Description:
One of two silver teaspoons with upturned fiddle handle with a short mid-rib , rounded shoulders,vand pointed oval bowl, which is marked "W.M. ROOT & BROTHER" in a rectangle and with an eagle in a square and a stamped "P", and engraved "L. Merritt" in script on the front of the handle. The son of Joseph Adams Root (1784-1844) of Otis, Massachusetts, and Apphia Clark Root (b.1796) who married in 1811, Washington Mcdonough Root (1823-1884) of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was in a several partnerships including one with his brother Lawrens Mattoon Root (1816-1864), circa 1856. The letter "P" might be that of Walter M. Pitkin (1808-1885) of East Hartford, Connecticut. The label attached to spoons reads "Lucretia/ Merritt / (1804-1872) b/ Conway MA" on one side and on the reverse "L. Merritt / Aunt Helen Wells's / Field's mother's / sister great aunt / to Royal C Wells." Lucretia Merritt (1804-1872) was the daughter of Simeon Merritt (1762-1829) and Pamela Baker Merritt (1766-1843) of Conway, and described a "single, seamstress." Both Lucretia and Pamela Merritt (1800-1854) of Conway were the sisters of Sarah Merritt Wells (b.1796), the mother of George Merritt Wells (1839-1883) of Deerfield.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2009.26.16 |
