After my most recent post about the Saunders-Marshall-Wright House, I was made aware of another interesting story connected to the home.
In May 1830, President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act was passed, and about three months later, he met with Chickasaw chiefs in Franklin to negotiate a treaty. Tragically, the tribe was ultimately forced into Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears.
During the time of the treaty discussions, 22-year-old Caroline Dudley, who may have been a local art teacher, lived in what is now called the Saunders-Marshall-Wright House. (Caroline was the great-aunt of Park Marshall, the man mentioned in my previous post about the home. He later lived there and had the house wired for electricity, only to rip it all out because the electric lights disturbed him.)
While members of the Chickasaw tribe were in town, Caroline painted a miniature of one of the braves Kinheche (or Kinhechee), intending to give it to him. However, according to family history, a chief advised her not to, saying the Native Americans wouldn’t take care of it. She took his advice and kept it.
Local lore says Kinheche sat for the portrait in Caroline’s home. Due to the treaty negotiations, the sittings took place over the course of several intervals. Eventually, these painting sessions became of great interest to the other Native Americans who would file into the room to watch the process. On one occasion, a member of the tribe fell asleep and didn’t wake when the others left. Caroline didn’t notice him and closed the door to the room. Sometime later, he awoke to find himself alone. In a panic, he jumped from a window to escape.
In another version of this story, Caroline painted Kinheche’s image without his knowledge. When she showed it to him at her home, he jumped through a window because he believed any likeness could capture the soul and trap it on earth.
Again, neither of these stories have been confirmed, but they both make for interesting tales.
Caroline died two years after painting the miniature, and Mary Bright, whose great-grandmother was Caroline’s sister, later inherited the piece. Last July, the portrait sold at auction in Knoxville for $50,000!