Guardianship and Custody of the John Morgan Salyer Fiddles

Recently I was lucky enough to be made the custodian of two fiddles that came from John Morgan Salyer's  son, Grover.  They are believed to have belonged to J.M. Salyer but there is no proof of that.    My sister Maggie Helton was kind enough to pass them on to me and deliver them to Texas.  One fiddle is supposed to be the one JMS learned to play on.  When he was 8 years old he broke his leg and spent close to a year bed bound and someone (I never heard who) made him a homemade fiddle.  The second fiddle is the one that is reputed to be the fiddle that he took to Chicago to the World's Fair in 1934.  

Next step - restoration.
The homemade JMS fiddle.

The homemade JMS fiddle.
John Morgan Salyer during the Spanish American War

The later fiddle





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