Plate 30.

White veil, 48 inches long, 38 inches wide. (See also Plate 31.) The linen thread used to work this veil, like much of that used in the other white lace, is of peculiar texture, much resembling silk.

This veil was made about 1827 and worn at her wedding by Mary W. Peck, stepdaughter of Dr. Abel Catlin, who lived in Litchfield, Connecticut, in the house on the west side of North Street now occupied by Mr. Frederick Deming. Her name is on the list of pupils of Miss Pierce’s Litchfield Female Academy for 1811. (She also appears on the list for 1825, but as teacher of drawing.) She married Edward D. Mansfield, a student of the Litchfield Law School. Her son, Charles, paymaster in the United States Navy, gave the veil, a baby’s dress (see Plate 89), and his mother’s album (which is ornamented with water-color paintings and contains written verses and sentiments, with autographs, of all the people prominent in Litchfield at that time) to the Litchfield Historical Society about 1890.