By Ellen M. Spindler, Bowne House Collection Volunteer , with research assistance provided by Charlotte Jackson, Bowne House Archivist
Photo: Stefan Dreisbach-Williams
The Cadwallader Colden daybed in the Bowne House collection is a day bed made of wood, with fancy turned legs and strips which appear to be made of hemp or manila nailed onto the frame for the mattress. It is described in Bowne House accession records as having a velvet green back with beige "fleur de lys" design. According to these records, this daybed was made of beechwood in the William and Mary style, dated 1710-1740, and was located in the parlor bedroom. Those same records describe the daybed as having belonged to Cadwallader Colden, governor of the New York Province, a proprietary British colony, immediately prior to the Revolution.
The piece was donated to the Bowne House Historical Society, Inc. on April 22, 1960, by Charlotte Murry (probably Murray), a likely descendant of Catharine (Bowne) Murray’s son Robert I. Murray (b. 1786). Catharine (Bowne) Murray was John Bowne’s great-great granddaughter, and second cousin to Mary (Bowne) Parsons and her sisters. Her son Robert I. Murray married Elizabeth Colden, the great-granddaughter of Cadwallader Colden.
Above photographs: Stefan Dreisbach-Williams
The daybed is one of four early pieces of furniture in the Bowne House collection that are currently the subject of an assessment to determine the species of wood utilized and possibly confirm their place of origin and date. The other three are the George Fox daybed (previously highlighted in a Collection Spotlight blog post), the trestle table in the kitchen allegedly brought by John Bowne from England in the mid to late 17th century, and a Dutch table in the kitchen also believed to be from the 17th century. [i]
Cadwallader Colden - Portrait by John Wollaston the Younger, between 1749-52, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Cadwallader Colden (1688-1776) served as both Lieutenant Governor and acting Governor for the Province of New York prior to and during the American Revolution. He held office from 1760-1762, 1763-1765, 1769-1770, and again in 1774-75 under George III. He retired after the Battle of Lexington in April 1775. He was also a physician and a natural scientist. Originally born in Ireland and educated at The University of Edinburgh, he married Alice Chryste circa 1715 in Scotland and had 8 surviving children. Eventually one of his descendants, Judge Charles S. Colden, became the first President of the Bowne House Historical Society.
Interestingly, Colden served as the first colonial representative to the Iroquois Confederacy, writing the first book on the subject in 1727 entitled The History of the Five Indian Nations…with particular Accounts of their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws, and Form of Government; their several Battles and treaties with the European Nations; particular Relations of their several wars with the other Indian Nations and a true Account of the present State of our Trade with them.... The Iroquois Confederacy was notable in part for being gender equitable with a democratic form of governance. Since Colden was appointed Surveyor-General of New York in 1720 before assuming his other roles, the New York State Archives has numerous Indian deeds for tracts of land he surveyed and petitions for related patents.
One notable event during Colden’s tenure occurred on November 1, 1765, when a huge crowd gathered carrying an effigy of him hung from moveable gallows to protest the Stamp Act (after he had declared his intention to enforce the Act). They broke into his coach house to appropriate his coach, and burned it in a bonfire on Bowling Green. Colden had initially stood firm in the unrest leading up to November 1, requesting British troops to protect the fort in New York City, but after the mob attack and the arrival of the stamps, he declared his intention to do nothing further until the newly appointed governor Sir Henry Moore arrived. He was later rebuked by the British for what they deemed an inappropriate suspension of his governmental authority in the matter. In 1769 after he had resumed his duties, the New York State Assembly, at Colden’s request, passed a bill providing funds for British troops garrisoned in New York City, another controversial measure.
Throughout this period, Dinah (Underhill) Bowne (1707-1770), the widow of John Bowne III, occupied the Bowne House with her children, including John Bowne the IV, with whom she co-owned the house. We still have in the Bowne House collections an 18th-century linen tea towel (ca. 1740) recorded as belonging to Dinah.
Cadwallader Colden - Portrait by Matthew Pratt, 1772, New York State Museum
In a way, it is ironic that the Bowne House has a daybed in its collection from a historical figure who was arguably antithetical to many of the family’s values. The Bownes were mainly neutral in the Revolutionary War and kept a low profile during that period, with Robert Bowne, the founder of Bowne and Co. printers and later a co-founder of the New York Manumission Society, temporarily relocating his family to New Jersey. From there he wrote the 1776 letter (now preserved in the Bowne House archives) to his brother John IV, who still resided at the Bowne House, stating in part, “I have endeavour’d to avoid giving offence to any, have associated with very few which I have found to be much the safest, as there are many warm persons near us that are ketching at everything they can take the least advantage of to distress those who do not approve of their violent and unjust proceedings…”
While some Quakers supported the Revolution and even fought at the risk of being disowned by their Meetings, some members of the New York Quaker community gave the British a petition in 1782 now in the Bowne House archives in which they respectfully informed the Army that they would not serve in “the Watch” (a civilian safety patrol) as an alternative form of service, because that would free up other men to fight. Among their statements was the following: “We cannot in Conscience support or contribute directly or indirectly to the Business or Practice of War…” They also argued that their pacificism would not even let them submit to bodily defense. The signatories included Samuel Bowne, Daniel Bowne, and James Parsons (likely the father of Samuel Parsons), as well as members of other notable Quaker families such as Murray, Underhill, and Lawrence (see full transcription).
What Colden had in common with the Bownes was his love of botany. He wrote a taxonomy of the flora near his Orange County, New York home. He corresponded with an international circle engaged in the study of natural history, including Carl Linnaeus in Sweden, and introduced them to new species and genera of plants. He also contributed to public health by publicizing how unsanitary conditions led to disease. These actions helped to establish New York City’s early sanitation efforts.
Although British authority was in dispute once the Revolution started, the British Army occupied New York City again on September 24, 1776. Colden died four days later at his Spring Hill estate in Flushing, an estate he had acquired in 1762. New York (Colony) Council minutes from May 5, 1775, in the New York State Archives refer to Colden’s intention to go to his Flushing “country estate,” undoubtedly on his retirement. The estate passed to his son David, but he was prosecuted and sentenced as a Loyalist and forced to flee to London; it was forfeited soon after. Now, centuries later, the Mount Hebron and Cedar Grove Cemeteries occupy the former Spring Hill estate.
Cadwallader David Colden - By Samuel Lovett Waldo - Wikimedia Commons
Governor Colden's grandson Cadwallader David Colden (1769-1834) managed to entirely change the political fortunes of the family, despite having been dispossessed of the family home where he was born. After returning from abroad, where he had accompanied his father into exile, he became an attorney (and even the district attorney in the 1st District located on Long Island) and served as a Colonel of Volunteers in the War of 1812. He also served as mayor of New York City from 1818-21, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1821-23, and as a member of the New York State Senate from 1824-1827. He became President of the anti-slavery New York Manumission Society in 1815, and was a leading member of the New York Society for the Prevention of Pauperism.
Colden also made a significant contribution by helping to rebuild the African Free School, so he may very well have been a friend or acquaintance of Robert Bowne due to that effort, as well as their joint participation in the Manumission Society; he was also a contemporary of Samuel Parsons. Historians further credit him with working with the Jays and others to influence the New York State legislature to set the date of July 4, 1827, for the abolition of slavery in New York. His daughter Jane Colden became the first female botanist working in America. The family image and label below in the Bowne House archives show that at one time he was the owner of this daybed, alternatively referred to as “the gout bench.” The whereabouts of the daybed/bench during the prior time his father fled to England is not known. Once it came into the Bowne House’s possession, it was located in the parlor bedroom, also known as the William Penn bedroom, as reflected on the label below.
Cadwallader Colden Family (Postcard) - Bowne House Archives
Another descendant, Judge Charles S. Colden (b. ca. 1885-1960), was the first President of the Bowne House Historical Society, and his influence and benevolence may have facilitated the donation of the piece to the House collection upon his death in 1960. Judge Colden was present at the dedication of the Bowne House in 1945 and its first opening to the public in 1947.
Judge Colden also worked closely with Mayor Fiorella La Guardia to help establish Queens College. His papers remain in the archives there; he was a larger-than-life figure remembered for his many civic contributions. Cadwallader Colden and his descendants have thus created a lasting legacy in Queens; as another example, P.S. 214, an elementary school in Queens, is named Cadwallader Colden.
Photograph of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia and Judge Charles S. Colden, attribution unknown (Charles Colden Collection, Box 15, Queens College Department of Special Collections and Archives )
Bowne House 1947 opening ceremony: Middle, Charles S. Colden holding flag; far right, William Bowne Parsons, son of Robert Bowne Parsons. (Bowne House Archives)
The Bowne House is proud to have this daybed crafted three centuries ago in its collection, linked to such important historical figures and such an illustrious family. One can imagine the first Cadwallader Colden resting on the daybed and writing about his botanical collections, a narrative most fitting for the Bowne House!
Sources & Further Reading
Cadwallader Colden, The Lieutenant governor declares he will do nothing in relation to the stamps, but leave it to Sir Henry Moore, to do as he pleases, on his arrival. : Council chamber, New-York, Nov. 2, 1765. By order of His Honour Gw. Banyar, d. cl. Con., New-York Historical Society Museum & Library, Broadsides
Colden, Cadwallader and John G. Shea. The History of the Five Indian Nations Depending on the Province of New-York…. New York , 3rd edition, 1755, Lockyer Davis, London, New- York Historical Society Museum & Library; See also Hathi Trust, volume one and volume 2
Colden, Cadwallader David-Biographical Information, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (accessed March 16, 2021)
Colden, Cadwallader, The letters and papers of Cadwallader Colden …1771- [1775]. New York, Printed for the New York Historical Society, 1918-37
Devine, Joseph, The Colden Family of Early America, Coldengham Preservation & Historical Society, New York, 2011
Dixon, John M, Cadwallader Colden: Empire, Science and Intellectual Culture in British New York, Cornell University Press, 2016
Engelman, F. L. “Cadwallader Colden and the New York Stamp Act Riots”, The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 4, (1953) pp. 560-578, (accessed March 16, 2021)
Knowles, Charles E. Hon. Cadwallader D. Colden, Statesman, Patriot, Humanitarian, A Discourse delivered before the Flushing Historical Society, October 31, 1945 (abridged)
New-York Historical Society Museum & Library Digital Collections, Documents relating to Cadwallader Colden and Documents Relating to Cadwallader D. Colden (accessed March 16, 2021)
New York State Archives Digital Collections, Documents relating to Cadwallader Colden (accessed March 16, 2021)
Schwartz, Seymour I., Cadwallader Colden: A Biography. Amherst, New York: Humanity Books, an imprint of Prometheus Books, 2013
[i] We gratefully acknowledge a grant from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network for the wood assessment of these furniture objects in the collection.