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Doll
Jointed doll with porcelain head and blonde ringlets named "Caroline". Blue eyes open and close, four porcelain front teeth. Has two "bracelets" on her right wrist made from human-sized finger rings. History as given by the donor is as follows: "My doll is wearing the original drawers, shirt, and petticoat, probably made by native women of Georgetown, British Guiana (note linen buttons) as the doll was given by them to my eldest sister, Mary Caroline Gomme, about the year 1902, my father George Gomme having been a missionary there. There is an ink stamp on back of doll which I believe says something about "Demerara" and is probably the address of the store where the doll was bought; my father used to speak of his experience in "Demerara". The booties are her original booties, one rosette was missing and I made a replacement, but even the ties are the original. The long hand-made petticoat she is wearing was my mother's first baby's first shirt.....that would be somewhere around 1890 maybe. Mary Caroline to whom the doll was given was my mother's eldest living daughter, she died in 1931; my mother died in 1943. The tatting around the sleeve of embroidered dress was on a handkerchief my mother made for me, the hanky was worn out so when I made this embroidered dress from an old blouse of mine, I put mother's tatting around the sleeves. The frilly bit of embroidery around the neck is one of the bit made by hand by great-aunt Caroline Gomme who died at about 91 years of age - around 1916 I think. She used to make yards and yards of embroidery, and I used to have it trimming pinafores I wore. The doll's original wig was blonde real hair and was worn out from our combing and brushing and playing with it; when I threw it away and got the new wig put on, I did not know the importance of keeping the original. The new wig was put on in 1956. The style of new wig is as I remember the original one. The original dress was thrown out a new wig made for her and had the elastic in her joints all renewed, we gave her the name "Baby Caroline".....Caroline being my older sister's second name. I acquired possession of Baby Caroline after the death of my sister Mary.