Property of a Rhode Island Family Lots 544-551 The following lots descended in the Wanton, Fisher, Wharton and Smith families of Rhode Island and Philadelphia. Among these descendants, John Morton, Daniel B. Smith, Benjamin R. Smith, and Edward W. Smith Sr. were all very much interested in colonial furniture and made an effort to assimilate it from various people in the family, often collecting the "used" furniture that other members of the family had no use for. Fortunately there was rich ancestry which propogated a legacy of furniture sharing that preserved many pieces from the larger family from sale or destruction. Thomas Robinson Thomas "Quaker Tom" Robinson (1731-1817) was the son of Abigail Gardner Hazard and William Robinson, who was twice Governor of Rhode Island. In 1752, Thomas went to England but returned to Newport in 1753, when he established a warehouse and began business as a Commission Merchant and importer of British Goods. In 1754, Thomas married Sarah Richardson, the daughter of Thomas Richardson, General Treasurer of the Colony of Rhode Island, and Mary Wanton, the daughter of Joseph Wanton and grand daughter Edward Wanton of Scituate, Massachusetts. In addition to his mercantile business, which he ran throughout his life, in 1753, Robinson had other financial interests, and there is also evidence that Robinson was one of the "undertakers in the valuable design - the establishment of a college or university within this colony", known afterwards as Brown University. Among surviving primary documents, there is proof of connections between Thomas Robinson, his family and the Goddard-Townsend cabinetmakers of Newport. His name appears in Job Townsend, Sr.'s account book from 1754 and 1758 while his own receipt book from 1753 to 1770 features several references to business dealings between Robinson and other members of the Goddard and Townsend families. One such reference cites "Had of Thos Robinson thirty-seven pounds 81 and tining in full for one month + two days labor of princes to Nov 3, 1767 being the time he went to work for loper" (John Goddard, Newport, Dec 18, 1767). Family tradition holds that Robinson and Goddard were life long friends, as well as neighbors. The Thomas Robinson House The land the Robinson House sits on was originally part of a larger parcel of land subsequently divided into four lots and purchased by William Covey, who built the Thomas Robinson House in the 1730s. Covey sold the house to Henry Knowles in 1756, who in turn sold it to the Mariner Edward Wanton. Just one year later, in 1760, Wanton sold the house to Thomas and Sarah Robinson, who spent all of their married life in the house. During the Revolutionary War, the house served as the lodging for the Vicomte de Noialles, brother-in-law to the Marquis de Lafayette and a lieutenant-colonel of the French troops stationed in Newport. The house descended in the Robinson family and remains in the family to this day, being privately owned by a descendant. When Robinson purchased the house, it was a small two-story house with a square plan and was referred to as the "old tavern"; Robinson doubled the size of the house by adding a two-story addition on the north side that were paneled in the Georgian style. In 1875, McKim, Mead & White undertook additional renovations, converting a room on the waterside of the house into a colonial living room with a paneled wall and a large fireplace (see fig. 1)

A WILLIAM AND MARY BLACK-PAINTED CANED ARMCHAIR

MASSACHUSETTS OR EUROPEAN, 1690-1730

Details

A WILLIAM AND MARY BLACK-PAINTED CANED ARMCHAIR
MASSACHUSETTS OR EUROPEAN, 1690-1730
Soft maple and birch by microanalysis
55 in. high

Provenance

Descended in the Wanton and Smith families
Probable line of descent:
Edward Wanton (1629-1716) of Scituate, Massachusetts
Joseph Wanton (1664-1754)
Thomas Richardson (1680-1761)
Sarah Richardson (1733-1817) m. Thomas Robinson in 1754
Mary Robinson (1757-1829)
Ester Morton Smith (1797-1865) m. Daniel B. Smith 1824
Edward Wanton Smith, Sr.
Edward Wanton Smith, Jr., 1941

Lot Essay

Family tradition holds that this chair descended from Edward Wanton (1629-1716), a prominent Boston shipbuilder who converted to Quakerism and moved to Scituate, Massachusetts in 1661. The Wanton family was among the most prominent and public minded of colonial families, and includes numerous governors and public officials. Edward Wanton's eldest son Joseph Wanton (1664-1754) carried on his father's business and was known for his "princely hospitality". Among Joseph's children were Gideon (1693-1767) and Mary (1700-1777).

Gideon's son John G. Wanton (1729-1797) purchased the 1630s house of Stephen Mumford for his daughter Polly (Mary Wanton, 1763-1822) who married Major Daniel Lyman in 1782. The Wanton-Lymon-Hazard House, the oldest surviving home in Newport, is now open to the public.

Mary married Thomas Richardson (1680-1761), and their daughter Sarah (1732-1817) married Thomas Robinson. The Robinson House remains in private hands, and is among the most important of Newport's surviving colonial homes. A late 19th century interior photograph of the Thomas Robinson House shows this chair in situ (see figure 1, lot 550)

This chair and the three side chairs made en suite may have been purchased by Edward Wanton in the Boston/Scituate area in the late 17th or early 18th century, or may have been imported by him from overseas. While their long history in the Massachusetts/Rhode island area suggests that they were manufactured locally, and while they have much in common with chairs produced in the Boston area during that period, such Boston chairs have antecedents in Europe; the woods used to fabricate the chairs, soft maple and birch, are indigenous to both continents and do not provide a basis for firm attribution.

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