From Our Collection: Firescreen

This antique firescreen sits in the York Sunbury Museum's early 19th century gallery.

 The fireplace screen served two different roles depending upon the season.  In the 17th and 18th centuries, cosmetics used a wax base that would have melted if one sat close to a fire.  This piece in turn would reflect the heat away from the wax.  In summer, the screen was purely decorative, hiding the empty fireplace cavity from the viewer. 

This fireplace screen was in the possession of the descendants of William and John Hazen for many years.  William Hazen, James White and John Simonds joined forces with the large trading company of Joshua Mauger around 1760, establishing a trading company at the mouth of the St. John River shortly thereafter.  William Hazen and his descendants amassed great wealth, providing goods and services to the inhabitants of the St. John River and its tributaries.  Miss Edith Hazen Allen, who donated this piece to the York Sunbury Museum, was a descendant of the Hazens and Sir John Campbell Allen, a Chief Justice of New Brunswick.  Sir John Allen was in turn a descendant of Peter Fraser, who built the Farraline Home on Queen Street in Fredericton.  

In summer, the screen was purely decorative, hiding the empty fireplace cavity from the viewer.

Miss Allen inherited half the contents of 750 Brunswick Street, Fredericton.  Her great, great grandfather John Adolphus Beckwith built this house.  This affluent scholar of French had also been a civil engineer, a member of the New Brunswick House of Assembly and later joined the provincial Legislative Council. 

More about this artefact can be found on Artefact Canada.  The York Sunbury Historical Society has a collection of archival records pertaining to Hazen, White and Company which are kept at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.  The online Dictionary of Canadian biographies has a very good article on James Simonds written by York Sunbury Historical Society member T. W. Acheson. 

Provincial Archives of New Brunswick P120-18-22, Farraline House on Queen Street in Fredericton, New Brunswick

Farraline House:  “The home of Jane Maria Paulette Fisher and her husband John James Fraser. Fraser was the premier of New Brunswick from 1878 to 1882 and Lieutenant-Governor from 1893 until his death in 1896. On her death in 1907, Jane (Fisher) Fraser bequeathed Farraline Home to be a home for elderly ladies.” (Found on Family Heritage:  Family Homes and Businesses)