Revercomb House History - Sleeping Porch Construction by W
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Revercomb House History - Sleeping Porch Construction by W. F. Andrews Signature Found on Sash Window Frame during Renovation During 1 March 2019 work by Carpenters, Inc (Mark Biggs and Richard Evans) on the 711 McCormick Blvd “Revercomb House” side-portico sleeping porch a signature “W F Andrews” was found on the side of a sash window frame after it was removed for restoration. The window had been undisturbed since first installed sometime around 1925. Figure 1 shows the signature as found on the side of the sash. Figure 1 Signature of WF Andrews found on sash window Richard Evans’ father had worked in the old woodworking mill in Clifton Forge which is now home to Clifton Forge School of the Arts. His father made many of the sash windows found in the old homes of Clifton Forge. The signature on the sash caught Richard’s eye because of his interest in the local Clifton Forge window making history. He speculated that the man who signed the window frame must have been a carpenter who had built the Revercomb House sleeping porch addition. Originally, the top of the side portico was an open-air porch without a roof. Still, we wondered who was this person, “W F Andrews”. To find out more, research was done on the internet and on Ancestry.com. The results proved interesting and allowed current homeowners John and Debbie Strott to document changes made to the Revercomb House after being built in 1914. Figure 2 shows the Revercomb House circa 1926 with the completed side- portico sleeping porch. Figure 2 Revercomb House circa 1926 with side portico sleeping porch completed A Resident of Clifton Forge, VA The first thing found was a report on the historic district of Clifton Forge by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR). They reported the “WF Andrews House” in Clifton Forge was a single-family dwelling built in 1920. Figures 3 thru 6 show excerpts from appendices in the report1. Figure 3 Cover Page of Historic Architectural Survey Clifton Forge, Virginia 1 https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/AY- 018_Historic_AH_Survey_Clifton_Forge_1994_MAAI_report.pdf Figure 4 Appendix C of the report listing the Andrews House Figure 5 Appendix D of the report listing the Andrews House Figure 6 Appendix E of the Report listing the Andrews House Another report by DHR on the Clifton Forge Residential Historic District describes the W F Andrews House at 501 Clay Street (the location has also been reported in Ancestry as 501 Court Street but the street name is incorrect because there is no such address)2. An excerpt from the report is shown in Figure 7. As were many homes in the area, the Andrews dwelling was a “prepackaged kit home” bought from a catalog store and shipped to Clifton Forge by the railroad. The report described the Andrews House as a Dutch Colonial Revival Plan from the Sears “Modern Home No. 137” example. See Figures 8 thru 11. This information (coupled with the other information) confirms that Andrews was both a construction contractor/home builder and a resident of Clifton Forge. So, it is not surprising that he was involved constructing a sleeping porch on the Revercomb House. He may also have been the patient of Dr. William M. Revercome who lived there. 2 www.dhr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/105- 5036_Clifton_Forge_Residential_Historic_District_2012_NR_Rev_FINAL.pdf Figure 7 Description of W.F. Andrews House in DHR report Figure 8 Sears, Roebuck, and Co. Catalog Modern Home No. 137 Figure 9 Andrews House at 501 Clay Street – view 1 Figure 10 Andrews House 501 Clay Street – view 2 Figure 11 Andrews House 501 Clay Street – view 3 A Carpenter and Building Contractor Another document shown in Figures 12 and 13, “Domestic Engineering and the Journal of Mechanical Contracting, Volume 91” found with an internet online Google book search reported that C. R. Dudley & Topping of Clifton Forge, VA had secured a contract for the plumbing systems in three residences for W.F. Andrews3. This information gave us a definite clue that Andrews was a Clifton Forge home builder and contractor. 3https://books.google.com/books?id=66PmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA169&lpg=PA169&dq=W.F.+Andrews+clift on+forge&source=bl&ots=lOXUeCqotU&sig=ACfU3U0nNC6yCbl6_eqh3q- Gkw8Or9VaYw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwijyc- N6ejgAhWurFkKHXuND6gQ6AEwCXoECAMQAQ#v=onepage&q=W.F.%20Andrews%20clifton%20forge &f=false Figure 12 Screen shot of Domestic Engineering and the Journal of Mechanical Contracting, Volume 91, page 169 Figure 13 Close-up of the screen shot Information about W.F. Andrews found online at Ancestry.com Census reports found on Ancestry.com gave his full name as William Forest (W.F.) Andrews and other details of his life. He was born 20 February 1884 at Falling Springs, VA. He married his wife, Viola, and had one son by her, Forest Andrews, born in 1911. W.F. Andrews apparently moved around quite a bit. In 1910 he was living in Clifton Forge Ward 1 at Kensington Street and listed his profession as “Carpenter.” His WWI draft card (1917-1918), says that he was living on Jefferson Street, Clifton Forge and was a construction supervisor employed by the Hampton Roads Construction Company at Camp Stuart in Newport News, VA. In 1920 he had returned to Clifton Forge living at 91 Jefferson Ave and listed his profession as “own business.” In 1930, he was living at 501 Clay St. By 1940 he was living in Covington as a “farmer.” His WWII draft card dated 1942 reported he was living at Natural Wells in Warm Springs, VA and was not employed. He died in 1945. It is interesting to read about wartime Hampton Roads and a summation of activities at the time was found by a Google search in a Daily Press newspaper article4. Apparently, at 34 years of age, W.F. Andrews found employment in the WWI Hampton Roads/Fort Stuart area described below: 4 https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-nws-wwi-port-of-embarkation-20170729-story.html “So frantic was the rate of construction and the need for more builders that — despite employing a force of mechanics and laborers as large as that at booming Newport News Shipbuilding — the primary contractor advertised on a single day for 300 more laborers, 300 more carpenters, 300 more plumbers, 300 more steamfitters, 300 more sheet-metal workers and 300 more helpers as well as "200 teams with bottom-dump wagons." Hundreds of new workers showed up daily, lured by wages that had gone through the roof for even modest talents. "One could earn twelve dollars a day, with no experience," wrote Thomas Wolfe in 1929, when he drew upon his experience at Langley and Newport News for his semi-autobiographical novel "Look Homeward, Angel." "One could assume the duties of a carpenter, with only a hammer, a saw, and a square. No questions were asked." At Camp Stuart, the Army erected nearly 320 two-story barracks, not to mention 75 mess halls, 51 latrines, 17 administration buildings, 16 warehouses, three post exchanges and three YMCAs as well as two fire stations, a giant laundry, an equally large bakery, a substantial guardhouse and a commodious theater, Mackler writes.” Did W. F. Andrews Actually Sign the Window Sash Himself? We wanted to confirm that it was Mr. Andrews who signed the edge of the sash. For this we took a closer look at WF Andrews’ WWI and WWII Draft Cards also found online at Ancestry.com. Apparently, he was just old enough during WWI to avoid being drafted and to old during WWII to be called up; however, he still used his talents to help with the war effort. Figures 14 and 15 show his draft cards. Figure 14 WWI draft card showing signature at bottom Figure 15 WWII draft card showing signature at bottom A comparison of the sash window signature was made with his signature found in his two draft card records. The signature comparison chart is shown in Figure 16. Note that his signature had very stylistic letters, that it changed over time, and that he had a propensity to use the first two name initials in his signature. The letters “F”, “A”, and “ws” in the signature and the initials in the name are similar enough that one can conclude all signatures are from the same man. Figure 16 Signature comparison chart So, it was concluded that the signature on the sash window frame was indeed that of W.F. Andrews himself. He must have proudly signed his work circa 1925 - as a Clifton Forge resident, business owner, carpenter, and building contractor who was responsible for the installation of the sleeping porch at the Revercomb House 711 McCormick Blvd Clifton Forge, VA. It is quite possible he was also responsible for building many of the old arts and craft “pre- packaged catalog kit homes” found in Clifton Forge today. Prepared by: John Strott Clifton Forge, VA 17 March 2019 .