The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-01-21
ART TREASURES IN CONNECTICUT.
Beautiful Specimens in Embroidery in Pos session of the Historical Society--Many New Haven Families.

| session OI Lle ItlhIDEicNA HotlNAIs-VAhh9
 New Haven Families.
 Hartford, Jan. 2O.-The Connecticut
 Historical society of this city is the
 possessor of interesting proofs that the
 arts of painting and embroidery, par
 tieularly the latter. were cultivated as
 a pastime by the women of the Con.
 necticut colony. Specimens of exquis.
 ite needlework can be found in the
 mass of historic relics owned by the
 society if one has the patience to look
 for them. The handiwork of these
 Connecticut danes appears for the
 most part in scarfs, aprons and slip
 pers, which were worn by the young
 women of the colony from a century
 and a half to two centuries ago.
 There Is an apron of great beauty
 in the collection, which was embroid-
 cred and worn by Mary Hooker, the
 granddaughter of Thomas Hooker
 founder of the colony in 1889. This
 lady was the daughter of Samuel
 Hooker, the first pastor of the church in Harrington. She became the wife
 of the Rev. James Pierrepont of New l Haven and grandmother of Jonathan
 Edwards. The taste for art which she
 displayed was inherited by the sister
 of the great New England Calvinist
 Molly Edwards of East Windsor who
 lived and died in single blessedness
 Molly Edwards was one of ten daugh- l ters, and, so far as can be found out from the brief records kept in the fam | fly prior to the historic career of Jon athan Edwards, was a woman of great personal fascination.
 The Rev. Timothy Edwards, the father of these ten young women, was an old New England divine, well educated for the time, and devoted to the simple and unpretentious life of a | Connecticut Calvinistic pastor. His home in East Windsor was "a kind of educational workshop" Upward of fifty students were fitted by him for Yale between the years of 1894 and 1755. He used to speak of his female offspring as sixty feet of daughters. The mother, Sarah Pierrepont, was one of the loveliest women in the New Haven and Connecticut colonies, One of Mrs Edwards lineal descendants is a resi- dent of this city, being the wife of Pro- lessor Williston Walker of the Hart ford Theological seminary. She was Miss Mather of Amherst, Mass, prior to her marriage to Professor Walker.
 Molly Edwards, the artist sister of Jonathan Edwards, was born February II, 1701. When she was fifteen years old she seems to have been living in Hadley Mass. Her noted brother, who was born October 5, 1703, has left a boyish letter that was addressed to her in Hadley, May 10, 1716, in which he embodied the odd inquiry: How Is it with you as to your crookedness % He tells her in this letter that three of the sisters, Abigail, Hannah and Lucy, have had the chickenpox and that Jerusha, another sister, Is almost well. Five years prior to this letter of Jonathan Edwards, which contains with it's playfulness an account of religious awakening in East Windsor, the Rev. Timothy Edwards sent a let ter home to his family from Albany, N. Y, in which he speaks of Molly by name. But apart from these two let ters there is not much reference to her in the Edwards papers and documents The whole story of her life is left to the tombstone that still commemorates her memory in the old East Windsor burial ground
 But this silence Is characteristic of the family. When Lucy Edwards, one of the !oveliest Of the sisters. died in August, 17S6, at the age of twenty-one, there was not 2 letter or paper saved that could give any account O. her brilllancy or beauty. Jerusha Edwards, who was mentioned in the letter re- ceived by Molly while living at Hadley, died December p, 1928 There are sone interesting notes fextant concern ing her. She was a woman of wit and fascination. But her wit, says the bi- ographer of Jon than Edw rds, was del- icate and kind and was used merely for recreation"
 Molly Edwards was past forty years of age when she began the embroidery and painting that are preserved by the Connecticut Historical society. These treasures in the possess on of the society include include a pair of slippers work ed in 1746, when Molly Edwards was years old. There is a beauti- ful bit of painting on silk which she in 1742. But the choicest proof of her art is scarf which she made also in 1742. The wool of the ! scarf was spun and dyed by her The dyes were mace from native plants, | and the artistic task was performed | while she gave attention to the usual days work at the spinning wheel. The | scarf is exceptionally beautiful
 The collection of art worl, and em- broidery belonging to the society also | include slippers that were worn by Mrs. | the mother of Colonel William | who was killed at Fort Led | yard in 17S1. The slippers were worn by | Mary Ledyard. sister of the colonel, | who fell victim to British perfidy, | and wife Of the chivalric Thomas Y Seymour, are also to be sound in this | collection of colonial treasures. The | apron worn by Mary Hooker, which is beyond question the loveliest specimen of ancient embroidery in Connecticut. | has been in the possession of the his torical society for thirty years The Molly Edwards treasures have been | given to the society by Hannah Whit tlesey of Middletown,-New York Times.