Browse Items (55 total)
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Compagnie de Colonisation Americaine, stock certificate, 1 July 1820
French stock certificate for one share in the Compagnie de Colonisation Americaine (American Colonization Company). Share is for 100 acres of land in Virginia and Kentucky for an investment of 1300 francs. Yields six percent annual interest. Dividends paid annually over thirty years using the attached coupons. -
Bars quilt
Quilt belonging to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. The quilt has strips of hand-woven cloth believed to have been made locally in Jefferson County, Kentucky, alternating with a commercial indigo print that was imported into the United States. The quilt, the oldest quilt in the Filson's collection, is more than 100 inches long on each side and was completely hand-stitched. Eliza married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816, who died seven years into their marriage in 1822. Eliza then took on the responsibility of managing their farm in addition to rearing her three young sons. Eliza enslaved seven people who provided crucial labor for the success of the farm and household. After her husband died, an unidentified enslaved woman helped Eliza manage the farm. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera leaving her three sons, all under the age of eighteen, to live with her brother. -
Abigail Prather Churchill, needlework sampler, 1828-1830
Samplers were a staple in the education of girls, designed to teach needlework skills needed for household duties. Samples could be symbolic of the girl's culture, religion, social class, or personal accomplishments. Sampler making was seen as the ground work for civic, social, and familial responsibility. This was made by Abigail Prather Churchill the daughter of Abigail Pope Oldham Churchill (1789-1854), around age 11-13 at Nazareth Academy (which is near Bardstown, KY). -
Linen and cotton sheet, circa 1820-1830
An 'M's & O's' patterned sheet made of linen and cotton. The family narratives for this linen sheet states that it was made in 1816 by Betsy Breckinridge Meredith, sister of John Breckinridge. Family narrative also states the flax was grown, spun, and woven by enslaved people on the Winton Plantation. Enslaved women and men were skilled spinners, weavers, and seamstress on the frontier. Their skilled labor made life easier and more comfortable for their enslavers. -
Sheet, 1800-1825
Sheet belonging to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816, who died only seven years into their marriage. Elizabeth then took on the responsibility of managing their farm while also raising her three young sons. Elizabeth enslaved seven people who provided crucial labor that contributed to the success of the farm and household. After her husband died, an unidentified enslaved woman helped Elizabeth manage the farm. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving her three sons, all under the age of eighteen, to live with her brother. -
Sheet, 1800-1825
Sheet belonging to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816, who died only seven years into their marriage. Elizabeth then took on the responsibility of managing their farm while also raising her three young sons. Elizabeth enslaved seven people who provided crucial labor that contributed to the success of the farm and household. After her husband died, an unidentified enslaved woman helped Elizabeth manage the farm. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving her three sons, all under the age of eighteen, to live with her brother. -
Linen coverlet, 1800-1825
Linen coverlet belonging to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816, who died only seven years into their marriage. Elizabeth then took on the responsibility of managing their farm while also raising her three young sons. Elizabeth enslaved seven people who provided crucial labor that contributed to the success of the farm and household. After her husband died, an unidentified enslaved woman helped Elizabeth manage the farm. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving her three sons, all under the age of eighteen, to live with her brother. -
Bedcover (white on white), 1800-1825
Handwoven, linen bedcover belonging to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816, who died only seven years into their marriage. Elizabeth then took on the responsibility of managing their farm while also raising her three young sons. Elizabeth enslaved seven people who provided crucial labor that contributed to the success of the farm and household. After her husband died, an unidentified enslaved woman helped Elizabeth manage the farm. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving her three sons, all under the age of eighteen, to live with her brother. -
Bedspread with trapunto design, 1800-1825
Cotton bedspread belonging to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816, who died only seven years into their marriage. Elizabeth then took on the responsibility of managing their farm while also raising her three young sons. Elizabeth enslaved seven people who provided crucial labor that contributed to the success of the farm and household. After her husband died, an unidentified enslaved woman helped Elizabeth manage the farm. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving her three sons, all under the age of eighteen, to live with her brother. -
Tablecloth, 1800-1825
Handwoven, linen tablecloth belonging to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816, who died only seven years into their marriage. Elizabeth then took on the responsibility of managing their farm while also raising her three young sons. Elizabeth enslaved seven people who provided crucial labor that contributed to the success of the farm and household. After her husband died, an unidentified enslaved woman helped Elizabeth manage the farm. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving her three sons, all under the age of eighteen, to live with her brother. We can’t say with certainty that Eliza made this textile because weaving was generally done by professional male weavers or enslaved men and women. Either Eliza and/or an enslaved laborer may have spun fibers that were cultivated on her farm, and then turned over to a weaver to make into cloth. The woven panels would have then been seamed and hemmed at home. There is evidence there may have been a loom house on one of the neighboring Tyler family farms. -
Pillowcase with drawn work edges, 1800-1825
Cotton pillowcase belonging to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon (1791-1833). Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816, who died only seven years into their marriage. Elizabeth then took on the responsibility of managing their farm in Jefferson County, Kentucky, while also raising her three young sons. Elizabeth enslaved seven people who provided crucial labor that contributed to the success of the farm and household. After her husband died, an unidentified enslaved woman helped Elizabeth manage the farm. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving her three sons, all under the age of eighteen, to live with her brother. -
Silver ladle, circa 1820
Coin silver ladle made by Asa Blanchard, who was one of many skilled artisans who migrated from the eastern states to the Kentucky frontier. Blanchard worked under other silversmiths in Philadelphia and New York, which were highly competitive environments for artisans. The Ohio River Valley offered a new market and opportunity for career advancement. Within a single generation, Kentucky transitioned from a frontier community into a society that supported painters, furniture makers, silversmiths, and other artisans. As middle- and upper-class families obtained financial stability, they purchased luxury goods symbolic of their status. -
Jet Cross Necklace, circa 1825-1862
Mourning necklace belonging to Ann Booth Gwathmey. Women experienced death and loss regularly on the frontier. They often expressed their grief by wearing mourning jewelry. Ann Gwathmey experienced death many times throughout her life. She married Jonathan Clark Gwathmey in 1800 when she was eighteen years old, and he was twenty-six. She was nineteen years old when she gave birth to their first daughter, who died less than six weeks later. During the next twenty-five years, Ann lost both of her parents, two more pre-school aged children, and her husband. In her senior years, two of her adult children preceded her in death. -
Elizabeth Logan Hardin
Elizabeth Logan Hardin (1786-1853) was born on the Kentucky frontier at Logan's Station (also known as St. Asaph's; present Stanford). She was one of nine children of Ann Montgomery and Benjamin Logan, one of Kentucky's early military and political leaders. who fought in the Indian wars of the 1770s and 1780s in the struggle to wrest control of Kentucky from the Native Americans. Elizabeth married Martin D. Hardin on 20 January 1809. At age thirty-nine, Elizabeth became a pregnant widow with three children between the ages of five and thirteen, and a failing farm (near Frankfort) that was $50,000 in debt. Elizabeth ran the farm as a single woman for seven years before she married Porter Clay in 1816. They sold the farm and moved to Illinois, but their strained marriage ended in separation. She returned to Kentucky and died in Shelby County where she is buried. -
Portrait of Martin D. Hardin, circa 1818-1820
Martin D. Hardin (1780-1823) was born in Pennsylvania and migrated with his family to Kentucky in 1786. He studied law under George Nicholas, who is credited with writing Kentucky's first constitution upon becoming a state in 1792. Hardin served as a militia major in the War of 1812 and was a politician. He served as Secretary of State under Governor Isaac Shelby from 1812-1816. He represented Madison County and later Franklin County in the Kentucky Legislature in 1805-1806, 1812, 1818-1820. He also briefly served as a United States Senator, 1816-1817. He was married Elizabeth Logan, daughter of Kentucky pioneer Benjamin Logan, in 1809. They had four children before his death at age forty-three. -
Medical Flora, or Manual of the Medical Botany of the United States of North America, circa 1828
Manual of the medical botany of the United States, containing excerpts about American Maidenhair, common hemlock, common dogwood, yellow ladies' slipper, common strawberry, american pennyroyal, common dandelion, and sweet water-lily. -
A voyage to North America, and the West Indies in 1817
"Encounter with a rattlesnake on the banks of the Ohio" pages 75-83. -
Cincinnati in 1826
Full version of this text available at Cincinnati in 1826.Tags African Americans; banking; boarding school; bridge; buildings; Canal; Christianity; church; climate; college; Colonization; court house; courts; episcopal; exports; female school; finances; fine arts; fuel; government; Hospital; humane society; imports; institutions; insurance; intelligence; jail; jewish; jews; journals; Kidd Fund; land office; Library; literary institution; louisville and portland canal; manufactures; markets; masonic hall; medical; minerals; money; museum; newspapers; pamphlets; population; post-office; prison; public health; real estate; religion; scientific institution; steam-boats; theatre; Women -
Travels in North-America, in the years 1780-81-82
Translated from the French by an English gentleman, who resided in America at the period, with notes by the translator. Also, a biographical sketch of the author, letters from Gen. Washington to the Marquis de Chastellux, and notes and corrections by the American editor. -
Considerations, on some of the matters to be acted on, or worth acting on, at the next session of the General Assembly of Kentucky, 1824
First, the sphere of powers of the Judiciary. Second, the ways and means by which the people may extricate themselves from difficulties and raise to happiness. Includes two extracts from the Morning Post.