Dan Kirchoff
One Day...
Back in the 1990s, my grandmother wanted to publish a number of family stories. She had already worked with the University of West Florida in Pensacola, publishing three volumnes of “My Family: Facts and Fancies,” a genealogical record of her extensive Moreno family clan and the families associated with it. As I had helped her with the genealogical books, she asked me to create a number of illustrations for this new book, entitled “One Day...” I agreed, and made the illustrations below using charcoal pencil on rough cold-press illustration board. By utilizing the rough board, the charcoal created a sort of “dither” pattern, much like it was screened for printing. She was very pleased with the results.
For Honor of His King — Don Francisco Moreno is the consulate to the Spanish king in Pensacola, Florida, at the time of the American Civil War. Yankee forces have taken the city and the generals are visiting Moreno, who is supposed to be neutral. As the generals were visiting, a parrot yelled “Damn the Yankees.”
Crary Memories — Seana Barkley Crary was my great-grandmother, and this is the Crary home built by her father, John Williamson Crary, Sr. Located in Bluff Springs, Florida, it was the family homestead and I remember it when I was very young.
Riptides in Alabama History — The story of one of my ancestors who came from Ireland, Gerald Byrne, and his daughter, Susan Byrne, who was an amazing (and somewhat reckless) horse-rider. She was tough and determined and the story of her survival in South Alabama is quite colorful.
In Pursuit Of — My grandmother didn't know what to do with a live-in cook, and when my aunt loaned her Katie, a Hungarian immigrant cook, Grandmother didn’t know what to do with her. But they became fast friends, and I got to know Katie well myself.
The Keeping House — My grandmother’s house was always a repository of important family heirlooms. This salt cellar is one of them. It was buried in the yard when the Yankees took Mobile, Alabama, in the Civil War so it wouldn’t be taken.
And Then Came Frederick — Not long after my grandmother moved into her Mobile Bay-front home in Montrose, Alabama, a hurricane came calling ... Frederick. It did a lot of damage to the lot, but the house survived with minimal damage. Hurricanes are respected in this area, and stories of them abound.
The Moreno Cottage — In Pensacola, Florida, the only surviving building from the fabled Don Francisco Moreno estate is a wedding cottage he built for his daughter, LaPearle. This drawing was not in my grandmother’s book, but more recently a cousin asked me to render it.