The Elmendorf Household & Knapp Family Collection
Third & Fourth Generations: 1814-1920
With no surviving male heirs, Solomon and Arriet Van Rensselaer’s Cherry Hill descended to their daughter, Harriet Maria Van Rensselaer Elmendorf (1816-1897), after Solomon’s death in 1852. The Elmendorfs lived at Cherry Hill from the 1850s through the 1880s. There, Harriet Maria’s husband, Dr. Peter Elmendorf, operated a medical office and managed the Cherry Hill farm, and the couple raised a daughter, also named Harriet Maria, but most often called “Hattie” (1844-1920). The family was joined in 1854 by Harriet Maria “Minnie” Knapp (1852-1903) who was raised as a ward and servant after her mother’s death. In 1860, three-year-old Catherine Bogart “Kittie” Putman (1857-1948), a Van Rensselaer cousin and direct descendant of Philip Van Rensselaer, also came to Cherry Hill following her mother’s death. Kittie was adopted and raised as a daughter. From 1874-1882, the household was also joined by Mary Burle (1863-?), an indentured child who was placed there by the Home for Destitute Colored Women & Children in Washington, D.C.
Life at Cherry Hill is richly documented during the Elmendorf period through Hattie’s diaries, Catherine’s childhood papers, family receipts and correspondence, a series of interior and exterior photographs, and, of course, objects—most notably, a remarkable quantity of Mrs. Harriet Maria Elmendorf’s needlework.
The Cherry Hill household experienced severe financial decline during the years of the Elmendorf household. The family did not keep up with the changing economic opportunities of the nineteenth century, and their financial troubles were surely compounded by the depression known as the “Panic of 1873.” The family nonetheless endeavored to keep up appearances, undertaking considerable interior redecoration and throwing a lavish wedding for Hattie in 1878. By 1884, however, the family could keep up no longer. Three years after her husband’s death, Mrs. Elmendorf was forced to put Cherry Hill on the auction block.
Coverlet
Attributed to Harriet Maria Elmendorf (1816-1897)
Cotton
1862
Albany, NY
This knitted counterpane was worked in sections—in interlocking ribs and cable patterns—and then sewn together. It is believed to be the creation of Cherry Hill’s prolific knitter, Harriet Maria Elmendorf. The date 1862 is knitted into the center of the coverlet.
This coverlet can be seen in an 1882 photograph of Cherry Hill’s master bedroom.
Whitework Patterns
Harriet Maria Elmendorf (1816-1897)
Pencil and ink on paper with pins and thread
C. 1850
Albany, NY
The Cherry Hill collection includes considerable “whitework”—or white-on-white embroidery. These patterns match the designs found on a pair of unfinished whitework quilts in the collection. Each quilt includes its maker’s name and the date within its worked designs—“H.M. Elmendorf” and “H.M Van Rensselaer.” Miss Van Rensselaer’s quilt was begun in 1854—the year of her marriage to Alonzo Putman. Harriet Maria Elmendorf (1816-1897) and Harriet Maria Van Rensselaer Putman (1825-1860) were close cousins. So close that, when ailing, it was Harriet Putman’s dying with that her daughter, Catherine, be raised by her cousin, Mrs. Elmendorf, at Cherry Hill. The two coverlets can be seen as visual quotations of one another solidifying the bonds of two close kinswomen.
“HME” appears in the corner of one of the patterns. Several of the patterns are pieced together using pins or thread.
Albumen prints
1882
Albany, NY
Photographs
The Elmendorfs commissioned a series of photographs of their home shortly before Cherry Hill was auctioned.
The exterior photograph includes several Cherry Hill household members. Harriet Maria Elmendorf is seated on the porch holding a parasol, flanked by her daughter, Harriet Maria Elmendorf Gould (on the right), and her cousin and ward, Catherine Bogart Putman (on the left). Servant Minnie Knapp can be seen at the top of the lower stairs, next to an urn. Harriet Elmendorf Gould’s husband, John, is seated partway down the lower steps with his son’s nurse and baby carriage. Servant Mary Burle is seated to their left.
Harriet Elmendorf Gould’s sewing table can be seen in the photograph of the formal parlor.
The bedroom in the photograph belonged to Harriet and John Gould. Their son’s toys can be seen in the floor. The coverlet on the bed is believed to have been knitted by Harriet Maria Elmendorf.
Apothecary Chest
Mahogany and felt with glass bottles
c. 1840
Dr. Peter Elmendorf probably owned this apothecary chest. The chest contains bottles, pestles, hand-etched glass graduated cylinders, drug labels, an alcohol burner, and a mixing dish. The Historic Cherry Hill collection also includes some of Dr. Elmendorf’s medical textbooks and lecture tickets from his medical schooling.
Wedding dress
Silk lined with linen and buckram
1878
Albany, NY
The wedding of Harriet Maria Elmendorf to Dr. John Woodworth Gould (1839-1911), hosted at the Van Rensselaer ancestral estate, solidified the Cherry Hill family’s place as one of the city’s elite founding families. An article in the Daily Press and Knickerbocker, published on June 6, 1878, lauded the affair:
“The Cherry Hill mansion . . . is one of the old landmarks of Albany . . . The furniture is massive and antique, appropriate to the venerable character of the building and its associations. The clock that stands upon the landing of the staircase, and has been ticking time for more than a hundred years, is typical of the entire surroundings.
We have spoken somewhat in detail of this ancient edifice for the reason that it was yesterday the scene of A WEDDING more brilliant, probably, than any of the many hymeneal events that have taken place beneath its hospitable roo[f]. The descendants of Gen. Philip Van Rensselaer have been its occupants, without interruption, from the day of its completion up to the present time; and yesterday morning a great granddaughter, Miss Hattie Van Rensselaer, only daughter of Dr. Peter E. Elmendorf, was married to Mr. John W. Gould, of this city, a grandson of Judge Woodruff.”
According to the article, 500 guests representing “the elite of Albany” attended, many of them from “the oldest families of Albany.” Accounts in the Cherry Hill collection complete the picture of the affair—from the menu to the orchestra to the making of Hattie’s wedding dress.
Accounts and letters between Hattie and her cousin, Catherine Bogart Putman, reveal that while the gown was made in Albany by dressmaker Madame Keenan, Hattie herself sourced choice fabrics and trim from New York City. This arrangement probably saved Hattie some money while still allowing her to sport a gown that was a work of art worthy to be the talk of the town.
Ambrotype of Harriet Maria Van Rensselaer Elmendorf c. 1870.
Tintype of Dr. Peter Elmendorf with his daughter, Harriet Maria (“Hattie”) Elmendorf (later Gould), c. 1870.
Tintype of Catherine Bogart Putman (later Rankin) c. 1872
Photographs
Albany, NY