Trundle bed made c. 1860 and used by the Forbes family during the Great Depression
Use
Forbes family
Category
Household
Acquisition
Accession
0031
Source or Donor
Richard A. Forbes Jr Family
Acquisition Method
Gift
Source (if not Accessioned)
Richard A. Forbes Jr Family
Furniture Details
Furniture Type
Bed
Made/Created
Date made
circa 1860
Time Period
19th Century, Mid 19th Century
Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
Bed, Trundle
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
Bed
Nomenclature Sub-Class
Sleeping & Reclining Furniture
Nomenclature Class
Furniture
Nomenclature Category
Category 02: Furnishings
Material
Wood, Painted
Color
Black
Location
Room
Funk-Kline Room
Building
Burkholder-Myers House
Inventory
Inventory Project
INV2026.1
Inventoried By
Hannah Hendricks
Inventoried Date
Jun 17, 2026
Inventory Project
INV2025.1
Inventoried By
Hannah Hendricks
Inventoried Date
Jun 17, 2025
Condition
Reason for Exam
Inventory
Overall Condition
Good
Date Examined
Jun 17, 2025
Provenance
Notes
Frances Stringfellow Forbes (Mrs. Forbes, Sr.) found it in a farm house somewhere in Culpeper or Madison County & purchased it for a few dollars about 1930 when the family was furnishing their first home in downtown Culpeper, Virginia. These were depression years and except for family pieces, most of their furniture was collected the same way & the sellers were glad to have some cash.
Dick Forbes, Jr. slept in this bed for a number of years. It was pulled out from under his parents' bed each evening and slid back in the morning.
The family moved to Newport News, Va. in 1946 & put the bed to good use when the next generation began to produce grandchildren. In 1981 the trundle came into the hands of Dick, Jr. -- now a Presbyterian minister in Martinsburg, WV., and another generation of children slept on it. In 1992 one of those children, Thomas H. Forbes (Martinsburg) took custody of the trundle when his parents retired to Harrisonburg. When Tom's family could no longer use it, we began looking for a home for it and we were led to the Valley mennonite/Brethren Homestead.
