An Historical Gown.

Marion Daily Star (Marion, Ohio), July 23, 1880, 2

A modiste in Fourteenth street, New York, has on exhibition an elaborate satin gown, whose history can be traced without a break, it is claimed, to its original owner and wearer, Queen Marie Antoinette.
It is of pale yellow, or rather it was, for age has mellowed it to an old gold hue; it is richly embroidered in clusters of flowers of natural color, which still retain their first brilliancy.
The unfortunate queen’s fondness for flowers is well-known, and the models of the pansies and roses and carnations on this gown might have been chosen by her from the gardens of her favorite Petit Trianon.
Its asserted genuineness is thus made out: During the spring following the execution of Louis XVI, January 21, 1793, the revolutionary tribunal decreed that the furniture and entire contents of the Tuileries should be disposed of.
The sale continued six months, and would have continued much longer had it not been legally stopped. Pierre de la Rivere [sic], minister of foreign affairs, then bought three gowns belonging to Marie Antoinette, which passed to his son, who went to San Domingo, and fled, during the last insurrection on the Island to Philadelphia.
The gowns descended to his daughter, Mme. Remi Mignot, of Charleston, S. C., (granddaughter of Pierre de la Riviere), who was afterward married to M. Rutjes, of that city. Through her the pale yellow satin came into possession of her eldest (moet zijn jongste) daughter, now Mrs. Churchill, and from her the modiste purchased it some months ago.
It has been very carefully vamped and newly put together, so that [i]t preserves, under the circumstances, an astonishing freshness. As may be supposed, it is the object of the deepest interest to many women, not on account of its associations, but of its having belonged to a sovereign famous for her elegant toilets. If history could be studied by and through clothes, how many enthusiastic students there would be among the other sex, and how wonderfully proficient they would become.
One of the remaining gowns, a blue one, was given to to another daughter of Mme. Mignot, who, after marriage, removed to Holland, and it was used as a covering for some handsome pieces of furniture now in possession of her husband, living at the little town of Eindhoven, North Brabant.

The third, a purple gown, having been owned by a sister of Mme. Mignot, returned to madame after her sister’s death, and was burned during the great fire at Charleston in 1861. The authenticity of the sole surviving gown appears to be pretty well established.

De twee dochters van Théonie Mignot-de la Riviere, Louisa Constantia (Louise) en Alida Octavie trouwden met een van de broers de Block. Ook Abbé Adolphe schrijft over de stoelbekleding maar weet niet welke familie het betreft. Omdat het artikel niet een dochter maar de echtgenoot noemt zal het de man (Alexander Martinus de Block) van de in 1861 in Amsterdam overleden Alida zijn. Antonius Alexander en Louise woonden in 1880 nog in Stratum (Eindhoven).