Concord Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 18th century, walnut with fine old surface, tombstone panel door opening to six interior drawers, poplar and oak secondary, original ogee bracket feet, 19-1/4 x 16 x 11 in.

Provenance: by descent in the Mendenhall family (accompanied by extensive genealogical records); Tonnesen Collection, New Hampshire

Note: Family records indicate that the spice cabinet was passed by inheritance down to Anna Mendenhall Long, whose family lived at Forest Hill Farm in Gradyville in the 1880s. This area of modern day Delaware County was in Chester County until 1789.

The line of descent would likely have been from Benjamin Mendenhall (1662 - 1740) to his son, Robert (1713 - 1785) to his son, John (1748 - 1835) to his son, John Jr. to his son, Henry (1824 - 1918) to his daughter, Anna Mendenhall (1868 - 1944) who married Horace Long. They moved to Pasadena, California around the turn of the century. When Anna died, the spice cabinet was shipped to the grandson of her brother John Howard Mendenhall, whose name was also John Howard (1921 - 2008). It then passed to his son, John Howard Mendenhall Jr., who put it into a local Vermont auction. It was purchased at auction by Norman Gronning in 2013, who then sold it to the current owners.

Benjamin Mendenhall was an early settler of Concord Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was from Mildenhall, Wiltshire, England; the family surname was originally Milden. Benjamin was a prosperous wheelwright and farmer, purchasing 1000 acres in 1703, and a member of the Society of Friends. He died in 1740 and is buried in the Friends Burying Ground at the Concord Meeting House.