Tafetta Gown

Dress-donated-by-Winifred-Kingsland-Carryl-Harris.jpg

Winifred Harris has contributed many items that belonged to the Kingsland family. One example of her generosity is a taffeta gown that was worn by her grandmother, Martha Kingsland.

Winifred Carryl was born in 1928 and is the only daughter of Frederick Kingsland Carryl (1880 – 1963) and Irene Winifred Nutt (1892 – 1985). Frederick was the son of Nathan Frederick Carryl (1855 – 1906), the photographer of pictures featured at the Nutley Museum by the town historian, John Demmer, and of Martha A. Kingsland (1851 – 1929). Martha was one of the last Kingslands born and raised in the Kingsland Manor. Her father was Joseph Kingsland III (1813 – 1899) and Margaret Mary Stuart (1825 – 1910).

In January 1990, Winifred donated this dress worn by her grandmother, Martha. The description that was recorded when the dress was received by the Historic Restoration Trust of Nutley was: plum color, taffeta, 2-piece gown and bonnet – the wedding costume of Mrs. Nathan Frederick Carryl in 1878.

Martha married Nathan F. Carryl in 1880. The dress was worn to a wedding, possibly that of her brother, Joseph IV. The dress is displayed upstairs in the Master Bedroom.