Nov 21 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2687 -
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Sale 2687 - Lot 191

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(OHIO.) Robert A. Sherrard. A manuscript history of Steubenville titled "History of Centre Church." [3], 316, 319-373, 326-408 manuscript pages (erratically paginated but apparently complete). 4to, ½ calf over marbled boards, moderate wear; partly disbound with many sections and leaves laid in, moderate wear to fore-edges of those leaves. Steubenville, OH, 1860-1862 (transcribed 1908)
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Robert Andrew Sherrard (1789-1874) came to Jefferson County, OH during its frontier period in 1805, and became the grand elder citizen of the town of Steubenville. He was an avid amateur historian and compiled several volumes of manuscript histories. His son Thomas Johnson Sherrard (1845-1905) compiled some of them into the 1890 book "The Sherrard Family of Steubenville" (modern reprint included with this lot). The present volume was transcribed by another son, John Hindman Sherrard (1830-1911), from a manuscript in his possession. He stated that the original was written in 1860, was given to him in 1863, and transcribed in Wilkinsburg, PA in 1908, with the original given to the public library of Washington, PA.

The main subject here is a history of the churches in and near Steubenville and Smithfield, OH, packed with personal impressions and anecdotes, and extending to other denominations beyond the author's home Presbyterian church. An annotated list of Centre Church members extends from pages 348-355. However, the book extends far beyond church history, starting with an account of the earliest pioneer settlement of the region in 1795. Long digressions include Ezekiel Palmer's singing school and "some account of Charles Conaway, a young man, not much esteemed, during a short stay on earth" (132-137), a horse-racing track operated by "Old Nick Pumphrey" (209); and many more. Each page is helpfully headlined with its main topics. Pages 331 to the end are headed "An Appendix, the Principle Object of Which Is To Show that the Indian Tribes of the North American Continent are Descendents of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel," dated 1862, which begins with an account of his father's involvement in the early Indian frontier wars during the Revolution. In short, this is local history at its most personal, colorful, and gloriously eccentric.

Provenance: gift from John Hindman Sherard to nephew Robert Sherrard Hill (1858-1932) of Steubenville.

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