Description:
The ownership history of this side chair suggests manufacture in Daniel Clay's shop. The lender is a direct descendant of Elijah Alvord, Jr. (1777-1840), the original owner of this chair. Alvord was an attorney whose office was a few blocks north of Clay’s shop on Federal Street in Greenfield. Clay made Pembroke or breakfast tables with drop-leaves and pierced stretchers with a pattern similar to the chair slats. After 1802, Clay was the only cabinetmaker in town, and such a fine but simple chair would unlikely have been purchased from an out-of-town cabinetmaker. Additionally, Alvord and Clay were related. Alvord’s aunt Hannah was the mother of Clay’s wife, Lucinda, making Clay and Alvord cousins by marriage.

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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+L2017.2

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