Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.
Durant
Mathew Gillespie purchased three-quarters yard of Durant (Durent) at the Colden Store on this day, 250 years-ago. In 1828, Webster defined Durant as 'a glazed woolen stuff; called by some Everlasting.' Caulfeild referred to it as 'Durants or Durance' in 1882 and described it as 'a strong worsted cloth made to resemble buffed leather and that it was used for window blinds and to cover corset stays.'
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| Modern Durant Fabric. Heavy-duty upholstery fabric that stands up to severe abrasion. Courtesy of maxwellfabrics.com |
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This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for an introduction to the store. You should also read this article which appeared in the Journal of the Orange County Historical Society.
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Durant was sold on twenty-seven occasions totalling about 80 yards. It was priced at about three-and-one-half shillings per yard.
The Ramsay Ledger of 1753-1756 mentions neither Durant nor Everlasting. Both are mentioned frequently in the Colden DayBook. Had fabric imports changed in character in a decade? Had tastes changed? Most likely they had not. I will do an analysis in a future blog, but it is believed that the two geographically separated stores had similar fabrics, but used different names for them.
Mathew Gillespie visited the store only twice. More on the Gillespie families who shopped at the Colden store can be found in a prior blog.
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