One pressed dried rose which had been worn by the English poet George Gordon Byron on his lapel when he toured the frigate U.S.S. Constitution, anchored off Leghorn (Livorno), Italy, on May 21, 1822. The rose was given as a memento to Catharine Potter Stith, who was on board the ship with her husband Townshend Stith; the following day Byron sent her a volume of Goethe's Faust accompanied by an autograph note. The faded red rose consists of the blossom only, minus stem and leaves. It was later surrounded by a piece of dark brown paper (8.5 x 26 cm) with a black ink border and inscription: "Moore's Life of Byron." Both were pressed between two sheets of glass and enclosed in a two-part wooden frame, painted black with a gilded liner and held together by means of mending plates and screws. A paper tag (9 x 3 cm) was tacked to the top of the frame and bears the inscription in ink: "Dr. E. Brandegee / Berlin / Connt." Dr. Elishama Brandegee (1814-1884, Yale 1833, 1838 MD) was the husband of Ann Florence Stith Brandegee (1821-1901) and son-in-law to Catharine Stith
Description:
George Gordon Byron, Baron Byron (1788-1824), English poet., Catharine V. Potter Stith was born in Philadelphia on December 16, 1795, the daughter of Richard Cheslyn Potter (1759-1828) and Catharine Miercken Potter (died 1831). She married Captain Townshend Stith of Petersburg, Virginia, in Philadelphia on September 22, 1818, and in June 1819 moved with him to Tunis where he served as U.S. Consul until his death at Gibraltar on November 2, 1823. Their first child, Bolling Buckner Africanus Stith, was born in Tunis in 1820 and died in Leghorn (Livorno) in 1822. In May 1824 Catharine Stith returned to the United States with her daughters Ann Florence Crokat (1821-1901) and Victorina (1824-1836), settling in Philadelphia where she opened a school for girls in 1826. She was the author of Thoughts on Female Education (Philadelphia: Clark & Raser, 1831), several musical compositions, and a short story published in Godey's. In 1834 she moved with her daughters to New Haven, Connecticut, where she worked as a music teacher. Catharine Stith died in New Haven on March 20, 1839., Title devised by cataloger., and Inscriptions in English.
Subject (Name):
Brandegee, Elishama, 1814-1884., Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824., Stith, Townshend, Mrs., 1795-1839., and Constitution (Frigate)
