Description:
Round mourning locket with the initials "C.A." inscribed in script on the front center, and "A.M.A." inscribed on the back, which belonged to Amanda M. Colton Alexander (1814-1899). The locket case, which may have been originally for a pocket watch, has two hinged lids with good quality chasing. On one side is an arrangement of lighter and darker brown hair locks arranged in a trelliswork pattern under glass; and a picture of a young girl wearing a gingham dress and a locket and looking at the camera on the other. A note came with the locket: "Locket of Amanda Colton Alexander bears initials of her husband and herself. Inside is a picture of their daughter, Edda, and hair from the two children. (Note the two shades)" (see family history below). The son of Isaac Colton (1760-1803) and Elizabeth Calkins Colton (d.1811), Richard Colton (1787-1872) was born in Wilbraham, Massachusetts; married Betsy Hale (1791-1865) of Enfield, Connecticut, in 1808; and moved to Northfield. Mass., in 1811. Richard was a plow and wagon maker, skilled surveyor, and active in civil affairs as a Northfield selectman, Representative in the Legislature in 1827, Justice of the Peace and County Commissioner. Richard and Betsy had six children: Eli Hale (1809-1882) who married Cynthia Terry (1813-1889) of Enfield in 1838; Eliza (1811-1891) who married George Alexander (1805-1887) of Northfield in 1834; Amanda M. (1814-1899) who married Charles Alexander (1810-1892) of Northfield in 1845, whose two children, Charles Morrell (1848-1848) and Edda (1851-1862) whose hair and Edda's picture is in the locket; Alonzo (1816-1890) who married Sophronia Brewster (1821-1901) of South Hanson, Mass., in 1852, and moved to Hanson; Edwin Williams (1831-1862) who married Mary S. Newton in 1860; and Edwin's twin brother, Edward Wells (1831-1887) who married Susan Maxwell Heard (1837-1874) in 1861, and Fanny Matilda Warriner (1838-1917) of Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1877. Edward Wells and Susan Colton had three children: Everett Wells (1862-1929); Maria Heard (1864-1934) who married Newton Keet; and Joseph Richard Colton (1869-1952) who married Ada Newell Starr (1876-1979) in 1899 and continued to live in East Northfield. Joseph Richard Colton worked as a clothing agent of Wanamaker & Brown of Philadelphia, insurance agent, surveyor, entrepreneur, etc. Joseph and Ada Colton had three children: Florence Amanda (1899-1979); Evangeline Darrow (1904-1979) who married David Craven Cook in 1934; and Priscilla Maxwell (1908-1987) who married Harold James Carroll of NYC in 1908. This brooch descended through the family to Maria Cook Rogers, the daughter of David and Evangeline Colton Cook. Gold repair cleaning inscription with weight inside.
Label Text:
Jewelry containing a deceased child’s hair kept their presence physically close and sustained their memory. The locket belonged to Amanda Colton Alexander (sister of Eliza Colton Alexander) who also lived in Northfield, Massachusetts. Within the locket is the photograph and hair of her daughter Edda (1851-1862), who was eleven years old when she died.
Tags:
mourning Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2008.25.5 |
