Saucepan
Three generations of the Storer family of Boston were conspicuous consumers of New England silver. This was due in part to two daughters-in-law who hailed from silversmithing families. Mary Edwards (1700 – 1772), who married Ebenezer Storer (1699 – 1761), was the daughter of John Edwards. Mary Coney (1695/99 – 1781), the daughter of John Coney, married Seth Storer.
The union of Mary Edwards and Ebenezer Storer, a merchant, resulted in the acquisition of some of the most spectacular forms concentrated in one colonial Boston family. These ranged from a chocolate pot, salver, and saucepan to cups, mugs, and spoons, some of which carried the Storer family arms. Many were made by Mary’s silversmithing brothers, Samuel and Thomas Edwards, although Zachariah Brigden and John Coburn, both of whom probably apprenticed with the Edwards brothers, also produced several objects.
Their daughter Elizabeth (1726 – 1786) married merchant Isaac Smith (1719 – 1786/87) and followed the family tradition of acquiring silver made by members of their extended family. Their son William Smith (1755 – 1816) and his wife, Hannah Carter (1764 – 1836), patronized Paul Revere II for tea equipage. John Coburn made a saucepan for Isaac and Elizabeth’s son Isaac Smith Jr. (1749 – 1829) as a gift from his grandmother Mary Edwards Storer (cat. no. 24).
The tradition of baby gifts was strong in the Storer family. Just as Isaac Smith Jr. received the above-mentioned saucepan, so too was his first cousin Ebenezer Storer (b. 1752) feted upon his birth with the saucepan in this entry.
This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication.
Ebenezer Storer died in infancy, and the saucepan descended to his namesake and brother, born in 1754, who m. Eunice Brewster in 1780. By descent to his sister Mary Storer (b. 1758) and Seth Johnson (b. 1767), m. 1796. To their son Charles John Johnson (1797/8 – 1843) and Mary Noel Neilson (1803 – 1863); to their niece Mary Storer Martha Annis Neilson (1833 – 1929) and David Murray (1830 – 1905) of New Brunswick, New Jersey, m. 1867. By descent to their kinsman, the antiquarian and genealogist Malcolm Storer (1862 – 1935) and his wife, Grace Ayrault (1868 – ca. 1963). By descent to their daughter Muriel Storer (b. 1904), the donor, and Egerton Burpee Sawtell, m. 1931, who made the gift in her parents’ name.
