Wealthy P Nichols Tatting and Life at Sea

This is the recording of a live Zoom program presented on February 16th, 2023.
On Wednesday Evening, January 2nd, 1907, Miss Wealthy P. Nichols was united in marriage to Frederick R. Poor, a Belfast businessman. Her wedding gown is now in the collection of the Penobscot Marine Museum as well as her shoes and a tatted lace bonnet. Wealthy’s father was a Searsport sea captain and she spent much of her childhood at sea with her family. She lost her older brother to the sea in 1896 and the following year she lost her father to the sea as well. Inspired by Wealthy’s tatted bonnet, this presentation will share the story of Wealthy’s life and explore the intersection of life at sea and the handicraft of tatting.
To make your own bookmark and circular motif inspired by the patterns in Wealthy’s bonnet, purchase your workshop kit here: penobscot-mari...
This program is part of a series of winter workshops and presentations that began in 2021 and explore the lives of Coastal Maine women through textiles and handicrafts in the Penobscot Marine Museum collection.
*Links to resources mentioned in the talk:
Domestic Life on American Sailing Ships by Joanna Colcord
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Ship STATE OF MAINE, interior (Joanna Colcord Collection, LB2003.61.1424)
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View of Searsport (Sweetser Collection, LB2003.61.302)
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Steamer CITY OF BANGOR leaving Searsport (Sweetser Collection, LB2003.61.372)
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Captain Joseph Henry Park and daughters on Ship JOSEPHUS, 1898 (LB2008.2.72)
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Sunset, Swan Lake, Maine (Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection, LB2007.1.113561)
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Tatting Shuttle in the collection of the Nantucket Historical Association (2013.0012.003)
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Tatting Shuttle in the collection of Mystic Seaport Museum (1941.631.11)
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