John Widdifield (1673-1720) was an English furnituremaker who immigrated to Philadelphia in first years of the eighteenth century. He was listed in William Macpherson Hornor’s Blue Book: Philadelphia Furniture in the “…astonishing roll comprising nearly one hundred” woodworkers working in in the Delaware Valley between 1682 and 1722. Cathryn McElroy in her Master’s Thesis, Furniture of the Philadelphia Area: … Continue reading John Widdifield, Joiner
Month: February 2023
Red Cedar in Philadelphia
I had a question about the spice box in the last post and why surviving red cedar furniture from the Delaware River Valley is so rare. It's true that there are very few extant objects with red cedar used as a primary wood species made in the Delaware River Valley during the eighteenth century. Juniperus … Continue reading Red Cedar in Philadelphia
In Proportion to the Trouble 