Introduction of an Eighteenth-Century Tool Chest-Deacon John Mansfield of Danvers/Lynnfield, Massachusetts

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Sep 2009 by Lasswell, Patrick

Introduction

Eighteenth-century tool chests hold a particular fascination for those of us involved with the study of early American trades. However, eighteenth-century tools chests that have survived with their contents intact are very rare. Three examples are the Thomas Nixon chest at the Framingham Historical and Natural History Society, a chest described as upstate New York, at The Farmers' Museum, and the 1797 Benjamin Seaton chest.1

Most often, these time capsules are available only in pictures, and the details of the contents remain illusive. Fortunately, another late-eighteenth-century chest has come to light, and I am pleased to be able to share some of its history and describe the period contents.2

The chest and tools surfaced in 2006 as part of the Mansfield family estate sale in present day Peabody, Massachusetts.3 The sale was touted as "furnishings from the Deacon John Mansfield estate located on thirteen acres on the Lynnfield-Peabody line for the past 300 years" and "antiques descended from the Deacon John Mansfield's home."

Deacon John Mansfield

The family history linked Deacon John Mansfield to the chest as well as two pieces of furniture - a circa 1790 chest of drawers and a Chippendale slant-top desk. However, family histories need to be verified. The presence of an "LM' imprint (for John Mansfield) on the majority of the tools is supportive, but, genealogical Web sites provided a myriad of possible candidates. A book about the Lexington, Masschusetts-based Monroe family provided the key; it noted "Deacon John Mansfield was a farmer and a cabinetmaker. He was married 3 times, m. (1) Phoebe Putnam, m. (2) Elizabeth Jackson ...."4 While this entry does not provide absolute proof that this chest was made or owned by Deacon John Mansfield, it does seem to confirm the Mansfield family's history linking Deacon Mansfield to the property, the tools, and the furniture.

Compiled genealogical data provided the vital statistics. He was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, on March 20, 1767, and died on April 18, 1839. John married Phoebe Putnam in November 1795, and they had two children, Samuel (1798) and Mary (1801). Following the death of his first wife, he married Elizabeth (Clark) Jackson in 1807, and they had one child, John (1809). He married a third time to Hannah (Monroe) Gerry in 1834.5

The progenitor of the family line, Robert, sailed from England with his family and settled in Lynn, Massachusetts, about 1640. The family branch of interest then moved to Lynnfield about 1730.6 The Mansfield genealogy reference refines the details. The family farm (of which the thirteen acres were a remnant) was originally bought by Andrew Mansfield (1692), John's great grandfather. The caption accompanying a photograph of the farmhouse states: "Andrew Mansfield bought the property known as Mansfield farm in 1724. It was located in Salem, Danvers, South Danvers, and Peabody as the town's name changed. ...Three generations of Andrew Mansfields lived here before it descended to Deacon John Mansfield."7 The farmhouse was torn down in 1959 to make way for an interchange on route 128, but the home built on adjoining land in 1740 by Daniel Mansfield (John's great uncle) still stands.

Little additional infor- mation has been gleaned about Deacon John Man- sfield. A few bits and pieces remain: dates of offices held; a note that John and his siblings were baptized in the Middle Salem precinct by the Rev. Holt; and records showing that John's father Andrew and his great uncle Daniel fought in the Revolutionary War, that the families' tall-case clock passed down through ten generations; and that over the generations, ten different Andrew Mansfields owned a particular silver cup. There was no mention of any building trades practiced within the preceding generations or within the extended family.

The Chest

The chest survived intact with the exception that the lid was separated from the base through the failure of later box hinges. (These later hinges have been replaced by a set of period chest hinges of the same size and design as the originals.) It is of a typical eighteenth-century six-board construction of white pine, although it is on the large size. The sides of the chest are slightly splayed with the top depth at 18-inches and the bottom depth at 19 inches. The chest retains what appears to be an original coat of red milk paint with proper scuffs, scratches, and a few stray interior notations. Such scribbles include molding outlines similar to the bracket feet found on the chest of drawers and also a crown molding profile (different from the two crown molder profiles that were found in the chest). The interior surfaces bear the telltale marks of rough planing, and it is constructed using simple butt joints held together with robust rose-head nails. The chest has one remaining exterior vertical side cleat with a center hole for a rope handle. I am assuming that the lock was added at a later date as one of the small nails holding it in place is a square nail. All other nails are of the wrought rose-head variety.