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By Clark Curtis

For the Washington Daily News

The Brown Library was recently gifted two hand painted portraits of, whom it is believed, are that of Isiah Respess and his wife Mary Hinton Respess.

Respess was a very wealthy landowner, owning farms all the way from Washington to the Raleigh area. He also owned several saw mills in Beaufort County, and was a business merchant along the Atlantic seaboard. His grandfather, Thomas, owned a farm east of town that became known as Respess Town, and would later be incorporated into the city of Washington in 1784 by the North Carolina General Assembly. Respess street is named after Thomas Respess.

“I was totally floored recently when I was contacted by the donor, asking if we would take the portraits,” said Brown Library historian, Stephen Farrell. “They are absolutely amazing pieces of art with period correct frames that we can date to around 1830-1840. Our job now is to authenticate them and find out who the artist is. We are currently working with several other entities around the state to help us solve this part of the puzzle.”

Farrell said he has been told by the donors that the paintings came out of a home in Edenton, where they had hung for over 100 years.

“A younger couple purchased the home, took the paintings down, and placed them under their bed,” said Farrell. “An individual from Eden, who was familiar with the whereabouts of the paintings, happened to be taking an art class in Washington. A discussion of the paintings occurred, and as luck would have it, a relative of the Respess family, was also taking the class, and contacted the young couple in Edenton. From there I was contacted about the library becoming the caretakers of the paintings, as we are the only entity that would have such an ability to house and protect them.”

Farrell said that in his line of work it is hard to describe the feeling one gets when you can finally put a face with a name.

“When you have the ability to put faces to names, or objects to families, it is a remarkable feeling,” said Farrell. “It is one thing to read about it in history books, but when you have a face to go along with the name, it brings it all to life, not only for me but those who visit the library and can see it for themselves. My duty is to bring these pieces of our past to light and to educate and share them with everyone. Art does us no good tucked away under a bed or stored away in an attic.”

Farrell added that the paintings are in need of restoration, and the library is currently raising the funds to have the work done at the state museum in Raleigh