© Kathy Duncan, 2024
On 19 March 1796, Gilbert Walker, father of Izannah Walker, placed an advertisement in The Medley or New Bedford Marine Journal, in order to sell a twelve-year-old female slave.
© Kathy Duncan, 2024
On 19 March 1796, Gilbert Walker, father of Izannah Walker, placed an advertisement in The Medley or New Bedford Marine Journal, in order to sell a twelve-year-old female slave.
© Kathy Duncan, 2024
One of the most difficult aspects of searching newspapers is that it is almost impossible to locate a name if it was divided between lines, especially since newspapers divided names randomly. Divisions of words were made at the end of the line and not between syllables.
Relentlessly searching for published records for the marriages of Izannah Walker's father, Gilbert Walker, produced nothing. Searching for Bridget Cory also produced nothing. However, once I used the alternate spelling of Corey, I located a marriage record for Gilbert and Bridget. Note that his name is split between two lines as Gilbert Wal-ker.
The Newport Mercury of 11 March 1793 reported their marriage in Tiverton, Newport County, Rhode Island. A specific date for their marriage was not given, so this would only narrow their marriage down to early March or late April.
Sadly, Bridget died a few months after their marriage. The Medley or New Bedford Marine Journal of New Bedford, Massachusetts, reported her death in "Tivertown" in their 23 August 1793 edition. She was the 25-year-old daughter of the late Thomas Corey. She lived only about five months as Gilbert's wife.
There are many reasons why a young wife might die. Complications from pregnancy or childbirth come to mind first, but there were many illnesses and diseases that might prove fatal. There is also the possibility that she might have met with an accident or injury.
© Kathy Duncan, 2024
In 1865, Izannah Walker was enumerated on the Central Falls, Rhode Island census. In 1867, she was specifically located at 11 Jenks in Central Falls.
A newspaper clipping from 1864, also places Izannah in a house on Jenks Street. More importantly, it indicates that she was an enthusiastic supporter for the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. It is impossible to know if Izannah leaned toward the Republicans or the War Democrats, but she is listed among the inhabitants of Jenks Street who decorated their houses in celebration of the upcoming election because they were located on a Republican parade route. In the fall of 1884, Izannah's residence was once again along a Republican parade route. Unfortunately, it's impossible to determine if a much older Izannah would have decorated her house with banners and illumination for that parade.
The parade took place on the evening of 1 November 1864 in anticipation of the election which was held on the eighth. That Tuesday must have been abuzz with last-minute preparations for the event. The day before, on October 31st, the Providence Evening Press had run an article detailing the events of November first in Central Falls with this request from the procession committee: "The committee ask and expect a general and hearty assistance from the residents on the route of the procession, in illuminating and otherwise, to make [the] occasion one not soon to be forgotten." There is no way to know if Izannah decorated her house with flags, banners, illumination, or some combination of the three. She was likely to have been one of the women who attended the evening's celebrations. As a woman with an active, inventive mind, and who evidently supported Lincoln and the war effort, she must have been frustrated by the inability to vote in that same election.
This is the clipping from the 2 November 1864 Providence Evening Press, p. 4, with each section followed by a transcript. I've opted to present the entire article rather than just a snippet of the portion concerning Izannah because it provides a detailed description of one evening in her life. It also serves as a directory of the people living in her neighborhood - many of whom may have purchased one of her dolls.
Central Falls
"Up and Doing.--The wide-awake Union citizens of the enterprising village of Central Falls were out in their full strength last evening, and devoted a few hours to earnest and hearty rejoicings over victories achieved by loyal arms in the past, and the greater victory to be won on the 8th of the present month, in the re-election of Honest Abe Lincoln, and the unflinching, uncompromising patriot, Andy Johnson. The demonstration exceeded everything in point of enthusiasm, beauty of illumination, &c., that it has been our good fortune to witness in this or any preceding political campaign.
The loyalists of this village, joined by those of Valley Falls, North Providence and Pawtucket, assembled at the appointed rendezvous soon after 7 o'clock, and preceded by the American Brass Band, marched first to the residence of Col. Horace Daniels, where a beautiful flag was thrown to the breeze amid enthusiastic shouts, a brilliant display of fireworks, a salvo of artillery, under direction of Lieut. A. L. Sweet, and a national air by the band.
The route of the procession was then through Broad to Clay street, down Clay to High, through Jenks, down Cross, to Mill street, where another flag was thrown out, by the Lincoln & Johnson Club of Central Falls. After a brief halt, during which there was a profuse display of fireworks, the line of march was again taken up, and proceeded up Central to High street, through High to its terminus, and countermarched, passing down High to Central street again, and up the latter to Broad, up Broad street to Pine, and down Pine to Fales, Jenks & Sons' new building, the third story of which had been selected for the place of meeting. The spacious room, said to be capable of holding fully eleven thousand persons, was more than half filled, quite a large number of ladies being present.
An extensive platform had been raised in the west side of the hall, and on this was seated the speakers of the evening, the Marshals and Assistant Marshals of the various clubs, the Schubert Club and the band.
The decorations consisted of large American flags and banners, bearing the following mottoes:
"N.E. Triple B's--Burnside, Butler, Banks."
"Lincoln and Johnson Club, Central Falls--Unconditional Surrender."
"Grant, Sheridan, Sherman--Our Peace-makers."
"Subjugation of Traitors and Annihilation of Traitors."
The meeting was called to order at 9 o'clock, and the exercises commenced with the soldier's chorus from Faust, by the Glee Club.
Captain Collyer, of the North Providence Club, then announced the arrangements for attending the Grand Mass Meeting in Providence.
The first speaker of the evening, Hon. Abraham Payne, was introduced, and for about three-quarters of an hour he interested his hearers with a logical argument based on the distinctive features of the Baltimore and Chicago platforms. It was not only one of Mr. Payne's best speeches, but it was one of the best that has been listened to from any source in the present campaign.
Want of space and the lateness of the hour at which the meeting adjourned alone prevents our giving an abstract.
Another song from the glee club, and another patriotic air from the band. Major William A. Pierce, was then introduced. His speech was replete with telling points, that elicited the most hearty applause. Notwithstanding the fact that it was nearly eleven o'clock when he finished his remarks, hardly a person had left the room, so great was the interest.
The glee club sang the favorite song of "Rally 'round the flag," the band played a favorite piece, "Winding Up" with the popular air of "Wood up," and the meeting was then closed, with rousing cheers for the candidates, the speakers, the glee club, the band, and last but not least, to the proprietors of the building, for their generosity in allowing it to be used on this occasion.
We should have mentioned that when the head of the procession arrived opposite the residence of B. F. Greene, Esq., a third flag was run out, and greeted with the heartiest cheers that ever came from the same number of men.
Subsequently the band visited the residence of Charles Moies, Esq., where they played several of their finest pieces, and were rewarded with an entertainment such as might be expected from Mr. M.
We took considerable pains to collect as nearly as possible a complete list of persons who illuminated or decorated their houses and places of business along the route of the procession, and although we may have unavoidably overlooked some, if there are any such, they will not wonder should they ever attempt the same work. The list is as follows:
Central Street: Darius Peckham, Dr. Lee, Colonel Horace Daniels, O.L. Patt, Jason Cowdin, Mr. Cobb, Mr. Owen, J.K. Mallory, Mr. Perry, S.D. Pendergrast, F. & G. Fales, A. Reed, E. Brown, Chas. Hollard, O.H.J. Perry, Mrs. Patt, Robert Plews, Mr. Burnham, Mr. Grant, J. Crawford, Alansen Wood, B.F. Greene, H. Weldon, Stephen Peck, Colin Hawes, Flagg & Briggs, N. Harding, Coombs & Bliss, Edward L. Freeman.
High Street: S. L. Pendergrast, Lorin Thurber, Jr. Albert Frost, Mrs. Robbins, Arza Dunham, Mrs. Fales, Mrs. Jenks, Mr. Walsworth, Robert Robertson, Mrs. Simmons, James Draper, David Fale, Mrs.Woodward, James M. Davis, Robert B. Sweet, Oliver Perry, Nehemiah Harding, Samuel Mallory, Aaron Cole, Henry Gooding, Jere. Patt, Olney Keach, Pardon White, James Fales, Pliny Thrasher, Wm. Newell, Thomas Spink.
Broad Street: Rev. Stewart Sheldon, R. B. Averill, E. Northup, Col. A. H. Littlefield, Elias Nickerson, Mr. Bennett, Mrs. Peck, James Fifield, Alvin Jenks, N.R. Esten.
Clay Street: Joseph Wood, Uriah Benedict, Levi Haskell, Charles Moies, Ansel D. Nickerson, Benjamin Horton, Jr., Rev. Frederic Denison, Geo. Manning.
Jenks Street: Dudly Walker, James Benett, James Gray, Miss Walker, John A. Adams, George Morse, Alfred Knight.
Cross Street: Capt. Lysander Flagg, F. Fish, Mrs. Crowell, John Craig, Mrs. McQuestion.
Mill Street: Pardon White, W. H. Wightman, Josiah Gage.
Pine Street: J. Wilmarth
Ashley Street: Moses P. Wilmarth, John Fales
Many of the illuminations and decorations were worthy of particular mention, but the approaching daylight warns up that we must be very brief, yet we must mention one motto, which graced the front door of Mr. Jason Cowdin's house, which read--"No Copperheads in this Family." This was peculiarly appropriate, considering the fact that some seven or eight of the family have fought bravely in the Union armies."
This 1900 map of Central Falls shows that Fales, Jenks & Sons' was only a few blocks from Jenks Street:
The 1877 Bird's Eye of Central Falls provides a better feel for the size of their complex and the incredible amount of smoke, generated in that area:
© Kathy Duncan, 2024
Jane H. Walker was Izannah Walker's sister and was also a dollmaker. Like Izannah, she never married. She maintained her own household in Somerset, Massachusetts after Izannah moved to Central Falls, Rhode Island. She grew grapes, and she was a force to be reckoned with.
In 1881, at the age of 67, Jane was feeling harassed by young boys who were trespassing on her property and either stealing her grapes or vandalizing her grapevines. Fed up, she captured one of them on her own and held him at her house while waiting for law enforcement to arrive and arrest him. He falsely told her that his name was William Burns in an attempt to deflect his delinquency on an Irish immigrant. Meanwhile, his father showed up and badgered Jane into releasing the boy to him.
There is a lot to unpack here, but not much has changed in 140 years. People are tired of having their property damaged or stolen, young people commit crimes, young people lie and try to deflect blame on someone else, parents enable their children's bad behavior, and immigrants are scapegoats.
Interestingly, this article contains quite a bit of editorializing.
A transcript of each portion of the article follows the clipping:
Pretty soon a gentleman called and requested the release of the culprit. The lady knew him as a near neighbor. She was not disposed to accede to his request, and so denied having the youth, in order that his arrest might serve as a warning to others. But after an urgent pressure the parent was allowed to take his boy home. A brother of this one was the person who escaped, and it is presumed that he notified the father of the other brother's fate.
There have been several cases of a similar kind reported, but nothing has heretofore been said concerning them. The Irish portion of our inhabitants has suffered disagreeably and unnecessarily by complaints about the misconduct of their children, altogether due to the poaching tendencies of the sons of aristocratic families. And yet it is not altogether confined to children, for instances can be related where adults have not scrupled to practice the same fraud.
© Kathy Duncan, 2024
The only new tidbit that I have found recently is this little notice that Jane H. Walker traveled from Somerset, Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island to attend the funeral of her sister Izannah Walker.
A funeral in Providence indicates that Izannah is buried in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence while the monument that Jane erected later in Somerset is a cenotaph.
My favorite early china dolls are the brown-eyed, pre-Civil War china heads - especially the ones with glass eyes although I admit that the later Parians with blue glass eyes are also a favorite.
In 1850, the shift from brown-eyed dolls to blue-eyed dolls was attributed to Queen Victoria. Victoria was the fashion icon of her day. She popularized white wedding dresses and was at the forefront of mourning fashions.
The publication Punch picked up this tidbit about Victoria's influence on doll eye color. Other publications reprinted it throughout the United States and the phrase "Victoria Blue" was repeated throughout.
We think of Germany and France as the major doll-making countries. However, dolls, or at least their parts, were also made in England. "Labor and the Poor" was a regular column that appeared in London's Morning Chronicle. It was written by Henry Mayhew. This particular column was published on Thursday 28 February 1850 and can be read in its entirety here.
The reference to brown-eyed and blue-eyed dolls is specifically to glass-eyed dolls.
It is interesting, though, to read the accounts of how other dolls and their parts were made - wooden dolls, paper mache dolls, wax-over dolls (and why they could not be produced in the United States), doll wigs, and doll clothes. What is also striking is the poverty that doll makers lived in. Hence, the title "Labor and the Poor." One maker of paper mache doll heads produced 29,952 a year while living in abject poverty. He recounted that stuffing 144 doll bodies brought in only a half-crown. Thinking about the living conditions of doll makers and the times when dolls were weaponized diminishes some of the joy in doll collecting.
© Kathy Duncan, 2022
The popular myth concerning the origin of topsy-turvy dolls was created in the later part of the 20th century and continues to persist in spite of a lack of documentation. All of these creation stories theorize that topsy-turvy dolls originated on southern plantations in the early 19th century. As early as 1982, Wendy Lavitt floated the idea that topsy-turvy dolls were created by slave mothers so that their daughters could have a white doll to play with. Then the doll could be flipped to a black doll if an overseer or master was near. In 1983, Karen Sanchez-Eppler theorized that the dolls were based on Harriett Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, with the black doll representing the character of Topsy and the white doll representing Eva. Twenty years later, in 2008, Kimberly Wallace-Sanders speculated that the dolls were used to train slave girls for their future roles as caregivers of white children.
All of these ideas are based on speculation and what one writer termed "imagining." All of these ideas are now being recycled as fact by a new generation of doll historians. Primary sources are noticeably missing.
A primary source is a document that is created at the time an event happens. Secondary sources are created at some later time and are often a discussion of the primary source. Theories that are created without grounding in a primary source are also secondary sources. Unfortunately, as time goes on, secondary sources take on a life of their own and are too often cited as if they were primary sources.
When we talk about objects that might have been created in the antebellum south by slaves, many might question what primary sources could be available to document them. The usual primary sources that a genealogist might use like the U.S. census, birth and death certificates, marriage records, wills and probates, land deeds, and family bibles are not particularly helpful in seeking the origin of topsy-turvy dolls or any other doll. As it turns out, there are other primary sources that could prove beneficial if they were available. For example, letters, diaries, and photographs might exist in the archive holdings of states, universities, museums, and libraries. Newspaper clippings might shed some light. The most readily available primary sources exist in the form of thousands of pages of interviews that were done with former slaves as the work of the WPA in the 1930s. These documents are housed in the National Archives but are widely available in print form and are known loosely as "slave narratives." They reveal that while a few slave girls had dolls, none of them that I have found so far are described in a way that would indicate they were topsy-turvy dolls. Given the uniqueness of topsy-turvy dolls, if any of these formerly enslaved women had possessed one, she would have surely described it in her interview. By the 1930s, these women had no reason to fear any consequences from having had such a doll.
Excerpts from 23 women's interviews can be read here.
Newspapers can also function as primary sources since they indicate when something first appeared in common usage.
If we turn to newspapers, the first reference to a topsy-turvy doll appeared in the Carson City, Nevada Morning Appeal in December 1893. The dolls were being sold in conjunction with a book titled, Topsys and Turvys. The doll was advertised as "the queerest things you ever saw. You get two dolls or two books for one price." This suggests that people would not have seen a topsy-turvy doll before.
Since the dolls were sold alongside the books, it is helpful to know more about the books. This is the part of the equation that doll historians have neglected. Topsys and Turvys was written by Peter Newell and first published in 1893. Newell had observed one of his children looking at a book upside and decided that it should be possible for a child to look at a book from both directions and have it make sense. In his Topsys and Turvys book, the images are different from each direction so that a farmer becomes a pig and a shepherd becomes a goat.
Newspapers of the day praised the books for their charm and cleverness:
So far, no other reference to the dolls has turned up in 1893, so it may be that some enterprising person saw an opportunity to create a doll inspired by the books and to capitalize on them. It is a shame that it did not occur to that person to copyright their unique doll. Also, no earlier reference to topsy-turvy dolls has turned up in newspaper searches. There is no way of knowing what these first topsy-turvy dolls depicted.
The next reference to topsy-turvy dolls appeared in The Daily Picayune of New Orleans in 1896. Note that Mrs. Crouch attended the reunion of the WCTU in Chicago and reported on her visit to several reformatories. She focused on the work of the Erring Woman's Refuge in Chicago, where the inmates had raised funds by dressing 7,000 topsy-turvy dolls for Christmas sales. She was asked what a topsy-turvey doll was and replied that "it was a rag doll, with one end having the face of child, and when turned down the other had the face of an old black mammy. Thus, whichever way the little one chose to turn her doll it was sure to be dressed." This suggests, again, that the topsy-turvy dolls were not widely known.
© Kathy Duncan, 2022
Many dolls have been lost over time, but few have merited a reward for their return. On 28 July 1866 The Providence Evening Press of Providence, Rhode Island ran this advertisement for a cloth doll that had been lost on the 13th.
We can't tell who the doll belonged to or how much the reward for its return would be. All we can determine is that it was special enough to its little owner to prompt a reward for its return. Nothing about this advertisement suggests that it was one of Izannah Walker's dolls except for the fact that it was a cloth doll. Still, it's interesting to note that Izannah was living in the area, making cloth dolls, at the same time this doll was lost.
© Kathy Duncan, 2022
A recent social media post contained a cream and green-colored Sunny Suzy Washing Machine with its precious detachable wringer. That post drew a lot of responses with assertions that ranged from it being a salesman's sample to a miniature. Instead, the Sunny Suzy washing machine is a child's toy, manufactured by Wolverine, that first appeared on the scene in about 1933. The oldest advertisement that I could find for it was dated Friday, 1 December 1933, and appeared in the Watertown Daily Times.
By 1934, the Sunny Suzy Washing Machine was advertised in papers across the nation. It came in two sizes: giant and baby. This is from a Walgreens advertisement in Chicago:
© 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.
Caroline Robinson |
© 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.