Description:
Mourning picture done silk embroidery and watercolors with the tomb, which is surrounded by a willow and cypress trees and a swan floating in the water in the foreground, and has in its center, the inscription, "In Memory of / Mr. Asahel Ansden, / who died Aug. 1, 1797, aged 55./ and of Mrs. Mary Ansden, / who died Dec, 26, 1801, AE. / 56." "EMBROIDERY by AMANDA AMSDEN, DEERFIELD 1807." in gold on black is printed across the bottom. In its only reference to Amanda Amsden (1781-1860), "The History of the Town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, from its Settlement in 1742-1910" notes that "Miss Amanda Amsden and others lived in the house owned by the Smiths." Amanda Amsden was the daughter of Asahel Amsden (1741-1797), who had been born in Deerfield and moved to Ashfield, and Mary Ward Amsden (1745-1802) who married in 1768. Amanda is likely the same individual as "Mendee Amsden," daughter of Asahel and Mary Amsden, who was baptized 14 October 1781 at Ashfield. It is probable that Amanda never married, as her 1860 death record lists her as a "maiden." Amanda died at Ashfield 18 October 1860, and was buried in Ashfield's Plain Cemetery. Later in life, Amanda possibly lived with her niece, Jerusha Montague (1797-1835), the daughter of her older sister, Jerusha Amsden Montague (1773-1819) who married Ebenezer Montague (1768-1809) in 1793. Jerusha Montague married Justus Smith (1790-1846) of Ashfield in 1820, and named her daughter, Amanda (1821-1822). Census records indicate, however, that Amanda Amsden resided on her own in Ashfield from 1840 to her death in 1860. See also sampler (HD 2006.32.2) made by Amanda Amsden and the cutwork silhouette (HD 2006.34.1) of Amanda.
Tags:
mourning Link to share this object record:
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