Description:
Set of hand-made curtains made of heavy, coarsely woven cotton material edged on center of panels and top valance with a hand-woven single edge fringe 1" wide, which descended from the Dustin family of Candia, New Hampshire (see slippers, HD 2000.37). A type-written note came with the curtains: "Curtains spun, wove, made and used by Mary Buck wife of Moses Duston, and daughter of Johnathan Buck of Haverhill. Jonathan Buck settled in Bucksport, Maine. Loaned by Mrs. Arthur Precott." The seller, Glenn Prescott, was a direct descendent of Moses Dustin (1744-1795), a blacksmith who married Mary Buck (1750-1827) in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1767, and moved first to Chester, New Hampshire, and then Candia, New Hampshire. After the Battle of Lexington in 1775, Moses Dustin was the first person in Candia to sign up. He served first as Lieutenant, then Captain to the end of the war, and was afterwards made Captain of the Alarm List, which gave him a brevet title of Colonel. Their son Moses Dustin (1774-1821/29) married Hannah Dustin (b.1783) in 1801. The curtain panels are cut on the diagonal 30" long, square ends 3 1/2" wide. This diagonal edge meets 7" from top of curtain and is sewn together. The outside edge is selvedge. A valance cut in pointed scallops 6" deep (including fringe) stitched by hand to the under curtain. There is no evidence as to how the curtain was mounted and it is possible it was simply laid over a curtain rod or string where the two pieces are sewn together at the top. A tiny pleat in the center top fits the under panels to the upper valance. The third curtain has been cut down on the sides and torn on the bottom edge. The extra valance is missing some fringe and is detached from the under curtain.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Cotton Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+96.047 |
