We are pleased to announce the gracious return of an original artifact from the Cruikshank family to Rockcliffe!
In January, we received a call from Ms. Alice Lindbergh who lives near Minneapolis, MN, saying that she had a chair she'd like to donate to Rockcliffe. This beautifully carved balloon-back parlor chair belonged to Louise Cruikshank, the second-eldest of the four Cruikshank daughters. Mrs. Lindbergh explained that during the 1980s she was hired as a caretaker for Louise and received the chair after Louise passed away (incidentally, Louise lived to be 100 years old!!!). She graciously donated the chair to Rockcliffe, and her daughter and son-in-law brought the chair to Hannibal last week.
Mrs. Lindbergh believes that the needlepoint cushion on the chair was hand-rendered by Louise, and said that Louise used the chair with her "Piano Desk". Mr. John J. Cruikshank, Louise's father, who built Rockcliffe in 1900, had four desks made from old box pianos, one for each of his four daughters. Louise's daughter now has her piano desk, and we have Helen Cruikshank's desk on display here at the mansion. Its nice to know that the "sister" to our desk is still being used by Cruikshank family descendants!
THANK YOU so much to Alice Lindbergh for the chair, and to her daughter and son-in-law Karen and Rob Schull for bringing it to Hannibal. We deeply appreciate your kindness!
