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Couples donates items to Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History

Photo by Jess Mancini From left, Cathy and Edward Engle, retired West Virginia State Parks historian Ray Swick, Nancy and Charles Weinstock, stand outside the Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park Museum. The Engles and the Weinstocks gave Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park two framed prints, a Windsor chair and Margaret Blennerhassett’s personal sewing cabinet that once were in the original Blennerhassett Mansion. The artifacts were in Edward and Nancy’s, brother and sister, family home after they where purchased at an 1807 auction by their great-great-great-grandfather Col. Levi Barber.

PARKERSBURG — Four pieces from the era of Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett are now in the Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History.

Two wall prints, a Windsor chair and Margaret Blennerhassett’s sewing cabinet were donated to the museum by Edward and Cathy Engle of Marietta and Charles and Nancy Engle Weinstock of The Woodlands, Texas.

It was Mrs. Engle’s idea to donate the pieces to the museum, her husband said.

“For two reasons,” Engle said. “To return them to the island from where they came; and to allow the public to see and enjoy them.”

Edward and Nancy are brother and sister. The items were in their mother’s home on Fort Street in Marietta until she passed away in 2001, Nancy said.

Photo by Jess Mancini The 1795 black and white decorative prints of Peter Abelard (1079-1142) and Heloise (Eloisa) d’Argenteuil (1090?-1164), two famous medieval French literary figures.

The home remained in the family since it was built in 1829, Nancy said. Col. Levi Barber, the Engles’ great-great-great-grandfather, acquired the items at an 1807 sale after the Blennerhassetts fled their palatial home on the island, said Ray Swick, retired West Virginia State Parks historian.

The chain of ownership was Col. Barber, Capt. Levi Barber Jr., Lucy Mayberry Barber, Lucy James Cole, Florence Louise Flemming and children, Edward and Nancy Engle, with their spouses.

Nancy and Ed remember using the items in their home since they were children, but their mother, Florence, impressed upon them why the chair, prints and sewing cabinet “were special” and they had to be careful using them. The prints decorated a wall, the chair stood next to a telephone and the sewing cabinet was kept under a large window in the living room and was used for Florence Engle’s sewing.

“She kept her knitting items in there,” Nancy said.

The plan is for the prints and sewing cabinet to be on display in the Blennerhassett Mansion during the annual May 1-Nov. 1 season, then returned to the museum for display during the winter months, Swick said.

Photo by Jess Mancini Margaret Blennerhassett’s sewing cabinet.

“We’re very happy to have these things,” Miles Evenson, park superintendent, said.

Their value?

“Incalculable,” Swick said.

The significance of the relics cannot be overstated, according to Swick.

They rank in magnitude of importance with the Blennerhassetts piano displayed in the mansion and Harman’s telescope, which is kept in the museum, he said. For example, Blennerhassett often conducted scientific experiments and the telescope, mounted on the mansion’s roof platform, aided in his studies of the cosmos.

Photo by Jess Mancini Nancy and Charles Weinstock demonstrate how the legs unfold on Margaret Blennerhassett’s sewing cabinet. Nancy was bequeathed the cabinet upon the death of her mother, Florence Engle, in 2001.

The sewing cabinet, in particular, is reflective of Margaret’s interests, Swick said. Margaret, renown for her cooking, also sewed much of her family’s clothing, including that for the slaves, Swick said.

“It epitomizes Margaret’s lifestyle,” Swick said.

The chair, prints and sewing cabinet are in excellent condition, Swick said.

“These rank among the finest Blennerhassett relics we have ever been donated,” said Swick.

Swick has known of the relics’ existence since the late 1960s.

“I feel really good that we made the right decision,” Edward said.

***

A History of the Artifacts

Ray Swick, the retired historian at Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park, provided a history of the donations to the Blennerhassett Island State Park of Margaret Blennerhassett’s sewing cabinet, a Windsor chair owned by the Blennerhassetts and two prints that once hung in the original Blennerhassett Mansion by Nancy and Charlie Weinstock of The Woodslands, Texas, and Edward and Cathy Engle of Marietta.

The sewing cabinet was left behind by the Blennerhassetts when they fled the island in 1806 and presumably was among the property seized by the Wood County Court and sold at one of the public auctions in February and May 1807 to settle Harman Blennerhassett’s debts.

“At one of these forced sales, the cabinet almost certainly was purchased by Col. Levi Barber, a prominent citizen of Marietta, Ohio, a United States congressman and Mrs. Weinstock’s (Nancy) great-great-great-grandfather,” the description of the piece in the deed of gift signed by the Weinstocks said.

The cabinet was most likely made of walnut and retains its original patina. The rectangular box with collapsible legs is 10.25-by-19.5 inches in dimensions.

“Glued under the cabinet is a circa early 20th century paper label on which is written in nearly illegible ink ‘Property of Seldon N. Cole,'” the description said. Cole was the brother of Mrs. Weinstock’s maternal grandmother, Lucy James (Mrs. Edwin Allen Cole).

The two 1790s black and white decorative-framed wall prints depict Peter Abelard (1079-1142) and Heloise (Eloisa) d’Argenteuil (1090?-1164), two medieval French literary figures. The original frames are covered with worn gold leaf and the glass also is original with an oval gold border and gold floral motifs in each corner.

Abelard, with shoulder-length hair and a moustache, has his left hand against his forehead and his right hand raised with fingers apart, a gesture of exclamation.

Heloise is shown clasping her hand with her head tilted upward as if in prayer.

On its back are three labels: Cole’s property label; a label marked “Abelard and Eloisa, London, Published Jan. 1, 1795, by E. Walker & Co., No. 7, Cornhill (London) S.R.M; and the print’s original label that reads “Eloisa.”

The Windsor chair is possibly made of cherry and has a bow-back design with nine spindles, bamboo-styled splayed legs and bamboo-style stretchers. It is 36.75 inches high, and the seat is 15.5 inches from the floor.

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