Antique dulcimer in Illinois

   In my last post, headed Historic dulcimer pattern in Carolina, I linked to a photo of a dulcimer on exhibit this month in Boone, N.C. Its pattern traces back to the 1880s in West Virginia.

Well, a dulcimer of that same general pattern turned up in west central Illinois in the early 1900s. It was brought here by a family who moved here from the Greenbrier River country in eastern West Virginia and settled across the Mississippi River from Keokuk. In 2002 Leslie Williams of Orlando, who grew up in Hamilton, Ill., e-mailed me:

... I can remember the "dulcimer" being a part of the decor of the house. In due course I heard my Mother play the instrument and was fascinated, but unable to play in her style. She used a "noter" and a piece of very springy steel, although she preferred a turkey quill. The instrument was made by a, now forgotten, luthier in West Virginia for my Grandmother. She was 18 when the luthier presented the instument to her in 1902.

Williams sent me the photo you see above. The instrument's shape is very much like those made by Charles Prichard of Huntington, W.Va., who flourished from the 1880s till his death in 1904. Was he the luthier? Perhaps. But the sound holes are different -- Prichard's were the traditional heart shape, and this dulcimer has diamonds. It's a mystery.

Perhaps it was Prichard. He was still alive in 1902. Perhaps it was someone who traced his pattern ... that's how it got to North Carolina. Dulcimer historian Ralph Lee Smith, who is a retired journalist and knows how to spin a good tale, explains in his book Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions how in the 1880s a "Stranger from the West" stayed overnight with Eli Presnell of Beech Mountain, N.C., and allowed him to trace the pattern. It has been handed down in the Presnell and Glenn families since that time.

Related postsI found a hard copy of another email from Les Williams and A historic Carolina dulcimer pattern on March 4.