COVENTRY, NEW YORK SAMPLER
Coventry, New York Sampler
Celia Althea Wedge
April 7, 1862
Silk on linen
18.5” high, 17.5” wide; in a modern frame, 24” high, 23” wide
Celia was born on October 31, 1853 in Harpursville, Broome County, New York to Wilson (1826-1903) and Priscilla (1820-1896) Wedge. The family, which later included another daughter (Flora, born about 1855), ran a prosperous farm. The 1860 census lists them in Coventry (Chenango County) and the household included a servant. By 1870, the family had relocated to the town of Union in Broome County, west of Binghamton. Celia married wagon maker Henry Chase (1839-1913) in 1875, and the couple moved around a bit, eventually settling on a farm and raising two children (Alice, born in 1876, and Winifred, 1886-1947). Celia died in 1939 in the Cooperstown home of her daughter, Winifred, and son-in-law, Walter Buell, and their children.