The Codmans were one of the founding families of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, with Robert Codman having arrived in Salem in 1637. During the 18th century, the family developed an important merchant business that spanned most of the Atlantic. The most important and
successful of these 'Yankee Traders' was John Codman (1755-1803).
The third Codman to bear that name, John Codman married Margaret Russell on July 15, 1781. Through his wife, Codman inherited significant property and a house
in Lincoln, MA. While living in his Hanover Street (Boston) mansion, Codman enlarged and updated the Lincoln home into one of the finest federal mansions in
the United States. Today, it serves as an important house museum run by Historic New England (see here). He was known as 'the Honorable John Codman' for his
service as both a Massachusetts state representative and senator during the early years of the young republic.
The John Scofield chamberstick with the original engraved Codman family coat of arms documents its history of descent with a later engraved set of initials
and date celebrating this marriage.
Charles Russell Codman (1784-1852), John Codman's second son, inherited businesses and the Lincoln estate in 1803 at the age of 19. He sold the Lincoln property
in 1807 and began traveling extensively in Europe. In 1825, he married Anne McMaster and settled in France, developing a connoisseurship for wine, art and
association – befriending the Marquis de Lafayette, Sir Walter Scott and other notables. After the death of his wife in 1831, he returned to Boston and married Sarah
Ogden in 1836. The pair of platter spoons by London silversmith Thomas Barker likely comes from his first trip abroad and the George Foster silver dates to just after his second marriage.
We purchased these from a Boston area jeweler who took them in recently to melt. Fortunately, he knew better and contacted us. Unidentified is the later line of
descent when the muffineer would have been purchased and the tea caddy received as a gift or inheritance.
John Codman silver:
John Scofield chamberstick, London, 1783/84 SOLD
John Russell Codman silver:
Thomas Barker platter spoons, London, 1808/09 SOLD
Thomas Barker platter spoons, London, 1808/09 SOLD
George Foster sterling silver pierced and engraved fish slice, Salem or Boston, late 1830's SOLD
George Foster sterling silver soup ladle, Salem or Boston, late 1830's SOLD
George Foster sterling silver salt spoons, Salem or Boston, late 1830's SOLD
Later Codman silver:
William Wilson & Son sterling silver caster or muffineer, Philadelphia, 1877-1919 SOLD
Possibly Codman silver:
Pair of knife rests by Joseph and Albert Savory, London, 1834/35 & 1835/36 SOLD
Related silver (the Amorys and Codmans have Sears connections):
The William Amory coin silver tea caddy, Newell Harding, Boston, c. 1860.
Bibliography:
Robert L. Howie, Jr., "Codman Connections: Portrait of a Family and its Papers" in Old-Time New England, (Boston: S.P.N.E.A., 1991), pp. 150-57.
Cora Codman Wolcott (compiler), The Codmans of Charlestown and Boston: 1637-1929, Brookline: Privately Published, 1930)
www.ancestry.com
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