Beautiful Sewing Machine

So beautiful it was a show piece in the owner’s home, and why not it is very attractive with the ornate decoration and cabinetry. Though looking at the piece on display at the historical society, it would seem to me that the owner didn’t use it too much.

This machine was custom made for Mary Wheeler, whose husband was co-founder of the Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The machine was made in the 1850’s when the company had just moved to Bridgeport and went on to become one of the city’s largest manufacturers in the decades that followed.