Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID # |
1957.016.010ab |
Object Name |
Dish, Chafing |
Title |
1869 Patent Chafing Dish |
Lexicon category |
4: T&E For Materials |
Date |
1869 patent |
Made |
Meriden Britannia Company |
Place of Origin |
Meriden, Connecticut |
Description |
The dish component (absent stand and burner, currently) of a silver-plated chafing dish. Circular, with two, flat, pear-shaped, openwork-casted handles protruding at a 90 degree angle from each side. These handles are highly-decorated. There is a decorative band of etching encircling the dish which features three separate bands of pattern, each of which are simple and delicate. The outer two are essentially geometric, which the central band is floral. |
Makers mark |
It has two circular impress-stamped marks, that overlap. The left one has the weigh scale and crest and "MERIDEN B COMPANY" mark, while the other one has "QUADRUPLE PLATE". Impressed below is "PATD. FEB.9.1869", with 84 1/2 impressed under that. |
Provenance |
Previously owned by Mr. W. Quay Kilbourn of Owen Sound, Ontario (also later at Toronto), said that this 1869 patented item came from the home of his Great-Grandfather, Hiram Kilbourn. Mr. Hiram Kilbourn came to Owen Sound, Upper Canada by sailing vessel, in June of 1845, via Penetang, bringing along a cargo of maple sugar, his family, and the family of Joseph McFarlane. Hiram Kilbourn was a Tanner by trade. His wife was the former Eliza Seaman and they had 3 children with them when they arrived. They formerly had resided at Smith Falls (as did the McFarlanes). He bought Lot 9 on the east side of Poulett St. (Main Street) in the village of Sydenham (later called Owen Sound), circa 1846, while James Kilbourn had Lot 8. At that time, the surname was spelt as "Kilbourne". Hiram Kilbourn's tannery employed six to eight men. He would eventually sell it to Mr. Charles Hall (Croft, Melba, FOURTH ENTRANCE TO HURONIA, p. 36) An 1851 directory listed Hiram and James Kilbourn as Tanners at Owen Sound. They are not listed in the 1865-1866 listing in the W. W. Smith GAZETTEER & DIRECTORY OF THE COUNTY OF GREY, so they must have moved to Invermay before then. It is believed that they moved in 1853. In the 1851 census of Sydenham Township, Canada West (near Owen Sound), Hiram Kilbourn and his family were farming in Sydenham Township. He was then age 36, Eliza was 30, Sarah was 12, John was 10, James 7, George 4, and Frederick was 1. The eldest son was John Melbourne Kilbourn. He became a private banker. The Kilbourn family invested in property on the west side of Owen Sound, sold limestone for the foundation of the first C.P.R. grain elevator at Owen Sound in the 1880s, and were involved with the Malleable Iron company at Owen Sound. They sold the land upon which the old stone post office building was built. John M. Kilbourn was Chairman of the General and Marine Hospital Board when a 1910 addition was added to the G&M Hospital. The Kilbourns also built several commercial blocks downtown and in 1913, built the "Opera House" which they leased to Griffith Amusements. (source Owen Sound Historical Society Newsletter, Jan. 1997). W. Quay Kilbourn said that Hiram Kilbourn is buried at Invermay. He died in 18__. John M. Kilbourn, and other Kilbourns returned to Owen Sound, Ontario. Sarah Kilbourn became Mrs. Bishop of Owen Sound. She was a grandmother of Billy Bishop, who became famous during the First World War as a flying ace. In the 1861 census of Owen Sound, no Kilbourns were listed. The 1861 census of Bruce County, in the Arran Township area, listed a household headed by John M. Kilbourn, Storekeeper, who was born in Canada, Congregationalist, age 19, who was then single. Residing with him at that time were Sarah Bishop (age 21), James Kilbourn age 14, Frederick Kilbourn age 12, Margaret Kilbourn age 10, William Boyd age 6, Allen G. Kilbourn age 2, Robert Thomas (born England, age 23), Maria Bishop (born in Upper Canada, age 19), and Mary Anderson (b. Ireland, age 17). In Bruce County, there were two distinct post villages, Tara and Invermay, which by about 1880 had grown into one village in Arran Township. In the BRUCE COUNTY BUSINESS DIRECTORY FOR 1880 (Wm. E. Evans Publisher), the Village of Tara had F. L. Kilbourn, General Merchant and agent for the Montreal Telegraph Co., while the Village of Invermay had "Kilbourn & Hales" (John M. Kilbourn and W. J. Hale, barrister, etc.). John M. Kilbourn at that time owned or leased 6 and 3/4 acres there. In 1872, John M. Kilbourn advertised in an Owen Sound newspaper "The Subscriber begs to announce to the needy of the Counties of Grey and Bruce, that he has been instructed to find borrowers for $100,000 of British Capital at 8% on the security of funds being the property of Capitalists in Grey Britain" (p. 126 FOURTH ENTRANCE TO HURONIA). In 1882, the Owen Sound Portland Cement Ltd. mill was organized by J. M. Kilbourn and R. P. Butchart. The mill was built about 9 miles northwest of Owen Sound, at Shallow Lake, Ontario. (Ibid, p. 169). In the 1871 census of Owen Sound, James Kilbourn, age 24, b. Ontario, Congregationalist, and a Tanner by trade, was the head of a household that also included George Kilbourn, age 22, b. Ont. (a Merchant), Fred Kilbourn, age 20 (Tinsmith), Allen Kilbourn, age 17 (Tinsmith), Margaret Kilbourn age 16, William Boyd age 12 and Annie Guthrie age 5. In the 1881 Census of Amabel Township, Bruce North, Hiram Kilbourn and his wife "Ann" (Eliza Ann) were listed. Hiram's age was given as 69. His birth year was given as 1812, and he was born somewhere in what became Ontario. Ann was 62. Hiram James Kilbourn died Jan 16, 1913, age 66. He was born c. 1847 at Owen Sound to Hiram Kilbourn and Eliza Ann Seaman Kilbourn. In 1913, he lived at Lot 17, Concession 3, Derby Township, Grey County and was a retired Merchant. Another namesake was Hiram Kilbourn Bishop, who was born at Owen Sound c. 1888 and who died at the age of 4 of diptheria on Sept. 11, 1892. |
Collection |
Food Processing Tools & Equipment |
Material |
Metal/Silver |
Dimensions |
W-25 D-7 cm |
Found |
Owen Sound, Grey County |
People |
Kilbourn, Hiram Kilbourn, John Melbourne |
Function |
A decorative tableware or sideboard item, which would be used to keep food hot. |