A QUEEN ANNE FIGURED WALNUT HIGH CHEST-OF-DRAWERS

Signed by its owner in elegant penmanship on the top board of the bottom case, this high chest was the property of Maria Rush (1794-1873) who in 1836 took up residence in the house of her brother Samuel (1789-1873) and his wife Caroline Lardnet (Laronet) (1795-1767). The extended Rush family lived in Mount Holly, New Jersey where Samuel is recorded in 1868-1869 as a carpenter and living on High Street (Bordentown, Burlington & Mt. Holly Directory for 1868-69 (Bordentown, 1868), p. 100). This high chest may have descended to Maria’s niece, Mary Ann Rush (b. 1833), to whom Maria gave all of her “Room furniture” in her will (for Maria’s will, see ancestry.com, Photos & Scanned Documents).