Newton Washburn was born April 4, 1915, in Stowe, Vermont, the
grandson of Gilman Sweetser. The Sweetsers have been known for
their brown ash split baskets since at least 1850. Reportedly,
the original Sweetser came to Vermont from Switzerland in the
late eighteenth century, and his son married Lydia Hill, of the
Abenaki Indian tribe. When Washburn was about eight years old,
he began to learn to make baskets. "Dad showed us how to get it
off the log.... Then it was up to Mother.... Mother started me
out with a flat-bottom (basket). Then we went to round baskets.
Each one, you had to do till it was right. The first one you did
was right because if it wasn't, you took it apart and started
over again. There was never nothing said about how many you
made.... It was quality, not quantity. She'd tell me, 'Make it
right, or make it over.'" The brown ash tree is usually found in
swampy areas. The tree is felled and cut into logs; these are
then pounded to loosen the different layers — each layer
representing a year's