Description:
Silver cann with a slightly flared lip and bulbous body; applied molded rim; a cast and splayed foot with a center point on the bottom; and a scroll handle with a slight grip at the top and with a molded body drop at upper juncture and disk at lower juncture, and terminating in a tapered integral shield. The cann is marked on the left of the handle "W. Simpkins" with a pellet between in semi-script in a rectangle for William Simpkins (1704-1780); and engraved with the initials "M*C / to / M.C.W." on the handle below the grip. The cann descended in the Ashley family of Deerfield, and the initials are believed to be those of Mary Jackson Cook (1689-1770) and Mary Cook Williams (1752-1831). Mary Jackson Cook raised her nephew, Dr. Thomas Williams (1718-1775), whose mother and her sister, Elizabeth Jackson Williams (1680-1718), the first wife of Ephraim Williams (1691-1754) of Deerfield, died on April 12, 1718, 11 days after Thomas' birth on April 1. It is possible that the cann may have come to Mary Jackson Cook after her husband Daniel's death in 1754, especially since plate valued at 722 pounds is listed in his probate inventory. Mary Cook Williams, the daughter of Dr. Thomas Williams, married Dr. Elihu Ashley (1750-1817), the son of Rev. Jonathan Ashley (1712-1780), in 1775. Elihu Ashley had studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Williams and then left to practice in Worthington, Mass in 1774; he returned to Deerfield when Thomas Williams died in 1775, taking over his office and practice. See the data file for copy of letter (from New York Historical Society Collection) from Abraham Fuller - executor of Mary Cook's will to Dr. Thomas Williams conveying silver cann from the estate of Mary Cook to Mary Cook Williams dated April 24, 1770. See coin scale (HD 67.172) said to have belonged to William Simpkins. Formerly HD L.94.02.
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