Rundlet-May House

Secretary

This secretary, attributed to Langley Boardman, is believed to have been passed down from the original owner, Thomas Thompson (d. 1809) to his daughter Susannah Thompson Dwight and her husband Dr. Josiah Dwight to their daughter Martha Strong Dwight Rundlet to their granddaughter Elizabeth Jane Rundlet Tilton to her sister Helen Isabel Tilton to their cousin Ralph May who donated the Rundlet-May House to Historic New England in 1971. Almost every drawer in the piece bears a stamp for “Dr. Dwight” referring to its period of ownership by beloved Portsmouth physician Josiah Dwight (d. 1855).