Travelling through Amherst County in Central Virginia, the author reported "on an elderly male household servant, Billy who polished his boots, and provided his opinions on how the manufacture of boots had changed since his youth" (pp. 177-179). David Hunter Strother (1816–1888) was a successful magazine illustrator and writer, popularly known by his pseudonym, "Porte Crayon." He rose through the ranks of the union army to Brevet Brigadier General. For Virginia Illustrated, he wrote and illustrated “Adventures of Porte Crayon and His Cousins,” which was a narrative of the experiences of several travelers through central Virginia in late 1853. The series then appeared in five parts in Harpers New Monthly Magazine between 1854 and 1856. See Cecil Eby, Porte Crayon: The Life of David Hunter Strother (Chapel Hill, 1960); and also images HARP01 and HARP03.

Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 12 (Jan. 1856), p. 178.

English

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HARP02

North America--Virginia

"A Conservative Philosopher", Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora, accessed March 20, 2023, http://www.slaveryimages.org/s/slaveryimages/item/521