To descendants of Eleanor Magruder (1766-1806) and Dr. John Briscoe (1752-1818): have you seen their portraits?

Here is Eleanor. See John and read more at The Museum of Southern Decorative Arts.

The artist, John Drinker, moved from Philadelphia to western Virginia around 1800 after marrying a local woman. The Briscoes’ home was “Piedmont,” near Charlestown, now in West Virginia.

Eleanor was the daughter of John Lamar Magruder (son of Alexander Magruder and Susannah Lamar) and Eleanor Magruder (daughter of Samuel Magruder and Eleanor Wade). Alexander was the son of the first Samuel Magruder and his wife, Sarah.

Sue Emerson says that Alexander was about sixty years old in 1765, when he purportedly married Susannah Lamar, and John Lamar Magruder was born about five years later. Which, as she points out, raises some questions.

If these are your ancestors, maybe you have more information than Sue uncovered (back in the dark ages before the internet). If so, please let us know!

The Briscoes’ portraits also can be found in John A. Cuthbert’s Early Art and Artists in West Virginia: An Introduction and Biographical Directory. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2000.