One of my greatgrandmothers (1867-1909) was
born in the "Low Country" of South Carolina
and into a family that was in the lower rungs
of the local "planter aristocracy," at least
on her mother's side. This greatgrandmother
was the first post-CW kid in her family. (She
had an older sister born about the time the
CW began.) According to family tradition, the
new Methodist minister talked her dad into
sending young Julia to school in Charleston.
Sometime, apparently not long, after she
graduated, Julia and the minister married. At
least one former slave of Julia's family went
with them, again according to family
tradition. Weeks or months after Julia's only
son was born in 1899, a or the former slave
took the sick baby out of the family house
for an unspecified amount of time -- again
according to family tradition.
Julia's son was my paternal grandfather. I
have never had the opportunity to check any
of these stories with him as he died when I
was two. What little info I've found on his
parents strongly suggests that it was a
household with a high level of stress and
possibly some alcoholism.
Incidentally, Julia managed her own
moderately considerable portfolio of real
estate. (I haven't yet found her declaration
of femme sole status.) By the time she died
of cancer in her early 40s, the family was so
broken by medical expenses that her husband
had to bury her in a plot donated by a friend
of the family.
Elizabeth Whitaker
Anita Wills wrote:
> When I was in Pennsylvania, one of my friends from Virginia told me the same thing. The lady who had raised her was African American, and she considered her to be her mother. She said that when the lady died she cried at her funeral. My ancestor, Patty Bowden, and Elizabeth Washington-Spotswood, maintained a close relationship throughout their lives. Patty owned a house in Fredericksburg, and was a seamstress there, after completing her indenture. I believe it was because of the influence of the Washington's in Fredericksburg that Patty was able to prosper.
>
> Anita
>
>> Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 19:00:28 -0400
>> From: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Cleanliness
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>
>> Anita --
>>
>> This is an important and largely unconsidered historical truth. The
>> Southern planter class, like the Russian gentry were often bereft
>> when deprived of their servants (slave or serf), who had nursed them
>> and their children, cleaned them, run their houses, made their jams
>> and hams, dipped their candles, made their soap, raised their food,
>> kept their carriages operating, their horses groomed, and on and on.
>> When I was a teenager in Gloucester I counted as friends a man and a
>> woman, both born into slavery, and two women who had owned slaves. I
>> talked with them, individually, for hours, and all four recounted for
>> me how desperately unequipped for life white people, particularly
>> white women were in the early years after the war. Not all white
>> people certainly, but I have never forgotten this thread common to
>> them all. In the 1980s and 90s, when I was going to, and living in,
>> Russia I talked to many elderly Russians who told me almost identical
>> stories.
>>
>> -- Stephan
>>
>>
>> On 15 May 2008, at 20:03, Anita Wills wrote:
>>
>>> ay.
>>>
>>> One of my ancestors was a personal servant to George Washington's
>>> niece. By the time she was freed, she was skilled at managing a
>>> household. So I have to disagree on the assessment that those who
>>> served Jefferson and his ilk, were unclean.
>>>
>>> Anita
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -- "Stephan A. Schwartz" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> Jeffrey --
>>>
>>> I forgot to add that I would bet you the price of a nice meal in D.C.
>>> that Sally Hemmings was clean. Whether he slept with her or not may
>>> be a subject of disagreement with some, but it is hard to imagine a
>>> man as fastidious as Jefferson (a personal preference noted at the
>>> time) having any chambermaid attending him whose body odor was rank,
>>> and whose clothing was dirty.
>>>
>>> -- Stephan
>>>
>>> ______________________________________
>>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the
>>> instructions at
>>> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>>>
>>> _____________________________________________________________
>>> Click here to find the perfect banking opportunity!
>>> http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2211/fc/
>>> Ioyw6ijm81AoqOuJTzJKlADpOUmSpOnfRMZP9kip5lPP1IBoGt75P0/?
>>> count=1234567890
>>>
>>> ______________________________________
>>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the
>>> instructions at
>>> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>> ______________________________________
>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
>> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> With Windows Live for mobile, your contacts travel with you.
> http://www.windowslive.com/mobile/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_mobile_052008
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
|
