Old Bible Yields New Discoveries: Part I

The collection at Clarke House Museum contains a large family bible, acquired in 1983, which was a gift from the Evanston Historical Society as NSCDA-IL sought items to fill the period rooms being restored on the museum's first floor. The bible, published 1835 by H. & E. Phinney, Coopertsown, New York, came to the museum with no provenance. The accession record gives little more than a brief physical description and notes the bible “contains family records of the Solmes family, residence unknown”. No research was ever done on the Solmeses and the bible became an overlooked fixture on the parlor étagère, blending into the overall exhibit.

A Canadian family's history is hidden between the pages of an overlooked artifact on display at Clarke House Museum.

  Solmes Family Bible in the collection of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Illinois at Clarke House Museum.

During a recent collections inventory it was discovered that the Solmes bible contained more than just the family record. At the front of the bible, glued inside the cover, were two blue and gold foil heraldic shields next to which was written “Barker Family Crest.” On the opposite fly leaf, written in pencil, “D. B. Solmes Book Feb, 8th 1869”. Tucked between its pages, untouched for decades, were an 1851 memory verse slip from the Wesleyan-Methodist Church, several c.1880 newspaper clippings of sermons by Rev. Dr. Talmage of Brooklyn, New York ; and a letter dated October 8, 1880; and — all clues to the story of D. B. Solmes and his family.

Treasures found just inside the front cover. Above: Text next to the shields reads "Coat of Arms or Crest of the Barker family." Below: "David Barker Solmes Book Feb 8th 1869" written in pencil on the fly leaf.  Someone, perhaps a child, attempted to replicate the capital "D".

Part I:  The Barker-Solmes Family

David Barker Solmes, the owner of the bible, was born May 20, 1817 in Solmesville, Ontario, Canada to Richard Solmes (1787-1867) and Lydia Cronk Barker (1783-1851). He was named for his maternal grandfather, David Barker (1730-1821), a native of "New Port," Rhode Island. The elder David had grown up on a120-acre New Port estate, the second generation of Barkers to be born in the colonies. He married Lydia Shove (1746-1804), also a Rhode Islander, on March 11, 1762 in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts. The couple set up house back in New Port where they welcomed their first nine children: Samuel Shove (1763), Asa (1765), Edward (1766), David (1768), Pheobe (1770), James (1772), Elizabeth (1774), Sarah (1776; delivered in Dartmouth, Massachusetts), and Rebecca (1779). The growing family moved to Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York around 1780 where son Abraham (1781) and daughter Lydia Cronk (1783), the mother of David Barker Solmes, were born.

David Barker (1737-1821), colonial loyalist and maternal grandfather of the bible's original owner David Barker Solmes. Sketch is believed to have been based on a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Photo courtesy of the Barker family page on RootsWeb.

David Barker was a loyal subject of the British Crown and a devout member of the Anglican church. During the Revolutionary War, Barker supplied provisions to the British forces. Once this act was discovered, his property in Poughkeepsie, New York was confiscated by supporters of independence. Barker decided to join Major VanAlstine's party of Loyalists and remove to Canada in 1783 at the age of 51. His wife and the elder children accompanied him and the family departed from New York harbor September 8, 1783. The journey to an unsettled part of the Canadian countryside would be long and arduous. Fearing for the well-being of their younger children, the Barkers left them in the care of with relatives in the newly formed United States. Lydia Cronk Barker, just a year old when her family emigrated to Canada,  was one of the children left behind. According to family history she and her siblings grew up in either Poughkeepsie, New York or New Fairfield, Connecticut. The Barkers' last child, a son named Caleb (1786), was born two years after the family had settled into their new home in Ontario.

Although his property in Poughkeepsie, New York had been confiscated, Barker still had substantial means.  He brought seventeen thousand dollars with him and, although being near the point of embarrassment when he left New York, was able to bring along some valuable family heirlooms  including a Scotish-made clock and cabinet with secret drawers. These both are still owned by Barker descendants today. Each member of Major VanAlstine's party received 200 acres of land which they drew by ballot. David Barker's allotment was an area in Adolphustown, Lennox-Addington County, Ontario located between Hay Bay and the Bay of Quinte in the third concession, which became known as Barker's Point (now Thompson's point). David Barker first built a small log house, then erected a larger home along with other outbuildings which is believed to still stand today.

An early 20th century photograph of what is believed to be the Barker home in Ontario, Canada built c.1785-90.  
Photo courtesy of the Barker family page on RootsWeb.

A generous father, Barker gave each of his daughters, whether married or single, a large farm in Prince Edward County, Ontario. Daughter Lydia Cronk Barker eventually joined the family in Ontario and married her first husband Rueban Cronk who died sometime before 1814, giving her no children. At age thirty-one Lydia married Richard Solmes (1787-1867), a local farmer, on November 16, 1814. Richard and Lydia set up housekeeping in the village of Solmesville, part of Sophiasburg, Prince Edward County, Ontario. The couple welcomed their first three children: Rueban Cronk (1815), David Barker (1817), and Mary (1819). In 1821, the patriarch of the family, grandfather David Barker, died at his home at Barker's Point at age ninety-one. Two years later, Richard and Lydia Solmes completed their own family with the birth of daughter Lydia Margaret in 1823.

Monument to David Barker and Lydia Shrove erected by the United Empire Loyalists in the Old Meeting House Yard of the Adolphustown Friends. Photo courtesy of the Barker family page on RootsWeb.

David Barker Solmes  grew up to become a farmer and member of the Wesleyan-Methodist Church. He married Susan Lazier (1818-1853) on October 2, 1838 at Prince Edward Island, Ontario. The bible was probably presented to the couple as a wedding gift. On September 14, 1841 David and Susan welcomed their first child, a daughter, named Olive Rebecca. The young Solmes family attended the Wesleyan-Methodist Church in Demorestville, a small village of 300 within the township of Sophiasburg, Prince Edward County, Ontario. The congregation sat under the spiritual instruction of Irish-born minster Reverend William Pooley (1820-1896). [Learn more about Rev. Pooley and the Solmes family's spiritual life in Part 2.]

Susan and David welcomed a son, David Bishop Solmes, January 12, 1853. Unfortunately, baby David only lived five months and fourteen days, dying June 26, 1853. His mother, Susan Lazier Solmes passed away just two months later on August 8th. Left a widower with a twelve-year-old daughter, David Barker Solmes was remarried June 15, 1854 to Mary Eliza Stimson (1832-1900) in Hallowell, Ontario. The couple had seven children: Sarah Jane (1854), Jennie (1856) Rueban Clayton (1858), Franklin Stephenson (1860), a son with initials JWM (1860), Lillian M. (1863) and Richard Russell (1866). David Barker Solmes died at age eighty-two in Solmesville, where he had spent his entire life, on January 30, 1900. His widow, Mary Eliza, lived just six more years before passing away April 14, 1906.

The Solmes family bible passed to David Barker Solmes’ eldest daughter, Olive Rebecca Solmes. She is the addressee of the 1880 letter found within its pages and probably the one who tucked the Talmage sermons inside for safekeeping. [More on these items in Part 3]. It is yet unknown how the bible made its way to Illinois and into the collection of the Evanston Historical Society. The only connection to the Chicago area found to date is through Lydia Margaret Solmes Caniff, David's younger sister, who died in Chicago April 24, 1900. Lydia is probably the "Auntie Caniff" referred to in the 1880 letter written to Olive. The bible has a $5.00 price mark on its fly leaf and may have been picked up at a sale before it was accessioned into the Evanston Historical Society's collection.

Today, the Solmes family bible is on exhibit in the Clarke House Museum parlor. The bible's family registers and other contents can be viewed in person by appointment. If you have additional information on David Barker Solmes and/or his descendants, please contact Clarke House Museum at info@clarkehousemuseum.org.

New Acquisition: Pink Lustreware Tea Set

Pink lustreware tea service c.1820-30 now in the collection of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Illinois, housed at Clarke House Museum.

Clarke House Museum recently received an English pink lustreware tea service c.1820-30. The set is almost complete with eleven cups an saucers, cake plate, serving bowl, sugar bowl, and teapot.  The Staffordshire porcelain features a transfer print design accented by lustre banding.

Lustre is a form of decoration that can be applied to any form of ceramic goods, whether earthenware or porcelain. The design is formed in metal, then dissolved in acid and applied as a thin film on top of the glaze. This can be brushed on or applied through a dipping process.When fired, the oxidized metal in the lustre solution is reduced to its original metallic form. When gold was used as the lustre metal on a light colored background it took on a pink sheen, as seen in the pieces here.

Sugar bowl and Creamer

Lustre was often combined with transfer printing. The design was first engraved on a copper plate to which a warmed printing ink would be applied. The plate would be wiped leaving ink only within the engraved lines. Next the copper plate was pressed evenly into strong tissue paper, picking up a mirror image of the design. The tissue paper was then applied directly to glazed pottery or porcelain transferring the design to the piece. Next the object, with tissue still attached, was submerged in cold water to harden the ink and wash the paper away. Hand-applied enamel colors might then be applied before finally being fired in a kiln.

Teapot

Detail of Transfer Print

Nearly all fine china goods used in the United States during the early nineteenth century were imported from England. Mrs. Clarke might have received a tea service like this as a wedding gift upon her marriage to Henry Brown Clarke in 1827 and it is likely that the Clarkes owned at least one piece of lustreware when they set up house in Waterville, New York. This tea service will go on display in the study later this month. Be sure to look for it on your next visit to Clarke House Museum.

A Taste of History: Recipe of the Week #4

All recipes featured in A Taste of History are taken from Modern Cookery, In All Its Branches edited by Mrs. S. J. Hale, 1852 from the collections of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Illinois housed at Clarke House Museum.

Still Life With Peaches, Grapes, and Insect by Theodor Mattenheimer, 1834.

Peach Salad

Pare* and slice half a dozen fine ripe peaches, arrange them in a dish, strew them with pounded sugar*, and pour over them two or three glasses of champagne*: other wine may be used but this is best. Persons who prefer brandy can substitute it for wine. The quantity of sugar must be proportioned to the sweetness of the fruit.

Modern Conversions
*pare = peel

*pounded sugar = confectioner's/ powdered sugar

*sparkling grape juice may be substituted for champagne for the temperant or youthful

A Taste of History: Recipe of the Week #2

All recipes featured in A Taste of History are taken from Modern Cookery, In All Its Branches edited by Mrs. S. J. Hale, 1852 from the collections of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Illinois housed at Clarke House Museum.

Stay cool as a cucumber with this tasty 1850s recipe!

Mandrang, or Mandram; (West Indian Receipt.)

Chop together very small, two moderate-sized cucumbers, with half the quantity of mild onion; add the juice of a lemon, a saltspoonful or more of salt, a third as much cayenne, and one or two glasses of Maderia, or any other dry white wine. This preparation is to be served with any kind of roast meat.

Modern Conversions

saltspoonful = aprx. 1/2 tsp.

New Acquisition: Niagara Falls Lithograph, 1827

Clarke House Museum is pleased to announce a new addition to the collection of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Illinois. Niagara Falls from the American Side is a hand-colored lithograph after an original sketch by French artist  Jacques G. Milbert, published in Paris in 1827. This drawing is from his "Itineraire Pittoresque du Fleuve Hudson" or Picturesque Route of the Hudson River, a series of sketches Milbert made in 1825 while he was in the United States surveying for the Erie Canal.

Henry and Caroline Clarke honeymooned at Niagara Falls following their marriage in 1827. According to daughter Caroline Clarke Forman, who filled out an Emma Willard School alumni survey form for her late mother, the Clarkes' travel companions were Mr. and Mrs. William H. Seward. Seward was the 12th Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Mrs. Seward had attended Troy Female Seminary (later renamed Emma Willard School) with her husband's sister, Cornelia. The relationship between the Sewards and Clarkes most likely came from a friendship formed between Caroline Palmer Clarke, Frances Miller Seward, and Cornelia Seward while attending school together as young women in the early 1820s.

The print, measuring 7 1/2" by 11 1/4 inches, will be placed in a period frame and hung in the Northwest Sitting Room at Clarke House Museum later this year.

William Henry Seward (1801-1872)  c. 1850

Frances Adeline Miller Seward (1805-1865)

 c.1844.

Considering Our Collections: How CHM Objects are Catagorized

When you come for a visit to Clarke House, you will see several objects placed together to give an impression of an 1850s middle-class Chicago home. But are all of these items really from the mid-nineteenth century? Not everything. Currently, the museum's collection is divided into three categories: 

1. NSCDA-IL Artifacts: Items owned exclusively by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Illinois. These objects are authentic to the Clarke House period and are the core of the museum's exhibits. Most of what you see out on display is from the NSCDA-IL collection. The bulk of these artifacts were gathered by the Dames when Clarke House was being restored in the early 1980s. Since then, the Dames have added several pieces to their collection and continue to seek out high quality period furnishings and household artifacts to enhance the authenticity of Clarke House Museum's interiors. 

The Real Deal: NSCDA-IL Artifact

2. Props: These are objects that have age, but may or may not date to the Clarke period. Props are secondary to the Dames collection, providing filler or backdrop to our principal artifacts. These objects are selected to help tell the story of our period of interpretation. Prop items would be considered "antiques" but are commonplace and easily replaceable. Guests and docents may be invited to interact with some of our prop items.

Prop Object: Fills in Our Exhibit

3. Reproductions: Objects that are modern-day copies of items that would have been available to the Clarke family. The museum uses reproductions in the same way as props, to flesh out our exhibits and make them more realistic. Reproductions are produced in the same manner, using the same materials that would have been available during the Clarke period. Guests are encouraged to touch, handle, and use reproduction items. Docents will point out reproductions for your use while on tour.

Reproduction Items: Try them out!

Dames to Docents March 26, 2011

   

Docents mingle during breakfast before the program begins.

This past Saturday, March 26, four representatives from The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Illinois (NSCDA-IL)  visited to speak to our docents about their organization and its relationaship to Clarke House Museum. The program was held in the Beidler Room of Glessner House Museum, located just north of Clarke House at 1800 S. Prairie Avenue.  Refreshments were served at 9:30 a.m. with the program running from 10 until 11:30 a.m.

The ladies on the panel all currently serve on the NSCDA-IL Museum Properties Committee, which oversees the collections housed at Clarke House Museum and greatly contributes to exhibits, public programming and educational initiatives. The Illinois Society was invited by the City of Chicago to furnish the recently relocated Clarke House in 1978. Since then, NSCDA-IL has been an intregal part of the restoration, preservation, and interpretation of Chicago's oldest structure.

 

Glessner House Museum Executive Director & Curator,
Bill Tyre, welcomes everyone to the Beidler Room.

Patriotic Service Chair Jean Perkins opened the morning's discussion with a history of The National Society of The Colonial Dames which was founded in 1891. At the core of NSCDA's mission is the preservation of historic propeties.  Jean informed the group that NSCDA owns and maintains more historic buildings than the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Jean continued to talk about the foundation of the Illinois Society in 1896, Fortnightly Club in Chicago, and the decision to take on Clarke House as the Illinois Society's museum property.

Jean Perkins (left) and Cami Burgess (right)

Cami Burgess, First Vice-President Membership, spoke about membership requirements to become a Dame. Membership is handled at the state level, depending on where one's ancestor lived. A Dame might be a member of the Illinois Society, but if her ancestor was from Virginia, for example, the approval of her paperwork would go through that Society. Ladies eligible for membership with NSCDA-IL are proposed by a current member and must prove lineage to an ancestor that contributed siginificantly to the original thirteen colonies.

 Mary Glerum, Docents & Education, talked about the Society's decision to contract museum consultants Jane and Richard Nylander for an assesment of Clarke House back in 2009. Their findings resulted in the Nylander Report, a thirty-two page document which outlines recommendations for improving interpretation at Clarke House. Mary Glerum is also a certified docent at Glessner House Musem who understands the impact the Nylander Report has had and will continue to have on tours, programming, and general interpretation. Mary also discussed plans for the 175th Anniversary Celebration taking place at Clarke House in September. The Dames are planning an evening gala event and symposium featuring the Nylanders as keynote speakers.

Marilyn Helmholz, Budget Chair, also sat on the Dames panel during the event and contributed much to the question and answer session held during the latter half of the program. The Dames answered questions posed by the Glessner House Museum Docents on the effects of the new furnishings plan to be implemented at Clarke House, period of interpretation, and plans for new acquisitions.



Assistant Curator, Becky Young, welcomes the Dames panel (left to right) Jean Perkins,
Cami Burgess, Mary Glerum, and Marilyn Helmholz.

 The Glessner House Museum staff and docents wish to extend a hearty thanks to the ladies of the Museum Properties Committee for their participation in Dames to Docents. We all eagerly look forward to working with them as the anniversary celebration approaches.

If you're interested in learning more about other properties maintained by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America and their State Societies, check out these links:

NSCDA Museum Properties Map

Illinois Dames