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me story Degins in tne year 1858, the year of his birth, :■ and moves fast forward to the year of his death on August 16,
At an early age “JA." displayed such ingenuity and intellect that he surprised, amazed and captivated his contemporaries during the post-civil war days. The length of the work day with its dead-end hours, “Soons yo kin, till soons yo kant * led him to declare, “There must be a better wa/\
As the story goes, while in the fields with fellow laborers under a merciless July sun he suddenly dropped his grimeladen hoe and retired his sore, blistered hands to his cabin home, never looking back. Early into the year of 1881, “J. A.’ made his first venture in real estate, at the age of twentythree.
Elizabeth Lee, the present owner of the Engham House, explains, "I understand that he began a business cutting hair, and became successful enough to buy 31 Main Street. In keeping with its architecture design, it was probably a Sunday house, which is where people from surrounding farms stayed on Saturday nights in order to get to church in town on Sunday mornings. The structure had poplar board and batten siding that ran from the stone foundation to the roof. Mr. Engham finished adding on to this structure in 1908. While doing restoration I found that rather than using horsehair to strengthen the plaster, Mr. Engham had used human hair, presumably, from his barber shop. He went on to become a turn of the century* dentist, a common calling for barbers of the era. Along with his growing jewelry business, he made and repaired clocks, watches and locks. I found many artifacts of the era.”
James Russell continues his story; "Now enter at this point, the watch repairman and tonsorialist. As he continued to work at his new vocation, he added another dimension, that of photographer. Everyone seemed to be obsessed with picture-taking. Along the way, he acquired a professional camera unit, tripod, framer and within minutes was able to furnish his customer with a beautiful personal picture, (tint-type) Camp meetings and church suppers proved to be a booming business for the new photographer. (Wouldn’t it be fantastic to collect his work?) As an added novelty he sold necklaces, beads, pins, watches, and etc to adorn the beautiful ladies, anxious to show how they looked in pictures. Demand and popularity grew by leaps and bounds. Soon a horse and buggy was needed to accommodate his growing business.
In 1890, Mr. Engham married Florence Tarry (21). Three girls were bom of this union. According to Mr. Russell, "a newspaper account of “J. As” passing listed him as one of the wealthiest colored men in Rappahannock County."
There are so many stories of Mr. Engham, his family his car (a 1929 Hupmobile) on main street that Elizabeth Lee has invited Mr. Russell and his cousins, Wiliam Jackson and Carolyn Harrison (bom in this house) all in their eighties, to tell their stories during the Open House and Historic Tbur of the Engham House on Sunday, August 20 from 1 to 5 pm. Hairs at 1:30 and 3:30
Tm very excited to tell my personal story of inspiration and ghostly presence by the man I lovingly call Ja Engham," added Elizabeth.
Needed for story time is a voice amplifier, and perhaps some dedicated historian would volunteer to record the stories?
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