Nellie’s Dollhouse
This dollhouse was hand-crafted by Captain Josiah Nickerson Knowles (1830-1896) for his small daughter Ellen “Nellie” Sears Knowles (1858-1913).
In early 1858 Captain Josiah Nickerson Knowles, husband of Ellen Sears (oldest daughter of Joseph H. Sears), survived a shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean and spent months stranded on an uninhabited island. He eventually returned to Brewster -- and a family who had mourned him as dead -- but soon faced real tragedy in the death of his twenty-four-year-old wife.
In the fall of 1859 Knowles left his twenty-month-old daughter Nellie in the care of Olivia Sears, Ellen’s nineteen-year-old sister, and set off on a series of voyages that would keep him from home for more than three years.
The captain of a large sailing vessel lived in considerable isolation from the ship’s crew, having limited social contact with the ship’s officers only. Although on deck night and day during any emergency, on routine sailing days he might spend many hours alone in his cabin. It was during those long, lonely hours that Captain Knowles built this dollhouse, a simplified replica of the Sears family residence that still stands today at 1795 Main Street, Brewster.
In 1862 Captain Knowles returned from sea with this magnificent gift for his now nearly five-year-old daughter. The dollhouse is constructed primarily of pine with the joints and corners finished in varnished mahogany. The windows are glazed with extremely thin glass panes that could be raised and lowered manually.
The kitchen and pantry contain similar sliding glass partitions. The doors are hinged and fitted with operable hand-crafted miniature metal knobs and latches. The walls are painted to simulate 19th century interior decoration.
The ceilings are detachable and contain hooks for the hand-crafted chandeliers. The floors are made of wood that simulates planks and some are covered by custom designed needlepoint rugs handmade by the captain. The curtains are made of hand-crafted lace, probably also sewn by the Captain. The beds are complete with coverings and canopies. All the cases open.
The furniture in each room is appropriately styled Victorian, called Biedermeier, made by Schneegas, Gebruder and Sohne in Germany, likely purchase by Knowles in Antwerp or London on his way home. It is constructed of a light, fine-grained wood with a rosewood finish and includes gold stenciling and silk or cotton upholstery.
Included among the furnishings are authentically framed reproductions of paintings, a complete set of china, a candelabrum, and a leather-bound photo album of family members.
The gold-framed portraits hanging on the walls are in fact tiny tintypes of family members including Josiah Knowles, his wife Ellen, Ellen’s parents Joseph Hamblin Sears and Olive Bangs Sears, and daughter Nellie at age twenty months, the age she was when her father last saw her. He carried this tintype with him when he returned to sea after his wife’s death, and later hung it in the dollhouse.
Captain Knowles eventually settled in Oakland, California, with his second wife and their children. When Nellie was about twenty she joined them there, bringing her dollhouse with her.
Nellie married but remained childless. On her death in 1913 the dollhouse was passed to a younger half-sister and eventually to her great-niece and namesake, Brewster Town Archivist Ellen St. Sure, who donated the dollhouse to Brewster Ladies Library.
In 2019, at the death of Ms. St. Sure and with the blessing of her family, Brewster Ladies Library gifted the dollhouse to The Brewster Historical Society.
The Brewster Historical Society is thrilled to finally offer this well-traveled dollhouse a permanent home, and to present it to the public as it was originally intended to be viewed – from all sides – complete with its remarkable story.
With thanks to exhibit sponsor
