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?