Sampson Estate ArticleAN outstanding -item from the Sampson House collection recently acquired by HCHS is this
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beautiful Satinwood grand piano.
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By RUTH THORSTENSON
EARLY IN THE SPRING 41966, Mrs. Frank L.
Sampson (Edna Irene ), called the Henne-
pin County Museum to ask if we were in-
terested in some- early Excelsior items.
Curator Joseph Zalusky and his daughter,
Ruth Thorstenson, made a trip out there
in March to start the negotiations which
turned out to be quite tremendous as the
following article will attempt to show.
After many trips to Excelsior with note-
book in hand and after much history
taking, a van load of interesting items came
to the Museum the afternoon of August
26, 1966.
The largest single item is a very interest-
ing nine -foot high Secretary, with a glass
door book case top and a three -drawer bot-
tom section with wooden handles. The
shipping information on the back of this
Secretary told us that it came to Galena,
Illinois, by railroad and then by water to
St. Anthony, in the 1850's. within the glass
doors one can see peeking out from the
second shelf, a china -headed doll called
"Deal," a shortened name for Mrs. Samp-
son's doll, "Aunt Cordelia". She made the
original dress and the two petticoats
trimmed in lace and embroidery at the age
of eight years in the 1890's. This is a very
lovely addition to our Museum's antique
doll collection which is growing steadily,
much to everyone's delight. On the same
shelf is a china boy doll dressed in a knitted
sweater and cap who keeps "Deal" com-
pany.
HENNEPIN COUNTY HISTORY, Winter, 1968 7
On the lower shelf of this Secretary we
have a 23 -inch high parlor lamp with an
amber glass base, hand painted. It be-
longed to Mr. and Mrs. Sherman Smith,
the donor's father and mother in 1870.
Sherman Smith married Mary Starin who
came to Minnesota with her parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Jonas Platt Starin of Utica, New
York, in 1854. They settled near Eden
Prairie. The marriage took place on No-
vember 29, 1870, performed by the Rev-
erend Samuel Pond, an early Minnesota
pioneer missionary. Sherman Stephen Smith
was born at New Castle, New Bruns« -ick,
November 20, 1847, the son of Stephen and
Elizabeth Wright Smith. He came to "Min-
neapolis as a young man April 1, 1865.
The family made their home in Excelsior
since 1898, were they took an active part
in the life of the village being highly re-
spected. Also on this shelf is a hand -painted
parlor lamp with a brass base and also a
white base kerosene lamp.
Another fine piece of furniture is the
China Cabinet which is seven feet high,
and four f eet wide with a carved top; the
hinges are concealed when the doors are
opened. On these shelves we have Mrs.
Sampson's large Ironstone platter and soup
tureen, a chafing dish with its alcohol lamp
for heating, a coffee percolator, a pair of
English vases, and a tea pot. Also included
is a glass sliding door cabinet within which
we have placed an interesting part of our
HCHS silver collection.
In another part of this room, which we
call the EDNA SAMPSON Roos, we have two
walnut Victorian chairs which came from
Virginia and two tapestry covered chairs
bought in 1888 at the New England Furni-
ture Store (located on Marquette Avenue
and 5th Street in Minneapolis) . T« -o in-
teresting marble top tables are beside the
chairs one was made in New York and
was part of a furniture wedding present,
and the other is from the three-piece bed-
room set which consists of a short bed and
a Victorian dresser with two drawers on
top with a tilting mirror between.
As this consists of such a large group we
will only list some items briefly with brief
descriptions. Let the list begin with the
Singer Seeing 'Machine, an 1888 Patent
Rocker, a RoseNvood and Mahogany rocker
and Ottoman, a wooden bread box, Vic-
trola and records, two crockery preserving
jars, iron soup kettle, a child's oak chair, a
child's mahogany rocking chair, a walnut
towel rack from New York, a clay pipe, a
yelloNw leather trunk (that came to Minne-
sota in 1854), a child's dust pan and rolling
pin, and a wheeled pull toy.
Mrs. Sampson gave HCHS a dress from
her , edding trousseau of 1902 vintage,
a pink and «7hite striped dress trimmed
with lace insets, pearl buttons, long sleeves
and a squared -collared neckline. She also
included her white satin formal which she
wore as Worthy Matron of the Excelsior
Chapter of the Eastern Star.
A very interesting piece of furniture is
the kitchen cupboard safe which is 40
inches wide, four feet high, and 162 inches
deep. The sides are of tin punctured with
a design. Foodstuffs were stored in here to
keep them away from the flies.
Two musical instruments are included
in this estate: A Steinway Square Piano
complete with a piano stool, and a Piano
harp made in Minneapolis which Mrs.
Sampson says is one of only three in the
world made like it (the maker had a chair
factory in Excelsior) . A list of some of the
smaller items includes a coffee canister, a
red tea canister, a hand -made metal scoop,
two Nv ire tongs used to take the coals out
of the fireplace to light a pipe, a well -work
scouring board used with brick scrapings
on a cloth to scour knives and f orks and
other utensils; also a small book, A Father's
Presew, published in 1846, and a baby
dress.
This huge and valuable addition to our
HCHS Museum interests many people who
come to see and to study; they comment
that we are fortunate to have persons so
truly interested in preserving our history
that they will bring in and will donate to
our Society mementos of the past for future
generations to cherish!
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