Plate 49.

Black lace veil, 27 inches long by 86 inches wide. Made by Polly Marsh, daughter of Elisha and Rhoda Kilbourn Marsh, about 1830. She was born December 9, 1804, and died January 8, 1892. She lived about three miles north of Litchfield, Connecticut, on the Goshen road, in a farmhouse where she took great pride in her parlor with its sanded floor and curtains of thin blue and white linen, which she had spun, woven, and dyed herself. She was a direct descendant of John Marsh, who went in May, 1715, alone on horseback, westward through the wilderness from Hartford, Connecticut, to find a suitable site for a new settlement. He chose what is now the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, situated on a long, high ridge running north and south. It took him five days to make the trip.

“Her entire life was spent in Litchfield and ... must have been uneventful. She did not marry, and the laborious duties of a farming household left little time for outside interest. [She was] modest and retiring by nature. Her ... industry and devotion to her home leave many memories fondly cherished by her kin.”

Owned by Polly Marsh’s niece, Mrs. Lewis Marsh.