Treasures of Edwards Place: Empire Buffet

Edwards Place has an amazing collection of 19th century decorative arts. Soon after the Springfield Art Association was formed in 1913, Alice Edwards Ferguson donated Edwards Place, where she had grown up and where her mother had lived for more than sixty years, for use as a gallery, classroom space, and meeting space. Many prominent local Springfield families donated exquisite pieces of antique furniture to help furnish the grand old house. These objects are beautiful in their own right, and many of them carry fascinating stories of their makers and owners.

One such piece is the Empire-style buffet now on display in the servants' dining room.

This object dates to 1831 and was made by a Cincinnati cabinetmaker named Thomas C. Estep. How do we know? Because Estep proudly signed his work underneath the lefthand drawer with the inscription : "This work made by his hands. Thomas C. Estep Feb. 14th A.D. 1831" and underneath the center drawer with "Cincinnati Hamilton County Ohio."

Census records show that Estep was born in Maryland around 1807. He is not listed in the Cincinnati City Directory until 1834, so this would have been a very early piece for him, completed when he was in his early twenties.

Not only do we know who made this buffet, we know who bought it: an inscription on the inside of the center drawer reads "Mrs. Salome Enos." Salome Enos was the wife of Pascal P. Enos, one of the first settlers of Springfield. The year after the Enoses purchased this buffet, Pascal died, leaving four small children and Salome pregnant with a fifth. Salome was named executrix of the Enos estate but soon ran into legal disputes concerning the payment of debts. The legal cases dragged on for years, and Salome eventually hired Abraham Lincoln to represent her.

This object may look like an ordinary buffet, but it has so many stories to tell: the story of a young cabinetmaker proudly finishing one of his first major commissions; the story of the growing trasportation network used by an expanding United States to supply goods to a restless population pushing ever westward; the story of a frontier family's desire for stylish and luxurious goods; and even a connection to Abraham Lincoln himself.