Description: Pair of hand-made lace cuffs on cotton mull, which came with a letter from Mary Childs from Nashua, New Hampshire, dated February 8, 1938, to "Dear Florence" and signed "Cousin Mary:" "I went to my boxes of treasures to-day and found these cuffs and am sending them to you. Henry 's own mother made them and she died in 1856 so they are more than 82 years old and very fragile, but will do for a keep sake. No such beautiful work done these days." Born Florence Copeland Stebbins (1888-1966), Florence Stebbins Shaw married Albert Elmer Shaw (1886-1952) in Deerfield in 1913 and then lived in Webster, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Charles Henry Stebbins (b.1859) who married Mary Elizabeth MacMahon (1858-1919) of Providence, RI, in 1880; granddaughter of Evander Graves Stebbins (1821-1885) and Matilda Childs Stebbins (1824-1885) of Deerfield; and great granddaughter of Zebina Stebbins (1797-1879) and Ruby Graves Stebbins (1796-1877) of Deerfield. "Cousin Mary" was probably Mary Dearborn Childs, the wife of Henry Childs (b.1849) who married in 1805 and was known by Florence Stebbins Shaw as "Perterboro Hen." Henry Childs was the son of Amzi Childs (b.1817) who moved from Deerfield to Perterboro in 1841 where he married his first wife, Sarah Dodge Monahan (1820-1856) and was one of the founder of the Perterboro Basket Company in 1854, which is still in business; and the grandson of Henry Childs (1785-1869) of Deerfield and Matilda Billings Childs (1788-1825) whose daugher and Henry's sister, Matilda Childs, married Evander Graves Stebbins.
Subjects: Textile fabrics; Cotton Link to share this object record: https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+96.019.1 |