Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Chair

Object Number

2013-71-2

Description

Black painted Windsor chair, with rounded seat back and turned and tapered spindles. No arms. Molded seat with top of legs protruding through seat. Tapered and splayed legs with matching cross-braces. Branded under seat "L. PORTER." Carved under seat, "October 13 (donor transcribed as 19), 1887/ removed from Fluteville." Donor wrote his own history of acquiring this chair on the verso of the seat.

Comment

This chair belonged to, and was used by, the Coley family who lived in their homestead in the Fluteville section of Litchfield. The maker of the chair, Lemuel Porter was a cabinet maker and builder from Waterbury, CT. He manufactured chairs for a time in Waterbury and Watertown. He served an an officer in the militia during the War of 1812. Around 1820 Lemuel Porter moved to Hudson, OH where he became known as the first practicing architect in the Western Reserve.