Gilbert Walker, Slave Holder

   ©  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. 

Gilbert Walker had no slaves in his household on the 1790, 1800, 1810, or 1820 censuses. However, the U.S. census is only a one-day snapshot of a household, taken every ten years. That's one day out of 3,650 other days. All of those other days have the potential to reveal more detailed information about a household. 

A search of the U.S. Census for 1790, 1800, and 1810 reveals that there was only one Gilbert Walker in the United States, so there is no doubt that the Gilbert Walker of this advertisement is the same Gibert Walker who was Izannah Walker's father. 

Since there were no slaves in Gilbert Walker's household in 1790 or 1800, that means he acquired the girl after 1790 and sold her before 1800. She entered the Walker household sometime between the age of seven and twelve.

Typically, there were three ways a person acquired a slave: through inheritance, as a gift, or by making a purchase. The advertisement does not refer to this as an estate sale, so it is not a sale that was triggered by an estate settlement. However, there is the possibility that Gilbert was making the sale on behalf of someone else like his widowed mother.

Generally, the only slave transactions that generated county or city records were sales made during the settlement of an estate or deeds of gift. Records for settlements of estates are found in probate files. Deeds of gift are often found mixed with land records or occasionally in court minutes. Transactions associated with estate settlements may have also generated newspaper notices for a public sale or auction. A straightforward transaction between individuals would generate a bill of sale from seller to buyer which was not recorded at the county or city level, thereby, leaving no surviving record.  

In 1796, Gilbert Walker was about 33 years old and was a resident of Tiverton, Newport County, Rhode Island. He had been widowed once; his first wife, Bridget Corey, had died in 1793, just months after their marriage. There were no surviving children from that marriage. He then married Mary Cory in about 1794 or 1795. Given that her surname is the same as his first wife's, she was likely to have been an in-law. In March of 1796, Mary was in the beginning stages of her first pregnancy. 

By 1796, Rhode Island was in the process of phasing out slavery. In 1784, the Rhode Island legislature passed the Gradual Emancipation Act which stipulated that anyone born after March 1, 1784 would be born free. However, those children were to be held as indentured servants until they reached the age of twenty-one. During that period, they would serve their mother's master. Meanwhile, anyone born prior to March 1, 1784, would remain a slave for life. 

Every state in the U.S. had a different series of laws concerning the owning and manumission of slaves. Some states forbade the freeing of slaves while others required freed slaves to leave the state within a year of manumission or made the previous owner financially responsible for any misdeeds of their former slaves while they remained in the area. This made it impossible or extremely difficult for someone who inherited slaves, but who had no desire to participate in slave-owning, to free them outright. 

According to the Tiverton Historical Society, in 1790, Tiverton had a total population of 2,453. Of that number, 2,251 were coded as free whites, 177 were "other free persons," and 25 were slaves. Slave ownership seems to have been in decline within six years after the passage of the Gradual Emancipation Act. By 1800, there were an estimated 380 slaves in the whole state of Rhode Island. 

Based on the timing of the Gradual Emancipation Act of 1784 and the timing of Gilbert Walker's advertisement, the girl he was selling would have probably been born between March 19, 1783, and February 28, 1784. If she was sold to someone local, then she could have remained a slave until 1843 when slavery was banned in Rhode Island. She would have been about 60 years old then. However, if she was sold to someone in a southern state, then she might have remained a slave until 1865 when she would have been 82 or 83. In other words, she may have remained a slave for life. 

Gilbert Walker's First Wife, Bridget Corey

  ©  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. 

Izannah Walker, Lincoln Supporter

 ©  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:

Jane H. Walker Makes a Citizen's Arrest

   ©  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:

Somerset

Miss J. H. Walker, a highly respectable old lady resident and real estate owner, has been repeatedly annoyed in various ways, for no other reason than to gratify a contemptible spirit of envy. Whenever the authors of this annoyance have been detected, they have humbly begged off from punishment and exposure, or tried to palm themselves off as Irish residents. A few days ago Miss Walker captured one of two boys she discovered among her grape vines, and took him into her house until she could give him into the custody of an officer. When he was asked his name he assumed that of another boy in town - William Burns. 

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.

Jane H. Walker attends Funeral of Izannah Walker

  ©  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. 

Victoria Blue

 ©  Kathy Duncan, 2024 

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. 

Origin of Topsy Turvy Dolls

 ©  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. 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.

This is also the first reference I've found that indicates a topsy-turvy doll in which one doll was black and the other was white. The Erring Women's Refuge was dedicated to reforming fallen women. 

In 1899, Dewitt Bouton of Ithaca, New York patented a topsy-turvy doll. His patent was specifically for a doll with "the head of a white and civilized person" on one end and "the head of a colored or uncivilized person" on the opposite end. Were the dolls Bouton's original design with the inmates of the Erring Woman's Refuge dressing them, or was Bouton seizing the opportunity to hold the first patent on the doll? The census does not reveal Bouton to be involved in any phase of doll manufacture. 

Albert Bruckner of Jersey City patented a doll face technique that was used on topsy-turvey's. His patent appears on some dolls and is dated 1901. However, I've only found the record for a doll face patent that Bruckner took out in 1921. On the 1900 census, Bruckner was a lithographer, and on the 1910 census he was the proprietor of a doll manufacturing company, so it makes sense that his patent dates to 1901. Why the official patent record only dates to 1921 is a mystery at this point. He died in 1926, so maybe he wanted to leave the potential for income to his wife. A few doll historians have mistakenly claimed that Bruckner created the topsy-turvy doll and held the first patent on it.

In 1904, a Topsy Truvy doll was advertised in Boston, Massachusetts. Notice that the dolls are named Topsy, after the Topsys and  Turveys book, and Betsy - not Topsy and Eva.

In 1905, The Washington Times of Washington D.C. carried an advertisement for a Topsy Turvy doll referred to as "Black Diana" and a "fair maiden."

By 1907, more imaginative topsy-turvy dolls were being created. The Denver Colorado paper carried an advertisement for a topsy-turvy doll that paired Little Red Riding Hood with the Big Bad Wolf. The wolf had the "fiercest kind of growl." That growl would have either been produced by an imaginative child or a noise box inside the wolf. 

In December 1908, the Boston Sunday Herald ran an article about the choice of toys for Christmas. The author noted that among the dolls there was "a new kind of rag doll" - the topsy-turvy doll. The author went on to describe the doll in some detail. This suggests that eight years after Mrs. Crouch described topsy-turvy dolls to her Chicago audience, they still were not commonly known. 

A commercially printed, cut-and-stuff Topsy Turvy doll appeared as early as 1913. Rochschild, Kohn, & Co. advertised a stock of patterns in the Baltimore Sun: 

A commercial pattern for the dolls was produced in the early part of the Great Depression. This 1933 pattern was from Alice Brooks:

This 1939 pattern, from Laura Wheeler, was being produced by the end of the Depression: 

In the 1940s, Ann Audubon offered this pattern for 15 cents:  

In the 1950s, Laura Wheeler was still producing topsy-turvy patterns. This toddler version is a cuddly contrast to the more adult-looking version of the 1930s.

In 1972, the "Dippity-Flip Doll" was created. The addition of a third head and change of name may have allowed for someone to file a new patent while also avoiding the violation of a previous patent. This particular doll may be why many young adults refer to topsy-turvy dolls as "flip dolls." This particular flip doll was only on the market for two or three years. 

Another Lost Doll in Providence, RI

©  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. 

Sunny Suzy Washing Machine

           ©  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:

In San Antonio, the Sunny Suzy was sold in combination with a real wringer washer. It might have actually been a merchant's premium in this instance. Notice that the child's version has only a passing resemblance to the adult model. 

While the cream and green colors of many of the early Sunny Suzy Washing Machines suggest that it dates to the 1920s, this advertisement from 1935 makes it clear that those colors were being used well into the 1930s:

The Woodwell's Fall and Holiday Catalog, 1936, published by the Joseph Woodwell Co. of Pittsburg, PA,  featured several Sunny Suzy Washing Machine sets. The price for each was determined by the size of the Sunny Suzy washer and the number of pieces. Note that a wash tub was still needed with the washing machine, probably in order to transfer the wet clothes into it between the wash and rinse. 

This style of wringer washer was advertised as late as 1948:

Wolverine marketed a wide variety of toys under the Sunny Suzy label. Prior to the washing machine, they marketed a "laundry set" that included a wash tub, rub-board, and clothesline:

My own Sunny Suzy is missing its detached wringer. I had hoped to eventually find a replacement for it, but so far, that has not happened.

A view from the top reveals that it is unlike a real wringer washer: 

Still, the Sunny Suzy Washing Machine is a fun piece and would be right at home with a large doll.

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: