This is the sort of find that makes me happiest. It is the 1880s-90s autograph album of Eugenia ("Genia") Melissa Brown (1872-1929) of New River, Virginia, which I purchased because I just fell in total love with the drawing in it, pictured first. But then as I dug into it I discovered a deeper layer of significance to it all: that drawing, as well as several pages in it, were the contributions of Reverend Robert Sayers Sheffey (1820-1902), a legendary, very eccentric American Methodist evangelic preacher and circuit rider around the Appalachian region of SW Virginia, southern West Virginia and eastern Tennessee.
Tons out there about Sheffey (including a movie and a book), who remains very much a part of Appalachian folklore, with one story after another relating his peculiarities as well as his devotion to God, and to the welfare of both humans and animals (he was sometimes referred to as "St. Francis of the wilderness"), and to his life roaming the region, sleeping in barns and backrooms and wherever he was invited in. It is also noted that he would often draw pictures or write bits of hymns on the walls of his hosts’ homes or on rock outcroppings, sometimes in "artistic" lettering.
As several pages of Sheffey's handwritten entries in this album attest, Genia Brown was one of those he met on his travels, invited by her "and your Pappa" into the family home. "I will never forget the sweet times I have had in the house you all live in and I hope God will bless you all Amen. May God make the young man well. May God liquidate all the debt of the plantation," etc etc.! On and on. Plus the drawing, and a page of his "artistic" lettering, proclaiming GLORY TO GOD, with R.S.S and R.S.Sheffey signed on numerous pages. Clearly quite a connection between Sheffey and Genia, who would have been recently married and with a young child at the time Sheffey's entries here were written (in 1894), but it seems they had already known each other for a good number of years by that point. Pretty cool--and though I have not done exhaustive research in pursuit of other examples of his drawings and writings, this seems to be a rare preserved example.
Photos show most pages in the album with writing on them. Two pages of Sheffey's writing have much faded and are hard to make out, but the graphite writing on the others and the drawing are strong and clear. In addition, at the front of the album are handwritten family history records, recording Genia's first and, 10 years later, second marriage (the latter to a--very distant-relative of Albert Einstein! ), births of her four (from what I can tell) children, etc.
7 7/8" x 5". Paper 7 1/4" x 4 3/4". General wear, cover has separated from pages at front of book, and fading to text on a couple of pages as described and documented. Entries scattered throughout album, with a total on one full-page drawing, one partial page drawing, and 8 pp (page faces) completed by Sheffey, all documented.
You might also like
