Mitts
Date1780-1810
MediumLinen, Silk
DimensionsOL: 14 in.; OW: 4 1/2 in.
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number2018-255,1&2
DescriptionCream linen hand knit linen mitts with blue cross stitched initials on each upper edge A S for Abigail Steere (1775-1860). The mitts were knitted without a seam stitch running along the length as the decreases are done through the body of the mitt. The mitts have about 22 rows to the inch.InscribedNote attached to the mitt reads: A pair of hand knit linen mitts belonging to Abagail Steere grandmother of Abagail ("Abby") White
MarkingsEach mitt is marked in silk "AS" worked in cross stitch.
ProvenanceOwned by Abagail Steere Fowler (1775-1860) and passed down in the, Fowler-White Family.
Abagail Steere Fowler born in Providence County, Rhode Island but moved to Massachusetts sometime between 1790-1810.
She married Bernard Fowler in 1810 in Northbridge, Massachusetts.
The maternal side of her family crossed from England between 1610 and 1630; the paternal side in the 1670's. The family remains in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
The mitts passed down to her grandaughter Abagail Mowry White (1852-1924) who lived in Grafton, Worcester County, MA. She never married, had no children, and left $15,000 to the Boston MFA in her will.
