Lost: A Painted Cloth Doll

          ©  Kathy Duncan, 2022

 I am still trying out different generic keywords in my search for more information on Izannah Walker and her dolls. This interesting advertisement bubbled up in my latest search.

I am struck by this family's efforts to recover their child's doll. They went to the time and expense to run a classified advertisement in the New Bedford Evening Standard and then offered a reward. This advertisement would have cost a dollar and could have run three times although I have only found one appearance for it.

In 1861, one dollar was the equivalent of $33.22 in 2022. 

I can well imagine a young mother or nanny, juggling several packages and a small child, dropping this doll on the street. Or perhaps, the doll slipped from the child's pram, unnoticed until it was too late. Was there a child crying for this lovey every night, or had the family gone to such great pains and expense to acquire a one-of-a-kind doll that they were willing to spare no expense to get it back?

Of course, the most striking portion of this advertisement is the description of the doll: "a painted cloth Doll." This doll was certainly in the style of Izannah's dolls, but there is no way to know if she made it. Of the small number of Izannah Walker dolls in existence, a handful of them has provenance. From that small group, several belonged to little girls who lived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and who were given their dolls around 1860, give or take a couple years. That made it impossible for me to just scroll by this little advertisement.

How this small group of dolls made it to New Bedford, MA from Providence, RI, or Somerset, MA is a matter of speculation. Dixie Redmond has theorized that Elizabeth Coggeshall Pope, born in New Bedford in 1857, received her Izaanah Walker doll from her grandparents who had connections to Providence, Rhode Island although they also lived in New Bedford at the time of her birth. It may be that once a family acquired an Izannah doll, other parents saw it and purchased one through word-of-mouth for their own children. There could have easily been enough family and friends traveling between New Bedford and Providence for the purchases to be arranged and the dolls delivered. 

The only clue in the advertisement that could lead to more information is the family's address, so my next step was to find out all I could about 48 South Sixth Street. 

It had sold in 1859:

The 1864 New Bedford Evening Standard provides the best clue:

The lady of the house was Mrs. James Robinson. In 1867, the family was searching for a nanny:

And a few months later, also in 1867, the house sold again:

Neither of the two house sales mentions James Robinson, and there are too many James Robinsons on the 1860 census to pinpoint the family since street addresses were not included. 

However, the 1865 New Bedford, MA City Directory shows James Robinson living at 48 South Sixth Street. Most importantly, he was working for the W. A. Robinson & Co.:

While James Robinson can be found in residence in the house at 48 South Sixth Street, I did not find him purchasing or selling that property in the land deeds for Bristol County, Massachusetts, so he was probably "letting" the property.

James Robinson was the son of W.A. Robinson of Providence, Rhodes Island. He had moved from Providence, Rhode Island to New Bedford, Massachusetts, several years before to open a branch of his father's business, W.A. Robinson & Co., which manufactured soap, candles, and oil made from whale oil:

The 1870 census features the following James Robinson family that is an excellent fit for the family residing at 48 South Sixth Street from at least 1861 to 1867:

This James Robinson is an oil merchant, so he is probably the same James Robinson who opened a branch of W.A. Robinson & Co. in New Bedford. Daughter Carrie or Caroline is just old enough to have had a doll in 1861. Son William A. Robinson (named after his grandfather) would have been about two when the family was advertising for a nurse. Note that there is still a nurse in residence in 1870. There is a large enough household staff to free up wife Anna A. Robinson to participate in civic duties like the National Sailors Association. 

Caroline Robinson was born on 7 September 1860 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She would have been nine and a half months old when the family at 48 South Sixth Street was frantically searching for a lost painted cloth doll. She was just about old enough to become attached to a favorite doll but not really big enough to keep a firm grip on one at all times. Her family had the means and contacts to purchase one of Izannah's dolls, and when it was lost, advertise for its return and offer a reward.

After her young father's sudden death of an aortic aneurysm in 1875, Caroline, her mother, and her brother moved to Providence, Rhode to live. They can be found there by 1880 on the census. 

Caroline Robinson never married. In her senior years, she traveled abroad extensively and frequently renewed her passport. Her photograph was attached to her 1921 passport:

Caroline Robinson

Caroline died on 21 October 1929. Like Izannah Walker, Caroline Robinson and her parents are buried in Swan Point Cemetery. 

An interesting coincidence - Carolina had an uncle named Joseph Pope Balch. Could there have been a family connection between Carolina Robinson and Elizabeth Coggeshall Pope? 

Izannah and Jane H. Walker's Inheritance

          ©  Kathy Duncan, 2022

Izannah Walker and her sister Jane H. Walker inherited a house with property in Somerset, Massachusetts, from their Uncle Anthony and Aunt Jane H. (Swasey) Hintz. Jane Hintz was their mother's sister, and Jane H. Walker was her namesake. The Hintz's had purchased the property from Jane Hintz's father Jerathmael Swasey on 1 October 1819. The deed stipulated that Swasey was to have use of the buildings on the property for the remainder of his life. This suggests two things: Anthony Hintz and Jane H. Swasey had married by 1 October 1819 and they were living with her parents. 

One version of the oral tradition about Izannah Walker is that when her mother died in 1824, her father sent her and her siblings to live with the Swaseys. Another version is that when her father Gilbert died in 1825, they were sent to live with the Swaseys. 

It seems likely that the elder Swaseys were the initial caregivers of the Walker orphans. Jane's husband Capt. Anthony Hintz was frequently at sea and like other captain's wives, Jane accompanied him. How often she traveled with him is unknown, but being childless, she may have frequently gone with him. This includes the time period immediately following the death of Gilbert Walker, who died in May 1825. On 12 December 1825, 40-year-old Anthony Hintz and 29-year-old Jane Hintz were listed on the manifest of the Brig Monroe. This newspaper notice provides the information that Capt. Anthony Hintz had recently been the master of the William & Jane. 

The William & Jane had been wrecked at Turks Island on October 28, 1825, when it was several times driven back out to sea until finally its keel was knocked off. The passengers and crew were rescued by boats from the shore. Jane H. (Swazey) Hintz would have been among those rescued. 

It's impossible to know if Jane continued her adventures with her husband or if the responsibility of her elderly parents and young nieces would have discouraged her from continuing her travels.

Captain Antony Hintz was still putting out to sea in 1836 when yet another of his ships was lost at sea. His ship Atlantic was wrecked on the rocks on Borman's Key, one of the Perry Islands, filling with water in just three hours.

 

Capt. Hintz died in 1839. His will noted that he was of bad health, so he was not lost at sea. He left the Swasey property to his wife Jane with the stipulation that after her death it was to pass to her nieces Izannah and Jane H. Walker.

An 1858 map of Somerset, Massachusetts provides the location of the Swazey/Hintz house on Main Street:

A close-up of the property that Jane Hintz inherited from her husband:

This map also shows the distance between the Main Street house and the house that Izannah and Jane purchased later on South Street:

An 1871 map of Somerset provides a much better view of the property's location and reveals that Jane also owned the property directly across the road in front of her house. There is also the indication that while narrow, that additional property offered an unobstructed view of the Taunton River.

Then there is this 1877 Bird's Eye View of the house, which is very much like the house as it looks today.

The Swazey/Hintz/ house on Main Street:

When Jane H. (Swasey) Hintz died in 1872, the property was passed to Izannah F. Walker and Jane H. Walker. The census indicates that like her Aunt Jane Hintz, Jane H. Walker continued to have tenants in the Main Street house. This would have given Jane and Izannah Walker incomes from both the Main Street house and the South Street house. When Izannah died in 1888, she left a portion of her inheritance from Anthony Hintz to her sister Ann R. Smith and her remaining property in Somerset, Massachusetts to her sister Jane H. Walker. This map from 1895, shows the house, currently located at 373 Main Street, in Jane H. Walker's name:

In 1887, the I.O.O.F held their festival on the lawn of Miss Jane Walker. This article, which appeared in the Fall River Daily Evening News on 2 September 1887, bemoans the fact that Somerset did not have a park for such gatherings. That left people gathering on Jane's "lawn," sidewalks, the steps of houses, and the doorways of stores. Jane's "lawn" was probably the lot across the street from her house. 

The situation did not change and groups continued to gather on Jane's property for several more years. 

Jane Hintz Walker died in the Main St house on 6 October 1899:

After Jane Walker's death, her heirs continued to own the house for several years. It was still owned by the family when this notice about putting a new fence around the property appeared in the Fall River Daily Evening News on 1 April 1902.

On 29 September 1905, the Fall River Daily Evening News noted the improvements being made in Somerset, especially along Main Street. Jane Walker's property had undergone the most striking transformation:

In 1912, Jane Walker's house was still being rented out by her heirs:

When Dolls Were Weaponized

         ©  Kathy Duncan, 2022

I have spent the last couple of years reading period articles about doll manufacturing processes and factory conditions as well as the vocabulary associated with dolls. Occasionally, articles surface that reveal instances when dolls have been used in what we now call culture wars. I have hesitated to post the negative side of doll history, but I think that ultimately we can still enjoy our antique dolls while knowing that they were sometimes used for a nefarious political agenda. It is not too extreme to say that dolls have been weaponized in some instances.

During the Christmas season of 1912, newspapers across the United States ran an article expressing bemusement over what was viewed as an odd statement coming from a German official. From our 21st-century point of view, the message is bone-chilling, and the idea that brunette dolls were sold to Germans for evil purposes is just beyond comprehension. This is a copy from the Philadelphia Inquirer of 29 December 1912, but it is the exact same text that was duplicated by other papers: 

Transcript:

"German Wants Fair Dolls

Calls Dark Puppets 'Instinct Violating' - Desires all Blondes

BERLIN, Dec. 28 - Some serious attention and not a little amusement has been argued by the latest published warning lest Germans lose their pride of race. Christmas shoppers were urged seriously to avoid the brunette type in purchasing dolls for the rising generation. The writer said that the children should be supplied with Teutonic blondes. The fabrication of dolls, he asserted, had passed into the hands of persons whose influence was along lines foreign to the German people. They did not make dolls respecting the German ideal of feminine beauty, but rather representing types that embodied the ideas and ideals of the makers. The change had been greatly in favor of the brunette type.

'Naturally,' he added naively, 'those members of our folk who depart from the blonde type are not therefore the less worthy, but we recognize the value of an inborn racial unity for the whole folk and its culture, and desire at least in the representations of our ideals to take this into account. Therefore one should reject these instinct-violating dolls, no matter whether they are offered to us with evil purpose or not.'"

The direct audience for this piece is the German shopper, with the primary message being to buy only blonde dolls. The subtext is that parents should not allow their children to have anything but blonde dolls or risk being guilty of lacking "pride of race." The indirect audience is the German doll maker, with the primary message being to manufacture only blonde dolls. The subtext is that manufacturers who produce brunette dolls are guilty of offering something evil to little German children and will shortly be deemed "less worthy." 

While blonde dolls represented the official German ideal, the government official who made these statements either knew nothing of the manufacturing process of their dolls or chose to ignore the most ironic aspect. Those golden blonde tresses that were so highly valued did not begin that way. Just a year before, a U.S. newspaper reported the process that Germans used to make blonde doll wigs. They were importing human hair from China, extracting the natural color, and dying it blonde!

A small portion of an article entitled, "Christmas Dolls," published in the Stamford, Connecticut Daily Advocate on 14 December 1911, related the German's wig making process: 

Izannah Walker's Property on South St., Somerset, Mass

        ©  Kathy Duncan, 2022

Most records point to the possibility that Izannah Walker was living in Providence County, Rhode Island from some time prior to 1860 until her death in 1888. Specifically, she was on the 1860 census of Smithfield, Providence County, Rhode Island; the 1865 state census for Central Falls, Providence County, Rhode Island; the 1867 City Directory for Central Falls, Rhode Island; and the 1870 census for  Providence, Rhode Island.

However, in 1864, she was a resident of Somerset, Bristol County, Massachusetts. At this point, I can't say when she returned to Somerset or why or how long she lived there. It's possible her decision was influenced by the Civil War.

On 9 July Izannah Walker and her sister Jane H. Walker purchased a lot with buildings on it, for which they paid $3,000, from Joseph N. Smith. The deed notes that Izannah and Jane were "both of Somerset, in the County of Bristol in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, single persons." That lot was "situated in the southerly part of the village of Sommerset on the northerly side of the highway that runs from the village aforesaid to the dwelling of Phillip Bowers, bounded on the south by the said highway, on the west by the land of Horatio N. Eddy, on the north by a way, and on the east by the lands of the heirs of Howard Peterson." Smith had purchased the property in 1857 from the Mount Hope Iron Company.

The $3,000 that Izannah and Jane paid for this property would be a little over $55,000 in 2022. Since they seem to have had cash in hand rather than taking out a note, I have to wonder how they managed to save so much money for this investment. I also wonder if their Aunt Jane Hintz helped them with the purchase. This is one of many questions that can't be answered.

Using the description of the landowners on the property's boundaries, I searched the 1858 map of Somerset for it and found the house of J. N. Smith located next to H. N. Eddy, just north of the Mount Hope Iron Company:

The location on this map lines up with what is now South Street.

Smith advertised the house in the Fall River Evening News on 13 April 1864. The advertisement provided a detailed description of the property:

The property contained a two-story, two-family house with running water and a small pear tree orchard. There was also a 14' x 23' building that had been used as a Boot and Shoe Store. 

This property offered Izannah and Jane a variety of opportunities. They could lease the whole property out and have three incomes from it: two from the tenements and one from the store. Or they could move into one tenement with Aunt Jane Hintz, rent out the second tenement, rent out Aunt Jane's tenement that they had occupied on Main St, and use the outbuilding as a store for their own products or use it as a workshop. The property offered multiple possibilities for income and a place to create and sell dolls. 

For whatever reason, though, Izannah returned to Central Falls, Rhode Island, where she is found as a "doll maker" on the 1865 state census. However, she retained her half ownership of the house with her sister Jane for the rest of her life. This is one of the real estate properties that provided her with an income. Another was her own house in Central Falls which was also set up as a two-family tenement. 

It does seem that Jane H. Walker and her Aunt Jane Hintz lived in the South Street house briefly. There is no way of knowing if Izannah ever lived there with them. On the 1865 census, their near neighbors were Phillip Bowers and Job Leonard. Leonard was the owner of the Mount Hope Iron Company and had built a house on South Street west of the original house owner, J.N. Smith. For once, Jane Walker and Aunt Jane Hintz were not living with tenants in the building. It seems that they were probably using the property to fully realize the goal of manufacturing their dolls. By 1870, though, they had returned to Jane Hintz's Main Street house, where once again they had tenants. 

The 1877 Bird's Eye view of Somerset reveals the South Street house and suggests why they moved back to Main Street.

On this map, you can see the house and the "store." In the lower-left corner of the map is the Mount Hope Iron Company, with about fifteen stacks blowing black smoke from the ironworks in the direction of the Walker house on South Street. That smoke would have affected the air quality and resulted in almost nonstop cleaning. In sharp contrast, Jane Hintz's Main Street house would have offered better air quality, nearby shops, and an unobstructed view of the Taunton River. Plus, Aunt Jane was getting older and may have just simply been homesick for her childhood home. 

When Izannah Walker died in 1888, she willed her remaining property in Somerset to her sister Jane H. Walker, which included her portion of the house on South Street.

You can see the property on the 1895 map of Somerset, listed in Jane Walker's name. At that point, she was the sole owner:

The house, on this map, is the third one east of the intersection of South Street and High Street. It corresponds to the house now located at 74 South Street. The little store was on the southeast corner of the property, right on the road. You can also see the former residence of Job Leonard three houses west of Izannah and Jane's property.

When Jane H. Walker died in October 1899, she left all of her real estate to her remaining full sister, Ann Richmond (Walker) Smith. However, Ann only survived Jane by about eight months. For the next several years, the house was managed by the heirs of Jane Walker.

In July 1901, the outbuilding, which had housed a succession of stores at 74 South Street, was sold to Mr. Braley of Fall River. His plan was to move it to a property on South Street that he had purchased a few months before from Mary A.Cryan. He was going to use the old "landmark" as a hen house. That suggests that the structure was worth purchasing and moving but would end its days as a lowly chicken coop. 

When Braley purchased his property on South Street from Mary Cryan, it was being leased by Thomas Keefe. 

So far, I have not been able to determine where this property was and nothing on the Google Street View of South Street looks like it could be this old "landmark."

Finally, Jane Walker's heirs sold the house on South Street in 1906 to Lynch and Eagan:

Izannah Walker and the Dolls of Rhode Island

 

After locating the article about "two old maids" in Rhode Island making dolls in the Cincinnati, Ohio, newspaper, I began a search to find other newspapers carrying the same article.

The one that I found in the Chicago Daily Tribune on 26 December 1880 raised a lot of questions and concerns:

The last two sentences certainly don't fit with anything we know about Izannah Walker. Her dolls were not talking dolls or dolls that could be given a bottle. Were there two other women in Rhode Island making innovative dolls that could talk and feed themselves? If so, my theory that this article had been about Izannah Walker and Emeline B.Whipple was out the window.

A link to the full newspaper page is here.

However, this clipping also had the additional information that the original article had been published in the Providence Journal. I needed to track it down. 

I found the full paragraph in the Providence Evening Bulletin of 11 December 1880, p. 2. This is the third paragraph in an article called "News and Business About Town." The first paragraph was about the local weather, the second was about the coffee market, and the third and final paragraph was about the manufacture and sale of toys. Besides the tear across the article and the poor ink quality, which is difficult for computer recognition programs to index, the writing style is not fluid. This reads as a long list with few transitions between items to signal a shift. The list begins with French and German dolls, followed by the American-made dolls of the Rhode Island "maidens," then talking dolls, then dolls that feed themselves, then dollhouses, Noah's Arks, and villages and railroad trains. When the Chicago Daily Tribune picked up and copied a small portion of the paragraph, it also picked up two additional items in the list - talking dolls and self-feeding dolls. That gives the false impression that the Rhode Island women were making talking and feeding dolls. 

Here is the paragraph, followed by my attempt to transcribe it.

"The manufacture and sale of toys appears to enlarge at every recurrence of the holidays. According to dealers, the giving of presents becomes more universal, and this season, since business has been good and employment abundant, there is an unusual number of buyers in the holiday market. No boy or girl can be properly brought up without the aid of toys. They would go wild, or their parents would, if there were no toyish [counterseting ?] influences. Toys take the place of nurses, and thus aid in domestic economy; provide intervals of quiet, and save distracted older minds from [?] destruction; lengthen lives and save to the nation an incalculable amount of worry. The variety and peculiarity of toys now provided for juvenile destruction are beyond all reckoning. Dolls, French and German born, are offered in any quantity and quality. They are twenty per cent cheaper than last year, because, it is said, that manufacturers abroad are in active competition. Few dolls are made in this country, but it should be known that two maiden women in Rhode Island make, and have made for years, a doll that is sought for by dealers in all parts of the country, orders coming from the Southern states. Various attempts have been made to imitate these dolls, but have been unsuccessful, and the Rhode Island makers control the market for their specialty. There have been dolls that spoke various tongues, but until this year no doll was taught to feed itself with a bottle. Toys include about everything from a [?] to a whole village. The object of toymakers seem to be to provide for the comfort of dolls, and houses fully furnished are provided, including equipage and all that goes to make a complete establishment. Noah's Ark in different sizes and with different-sized animals finds [novel?] favor with youngsters. They are made abroad; this country cannot produce an Noah's Ark. Railroad trains, menageries, warehouses with goods [?] and porter ready, stables filled with well-groomed horses, ferryboats on wheels, race courses and the horses running, are among the larger and more attractive toys. An entire village can be bought in which manufacturing is already established. A military camp is represented by [ten?] soldiers, with the whole line in dress parade, and an Indian campaign is represented by the same means. The supply of animals on wheels and attached to wagons is very large. Mechanical toys are found in the usual variety." 

Izannah Walker and Emeline B. Whipple, Rhode Island Doll Makers, 1880

       ©  Kathy Duncan, 2022

Research often involves a process that I call widening the net while also clamping down on the filter. In this case, the search was widened to include all states but clamped down to the time frame in which there might have been advertising for Izannah Walker's dolls - 1870 to 1888. Then I had to select keywords that might be productive. I've tried a variety of keywords that I think might be related to her dolls like "rag," "cloth," "patent," and "everlasting." These are all very "wide" or general terms. Then I look at every likely hit. It's a long process.

In this instance, I scraped the bottom of my keyword barrel with just the keywords: "Rhode Island doll." In this case, the keyword  "doll" is very wide because it's general. Adding "Rhode Island" tightens or narrows the search. The search could have been narrowed further by adding "Walker," but as you can see from the results, I would not have found this particular article that way. 

The result of my search is this 1880 article from the Cincinnati Daily, which is so exciting I can hardly see straight.

Let's parse this article. During this time period, articles were written about people's activities, but often no names were used. This is particularly true of articles about women and tradespeople. However, it could be that the writer did not know the women's names.

The women are identified as "two old maids" in "Rhode Island." Any unmarried woman past her mid-twenties would have been considered an old maid. The only two single women I know of who worked together to make dolls in Rhode Island during this time frame were Izannah Walker and Emeline B. Whipple. 

Dealers from "all parts of the country" were ordering them, including the "Southern States." This suggests that the dolls were sold in a wide market, not just in New England.

Then there is the added information that "various attempts" had been unsuccessfully made to "imitate these dolls." That is interesting.

Finally, there is the statement that the "Rhode Island makers control the market for their specialty." That certainly sounds like a reference to Izannah's business relationship with E.W. Billings, who was the agent for her work. 

This article from Cincinnati is the only one that came up in my search. Normally, an article like this would have been copied by several newspapers. I will need to repeat this search in other newspaper databases.