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An intriguing rocking chair

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Unsolved mystery items49578 of 95678Waterford crystal spirit decanterChinese coin and want some information on it
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    Posted 9 years ago

    Rockerfan
    (1 item)

    This antique rocking chair was purchased at a flea market in Maine and sold to me by a local antique dealer. It had to be restored but my father-in-law gave me a hand and it was a labor of love. It's small, has an adjustable back and the springs are original. Since I could not find the maker's name a lot of detective work was required to find it's origin. First I searched the US patent office where I found a match for both metal parts: The adjustable back mechanism, Patent no. 217,584, dated July 15, 1879, registered in Milwaukee, Wis. and the springs, Patent no. 333,393, dated December 29, 1885 , registered in Poughkeepsie, NY. Both these patents were filed by Franklin (Frank ) Chichester who with his brother Lemual established a chair factory in Chichester, a town named after them in New York. In 1875 he left the factory to go west but later came back .I was fortunate to find another bit of information which I believe traces him directly to the chair. A 1896 business directory of Poughkeepsie lists a F.I. Chichester as a chair manufacturer. Since Frank had named his son Frederick Ingersoll we can assume the son had either taken over the business or at least was using the hardware patented by his father. But unless other facts are uncovered we will never be certain.

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    Comments

    1. fhrjr2 fhrjr2, 9 years ago
      You posted a long rant full of assumptions. Do you have any facts?
    2. Rockerfan, 9 years ago
      Thank you for your interest fhrjr2.
      I posted this description in the hope that someone has information that can help me unravel this mystery.
      The facts that I have are in the text.

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