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Walnut rocking chair with woven split seat and back
Images (click to enlarge)
  • Jacob Marshall Tise seated on his front porch
    Jacob Marshall Tise shown reading on the front porch steps of his Oxford Street home. Image courtesy of the Floyd County Historical Society, Inc., archives.
Cultural Objects, Furniture

Black Walnut Rocking Chair

People
Maker/Creator: Rev. Jacob Marshall Tise
Date
Unknown
Places
Floyd
Material/Medium

Black walnut frame with seat and back woven from hickory splits / splints

Specifications
  • Height: 41 ¾ inches
  • Width in front: 23 ½ inches
  • Depth: 21 inches
  • Back and seat woven in a herringbone pattern using hickory splits or splints.
  •  Wire wrapped around breaks to left back leg and right rocker, metal plate reinforcing right armrest
Description

It is easy to picture Rev. Tise reading his Bible or preparing one of his Pizarro School lessons while sitting in this low-slung chair with its contoured seat and flat armrests. The use of hickory splits on the chair back and seat (wrapping around the front rail) add to its durability and comfort. The simple design is elevated by turnings on the posts above and below the top rail. 

Keywords
rocking chair, black walnut, hickory splits, splints
Bio Sketch

The Reverend J. Marshall Tise (1872-1942) served as pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Floyd and St. Marks Lutheran Church in Willis. He and his wife Alice Sheffey Peterman Tise (1888-1969) of Floyd took on leadership roles in the Floyd community. Rev. Tise helped bring electricity to Floyd in the 1920s. Their three daughters Virginia, Marguerite, and Jessie lived well into their nineties and were also active in a number of community organizations. Marguerite Tise was a noted Floyd historian and donated the land for the Jessie Peterman Memorial Branch Library, named for their mother’s sister.