Rejected rocker restored

What kind of seat do you want on it?  John Kreider asked.  John Kreider (of Harrisonburg, VA) had just repaired and refinished the chair for a small pickup load of compost plus cash.  His careful work produced the chair you see in this picture.  

He offered to put side rails on the rocker, so that a seat could easily be added.  But, we hoped to restore the rocker to its original condition, so no rails were added.

Julia Hartzler Alleman’s connection with the rocker began around 1949 when her mother, Dorothy Hartzler, wanted more space for chickens.  She sold eggs at Lester Zook’s store in Allensville providing some extra cash to buy fabric for dresses for Julia and her sister, Audrey.  “The shed” which housed a workshop, the tractor and cars, now gained a second story to house chickens.

During the renovation of the shed, Julia’s father Fred found a small rocker minus a seat.  Living in the “grandfather” house on the farm were Jess and Niney Wilson.  They enjoyed the grandparent role for Julia and Audrey.  Jess cut a board to set on the rocker so that the girls could add it to their playhouse furniture. 

Around 1974 we had discovered a clue to the origin of the rocker.  Julia’s Uncle Urie Hartzler, family historian, electrician and photographer came to the Hartzler farm to help identify some family pictures.  (This was 15 years before Uncle Urie died–he was buried on his 100th birthday.) One farm picture we found was shot from the haymow of the Hartzler barn. He identified this as a picture from the first roll of film he took with his twenty-five cent Sears camera which he purchased in 1904.  Further through the collection we came upon a picture showing Julia’s grandmother, Maude Yoder (born in 1887), as a girl of eight or so posing for a picture with several dolls.   In the foreground was a Victorian style child’s chair with dolls displayed on it.

  In the background is the “rejected” rocker, the seat hidden. That the new rocker was the new favorite suggests the old rocker (the one Julia now owns) had been around for some time.  This would place its origin the 1880s or probably much earlier.  Maude’s children, Julia’s father, aunt and uncle, did not remember the rocker and neither did Julia’s mother, Dorothy Yocum Hartzler. 

Some twenty years later Julia, now a mother living in Michigan, brought the rocker to her home and antiqued it green. In 1989, Julia moved the chair to Virginia. Julia’s husband David convinced her to restore the rocker to its original finish, but decided that the job was more than he wanted to attempt.  To restore the chair’s natural wood finish we contacted John Kreider. 

From our discussion with him and some research, we concluded that the seat was likely fabric or rush which had rotted off.  Later questioning of antique dealers in the area where the chair originated (at Dairyland Antique Mall, Reedsville, Pa) confirmed the existence of a similar child’s rocker that had a rush seat. We have not found anyone to weave a rush seat, so it still has Jess Wilson’s seat.

Chair shown with Rosalyn Alleman, great granddaughter of Maude. It has the seat made by Jess Wilson.

Several years ago after the death of their mother, Julia and her sister Audrey, spent some of their Christmas time together going through “treasures” in a blanket chest Julia inherited from her mother. There they found a small, padded square stitched in a child’s hand in the crazy patch design.  In the corner were the initials, MY.  Soon Maude Yoder’s pad and the rocker were reunited after more than 100 years of separation. The pad was carefully put away. We could find it to photograph for this blog. The pad below was made by Rosalyn Alleman.

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