David Wilson, Ohio Valley Cabinetmaker

R

RaderD

Member
I am beginning a search to locate the works of a little known cabinetmaker and carver who worked in Madison, Indiana during the period of about 1818 - 1855.  The home of this Indiana builder still stands in Madison, Indiana!! 
I am attempting to locate a few of  his pieces.  In 1945 there were only three pieces with his provenance: a cherry drop front desk in the late Sheraton, Empire style; a seven foot long mahogany sideboard with rope carved pilasters; and a mahogany side table with square top, turned pedestal and with four carved paw feet.  This info was collected from the October 1945 edition of The Antiques magazine.

I am attempting to determine ancestry to see if I can locate these pieces among his descendants.  There may be others in private or institutional collections.  A Sherlock Holmes I am not, but I do hope to sort this out and locate a piece or two of David Wilson's work.  With so many decades of work there must be a lot of his work out there, but not identified.  We hear so much about the work of the famous furniture builders of the east and the south.  I hope that we can at some point hear more about the works of some of the thousands of Midwestern and Ohio Valley furniture builders and cabinetmakers, as well. 
I am open to any and all suggestions, leads and encouragement.  Are there national databases I can research?  I know there are many records in institutional collections like Winterthur, but I do hope to  narrow my search before I begin pestering such groups and organizations.
 
You may want to contact Andrew Richmond. He is currently vice president at Garth's Auctions in Delaware, OH (http://www.garths.com/content/about/staff.asp). He went through the Winterthur Program and has written extensively on early Ohio Valley craftsmen. Most recently, he wrote an article for APF on Marietta, OH cabinetmaker Joshua Shipman. Afew years ago, he wrote on the Cincinnati Price Book of 1830. He and his wife, Hollie Davis, also write a column for the Maine Antiques Digest. Andy is more knowledgeable about Ohio frontier cabinetmakers than anyone I can think of and would certainly be a starting point if I were doing your research.

Best of luck in your search.
 
Do you know his birth and death years?  I can search Ancestry.com for you.  Here is a tidbit I found on what could be one of his apprentices:

From the Jefferson County Apprentice Records

VINING, Ashbel Barber. (B-372) Nov. 7, 1818 Madison Twp., age 10 yrs 8 mos., and 7 days to David Wilson, cabinet maker with consent of John Meek and Peter Hemphill, both justices of the peace, until he reaches the age of 21 yrs.
 
Thank you, Mark.  I will follow up on your suggestion.  Indiana alone had a total of 2176 documented chair makers and cabinetmakers during the period of 1793 - 1850.  So I have to believe someone knows something about many of them and I am hopeful that the one I have chosen to research has a legacy of work that I can find.

Chuck, I would appreciate it if you could check Ancestry.com. That may prove productive.  David Wilson was born in Ireland, Feb. 16, 1794 and died in Madison, Indiana, March 21, 1865. He arrived in the USA aboard the sailing vessel, Centurian, in 1808.  I have more information about him including some of his family records and the information you provided about his first apprentice.  He had a granddaughter who lived in Ottumwa, Iowa.  She had three of his pieces and probably passed them down to someone in the family. Her name was Anne Elizabeth Pepper.  This was her name from a second marriage.  Her maiden name was Christie.  She died in Ottumwa on Oct. 9, 1946 and her obituary lists her surviving relatives, none of who were here children.  So she was likely the last grandchild.  But, she had a niece, cousin and two nephews scattered around the country that may be able to help me if I can locate them or their children.  They would be at least in their 70s or 80s by now.
 
Rader
I started searching last night and found David and his wife, Ann, in an 1850 census.  They had two sons William & Charles and two or three daughters.  I couldn't find anything on William but I found Charles and his family living in Iowa in I think on an 1880 census.  He had a couple of sons as well.  The boys are easier to track - girls get married and change their name.

I'll keep grinding through it but the process takes awhile. 

-Chuck 
 
Thank you, Chuck.  I appreciate your willingness to continue searching for me.  Please don't spend too much time on this on my behalf.  I know you must have many more useful things to do, especially in your shop. 

Dave
 
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