1828
Dress
Tan mottled cotton print with very fine brown line pattern and white undulating vertical stripes encasing small printed brown leaves. High-waisted dress with open rounded neckline and reinforced center front seam for stiffness, Back is gathered together and tied at the high waist and open neckline that is squared off in the back. set back shoulder seams and fiddle back are very finely piped in self fabric. Bodice is lined in a crude sturdy cotton that buttons up the center back. Slight dropped shoulder and large gigot sleeves that taper below the elbow to the wrist. Sleeves are extra long and would have a slightly gathered forearm. Skirt has uniform 1/4 inch knife pleats around. Three panels of 25” fabric making bottom circumference of 75 inches. Slight tearing damage on right shoulder and left upper chest. Has been repaired. Worn by Joanna Adams, donor’s great great aunt, Wife of Eleazor Smith Jr.
Elizabeth Adams Noyes – born 1918. Her mother’s family was named Smith from Canterbury CT, in the Town of Windham, where they owned a homestead and ran the Smith Mills on the Little River. They had a Saw Mill, and Shingle Mill, Picker Sticks (?), a blacksmith, Woolen Mill. (Also a Cotton Mill?). Garments donated from Edith Joanna Smith Adams, Bettye’s mom, and found in the attic of the Canterbury home. Thought to have been worn by Joanna Smith married to Eleazer Smith, Jr in 1832. Eleazer Smith married Elipha Park and settled in Cantebury, Connecticut running a carding mill and weaving rag carpets from the early 1800s. They started with a grain mill and ultimately turned it into a carding mill that brushed the cotton fibers into aligned groups to be turned into yarn.* The couple had nine children, including Eleazor Smith, Jr, (who married Joanna in 1832) and Oriella, born in 1798, who took over the business upon their father’s death in 1843. Elipha was left the carding mill, the draw loom and thread winder. She had taught her daughter Oriella Smith to weave and make rag rugs by hand and Oriella was a large part of the business as a weaver and rag carpet maker since 1829. From 1843 on Oriella ran the business herself. She could read and write, so she did the book keeping and kept careful records for the profitable business. As of 1844, the household consisted of Oriella, Elipha her mother and Elizabeth Smith her sister. After their father died, Oriella owned one-fourth of the house and 10 acres of land, but after mother died in 1854, Oriella and Elizabeth owned the whole house and 34 acres of land in Cantebury, Connecticut. Oriella’s niece Eliza Baker was also a member of the household and helped with weaving and braiding rag rugs. The rugs were much in demand and a one could be made in one long 10-hour day, so it was a profitable occupation. They had substantial orders for yardage of plain cotton cloth and cotton flannel for as much as 22 yards, 29 yards and 31 yards at a time. They also made coats and did mending, washing and ironing. Elizabeth Smith died in 1859 and her brother Eleazer died in 1862, but Oriella continued on with the business until her death in 1878 at age 80. Upon her death the mill was taken over by Matthew Lester Smith, her nephew and Imogen her daughter in law. The Smiths were such an institution in that area of Cantebury that it is still called “Smith Corners.” The extant photo is of Oriella in 1870 at 72 years old. She is the great, great Aunt of the donor Elizabeth Adams Noyes of Mystic, Connecticut.
Provenance:
Noyes, Elizabeth Adams, Mystic, CT
Construction Label:
hand made
2014C 1828.1
Tan mottled cotton print with very fine brown line pattern and white undulating vertical stripes encasing small printed brown leaves. High-waisted dress with open rounded neckline and reinforced center front seam for stiffness, Back is gathered together and tied at the high waist and open neckline that is squared off in the back. set back shoulder seams and fiddle back are very finely piped in self fabric. Bodice is lined in a crude sturdy cotton that buttons up the center back. Slight dropped shoulder and large gigot sleeves that taper below the elbow to the wrist. Sleeves are extra long and would have a slightly gathered forearm. Skirt has uniform 1/4 inch knife pleats around. Three panels of 25” fabric making bottom circumference of 75 inches. Slight tearing damage on right shoulder and left upper chest. Has been repaired. Worn by Joanna Adams, donor’s great great aunt, Wife of Eleazor Smith Jr.
Elizabeth Adams Noyes – born 1918. Her mother’s family was named Smith from Canterbury CT, in the Town of Windham, where they owned a homestead and ran the Smith Mills on the Little River. They had a Saw Mill, and Shingle Mill, Picker Sticks (?), a blacksmith, Woolen Mill. (Also a Cotton Mill?). Garments donated from Edith Joanna Smith Adams, Bettye’s mom, and found in the attic of the Canterbury home. Thought to have been worn by Joanna Smith married to Eleazer Smith, Jr in 1832. Eleazer Smith married Elipha Park and settled in Cantebury, Connecticut running a carding mill and weaving rag carpets from the early 1800s. They started with a grain mill and ultimately turned it into a carding mill that brushed the cotton fibers into aligned groups to be turned into yarn.* The couple had nine children, including Eleazor Smith, Jr, (who married Joanna in 1832) and Oriella, born in 1798, who took over the business upon their father’s death in 1843. Elipha was left the carding mill, the draw loom and thread winder. She had taught her daughter Oriella Smith to weave and make rag rugs by hand and Oriella was a large part of the business as a weaver and rag carpet maker since 1829. From 1843 on Oriella ran the business herself. She could read and write, so she did the book keeping and kept careful records for the profitable business. As of 1844, the household consisted of Oriella, Elipha her mother and Elizabeth Smith her sister. After their father died, Oriella owned one-fourth of the house and 10 acres of land, but after mother died in 1854, Oriella and Elizabeth owned the whole house and 34 acres of land in Cantebury, Connecticut. Oriella’s niece Eliza Baker was also a member of the household and helped with weaving and braiding rag rugs. The rugs were much in demand and a one could be made in one long 10-hour day, so it was a profitable occupation. They had substantial orders for yardage of plain cotton cloth and cotton flannel for as much as 22 yards, 29 yards and 31 yards at a time. They also made coats and did mending, washing and ironing. Elizabeth Smith died in 1859 and her brother Eleazer died in 1862, but Oriella continued on with the business until her death in 1878 at age 80. Upon her death the mill was taken over by Matthew Lester Smith, her nephew and Imogen her daughter in law. The Smiths were such an institution in that area of Cantebury that it is still called “Smith Corners.” The extant photo is of Oriella in 1870 at 72 years old. She is the great, great Aunt of the donor Elizabeth Adams Noyes of Mystic, Connecticut.
Provenance:
Noyes, Elizabeth Adams, Mystic, CT
Construction Label:
hand made
2014C 1828.1