The Sofa Again (from February 2009)

There has been a theme here the last few days with the rug and the dining room furniture so I thought I’d continue in this vein.


The sofa in my living room has an interesting history as I have been told.

In 1870 (or so) a Captain (Sea Captain) Craddock passed away, leaving two “maiden” daughters. The
daughters inherited their father’s house and possessions, and renovated the home with many new furnishings. The house was situated in NW Baltimore County, (on Craddock Lane), just outside of the city of Baltimore, Maryland.

In about 1905, an itinerant woodcutter, the story goes on, chopped the wood and then chopped the Craddock sisters. The Craddock sisters, having no direct heirs, left the house and furnishings to their minister, the Reverend Jensen, of the local Episcopal Church. The Reverend Jensen, upon his death, left his estate to his son, the Reverend Jensen of the local Episcopal Church. Upon his death, the reverend Jensen left his estate to his son, the Reverend Jensen of the Episcopal Church. This Jensen was a friend of mine, Tom Jensen.

Tom passed away when he was in his early 40’s (about 1972) and left his estate to his estranged wife in trust for his kids and many items were donated to the Maryland Historical Society. The house and land had been sold years earlier to make way for suburban development, and the estate was broken up at the time of his death. I went through the new house after the appraisers had gone, and was able to purchase items that were not deemed significant enough to be included with the estate. I ended up with a secretary and a sofa, and the sofa was pink and patterned and included lots of upholstery buttons, but not believed to be the original fabric. I eventually had it recovered and cleaned up the wood a bit, but it is still the Craddock sister’s sofa as far as we are concerned. It is not haunted, but it has stood the test of time.

For many years this one sat in my basement, under the laundry chute, catching laundry. When I was separated from my first wife, I took this with me, in its original pink, tufted fabric. It has remained with me ever since.