Winter 2012 Newsletter

The Mystery of the Adams’ Son

“As an art historian, it is always exciting to stumble upon a small piece of long forgotten or overlooked historical fact. I came across one such delight while curating the exhibition, “Establishing a New Nation: New York in the 1790s” at Morris-Jumel Mansion (MJM). While writing the lead essay for the exhibition, I wanted to expand on the existing connections between the Morris-Jumel Mansion and New York City as the capital city in the 1790s. This connection was not a stretch, because on July 10, 1790, President George Washington brought his most trusted aides and government officials to the Mansion where a dinner party was held in their honor,” states Dr. Allison Stagg in a new essay.

Although President Washington wrote of the event in his diary, “Having formed a Party, consisting of the Vice-President, his lady, Son & Miss Smith; the Secretaries of State, Treasury & War…” The ambiguity of his entry helped to create a mystery. Clearly John Adams and his wife Abigail, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and Henry Knox were at the table that day, but Adams had three sons and we are left to wonder which one was in attendance. For decades it was assumed that it must have been the eldest, John Quincy Adams, who sat with Washington that day. Destined to be President, it made sense that John Quincy would be by his father’s side during this remarkable period in the history of the nation. Dr. Stagg discovered otherwise when she reviewed the diary of John Quincy Adams. The eldest of John Adams’ sons spent part of July 10, 1790 walking with his youngest brother, Thomas, in Massachusetts.
In fact it had to be the middle son, Charles, who joined the party that July day. His legal career was short-lived due to illness caused by alcoholism that led to his death in 1800.
Dr. Stagg’s full essay will appear on the MJM website in early 2012 in the Commentary section of News & Views at: www.morrisjumel.org/news-views/blog.

Metamorphic Desk

There is a unique piece of American patent furniture in the collection of Morris-Jumel Mansion. It is a metamorphic desk, situated in Mary Bowen’s bedchamber on the second floor of the Mansion. This unusual piece of furniture holds a patent dated April 4 1854. The patent is for a “new and useful piece of furniture intended to serve as a table alone or as chair and table combined.”

The strikingly designed desk holds a unique place in the history of American patent furniture. Essentially the desk is a table divided into two parts, one part table and chair and the other a smaller table. The desk can be closed to appear as an elegant oval shaped table or opened to reveal a chair. The desk interior has a drawer for quills and ink. To date only twenty-six of these desks are known to exist. These desks have been mistakenly referred to as Aaron Burr desks.

Part of the aura of mystery about this rare piece of American furniture is the identity of the patent holder Stephen Hedges. Research has found only one listing for a Stephen Hedges
in New York City in 1854 to 1855. He then disappears from the directory listings in later years. The complete article by MJM Curator Tania Batley is on the MJM website in the Commentary section of News & Views at: www.morrisjumel.org/news-views/blog

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