Notes
This deerskin dome top trunk is believed to have belonged to Patrick Henry. The earliest documented reference to this trunk having belonged to Henry appears on a label affixed to the trunk itself, which says it was purchased circa 1830 by a Louis D. Jones.
The trunk is also mentioned in "The True Patrick Henry" (1907) by George Morgan, who writes, "This gig, or 'chair,' and the little hair-trunk Henry strapped on behind the seat are now the prized possessions of Louis D. Jones at New Store, in Buckingham" (pg. 365).
It is believed that this trunk held Henry's legal papers and books while he traveled and was used in the later years of his law practice. It is possible that the trunk appeared in Patrick Henry's 1799 probate inventory of Red Hill, which lists "4 trunks."
On May 23, 1966, E. Demarest Peterson, an individual interested in the whereabouts of the trunk, wrote to John C. Spencer, county clerk of Buckingham, VA. Mr. Spencer referred Mr. Peterson to Louis L. Jones who was the grandson of Louis D. Jones, the original purchaser of the trunk mentioned in Morgan's biography. Mr. Jones confirmed to Mr. Peterson he still held the trunk in his possession, and wrote that "[it] should be at 'Red Hill.'"
On August 29, 1966, Mr. Peterson purchased the trunk from Mr. Jones for $50 only four days before the death of Mr. Jones. Two years later from September to October 1968, Mr. Peterson placed the trunk on loan to Patrick Henry's Scotchtown for display.
On May 7, 1968, Mr. Peterson wrote his first of many letters to PHMF concerning the trunk. By 1975, Mr. Peterson first expressed his interest to sell the trunk (and a gold watch supposedly belonging to Henry) for $40,000. Throughout the next two decades, Mr. Peterson was in sporadic contact with PHMF in an attempt to sell the trunk for various prices. In 1981, Mr. Peterson lowered the price to $25,000, despite an appraisal value by Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc. of $1,500 to $2,000.
In November 1981, PHMF offered to purchase the trunk according to the appraised price between $1,800 to $2,600. Mr. Peterson declined this offer, and on January 23, 1983 he lowered his asking price again to $18,000. Mr. Peterson last contacted PHMF on March 8, 1993 in hopes of selling the trunk, but this sale was never completed.
Prior to the death of Mr. Peterson in 2017, he gave the trunk to his friend, John M. Dennis, who then gave it to his son, Eric Cromwell, on April 22, 2022.
On January 1, 2023, Mr. Dennis informed PHMF staff that the Henry trunk was in his family's possession and he offered to sell it. The Patrick Henry Auxiliary purchased the trunk for PHMF on March 17, 2023.