EMMITSBURG,
Md. – One of the sons of Emmitsburg may soon make his
way back to Emmitsburg, just a mere 150 years or so since
he last visited.
In
2002, a woman in Pennsylvania sent a letter to the Emmitsburg
Area Historical Society, informing the group that she had
a portrait of William Cole Emmit, the son of Emmitsburg’s
founder, and wanted to know if the society would at all
be interested in acquiring the painting. But because of
a delivery error, the letter went unanswered for two years
until Michael Hillman, president of the society, got involved.
For
a year straight Hillman tried to track down the woman and
her husband, who had moved in the years since she wrote
the letter, to no avail. He knocked on doors in the couple’s
old neighborhood trying to see if someone knew where the
couple had moved and he searched the internet for help.
Finally, after some tips and several phone calls, Hillman
got in touch with the portrait owners.
“They
were thrilled,” Hillman said. “They thought
no one cared and that’s why they hadn’t received
a response.”
The
owner said they were still interested in giving the portrait
to the historical society, but Hillman told them he felt
it would be best to give it to the town of Emmitsburg since
he knew the government would always exist, whereas the society
may one day dissolve and the painting could fall into someone
else’s hands.
The
owner, who wished to remain anonymous, agreed and Hillman
approached the city council with the news at the Feb. 18
meeting.
Emmitsburg’s
city council was thrilled with the news and agreed to draft
a resolution to be signed at the Mar. 3 meeting. The town
has agreed to abide by a few conditions at the owners’
request, that the town would be the owners of the portrait
and never sell the portrait. And, if the time comes when
the town no longer desires to own the portrait it would
be given to Mount St. Mary’s University archives.
The
portrait also comes with a letter written in 1855 by Emmit
to his sister and a 1908 letter that his niece wrote, explaining
his connections to Emmitsburg.
Emmit
was born in 1800 and resided in Emmitsburg until moving
to North Carolina, where he married the governor’s
daughter, Henrietta, and became a major in the military.
He did not have any children.
