Family Donates Fred M. Vinson’s High Chair to Museum

SARAH Y. YOUNG and Quentin Young presented the Fred M. Vinson Museum with Fred M. Vinson’s highchair along with a history of where it’s been since she attained it. BSN photo/Lilly Adkins

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

LOUISA —Knoxville, TN. couple, Sarah and Quentin Young came to Lawrence County Thursday, Sept. 28, to present the Fred M. Vinson Museum, with Fred M. Vinson’s high chair.

Sarah Y. Young wrote out what she could remember regarding the life of the high chair since Vinson grew out of it.

SARAH Y. YOUNG presented Lawrence County Tourism Director Wes Kingsmore and Fred M. Vinson Museum worker, Barbara Greer with Fred M. Vinson’s highchair and a history of where it’s been since she attained the chair in her family. BSN photo/Lilly Adkins

“This highchair once belonged to Frederick Moore Vinson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. It was promised to my grandmother, Mary Pigg Cain, by Fred’s older sister, Lourissa Vinson. I called her cousin Lou, and loved visiting her home at the corner of Water Street (now Vinson Avenue) and Perry Street. It was two doors down from my great grandmother’s home, which had once been a boarding house called Welcome Inn. That property later became the Pic Pac Grocery. My great grandparents were Frand and Sack (Sarah) Pigg. As a young girl Sack Pigg came to Louisa to work as a cook at the jailhouse, where Fred Vinson was born,” Young said. “I remember cousin Lou’s house as being the largest on the block. She had a beautiful brass doorbell that rang when a central knob was turned. She lived alone when I was a child in the 1950’s. Sometimes cousin Lou would come and sit on the porch with my aunt, Emma Pigg Braid. She’d rock and talk about Freddie and his family in Washington, D.C.”

“The highchair promised to my grandmother was given to someone else at Lou’s death, but granny tracked it down. She told the current owner her story and as could only happen in Louisa, the lady honored Lou’s promise and gave it to granny,” Young said. “When granny brought it to me, I didn’t share her excitement. It was painted Yellow and some of the dowels didn’t match. My children were grown up by this time, so I had no real use for it, but you didn’t say “No” to my grandmother. I refinished the chair and filled it with grandchildren over the years. We always referred to it as The Honorable Fred M. Vinson highchair as we pulled it up to the dining room table. The first to sit in it was Anjuli Christine Young, followed by her first cousin, Jordan Alexander Bishop. Next came Emma Radha Young, Shelby Catherine Bishop, and last but certainly not least, Julia Rani Young. I think they would be pleased to know that their highchair was first the highchair of a man with such a high position in the country they love.”