Chippendale-style Side Chair

Barnt DeKlyn was a merchant of French Huguenot descent who made his fortune during the war by manufacturing woolen cloth and selling it to the Continental Army. He moved from Boston to Trenton in 1784, in anticipation of the building of the federal capital on the banks of the Delaware. According to family tradition, a set of four mahogany Chippendale-style side chairs, made in Philadelphia, came with him. DeKlyn used his money to invest in land in and around Trenton. His family lived in the mansion called Bow Hill and probably entertained visiting members of Congress. Bow Hill was destroyed by fire in November, 1785, and the DeKlyns rebuilt the home on a smaller scale in 1787. Barnt DeKlyn died at the age of 79, in September of 1824. His wife, Mary, died the following year, aged 77. They are buried together at First Presbyterian Church; their former home is owned by the Ukrainian-American Society.

[credit: Collection of the New Jersey State Museum, acquired 1991]