Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2021.06.01 |
Object Name |
Dress |
Date |
c1855 |
Features |
Full length dress with heavy fabric skirt. Fabric, striped beige, light brown, dark brown, and red. Pleated chest decoration fans out on wither side of a split up the front. Seam does up with a mix of hooks and snaps. Collar of dress is decorated with black lace. Light brown frilled trim present around chest area and around ends of sleeves. Scooped waist line slightly higher around the sides. |
Object Story |
This dress belonged to Mary Jane Mellow (nee Yelland), who was married to Samuel Henry Mellow; it was part of her dowry which she brought to Canada with her. Mary Jane was born in 1831 or 1832 in England. Samuel Henry was born March 30, 1828 in Cornwall, England. Samuel Henry grew up in Saint Stephen-in-Brannel, Cornwall, England. As he grew up he took work as a labourer at St. Stephens Parish, however after gaining a fiancee, he decided to improve his status by travelling to the new world where he strived to accumulate 20 pounds sterling. While Samuel Henry was here in Canada Mary Jane was waiting for him back in England, working in the clay pits. They exchanged love letters over the course of the five years that Samuel Henry was in Canada. His time here was spent working hard. After having spent his youth as a labourer, he was hired as a school teacher after learning how much better it payed than the wages in Cornwall. It has been noted that as a child he had been educated, especially in Mathematics. Ultimately he settled in Ernestown Township, where the school was located. After five years Samuel Henry returned to Cornwall, England to marry Mary Jane Yelland. July 10th, 1855 the pair married in the Parish Curch of St. Stephen-in-Brannel. Samuel Henry's brother William Mellow and his fiancee Elizabeth Phillips were witness to the union. Nine days after the first wedding William and Elizabeth were married as well. Latter in 1855 both pairs of newly married Mellow's arranged passage to Canada. However this was not a quick or an easy journey. While the ship was sailing trough the Irish Sea to Liverpool, the purportedly drunk captain crashed the ship into a rocky cliff, just off the Northwest Coast of Wales. The bow of the ship was wedge against the cliff, though significantly farther below the top. The male passengers of the ship, the ship's carpenter, as well as Samuel Henry and his brother William (who had completed a 7 year apprenticeship in Carpentry), joined together to construct scaffolding from the bow of the ship to the top of the cliff. The scaffolding was finished in the early daylight and allowed all 300 passengers and crew to not only climb to safety along with their possessions. Soon after the tide came in and promptly sank the ship. This dowry dress was one of the possessions that survived the sinking ship. Thirteen weeks later, six of which were on a boat crossing the Atlantic the small group of Mellows made it to Castle Garden, in New York. They then made their way to Morven where they were self-employed as farmers. Soon, drawn to the low cost land, the group moved to Kaladar, however found that it was not as suitable for farming, as it was for lumber. Family lore indicates that the few crops they were able to grow, that first year, were killed off by an early frost, all except the turnips which sustained the family through the winter. That Spring the group moved on to North Fredericksburgh. Here William Mellow bought a farm which would remain in his family with Elizabeth for four generations. Samuel Henry and Mary Jane moved on to South Fredericksburgh where Samuel Henry rented 50 acres of land in Hay Bay (called Sillsville at the time) which he would later purchase. Here is where he crated his homestead which included land to farm, areas for livestock, and even an orchard. During his time in Hay Bay Samuel Henry helped organized the Glebe Sunday School of which he was superintendent for 40 years. Over the years Mary Jane and Samuel Henry had 14 children, seven of which did not survive. The seven children that made it to adulthood were Thomas, Annie, Samuel (Dr.), Felix, Arthur, Fanny, and Frank. August 11, 1904 Samuel Henry Mellow passed away as a result of heart failure at the age of 76. Mary Jane Mellow (nee Yelland) lived until 1910. Though sources indicate that Mary Jane was a the great woman behind the great man that was Samuel Henry Mellow, one of Mary Jane's granddaughters recalls her Grandmother telling her not to marry and go a long way from home. |
People |
Mellow, Samuel Henry Mellow, Mary Jane (nee Yelland) Mellow, William James Mellow, Elizabeth (nee Phillips) Mellow, Thomas Mellow, Annie Mellow, Dr. Samuel Mellow, Felix Mellow, Arthur Mellow, Frank Mellow, Fanny |
Subjects |
Carpentry Teaching Teachers Farmers Farming Immigration Shipwrecks Garments |
Search Terms |
St. Stephen-in-Brannel Cornwall, England Ernestown Township Castle Garden, New York Morven Kaladar North Fredericksburgh South Fredericksburgh Sillsville Hay Bay Glebe Sunday School |