Description: Pewter teapot stamped on the inside base "Crown/ X/ HALE,". Several Hales worked in Bristol, England: "Thomas Hale, son of William, apprenticed to Robert Bush and his wife, Ann, Dec. 12, 1771, and mentioned in 1798; Richard and Thomas Hale, mentioned in Matthews's first Bristol Directory (1793-4) as of The Back, Bristol, and also in 1805" (they were succeeded by Edgar & Son); and Hale & Sons, mentioned in Matthews's Bristol Directory of 1852 and 1870 as of Narrow Wise Street. This teapot was donated to PVMA collection by Mrs. Esther Dickinson, and listed in the Kitchen as "322. Britannia Teapot." The teapot descended through the family of Consider Dickinson (1761-1855), son of Thomas Dickinson (1718-1814) of Deerfield, who bought the "John Williams" house in 1789 from John Williams, Esq. (1751-1816), son of Elijah Williams (1712-1771) who built the house in 1760; the house is now near the Deerfield Academy Administration building. Consider Dickinson had no children from his first marriage to Filana Field (1761?-1831) whom he married around 1785; his second wife, Esther Harding Dickinson (1790-1875), whom he married in 1840, bequeathed a number of family pieces to PVMA on her death and directed that her estate "be applied to the establishment and maintenance of a High Schoool and Library and Reading Room, which shall be located on my Home Lot on Deerfield Street." George Sheldon (1818-1916) prevented the house being pulled down by suggesting that this was the 1707 house built for Reverend John Williams of 1704 renown, which rallied public sentiment around saving the house.
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