Description:
Watercolor family register of the Dennis Stebbins (1778-1842) of Deerfield and his wife, Lois Hawks Stebbins (1781-1862), in the original grain-painted frame, done by Almira Edson. Born in Halifax, Vermont, Almira Edson's family moved to Colrain, Mass. around 1810. Almira may have been a school teacher there, and was apparently in the care of the Overseers of the Poor in Colrain prior to 1841, when she joined the John Humphrey Noyes' Perfectionist Community in Putney, Vermont. She was expelled from the community after her unapproved marriage to John Lyvere in 1842, when they moved to Vernon, Connecticut. The Stebbins married in 1800, and had 11 children, whose names and births are registered. Although the last entry on the register is for the youngest child, Sophia, on May 9, 1821, the register was probably not painted until 1835. This date is based on label of the framer, George Washington Mark of Greenfield, Massachusetts, dated December 28, 1835, and its similarity in style to two other registers from 1837-1838. Edson's family register for the Clarks is currently owned by the New-York Historical Society, and the Niles Family register sold at Skinners auction in 2018, and one done for Oliver and Olive Wilkinson. The James and Jane Clark register is signed "Executed by Almira Edson, Halifax, Vt." and all other registers have been ascribed to Edson based on stylistic similarities.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+83.125 |
