Brought from Bohemia (now Hungary) by Josef Benes and his wife, Katherine Syrwy Benes, when they immigrated to the United States in 1882. Their daughter, Carol Benes Miller, the donor, recalled, "We used it in Chicago, when we 4 girls had to go into back yard outhouse in 1892 till we moved into a cold water flat that had a bathroom." Their first home in Chicago was at Ashland Ave. & 20th St., according to the donor, and she was about 3 or 4 years old at the time the family moved to the United States.
This candlestick was owned in the Copp family home in Stonington, Connecticut during the 18th and 19th century. The oval candlestick has an oval, single-reeded, removable nozzle with rolled edge and flared candle cup or socket atop a plain, single-seamed stem with single bead at top and molded band at bottom above the oval, trumpet-shaped, molded base with grooved border.
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.