posted 01-27-2005 12:31 PM            

Missouri's Silver Age: Silversmiths of the 1800s
Norman Mack
Foreword by Anne Woodhousee

posted 01-29-2005 01:23 AM            

Mr. Keister’s suggested reading is mostly other books on cemetery symbolism, but does include one that seems to general in nature. That one is “The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols” by Jean Chevalier.

Thanks for the information about the new book on Missouri silver. I saw the notice of a book signing in the Missouri Historical Society newsletter and initially thought that a silver exhibit of Mr. Mack's silver would begin at the same time. Apparently that is not the case.

posted 07-29-2006 07:21 PM            

- It's Edwin Adriance, not Edward. In his entry, footnote 1 does not supply the information preceding the note. And Cornelius DeRiemer did not "follow... his New York associate to Missouri". In fact, DeRiemer had separated from their partnership (which also included Edward Edmund Mead) a few years earlier, and he stayed in Auburn, NY, got involved in photography in the 1850s, retired in the 1860s, and died there in 1872. It was actually Mead who moved first to St. Louis, in 1835; Adriance stayed behind in NY for a few months to close up the Ithaca shop, before following. I note also that DeRiemer is not mentioned in the entry for Mead, despite a note to see that entry concerning the two of them.

- In the entry for Edward Mead, his New York background is not mentioned. And I know of no instance where he spelled his name Meade in a mark (as stated p.109-10; no such example is illustrated, either). Also, he was active in St. Louis from 1835, as the senior partner in Mead & Adriance, not just from 1842 (the year the partnership broke up), as suggested in his entry. The note (p.112) to 'see entry' for Jaccard in re: Edward H. Mead becoming a salesman there leads nowhere, as he is not mentioned in that entry.

- C. S. Russell, who advertised as a successor to E. Mead & Co. in 1861 (until at least 1864), is not mentioned in the book that I can see. Nor, apparently, is the firm of Mueller & Co. (a Mr. Truemiller was the other partner), who were dealers in watches, jewelry and silver in St. Louis. It's possible they were just retailers, not "silversmiths", but I would think they would still be worth mentioning as they advertised that they handled silver wares.

- The author uses fl. in an odd way, to indicate the earliest year of recorded activity rather than the usual range of activity. This is somewhat distracting, to see a single year of activity on an entry's title line and then read documentation of years of activity in the entry itself.

Now, I know all too well how hard it can be to maintain continuity across different related entries, and to make sense of all the different sources that one has to examine in doing this sort of work. But I was hoping to find out more about Mssrs. Mead and Adriance in St. Louis from this book; instead, the mistakes I found made me wonder what others there might be. I hope that a second, revised edition will follow, with a good intense round of double-checking the facts and the linkages between entries. Until then, if you're interested in Missouri silver don't avoid the book, just be aware that, like all books, it has its faults.

posted 07-30-2006 09:03 AM            

I cannot recall seeing the Meade spelling on silver.

posted 07-30-2006 10:26 AM            

I went to the original newspapers from both cities, searching the papers page by page for every ad and mention, and they were very clear as to the 1835 sequence. And in none of the hundreds of ads - maybe over a thousand even - did he spell his name Meade, in either city. I wouldn't say it never happened - but I'd want to see it with my own eyes, at this point, to believe it. In the early 19th century you still run into shifting spellings with some frequency, but by mid-century they're really starting to stabilize, especially for literate business-people.

posted 06-22-2008 12:48 AM            

In the 1850 U S Federal Census for Jersey City, New Jersey, there is an Edwin Adrianes that the indexer reads as Adriance. He was born in New York in 1809, and his occupation was "jeweller." Also listed with this Edwin are Eliza who was born in 1820 in New York, Charles who was born in 1836 in New York and Anna who was born in 1843 in Maine.

In the next census, 1860, in New York City there is an Eliza who was born in New York in 1825, and an Anna E who was born in Missouri (no Edwin or other male that could be a husband is shown).

The only thing for sure here, well pretty certain, is that the Scipio Edward is not the Edwin under consideration, and there was an Edwin Adrianes who was a jeweler in Jersey City in 1850.

posted 06-22-2008 03:22 PM            

Edwin's brother John was also a silversmith, in Poughkeepsie 1814-26, before going into the foundry business.