How I Ended Up With the Sketch

by Donna Swagerty Shreve

The year was 1972 and my parents decided to drive cross country from California to Connecticut where my husband and I were living. They took with them their exchange student Carole Werry who had lived with them for the previous year. She was returning to Belgium and Mom and Dad thought it was time to take that cross country trip they had talked about most of our childhood. For what ever reasons they never were able to manage the trip while we were still living in the home.

As they plotted their journey, Mom decided stopping in Missouri was a must so she could see where her father grew up. She had kept up with one first cousin on the Boone side and Opal Gardner promised to gather all of the local cousins together for her visit. 

Opal and Mom got together before the planned reunion and Opal gave Mom a tour of the area where the Boones had been raised. Many relatives were buried in that private Cunningham cemetery.

One of the stops on the tour was the home of Maggie Longfellow, my grandfather Jesse’s first wife. They had been married for 21 years before they were divorced in Idaho. The Longfellow house stood empty and abandoned. Opal went behind the house and retrieved the key to the front door. Inside my parents and Opal saw covered furniture in a house that looked like it was frozen in time. After their house tour, Opal returned the key and they continued to the next spot.

The next house was the again empty home of the Boone family. Up in the attic Opal showed Mom a pile of covered sketches of various Boone relatives of a bygone era.  A traveling sketch artist had  used charcoal to sketch Annabelle Rutledge Cunningham Boone (1835-1904) and Milton Clay Boone (1828-1905). I do not remember who the other sketches were but they were related. They had been discarded in the attic of an empty home. Opal noticed my mother’s interest in the sketch of her grandparents she shared with Opal. She asked Mom if she wanted the large 2 feet by 3 feet drawing and my Mom said she was sure her daughter would. The sketch was then handed to my parents and they wrapped it up and put it into the trunk of the car.

When I came into possession of the sketch I noticed it was starting to crumble around the edges of the heavy paper. I took it quickly to a framer to preserved it the best way I could. After I had ordered the frame and matting, I returned a few days later to pick it up. As I was waiting for the clerk to retrieve it, a man came out of the back work room. He asked if I was the owner of that special sketch. I replied in the affirmative and he asked if I had any idea of what a valuable item I had. I explained that the people in the picture were my great grandparents.

As I became more involved with genealogy, I shared what I could on various online forums. Soon I was being contacted by second cousins who shared the same great grandparents. The first questions was how had I gotten possession of this family artifact! This reaction surprised me as I thought I was being so generous making sure the sketch was shared. I did discover several second cousins. I have noticed over the years that various cousins have used the photo of the sketch in their family trees.

I am so grateful that chance gave my mother the opportunity to obtain the sketch and share it with me. It amazes me that the pile of sketches were considered something to store away in an abandoned house in the attic. I now just hope my sons will appreciate the sketch after I am gone. I will ask them to find a happy home for it if they do not want it. In the meantime it brings a smile to my face whenever I gaze upon it on my wall.

692 words

4/8/24

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