Images(3)

Pocketbook

Dateca. 1830

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Northampton County

MediumLeather, Cotton

DimensionsOther (Closed ): 3 1/2 x 7 1/4in. (8.9 x 18.4cm) Other: 7 3/4 x 7 1/4in. (19.7 x 18.4cm)

Object number2013-59 (X)

DescriptionLeather wallet lined in blue cotton. Both the exterior and interior of the wallet is embossed with floral boarders terminating in each corner with a small lyres. One of the exterior sides of the wallet is embossed with a Federal eagles grasping a ribbon in its mouth with the motto "E. Pluribus Unum." The same eagle is on the interior of the wallet but has been cut to make two small inner flaps. Those flaps are stitched over the upper interior pocket. The bottom interior pocket has written in ink:

Thomas E. Evans
Northampton, Virga.
18th Regt. V. Vol.
Label TextThis small leather pocketbook or wallet was probably owned by Thomas Edward Evans. Evans was born in Accomack County, Virginia on October 6, 1809. He worked as a merchant in Eastville, Northampton County, just south of Accomack. Evans married Juliet L. Upshur (July 20, 1820 - April 2, 1896) on January 28, 1839 and together they had five children. Sometime in 1843, the family moves across the Chesapeake Bay to York County and lives at a home called Cherry Hall. From 1850 to 1870 Thomas was listed on the census as a farmer and owned 15 slaves. He died in the 1870s.

The wallet is marked "18th Regt. V. Vols." Evans was probably a member of this regiment, but no known unit with that designation can be documented to Northampton County, Virginia. Thomas's father in law and brother in laws had extensive military service and perhaps helped to secure him a commission elsewhere off the Eastern Shore.
InscribedThomas E. Evans
Northampton, Virga.
18th Regt. V. Vol.
ProvenanceThis small leather pocketbook or wallet was probably owned by Thomas Edward Evans. Evans was born in Accomack County, Virginia on October 6, 1809. He worked as a merchant in Eastville, Northampton County, just south of Accomack. Evans married Juliet L. Upshur (July 20, 1820 - April 2, 1896) on January 28, 1839 and together they had five children. Sometime in 1843, the family moves across the Chesapeake Bay to York County and lives at a home called Cherry Hall. From 1850 to 1870 Thomas was listed on the census as a farmer and owned 15 slaves. He died in the 1870s.