See the first quotation.
a. 1820. Some very few had what was then called a “Dearborn,” being a small vehicle for one horse, and without any top to it.—Peter H. Burnett, ‘Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer,’ p. 11 (N.Y., 1880).
1820. I don’t live extravagantly—I keep a little Dearborn wagon, and now and then take a side box at the theatre.—Mass. Spy, March 15: from the National Advocate.
1820. Thomas Wentz advertises “Steel-Spring Carriages, Dearborn Wagons,” &c.—Lancaster (Pa.) Journal, May 19.
1821. Jan. 5. Advertisement in the Penna. Intelligencer (Harrisburg) for the apprehension of a swindler, who had “bargained for and purchased a Sorrel Mare, and a Yankee Waggon or Dearborne,” paying in bogus notes.
1833. [How would it answer] on a four-wheeled one-horse dearbon, hey? (sic).—John Neal, ‘The Down Easters,’ i. 17.
1833. A dearborn [was] obtained to convey his family.—James Hall, ‘Legends of the West,’ p. 186 (Phila.). (Italics in the original.)
1833. The effects of the Yankee [emigrant] were generally limited to a Dearborn waggon, a feather-bed, a saddle and bridle, and some knick-knack in the way of a machine for shelling corn, hatchelling flax, or, for aught I know, manufacturing wooden nutmegs for family use.—C. F. Hoffman, ‘A Winter in the Far West,’ i. 103 (Lond., 1835).
1835. The dearborn, in which I was conveyed, was no place for enjoyment, for the seat was so small that we were obliged to sit on each other in turn, and the road was so rugged as to threaten to jirk us out together; yet I did much enjoy the ride.—A. Reed and J. Matheson, ‘Visit to America,’ i. 404.
1836. A horse on Friday last ran away with a dearborn, in which was four persons.—Phila. Public Ledger, June 13.
a. 1840. Our cortege included several “Dearborns,” similar in shape to the ambulances of the present, in which the old and ailing Negroes were carried, and numerous wagons containing our household goods and provisions followed behind.—Mrs. Clay, ‘A Belle of the Fifties,’ p. 5 (N.Y., 1904).
1841. He had at St. Louis, purchased a very comfortable dearborn waggon, and a snug span of little horses to convey himself and his servant with his collection of plants, over the prairies.—Catlin, ‘North American Indians’ (1844), ii. 81. (N.E.D.)
1846. The animal sprung, floundered, and pulled his best, and drew the waggon (the driver, by the way, called it a dearborn) about twice its length.—E. W. Farnham, ‘Life in Prairie Land, p. 49.
1846. Fourteen hacks, and a dearbourn wagon at the tail of the funeral.—W. T. Porter, ed., ‘A Quarter Race in Kentucky,’ etc., p. 49.
