Hi all, Janean is having "bounce problems" today and asked that I send this along. Ironically, I'm watching that very episode of Antiques Road Show right now, but also saw it on Monday. I didn't know about the Chinn connection, however. Janean: I don't recall anything being said about it hanging in a museum. It was owned by an individual whose grandfather had bought it somewhere along the way....as least what I think they said. Craig Begin forwarded message: > From: "Janean Ray" <[email protected]> > Date: April 2, 2011 12:10:34 PM EDT > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Chinn Discovery > > Having bouncing issues today. Teetered between sending to you first or the list…… but as I figured it bounced from the list, then sent to your old address apparently (earthlink) and it bounced again……. Not sure if its too long or what but maybe you can edit it and post if you find it worthy of posting. > > Janean > > > Found something interesting the other night watch Antique Roadshow. Famous painting which is NOW in a museum….. “The Illustrious Guest” painted by James Henry Beard of HENRY CLAY. > > http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/mar/25/antiques-roadshow-dallas-texas-hour-one/ > > I knew watching this I recognized that name so immediately went to my database. > > Henry Clay was the law partner to Richard Henry Chinn of Kentucky and grandson to Charles and Scythia Chinn and great grandson to ……… you guessed it…… Rawleigh and Margaret. > > Richard Henry Chinn’s wife…. Elizabeth Moore Holmes was the daughter of Suckey Chinn…… and granddaughter to Charles and Scythia Chinn…….. hence, great granddaughter to Rawleigh and Margaret. > > The oldest son of John & Mildred Higgins Chinn was the Honorable Richard Henry Chinn, an attorney. He was the law partner of that noted statesman, Henry Clay. It has been documented that Richard Henry Chinn was the only man with who Henry Clay would ever enter in partnership; Clay was also the only person who presumed to call Richard Henry by the name of "Dick". According to "Aunt Eliza" in "Social Life in Old New Orleans": "My Mother would never have dared to do such a thing". One of the sons of Richard Henry Chinn was named "Henry Clay" after his old law partner. In an article written by Great Aunt Ellen Alvarez Chinn Jarvis Conway, she makes mention of the fact that Henry Clay was a frequent visitor in the Chinn home. On one occasion she made a handkerchief for him which he always carried and used in the process of wiping his hands after taking a pinch of snuff. > Richard Henry Chinn served twice in the Kentucky legislature... each time being elected by unanimous vote. > The Honorable RICHARD HENRY CHINN married his (third) cousin, ELIZABETH (BETSY) MOORE HOLMES (with who, it is said, he fell in love with when he was six and she was three.) The Mother of ELIZABETH MOORE HOLMES was SUSAN (SUCKY) CHINN, a daughter of the union between CHARLES and SYNTHE CHINN, and sister of JOHN CHINN who married MILDRED HIGGINS. Fourteen children were born to RICHARD HENRY and ELIZABETH MOORE HOLMES CHINN. All of the children were born in Kentucky where he practiced law until approximately 1836. At that date he moved his family to Louisiana and took up his practice in the city of New Orleans. > The youngest of the fourteen children of RICHARD HENRY and ELIZABETH MOORE HOLMES CHINN was Elizabeth Moore Chinn McHatton Ripley (Aunt Eliza) author of "from Flag to Flag" and "Social Life in Old New Orleans". Another of their children was Ellen Alvarez Chinn Jarvis Conway, Great-Grandmother of Benjamin Harrison Branch, Jr, author of the "Branch-Harris-Jarvis-Chinn" book of genealogy. > > In searching about the book….. I actually found it scanned on line AND a picture of the author Elizabeth Moore Chinn McHatton Ripley….. http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/ripley/ripley.html#ripley1 > > Janean > >

It wasn't owned by the museum in Texas at the time it was shown on the Roadshow. The museum contacted the show after the fact. Here are some notes about that. July 15, 2009 FORT WORTH, TX.- When The Illustrious Guest (1847) appeared on the PBS program Antiques Roadshow earlier this year, appraiser Alan Fausel of the Bonhams auction house said the painting "could hang in a museum." Now it is on display. The 19th-century painting by James Henry Beard depicts legendary Kentucky statesman Henry Clay (1777-1852) as a guest at a country tavern while on the campaign trail. The work is on long-term loan to the Amon Carter Museum by a private collector. "I was intrigued by the painting when I saw it on the program," says Rebecca Lawton, curator of paintings and sculpture at the Amon Carter Museum . "I called Alan and asked him to pass along my contact information to the owner because I wanted to see it in person. I'm so thankful the guest had already contacted Alan, making it possible for him to connect us, because now we have the privilege of displaying this wonderful painting in our museum." The Dallas owner, who remains anonymous, brought the painting to a Dallas taping of Antiques Roadshow last summer. On the episode that aired in January, she revealed that the painting had been in her family for more than six generations, and that they likely acquired it shortly after it was painted. "It is a terrific genre subject that combines fact with fiction," Lawton says. "The setting is accurate, as Clay, a veteran campaigner, certainly would have stopped at country taverns to solicit votes during the 1844 presidential election. Beard likely imagined the painting's cast of characters, some of whom marvel at Clay's elegant attire, while others eye him warily after identifying him from the guest register. This is a perfect picture of life in antebellum America and a wonderful rediscovery."