Chair

Object Name:

Chair

Object ID:

2021.014.02

Creator:

Sweat, Samuel (1744-1792)Cabinetmaker

Place of Origin:

Kingston, NH

Date:

1770-1780

Description:

Side chair, one of two. Attributed to Samuel Sweat (1744-1792), Kingston, NH. Country Chippendale style, cherry. Bow-shaped crest rail, square stiles, and pierced, vase-shaped, central splat with horizontal rail above rush seat; plain ears. Front seat rail expands into exposed blocks at ends above legs. Square front legs each with bead at outer corner and broad chamfer on inner corner. Square out-curving rear legs chamfered on inner corners, with front surfaces cut back at angle below side stretchers. Four rectangular stretchers, top of front and side stretchers having a bead at outer edge; back stretcher plain. Pegged construction. Seat is worn, woven rush.

Material:

Wood
Cherry
Rush

Dimensions:

H-38.5 W-21.25 D-17.75 inches

Provenance:

According to Clark family oral history, these distinctively styled and constructed chairs were owned by their ancestor, Amos Clark of Kingston, NH. Their ancestors include three successive generations bearing the name of Amos Clark. The logical candidates for original ownership are Amos Clark (1751-1835) and his wife Hannah Stevens (1753-18 ? ) of Hampstead and Kingston. Attribution to Samuel Sweat (1744-1792) is based on the fact that the chairs are exactly the same style and size, and constructed of the same materials as a chair (1947.010.03) in the Society's collection documented as made by Samuel Sweat and owned by Josiah Bartlett (1728-1795), signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Amos Clark (1751-1835), the son of Amos and Sarah (Kelly) Clark, married Hannah Stevens in 1775. They moved from Hampstead to Kingston in the late 18th century, where they bought a farm and raised a family. The chairs descended through their eldest son, Amos Clark (1776-1839) and his wife Elizabeth Peaslee (1780-1847) of Kingston for five generations to Donald and Priscilla Clark, the last members of the family to reside in Kingston. Amos and Hannah (Stevens) were the great-great-great-great grandparents of the donors.

Documentation of the life and work of Kingston cabinetmaker and joiner Samuel Sweat (1744-1792) comes primarily from Sweat's Journal (1772-1774), Josiah Bartlett's Daybook (1764-1790), and one chair in the collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society. Samuel Sweat, the son of Benjamin Sweat and Abigail Darling, was born in Kingston in 1744. He married Mary Jones (1746-1820) in 1766. During the Revolutionary War he served as a sergeant in Captain Jeremiah Gilman's Company and as an ensign in the Continental Army. Sweat rented a house from Josiah Bartlett and helped him rebuild his house when it burned. Sweat sold him tables, bedsteads, and additional chairs, and worked for him frequently on house construction and repair projects. Furniture listed in Sweat's Journal include chairs, a clock case, buffet, tables, chest of drawers, and beds. By 1790, Sweat and his family had moved to Hallowell, ME, where he farmed, continued his work as a cabinetmaker and joiner, and died in 1792.

Credit Line:

Gift of the children of Donald and Priscilla Clark

People:

Sweat, Samuel (1744-1792), Clark, Amos (1751-1835)

Subjects:

Chairs