32 



economy" and gave them in her life and character the "brightest 

 of examples," so it can be presumed that her daughters were apt 

 scholars in the accomplishments required of well-bred and trained 

 gentlewomen of the day. 



The following reference to Miss Colden was the means of 

 identifying with a fair amount of certainty some unsigned house- 

 hold records of hers that are preserved among her father's sci- 

 entific papers. * 



Walter Rutherfurd was an ancestor of the well-known New York 

 family of that name. He came to America in 1756, while the 

 French war was in progress, and served as an officer of the Royal 

 Americans. In New York in 1758 he married Catharine, the 

 widow of Elisha Parker and a daughter of James Alexander. 

 About this time he wrote to a friend in Scotland, describing a 

 visit to Albany : f 



" At one of our landings we made an excursion to Coldenham, the 

 abode of the venerable Philosopher Colden, as gay and facetious in his 

 conversation as serious and solid in his writings. From the middle of 

 the Woods this family corresponds with all the learned Societies in 

 Europe. Himself on the principles of Matter and Motion, his son on 

 Electricity and Experiments. He has made several useful discoveries 

 and is a tolerable proficient in music. His daughter Jennie is a Flor- 

 ist and Botanist, she has discovered a great number of Plants never 

 before described and has given their Properties and Virtues, many of 

 which are found useful in Medicine, and she draws and colojs them 

 with great beauty. Dr. Whyte, of Edinburg, is in the number of her 

 correspondents. N. B. She makes the best cheese I ever ate in 

 America." 



With this note in mind it does not seem unreasonable to suppose 

 that the " Memorandum of Cheese made in 1756" is in Jane's 

 writing. This " Memorandum " consists of five sheets of fools- 

 cap and is the careful and painstaking record of her year of 

 cheesemaking. The following are the two first receipts : 



* Colden MSS. 



f Family Records and Events, Compiled chiefly from the original MSS. in the 

 Rutherfurd Collection. By Livingston Rutherfurd. Privately printed ; 1894. (Only 

 150 copies.) 



