D. Boone's fiddle

John Mack and Mary "Molly" Sanders (Submitted)

In most photographs of my great-grandfather, John Mack Sanders, he is shown with his beloved wife, Mary "Molly" Miller Sanders. He stood over 6 feet tall, and she, as you can see in the image above, was just a fraction of that. It makes for an amusing contrast.

Also in most of John Mack's photos he is holding the "Richmond fiddle," named for his father. A proper history of the instrument hasn't been recorded, but it's apparently been in the family for generations. An article printed in 1927 on the occasion of John Mack and Molly's 57th wedding anniversary shows them seated outside, with Grandpa holding the violin. The article says at that time it was "more than 100 years old."

John Mack passed away Nov. 16, 1932, and Molly followed him two weeks later, on Nov. 30, 1932. The violin remains a cherished family heirloom.

I was reminded of the Richmond fiddle when I came across an article about another instrument, this one purporting to be the property of pioneer Daniel Boone.

Published June 29, 1948, in the Southeast Missourian:

NEWSPAPER CLIPPING TELLS OF OLD FIDDLE DISCOVERED IN MISSOURI

Mrs. Sam Siurua, daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. P.A. Kasey of Grace Methodist Church, sent her parents a clipping from a Lexington, Kentucky, newspaper which relates the experiences of a noted fiddler in Sikeston and Cape Girardeau.

Mrs. Siurua is a member of the faculty of Centre College at Danville, Kentucky. Her husband is dean of the music department, and is a well-known violinist. He is taking some major work in Chicago this summer. Rev. and Mrs. Kasey will leave July 4 or 5 for a vacation with their daughter, who will then return to Cape with them.

The clipping follows.

"The snake rattle in Porter Poindexter's old fiddle, writes Noah J. Parsons, of Stamping Ground, reminds me of an incident soon after I came to Frankfort in 1922. It involved an old fiddle believed to have belonged to Daniel Boone.

"The Trevathan family of Carlisle and Hickman counties contained noted fiddlers. Curley Trevathan, in his heyday, could make a fiddle talk. He could play jigs, hornpipes and reels that inspired the most sanctimonious of church members to trip the light fantastic.

"Ed Harrison's mother was a Trevathan, hence Ed inherited the musical gift. But Ed's forte was the piano. He once bought the most remarkable piano I ever saw. It contained fiddle, mandolin and guitar attachments. By pulling one lever when he started to play, Ed obtained the accompaniment of a fiddle; another lever, and he obtained accompaniment of the mandolin; another lever, and the guitar cut in.

"Ed later moved to Missouri and settled at Sikeston. Ed bought an old fiddle and found this inscription on the neck: 'D. Boone, 1770.' He hustled the old fiddle off to a cabinet maker at Cape Girardeau for repairs. After removing cobwebs, varnish and dirt, the mender found markings that convinced him the instrument was a Stradivarius. Ed thought his fortune was made.

"Under the impression Kentucky would pay any price for a Strad once owned and played by the immortal Boone, Ed wrote me to sell the instrument to the Kentucky State Historical Society. While he named no figure, I could tell from the tone of Ed's letter he was willing to sacrifice the violin for $1,000,000. The Historical Society informed me, and I so wrote my friend, that it had no money to buy old relics, but would accept them as gifts.

"Ed then told me to ask Gov. Edwin P. Morrow to call a special session of the legislature to authorize an issue of State warrants sufficient to buy and preserve the noted violin. But Gov. Morrow was not musically inclined, and Kentucky lost the valuable old fiddle Ed Harrison thought he discovered in Missouri."