Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID # |
1961.027.008 |
Object Name |
Stay, Collar |
Title |
Mother-of-Pearl Collar Stay |
Lexicon category |
3: Personal Artifacts |
Date |
19th-century |
Artist |
Unidentified maker |
Made |
Unknown |
Place of Origin |
Unknown/England, United Kingdom? |
Description |
Mother-of-pearl collar stay, 19th-c. This collar stay is made of mother-of-pearl and brass. The stay part is a convexly-curved, bar-like item. Its one side is flat and luminiscent, showing the best of the mother-of-pearl. The reverse side has two brass posts. One is threaded like a screw. The other appears to be a permanent fixture, with a mother-of-pearl circular cap on it. The ends of the stay are rounded in their shape. There is no maker's identification. |
Makers mark |
None |
Provenance |
This collar stay may have belonged to Catharine B. Sutton (née Nahneebahweequay or Catharine Brown Sunego) of Sarawak Township, Grey County, who died in September of 1865. Or it might have belonged to one of her daughters (as collars became higher later on, necessitating stays). It was found among Sutton family artifacts. Perhaps this collar stay was manufactured in England? Mrs. Sutton travelled there and to the United States circa 1860. Her husband was an Englishman. She was an Ojibwa (Anishnaabe) woman who received some education in England in the 1830s (c. 1837). Catharine B. Sutton was an Ojibwa (Anishnaabe) woman who married an Englishman, William Sutton, in 1839, at the Credit River Mission (a Wesleyan Methodist mission that was assisting Ojibwa families). The Suttons had moved their family from the Credit River area to what would later be known as Grey County in the mid 1840s, in order to assist the Newash Ojibwa band with missionary work. The Newash Band gave Mrs. Sutton and her heirs a quantity of land in what later became Sarawak Township, Canada West. When an 1857 land treaty with the Crown occurred, Mrs. Sutton was in jeopardy of losing her land, as she could not legally obtain title, as she was an "Indian", and could not even purchase it at auction. This injustice, and others, led her to becoming a spokesperson for her people. She was elected by the Council at Rama to be their envoy to England in order to speak to Queen Victoria about the unfair situation for aboriginal people in Canada West. Mrs. Sutton was of the Eagle Totem and was born circa 1824 and raised at the Credit Indian Mission (near the Credit River near Lake Ontario). Her name "Nahneebahweequay" meant "Upright Woman" or "black squirrel". Mrs. Sutton died in September of 1865, at her log home in Sarawak Township, Grey County. She and Mr. Sutton still had young children to raise when she died. Her mother assisted Mr. Sutton after she passed away, as did Miss Catherine Sutton, the eldest daughter. The item was passed down in the family, eventually belonging to Mrs. Catherine Morgan (née Staves) of Brantford, Ontario, who was a grand-daughter of Catharine and William Sutton. Catherine Staves was married to Reverend Alfred Morgan. Alfred Morgan was the last owner of this item. Catherine Staves and Alfred Morgan were married at Toronto on August 14, 1906. Catherine Staves was the daughter of Joseph Staves (a cooper), and Sophia Staves (née Sutton). Sophia Staves had died of consumption in Sarawak Township on May 17, 1875, and Mr. William Sutton raised his grandchildren, Catherine Staves (b. 18__) and her brother, William Percy Staves (b. April 10, 1875) in Sarawak Township.. |
Collection |
First Nations, Sutton Collection |
Material |
Mother-of-Pearl/Metal |
Dimensions |
W-0.8 L-6.2 D-0.7 cm |
Found |
Brantford, Ontario |
People |
Sutton, Catharine Sutton, Catherine Morgan, Catherine Morgan, Alfred |
Subjects |
Collars Clothing & dress Jewelry First Nations of Central Canada |
Search Terms |
Victorian Sarawak Township Ojibwa (Anishnaabe, Anishnibeg) |
Function |
A jewellery-like piece that stiffens and supports a woman's dress collar. |