Linen sheet, 1800-1825

Hand-woven linen sheet credited to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816. After he died in 1823, she managed their farm and raised three young sons. Her father, Edward Tyler II, enslaved up to fourteen people. Elizabeth herself enslaved seven people whose labor sustained both the household and the farm. This forced labor enabled the production of textiles like this sheet. It is made from two thirty-eight-inch-wide panels that were hand-sewn together. The edges are unfinished. Eliza and/or enslaved laborers cultivated and processed flax into yarn for weaving. Historical records suggest that an unidentified enslaved woman played a key role in managing the household and supervising other enslaved laborers after Thomas’s death. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving behind three children under the age of eighteen.

The Filson Historical Society Museum Collection

1936.1.11