CORNER CUPBOARD

The cupboard was made around 1790-1810. Although the cabinetmaker is as yet unidentified, it is part of an important group of early Knox County, Tennessee, furniture and has a firmly established provenance.

It belonged to Robert Anderson who married Catherine McCampbell on March 31, 1825. The ceremony was performed by Reverend Isaac Anderson, Robert's brother. Reverend Anderson organized the Washington Presbyterian Church on Rosebury Creek, served at the Lebanon-in-the-Forks Church from 1803 to 1813, and organized the Southern and Western Theological Seminary, which later became Maryville College. Robert Anderson served as a Judge of the Circuit Court from 1840 to 1850.

The Anderson and McCampbell families were prominent among the early Scotch-Irish settlers that moved from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to Knox County, TN, in the late 18th century. In 1849, Robert Anderson sold his land in Knox County to Jacques Truan. The Truans had emigrated from Switzerland to Knox County, TN in early 1849. According to Truan family tradition, the corner cupboard was in the house that came with their 1849 land purchase.

Like the migration pattern of the Anderson and McCampbell families, the corner cupboard's form and decoration reflect definite Shenandoah Valley influences. It might well have been made by a cabinetmaker who followed a similar migratory path.