Description:
According to the Records of the 2nd Congregational Church in Deerfield (South Deerfield), on July 17th 1818, Dennis Arms and John Anderson were appointed a Committee to procure furniture for the Communion Table. This Committee was instructed to prepare a subscription paper to raise money to pay for sd [said] furniture." Circular cast and lathe turned pewter basin for use in church baptisms, the bowl has a beaded rim, followed beneath by an outward molded rim, curving sides, to a narrow neck to the base, and flared foot, the basin is not decorated or engraved, stamped on the underside of the base the basin, "X" and incuse mark "TD&SB" in a rectangle for Thomas Danforth and Sherman Boardman. Condition: interior of basin is very water marked and has darker splotches.
Label Text:
This basin, used for the baptism of children, formed part of the church pewter owned by the South Deerfield Congregational Church. In Protestant New England a strong belief in the necessity of infant baptism to protect the soul if the child should die prevailed. Even during the coldest days of winter, parents took their newborns to be baptized the first Sunday following their birth. Samuel Sewall (1652–1730), a Boston judge and diarist, wrote in January 1694, "A very extraordinary storm [today] by reason of the falling and driving of Snow. Few women could get to Meeting. A Child named Alexander was baptized in the afternoon."
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2016.33.2 |
