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Photo: Courtesy Ralph Carpenter Papers, Joseph Downs Manuscript Library, Winterthur Museum, Del.
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Slant-front desk

Object number

RIF258

Maker

Maker Unknown

Date

1760–90

Current location

Private collection

Geography

Possibly made in South Kingstown, Rhode Island
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Walnut (primary); chestnut (secondary)

Marks

Unknown

Inscriptions

"This desk was owned by / Jeremy Niles who was born / in South Kingston, April 7, 1707. / In 1740 he was chosen / Justice of the Peace and in / 1762 Justice of the Supreme Court. / The clock [sic] has remained in / the possession of his direct / descendants, and is now, / in the year 1912, the / property of his great, great, / grandson, Jeremiah Potter Robinson," in ink, on paper tacked inside prospect door

Provenance

Jeremiah Niles (1707–1794), South Kingstown, Rhode Island; by descent to his daughter, Mrs. John Potter II (née Mary Niles); by descent to her son, Jeremiah Niles Potter (1769–1849), South Kingstown, Rhode Island; by descent to his daughter, Mrs. George Champlin Robinson (née Mary Niles Potter, 1794–1870); by descent to her son, Jeremiah Potter Robinson (1819–1886); by descent to his son, Jeremiah Potter Robinson II (1846–1916); by descent to his daughters, Elizabeth D. Robinson (1870–1962) and Faith Robinson Corrigan (1883–1959), Wakefield, Rhode Island; by descent to her daughter, Faith Corrigan McNulty (died 2005); by descent to her nephew, Joseph Keiffer

Associated names

Jeremiah Niles
Mary Niles Potter
Jeremiah Niles Potter
Mary Niles Potter
Jeremiah Potter Robinson
Jeremiah Potter Robinson II
Elizabeth D. Robinson
Faith Robinson Corrigan
Faith Corrigan McNulty