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THE SARAH HOOKER LEAVITT FEDERAL SCHOOLGIRL DECORATED SEWING TABLE
Painting by Sarah Leavitt (1796-1837) Northampton, Massachusetts 1814
Primary Wood: Bird's Eye Maple Secondary Wood: White Pine Height: 29 1/2 inches Width: 19 1/2 inches Depth: 15 3/4 inches
Sarah Leavitt was born in 1796 in Greenfield, Massachusetts to Emelia Stiles Leavitt ( 1762) and Jonathan Leavitt (1764-1831). Her grandparents were Reverend Doctor Ezra Stiles (1727-1795), President of Yale College from 1772 to 1795, and Elizabeth Hubbard Stiles (1731-1775). It is believed that Sarah and her sister Maria Holmes Leavitt attended Deerfield Academy between 1805 and 1810 where they learned needlework and painting. Sarah married Samuel Wells (1792-1864) of Deerfield in 1820. She died in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1837 where they had settled and he was clerk of the court.
A pole or fire screen with a painted and embroidered screen made by Sarah Hooker Leavitt is in the collection of Historic Deerfield, HD 2007.19.
Provenance: Bertha Benkard Rose, Oyster Bay, New York.