.
Provenance
Purchased by donor (Walt Dunlap) at auction in Lancaster County in 1956.
Henry Gibb Sr. and his son Henry Gibb were Lancaster City gunsmiths active for most of the nineteenth century. The father from 1812 until 1843 and the son from 1843 until 1880.
Place of Origin
Lancaster
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Small teacup (A) and saucer (B), white-bodied china. (A) Round teacup has scalloped base including four projecting feet. Rises with an inward curve before curving outward at lip.decorated with applied dark blue petals flanking a circle of applied light blue-painted flowers centering in gold-stampled lettering: " Souvener/ of/ Lancaster/ Pa." Body has molded flowers embossed around top and branch-like handle applied at side. Gold painted trim on one side of handle, the lip, and applied flowers as well as three stamped flowers at each side.
(B) Saucer (4 3/4" dia.) has embossed foliate design on top; small foot ring. Gold painted line on outer edge and inner line circle at central depression. Does not match teacup and may be a later addition.
(A) Teacup stamped on bottom with a crown over a shield with the monogram of "TGC"(?). Impressed nearby is a number, possible "1912" or "1917". (B) Saucer is stamped "MADE IN GERMANY" within a circle. The number "50" is stamped in gold.
Provenance
Donor believes this set was purchased at Woolworth's store in Lancaster.
A: (Cup) Purple transfer print with inside border. There's an Asian scene on the bottom center of cup with two people in the left foreground and a man on an elephant is behind them on the right. Water with buildings and mountains in background. On the exterior border: 2 scenes, both the same, with elephant, rider and two men standing in front of the elephant. Floral border on bottom outside edge. Stickers on back: "SD/#50" and "H 268."
B: (Saucer) Top edge is bordered with three scenes, all the same, with elephant, rider and two men standing in front of the elephant. Center is edged in floral print around scene with two people in the left foreground and a man on an elephant is behind them on the right. Water with buildings and mountains in background.
A: (Cup) Purple transfer print with inside border. There's an Asian scene on the bottom center of cup with two people in the left foreground and a man on an elephant is behind them on the right. Water with buildings and mountains in background. On the exterior border: 2 scenes, both the same, with elephant, rider and two men standing in front of the elephant. Floral border on bottom outside edge. Sticker on back: "SD/#50."
B: (Saucer) Top edge is bordered with three scenes, all the same, with elephant, rider and two men standing in front of the elephant. Center is edged in floral print around scene with two people in the left foreground and a man on an elephant is behind them on the right. Water with buildings and mountains in background.
