Brief description |
Tilt-top table used by the Donald family, Town of Springdale, Dane County, ca. 1868. |
Object name |
Table |
Alternate object name |
Tilt-top table; Tea table |
Date |
ca. 1868 |
Dimensions |
42"H x 28 ½" diam. |
Materials and techniques |
Walnut |
Original location |
possibly Dane County, Wisconsin |
Location of use |
Town of Springdale, Dane County, Wisconsin |
Current location |
Mt. Horeb, Dane County, Wisconsin |
Description |
This tilt-top table has a circular two-board top with a molded edge, a turned baluster made up of two laminated pieces of walnut, and three curved legs. |
History |
This table is one of dozens of artifacts that came to the Mt. Horeb Area Historical Society from the estate of Delma Donald Woodburn (1899-2001), who carefully documented and preserved the material heritage of her family's life in Mount Horeb and Madison, Wisconsin. These artifacts span several generations, beginning with two early pioneer families who came to the rural Mount Horeb area from New York state--William Sweet and Sally Clark Sweet and Reverend James Donald and Margaret Strong Donald. According to Woodburn, this table was part of the wedding furniture for Ellen Sweet and John Strong Donald of the Town of Springdale, Dane County, Wisconsin. The Sweet family, including six-year-old Ellen, came to Wisconsin from Chautauqua County, New York in 1855 and settled in the Town of Springdale. In 1868 Ellen married John Strong Donald (1842-1868), a son of Reverend and Margaret Donald. John Donald died after just a few months of marriage and Ellen married another Dane County farmer, John Jones, in 1882. |
Sources |
For a history of the Donald and Sweet families, see "Settlement" Friends of Donald County Park (accessed December 9, 2008): http://donaldpark.org/pdf/historyDonaldPark2.pdf For more information on Delma Donald Woodburn, see "Delma Donald Woodburn" in "Pages of the Past" Mt. Horeb Area Historical Society (accessed December 9, 2008): http://www.mounthoreb.org/ppDelma.htm An image of this table in use in the Donald home ca. 1900 is on file at the Mt. Horeb Area Historical Society. |
Related objects |
A very similar table used in Dane County between 1868-1878 is part of the collections of the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum (object # 1980.001.046): http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,2032 Additional examples of furniture used by the Donald family include an armchair and a corner cupboard (object #s 2002.001.0006 and 2002.001.0029): http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,297 and http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,526 |
Owner |
Mt. Horeb Area Historical Society |
Object # |
2002.001.0042 |
Rights |
(c) 2006 by the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society. Contact the owner for more information. http://www.mounthoreb.org/ |
Digital collection |
Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database |
Digital identifier |
MH013 |
Digital format |
image/jpeg |
Type |
Physical object |
Keywords |
Furniture; Tilt-top table; Tea table; Table (support furniture); Furnishings (artifacts); Furnishings and equipment |
Date digitized |
2007-01-16 |
Date modified |
2010-10-08 |