Jeffrey S. Evans & Assoc., Inc.
Live Auction

November 21, 2025: Fall Premier Americana: Day Two Featuring The Benny Long Collection

Fri, Nov 21, 2025 09:00AM EST
  2025-11-21 09:00:00 2025-11-21 09:00:00 America/New_York Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates : November 21, 2025: Fall Premier Americana: Day Two Featuring The Benny Long Collection https://live.jeffreysevans.com/auctions/jeffrey-evans/november-21-2025-fall-premier-americana-day-two-featuring-the-benny-long-collection-20569
Jeffrey S. Evans & Assoc., Inc. info@jeffreysevans.com
  • Shenandoah Valley
Lot 1066

RARE AND IMPORTANT MCDOWELL FAMILY, AUGUSTA CO., SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF VIRGINIA QUEEN ANNE INLAID WALNUT DIMINUTIVE DRESSING TABLE

Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000
Starting Bid
$5,000

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $10
$200 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$3,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$30,000 $2,500
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000

RARE AND IMPORTANT MCDOWELL FAMILY, AUGUSTA CO., SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF VIRGINIA QUEEN ANNE INLAID WALNUT DIMINUTIVE DRESSING TABLE, rectangular two-board top above a case fitted with one over three lip-molded drawers, each having thick string inlay, and an inverted tombstone and spurs cut-out skirt, the whole raised on turned tapered round legs terminating in the original flat pad feet. Replaced brasses and locks. Yellow pine, walnut, and poplar secondary woods. Retains an outstanding early dry surface with excellent color. Circa 1760. 26 1/4" H, 32" x 18 3/4".
Catalogue Note: Colonial furniture from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia is extremely rare. The present table is accompanied by a partial note indicating its ownership in the McDowell family of Augusta (now Rockbridge) County, Virginia. The note reads "John McDowell / received land in the late / 1730's - killed by Indians / in 1742 - Grandson Dr. Ephraim McDowell / [section missing] surgery - relative James / McDowell - Gov. of VA / 1843-45 - buried off Rt. / 11 - at Fairfield, VA / Painting in / courthouse / Lexington, VA".
Family patriarch Ephraim McDowell (1673-1770) was born in Ulster, Ireland, and migrated to America with his family in 1729. By 1737, they had moved to the Fairfield area of Augusta (now Rockbridge) Co.
The dressing table was probably commissioned by one of Ephraim's children or grandchildren, and it seems the most likely candidates for this may be his son John McDowell (1702-1742) (as the note suggests) or, more likely, one of John's children. Many of the McDowells left the area for Danville, Kentucky, which somewhat limits the search pool. This still leaves a fair number of options open for lineage, but one of the most plausible, keeping in mind the names mentioned in the note, would be from John McDowell and Magdalena Woods (1706-1810) to their son, Col. James McDowell (1739-1771) and Elizabeth Cloyd (1739-1810), to their son James McDowell (1739-1835) and Sarah Buchanan Preston (1767-1841), to their son Gov. James McDowell (1795-1851) and Susanna Smith Preston (1800-1847) and then through their descendants who remained in Rockbridge Co. and kept the McDowell name.
It's also worth considering that it easily could have belonged to John's daughter, Sarah McDowell (1741-1805), who married Col. George Moffett (1738-1811) in Augusta Co., where it could have descended in the Moffett / Cochran family.
Another of John's sons, Samuel McDowell (1735-1817), leaves for Kentucky, but his daughter, Magdalene McDowell (1755-1837), stays and marries Andrew Franklin Reid (1751-1837), where the dressing table could have descended in the Reid family of Lexington.
The Tannehills (see provenance) were pioneers in collecting and dealing in antiques and operated a series of antiques shops in Staunton, VA, starting in the 1920s. One of these shops was located in the lobby of the Stonewall Jackson Hotel in the 1930s and run by Mary E. "Polly" Tannehill, with repairs and restorations being performed by Joseph Francis Tannehill. The Tannehills were known to purchase a large number of antiques in the upper Shenandoah Valley for the renowned antiques dealer Joe Kindig Jr. of York, Pennsylvania.
Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates is grateful to Robert Gang (fifth great-grandson of Samuel McDowell) and Tim McDowell for their contribution to the research regarding the McDowell family.

Condition

In very good original condition, except for the aforementioned replaced brasses and locks. The top drawer has a repair at the front proper left dovetail junction, three runners on the low drawers have been repaired, lacking the escutcheons, the drawer lips have only two small losses, and two feet have a section detached but present with no losses. 

Provenance

From the collection of Benny Long, New Market, VA.
Jeffrey S. Evans (T/A GVA), 2/17/1990.
Estate of Joane Tannehill, Staunton, VA.
Descended in the McDowell family of Augusta/Rockbridge Co., VA.

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