Label
Secretary, c. 1840
Attributed to James W. Stevens (1815-1870)
Craftsbury, Vermont
Mahogany, pine, and basswood
Bequest of Carolyn A. Pratt, 1966.7
James Wellington Stevens was born at Middlebury in 1815 and was apprenticed to a man named Sweet before moving to Craftsbury shortly after his twenty-first birthday in 1836. According to the entries in his extant account books, also in the collection of VHS, he began to work in June of 1836 and continued until 1855. This corroborates family history, which states that he ceased cabinetmaking "in the fifties" and opened a daguerreotype studio in town.
Stevens' account books reveal that he was typical of Vermont's versatile woodworkers, recording jobs from the making of "18 shoe patterns" to "setting glass in school house." The range of his furniture production was also broad, from a 98-cent footstool to a $19.50 sofa. In between were center, dining, and tea tables, French bedsteads, sets of "fancy" chairs, and bureaus. Accompanying the account books are several 19th-century stencil patterns and early transfer decals.