Sheraton-inspired mahogany veneer night table with satinwood inlay accents that outline the apron, drawer and keyhole, as well as the legs. The table top has eight sides and surmounts four saber legs that also support a lower inward-curved shelf.
Signature stamp. Thin metal layer mounted on thick piece of wood, attached by small nails. Thin metal has signature of 'James Buchanan' carved out of it in reverse. Wood stained along metal strip from ink
Wine bottle. Brown glass, shallow pontil, seamed shoulder and neck. Cork with red wax to seal mouth. Wine inside almost to shoulder level. Found by volunteers sometime during the early years of the James Buchanan Foundation. Bottle was found in the east end of the basement level in the Wheatland mansion.
Lignum vitas wood caster with round, bowl-like top, pierced for shaking out pounce. Base is ring-turned tapers smaller to broad top, flat bottom. Small, shallow dotted pattern in two bands near bottom. Lip at top has thin groove. Top screws onto base that would be filled with pounce, which is a fine powder made from powdered cuttlefish bone. Pounce was used both to dry ink and to sprinkle on a rough writing surface to make it smooth enough for writing.
Esther 'Hetty' Parker, James Buchanan's housekeeper, chose this among several other household items that Buchanan noted she was to be allowed to choose after his death. Miss Hetty gave this to the daughter of her neighbor. Miss Steckman donated this to the Wheatland collection in 1938.
Family register for Metzger family, hand-drawn, lettered and watercolored, horizontal orientation on wove paper, attributed to Karl Seybold (arctive c. 1813-1846). Format is the English style of register rather than Pa. German. Framed in molded softwood frame with very dark brown finish.
Within an inked double-line border is a grouping at top of rectangles with text re: parents. Father George Metzger born in Conestoga Twp.(1799-1845) and mother Maria Huber Metzger born in Boro of Strasburg (1804-1890), married 1821. Polychrome flowers surround text blocks. Father was Lutheran, mother (daughter of Abraham and Maria Longenecker Huber), apparently Mennonite (unbaptized as a child).
Below text blocks are 8 circles bordered w/ polychrome stylized flowers. Each circle records birth of a child. Birthplaces indicate pattern of residence:1st child born Lancaster Boro (1824), 2nd & 3rd Lancaster Twp (1827-1829), 4th & 5th in Manheim Twp (1831-1833) and last three in Warwick Twp (1836-1841).
Karl F. T. Seybold came to America in 1806, becoming a school teacher in Northampton Co. by 1813. His desire to join the Harmony Society in Ambridge, Pa. was unfulfilled, so he moved with his wife to Lancaster Co. in the 1830s, reportedly at the urging of his mother-in-law. He taught school and apparently lived in a Menno. community, doing mostly birth records and family registers for them (names like Funk, Hostetter, Herr, Kauffman, Huber, Miller, etc.).
Provenance
Unknown provenance before acquisition from sellers. Earnests do list the source of this fraktur as "Der Kurier" 9/93 p. 4. This is the newsletter of the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society, published quarterly in March, June, September, and December. It is indexed in the Periodical Source Index by the Allen County Public Library, Ft. Wayne, Indiana and the Genealogical Periodical Annual Index by Heritage Books Inc, Bowie, Maryland
Old cardboard back has mailing label from L.E. Waterman Co. in New York City to W.H. Corey, Jr. of Owego, N.Y. A 12-cent stamp affixed to corner dates from early 20th century.
Paper soiling, foxing and scattered stains overall; significant moisture stains along bottom right border and smaller ones near center as well as along paper edges. Paper has significant spidery, stained cracks extending inwards from both right and left edges, clustered at center. Each side is repaired on reverse with a 2.5" - 3"-wide vertical band of paper tape, causing the dark staining seen at cracks on front. Vertical paper cracks at fold lines extend in from top and bottom. Frame has been recut to current size and has nicks and moderate wear. Corrugated cardboard backing replaced with acid-free board, Dec. 2004..
