Cane

Object Name:

Cane

Object ID:

2025.028

Creator:

Gibney, William (1834-1913) -- Artist

Place of Origin:

Lyndeborough, NH

Date:

circa 1875

Description:

Cane. Twisted dark green glass cane made by William Gibney (1834-1913) at the Lyndeborough Glass Company in South Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, c. 1875. The glass is mostly opaque and has a small crooked handle and slight taper to the shaft.

Material:

Glass

Dimensions:

H-28.5 W-2.75 D-0.75 inches

Provenance:

From the Estate of Priscilla and David Hurlin, Antrim/Jaffrey, NH.

The Lyndeborough Glass Company incorporated in 1866 and began producing glass in 1867 in South Lyndeborough, New Hampshire. The company's products included bottles, jars, flasks, carboys, insulators, and decorative canes. It closed in 1886 but reopened under the name of the Crystal Glass Company, and operated until 1888 producing solely Puritan jars.

The cane has a small accompanying envelope labeled "glass cane" and contains a handwritten note reading "May 18-19-29 / This cane was made by / William Gibney Sr. in the South / Lyndeboro glass factory / and was given to Annie / Woodward Weston about 1875 / In 1909 she gave it to / William Henry Hurlin / Given by him to David Dyer Hurlin / 1955."

Born in New York City in 1834, William Gibney married Sarah Jane Cutter in Montague, Massachusetts, in 1861. The couple first lived in Westford, Massachusetts, before moving to Sarah's hometown of Stoddard, New Hampshire, about 1863, where she gave birth to their second and third children. In the 1880 census the family lived in Lyndeborough, where William worked as a glass blower. Around 1882 the family moved to Antrim, where by the 1900 census William worked for a cutlery manufacturer. He was still working in that trade in the 1910 census. William died of heart disease in 1913.

The identity of the first identified owner of the cane, "Annie Woodward Weston," is likely Christiana Emeline Woodward Weston (1863-1943), who was born in South Lyndeborough and lived there through at least 1882 when she married a farmer from a neighboring town. The recipient in 1909, William Henry Hurlin (1893-1972) of Antrim, was a grandson of William Gibney, and the son of Mary Mernetta Gibney (1864-1938) and her husband Henry Albert Hurlin (1857-1949). As the note states, William H. Hurlin gifted the cane to his son, David Dyer Hurlin (1925-2005) in 1955. David died in 2005, and following his wife Priscilla Proctor Hurlin's death (1929-2024), their estate consigned the cane to auction.

Credit Line:

Gift of William W. Upton

People:

Gibney, William (1834-1913)

Subjects:

Glass, Glass industry, Glass working, Glassworking, Glassworkers