Description: Man's off-white silk satin waistcoat embroidered in polychrome silks, metallic embroidery, and very small sequins, and with two false pockets, 11 buttonholes, 10 covered wooden buttons, three sets of tape ties on the back for adjustments, and linen backing. The waistcoat has "Dr. Daniel Conrad wedding vest / 1798" written in ink on the inside of the back lining on the left tail, possibly for the marriage of Dr. Daniel Conrad (1771-1808) of Winchester, Virginia, and Rebecca Holmes (c.1776-c.1832) whose marriage date has been given as 1796 and 1788 (see family line below). While it is possible Conrad wore the wasitcoat for his wedding, ti would not have been new then. Conrad may have worn the waistcoat out of familial tradition, perhaps borrowing the garment from an older male relative who himself wore it more than 20 years earlier.The waistcoat came from descendents of Charles Barnard (1781-1869) of Boston and Deerfield. The son of Samuel Barnard (1746-1819) and Abigail Upham Barnard (1745/46-1826) of Deerfield, Charles Barnard moved to Boston where he married his first wife, Sarah [MIddleton] Bent (b.c.1786- d. after 1821) of Milton, Massachusetts, in 1805/6; he married his second wife Eleanor Walker of Boston in 1839. Charles Barnard became a very successful commission merchant in the South American trade in partnership with Israel Munson (1767-1844), and the family belonged to The Manifesto Church in Brattle Square. They also had a house in Milton, which is now known as the Upton House of Milton Academy. The donor John Hedrick, who donated other Barnard family pieces in the HD collection, is a descendent of Charles Barnard through Charles and Sarah's daughter, Anne Middleton Barnard (1821-1878) who married William Augusta Davis (1819-1898) and moved to Winchester, Virginia. Anne and William's daughter, Susan Lyman Davis (1844-1927), married Daniel Burr Conrad (1831-1898), the grandson of Dr. Daniel Conrad; and their daughter Eleanor Barnard Conrad (1883-1950) married Adam Clarke Carson (1869-1941) in 1907. Eleanor and Adam's daughter Susan Davis Carson (1909-1987) married John Sherman Hedrick (1902-1955); their son is the donor, John Adam Hedrick (b.1934).
Subjects: Textile fabrics; Embroidery; Linen; polychrome; Silk Link to share this object record: https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+87.077 |