There was a student on the rolls at the Mordecai school for four sessions (1815-1816) named Margaret Burcher, of Norfolk VA. The adult names attached to her account are Mr. Geddis and Capt. Samuel Vickery.
Margaret Burcher was at the school long enough to make appearances in Mordecai correspondence. "Eliza Armistead, Miss Burcher, & Miss Taylor arrived today from Norfolk," Rachel Mordecai wrote to her brother Samuel on 25 January 1816; the following year, Solomon Mordecai wrote to his sister Ellen that "I also met with Margt. Burcher; she is a diminuitive little figure, in no respect altered in appearance since you saw her, but do not say so to any of her Norfolk acquaintances, I am told it mortifies her not a little." (Solomon to Ellen, 15 July 1817; both letters quoted here are in the Mordecai Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill). Solomon wrote again to Ellen on 24 November 1822 to say that "M. Burcher is improved." Margaret was "keeping school" in Hampton in the summer of 1828, and Ellen had an idea of Margaret becoming an assistant at Caroline Mordecai Plunkett's school, saying that "She is sensible & no doubt teaches in the same way that you do, would probably be glad of the situation ,and it would be so much more agreeable to have a female than a stranger male for an assistant." (Ellen to Caroline, 27 July 1828, Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke). But Caroline was not interested in pursuing the plan (Caroline to Ellen, 2 August 1828, Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke).
Turning to the online resources: There's a Miss Margaret Burcher buried in the cemetery at Christ Church, Norfolk VA, who died 19 September 1855, with a note that she's among those who died from yellow fever that year. In death, the schoolteacher became more newsworthy than she ever was during her lifetime: her name appeared in the New York Times on 24 September 1855, as one of the epidemic's many Norfolk fatalities (one Norfolk newspaper at the time estimated that 2000 yellow fever victims were buried in a ninety-day period).
The only other mentions I find of her include a note in the finding aid for the Cocke Family Papers at the University of Virginia Library; she wrote to John Hartwell Cocke about a school-teacher's position in 1840. There is also mention of Miss Margaret Burcher in the Galt Papers at the Special Collections Research Center, in a child's letter written 1846, from Caroline County VA.
So it looks like Miss Margaret Burcher worked as a teacher for much of her life, and died in her 50s in a terrible epidemic. Because that story doesn't include marriage or children, she's nobody's ancestor; being a lifelong single woman makes her less likely to appear in traditional genealogies (concerned with linking ancestors and descendants). But still, where was she born? When? To whom? How long did she teach?
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
65, 66, and 67. Ann, Catherine, and Eliza Bullock
Three girls named Bullock are listed as Mordecai students:
Ann Bullock from Warren County (?) attended from early 1816 to the last session with the Mordecais, in late 1818; Richard Bullock is the adult name on her account.
Catherine and Eliza Bullock both attended the Mordecai school in 1809 only. They were probably also from somewhere near Warrenton, because many of the first students at the school were local children.
A Richard Bullock appears throughout the school's ledger for the years Ann attended; there's also mention of a James Bullock in June 1818. There's mention of Ann's father paying a lot of attention (courting) a Mary Turner in 1820 correspondence by the family; and in an 1822 letter from Warrenton, Caroline Mordecai Plunkett reports that "There are several weddings now in agitation among the number is Ann Bullock's she is to be married to a son of Judge Henderson." (Caroline Plunkett to Rachel Lazarus, 7 September 1822, Jacob Mordecai Papers, Duke University)
That last tidbit leads us to Anne E. Bullock Henderson (1804-1883), of Granville County (not Warren), Ashland Plantation, who indeed married Archibald Erskine Henderson (1801-1853) in 1822, in Warren County. Archibald's father was Judge Leonard Henderson (1772-1833), Chief Justice of NC. Archibald was a UNC alumnus, a planter and a magistrate. Their seven children were all born in Granville County, between 1823 and 1845. Looks like she was widowed at age 49, with her youngest child just eight at the time. In 1860, the census finds the Henderson household with 129 slaves.
The other Bullock girls are likely relatives of Anne's, but it's a big family in the area. There's a Catherine Lewis Bullock, b. c. 1802, who married Joseph Newton Sims, himself the grandson of a woman named Sarah Bullock. The wedding was in 1822, in Warren or Granville County. Catherine would have been widowed in 1850, in Louisiana. This Catherine Bullock had at least one son, James Bullock Sims, who was born at Tennessee; and a daughter, Sallie Sims. She also had a sister-in-law named Susanna Sims Burt--and a Susan Sims is listed among the Mordecai students who only attended in 1809, along with Catherine Bullock. So it seems like a decent chance she's the Mordecai student.
Ann Bullock from Warren County (?) attended from early 1816 to the last session with the Mordecais, in late 1818; Richard Bullock is the adult name on her account.
Catherine and Eliza Bullock both attended the Mordecai school in 1809 only. They were probably also from somewhere near Warrenton, because many of the first students at the school were local children.
A Richard Bullock appears throughout the school's ledger for the years Ann attended; there's also mention of a James Bullock in June 1818. There's mention of Ann's father paying a lot of attention (courting) a Mary Turner in 1820 correspondence by the family; and in an 1822 letter from Warrenton, Caroline Mordecai Plunkett reports that "There are several weddings now in agitation among the number is Ann Bullock's she is to be married to a son of Judge Henderson." (Caroline Plunkett to Rachel Lazarus, 7 September 1822, Jacob Mordecai Papers, Duke University)
That last tidbit leads us to Anne E. Bullock Henderson (1804-1883), of Granville County (not Warren), Ashland Plantation, who indeed married Archibald Erskine Henderson (1801-1853) in 1822, in Warren County. Archibald's father was Judge Leonard Henderson (1772-1833), Chief Justice of NC. Archibald was a UNC alumnus, a planter and a magistrate. Their seven children were all born in Granville County, between 1823 and 1845. Looks like she was widowed at age 49, with her youngest child just eight at the time. In 1860, the census finds the Henderson household with 129 slaves.
The other Bullock girls are likely relatives of Anne's, but it's a big family in the area. There's a Catherine Lewis Bullock, b. c. 1802, who married Joseph Newton Sims, himself the grandson of a woman named Sarah Bullock. The wedding was in 1822, in Warren or Granville County. Catherine would have been widowed in 1850, in Louisiana. This Catherine Bullock had at least one son, James Bullock Sims, who was born at Tennessee; and a daughter, Sallie Sims. She also had a sister-in-law named Susanna Sims Burt--and a Susan Sims is listed among the Mordecai students who only attended in 1809, along with Catherine Bullock. So it seems like a decent chance she's the Mordecai student.
64.Nancy Bryant
Well, this one might be a stumper. I have a student named Nancy Bryant attending the Mordecai school for one semester, the first half of 1810. No hometown, no adult's name, in my dissertation's appendix. Just a name and a date. And the name is both fairly common, and subject to multiple variations (Nancy as a nickname for Ann(e); Bryant and Bryan are names that turn up interchangeable in Southern family history records). She seems not to have been mentioned by the Mordecais in correspondence, and may only have appeared the one time, in the student register.
This one will have to await further information from interested contributors.
This one will have to await further information from interested contributors.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
63. Mary Ann Elizabeth B. Bryan Isler (c1805-1860)
There was a student named Mary Eliza Bryan at the Mordecai school for two-and-a-half years, mid-1815 to the end of 1817. She may have been from Franklin Co., NC, and the adult attached to her account is called "Genl. Bryan." A William Burlingham also left money for M. Bryan, according to the school's ledger for October 1815. "M. Bryan" was among the students who used the services of a dentist in January 1816.
Looking to the online family history sources: Mary Ann Eliza B. Bryan was the oldest child of Joseph Hunter Bryan Jr. (1782-1839) and Sarah Burlingham; William Burlingham seems to have been her grandfather. Mary Eliza's father was in the War of 1812, and served in the North Carolina legislature, as a trustee at UNC, and finally as a Congressman from North Carolina. (His brother Henry was a congressman from Tennessee.) Joseph died in Tennessee.
Mary Eliza was born before 1808 in North Carolina, and died 13 February 1860 in St. Louis, Missouri. She had two much younger brothers, Joseph (b. c1815) and Elisha (b. c1824). Was she sent to the Mordecai school because there was (or would soon be) a new baby in the house in 1815? Mary Eliza married Dr. Jesse Isler (c1796-1865) in 1821 (she would have been about sixteen years old), in Granville County, NC, and they had at least five children, the last born in Tennessee.
Looking to the online family history sources: Mary Ann Eliza B. Bryan was the oldest child of Joseph Hunter Bryan Jr. (1782-1839) and Sarah Burlingham; William Burlingham seems to have been her grandfather. Mary Eliza's father was in the War of 1812, and served in the North Carolina legislature, as a trustee at UNC, and finally as a Congressman from North Carolina. (His brother Henry was a congressman from Tennessee.) Joseph died in Tennessee.
Mary Eliza was born before 1808 in North Carolina, and died 13 February 1860 in St. Louis, Missouri. She had two much younger brothers, Joseph (b. c1815) and Elisha (b. c1824). Was she sent to the Mordecai school because there was (or would soon be) a new baby in the house in 1815? Mary Eliza married Dr. Jesse Isler (c1796-1865) in 1821 (she would have been about sixteen years old), in Granville County, NC, and they had at least five children, the last born in Tennessee.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
62. Priscilla Elizabeth Brownrigg Bailey (1800-1874)
Well, this is a student I already know a good deal about. She became a significant part of an article I published a few years ago (Penny L. Richards, "'Could I But Mark Out My Own Map of Life': Educated Women Embracing Cartography in the Nineteenth-Century American South," Cartographica 39 (3)(Fall 2004): 1-17). Her husband's papers, mostly letters between Priscilla and her husband and their sons, are at the Southern Historical Collection in Chapel Hill, a rich collection that includes her granddaughters' drawings while at school in Raleigh. (No surprise it's there, by the way: their great-granddaughter Bessie Henderson Cotten was one of the early organizers of the Southern.)
Priscilla Elizabeth Brownrigg (1800-1874) was from Edenton NC. Her family had a commercial fishing operation on the Chowan River. Her mother was Ruth Baker (1768-1802)--from the dates you can see that Priscilla hardly had a chance to know her mother; her father Thomas Brownrigg remarried and had three children younger than Priscilla. Priscilla was probably named for her mother's sister Priscilla Baker Graham. Priscilla's older sisters Mary Ann and Sarah had also attended school in Warrenton, before the Mordecai school opened. Priscilla was nearly sixteen when she arrived at the Mordecai school, and she stayed through three sessions, to the end of 1817. In 1821, she married John Lancaster Bailey, a young lawyer. They stayed around Edenton for a while, long enough for their first child to be born and, sadly, die as a small girl. Their three other children were also born there, but they grew up in Hillsborough, where the Baileys lived while John was working as a traveling judge. Priscilla loved Hillsborough, a walkable, sociable town. John tried to start a law school in Hillsborough. In 1858, John bought a farm at Swannanoa, in western North Carolina. Priscilla didn't want to leave her friends and familiar places, but she moved anyway. Within a year, she was permanently injured by a fall from a mule. She was bedridden for more than a year, and used crutches afterwards.
She moved to Asheville to stay with her daughter Sarah Jane Cain during the war years; after the war, her son tried to persuade the family to move to Brazil (where slavery was still legal), but they didn't go. Priscilla died in 1874, following a stroke, after 53 years of marriage. She was 74. Her daughter Sarah Jane lived almost a century, 1828-1927.
I keep waiting for the first entry I can put here with a photograph of the subject; but I'll have to keep waiting! When I was preparing the Cartographica article, I looked everywhere in the Bailey papers, and couldn't find any images of Priscilla.
UPDATE (11/15): An anonymous commenter alerted me to the existence of a portrait of Priscilla Brownrigg Bailey at FindaGrave. Here it is:
Priscilla Elizabeth Brownrigg (1800-1874) was from Edenton NC. Her family had a commercial fishing operation on the Chowan River. Her mother was Ruth Baker (1768-1802)--from the dates you can see that Priscilla hardly had a chance to know her mother; her father Thomas Brownrigg remarried and had three children younger than Priscilla. Priscilla was probably named for her mother's sister Priscilla Baker Graham. Priscilla's older sisters Mary Ann and Sarah had also attended school in Warrenton, before the Mordecai school opened. Priscilla was nearly sixteen when she arrived at the Mordecai school, and she stayed through three sessions, to the end of 1817. In 1821, she married John Lancaster Bailey, a young lawyer. They stayed around Edenton for a while, long enough for their first child to be born and, sadly, die as a small girl. Their three other children were also born there, but they grew up in Hillsborough, where the Baileys lived while John was working as a traveling judge. Priscilla loved Hillsborough, a walkable, sociable town. John tried to start a law school in Hillsborough. In 1858, John bought a farm at Swannanoa, in western North Carolina. Priscilla didn't want to leave her friends and familiar places, but she moved anyway. Within a year, she was permanently injured by a fall from a mule. She was bedridden for more than a year, and used crutches afterwards.
She moved to Asheville to stay with her daughter Sarah Jane Cain during the war years; after the war, her son tried to persuade the family to move to Brazil (where slavery was still legal), but they didn't go. Priscilla died in 1874, following a stroke, after 53 years of marriage. She was 74. Her daughter Sarah Jane lived almost a century, 1828-1927.
I keep waiting for the first entry I can put here with a photograph of the subject; but I'll have to keep waiting! When I was preparing the Cartographica article, I looked everywhere in the Bailey papers, and couldn't find any images of Priscilla.
UPDATE (11/15): An anonymous commenter alerted me to the existence of a portrait of Priscilla Brownrigg Bailey at FindaGrave. Here it is:
Saturday, March 26, 2011
61. Margaret Broadfoot Hooper (1801-1880)
Margaret Broadfoot of Fayetteville was at the Mordecai school for a long time--nine sessions, or four-and-a-half years, from mid-1810 to the end of 1814. Her father Andrew Broadfoot, born in Scotland, died in early 1810; her cousin and guardian William Broadfoot paid her tuition and attended examinations in place of a parent. She took music lessons at the school, and the ledger shows an atlas being purchased for her. Because she was with the family so long, the Mordecais kept track of her after she left school, and I already have a lot of the details from their letters and the letters of Lucy Plummer Battle. Margaret Broadfoot was among those who welcomed Rachel Mordecai Lazarus to Wilmington as a new bride in 1821. She married later that year herself, to a newspaper editor named James Hooper, in Fayetteville (she sent Rachel Lazarus a piece of her wedding cake, somehow), and in 1823 she had lost some weight and her "manners [were] more formed" when Rachel saw her. In 1826, she had moved back to Wilmington. She started her own "infant school" in 1831 when her husband's financial condition became "much embarrassed."
In 1845, she was a widow in Chapel Hill staying with a Miss Mallett (one of her husband's cousins married a Caroline Mallett); her old schoolmate Lucy Plummer Battle visited with her there, and reminisced about old school days:
The whole family seems to be buried together, which is helpful: Margaret Broadfoot Hooper's dates are 1801-1880; her mother's name is given as Hetty Coit or Hetty Mumford (1776-1820); James Hooper's dates (1797-1841) indicate that Margaret became a widow in 1841, at age 40. She seems not to have had any children.
Some extra items about Margaret's husband: James Hooper's grandfather was William Hooper, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence from North Carolina. His brother Thomas married another Mordecai alumna from Fayetteville, Eliza Donaldson, in 1825, but Eliza died within six months of the wedding. James Hooper's stepfather was Joseph Caldwell, the first president of UNC.
In 1845, she was a widow in Chapel Hill staying with a Miss Mallett (one of her husband's cousins married a Caroline Mallett); her old schoolmate Lucy Plummer Battle visited with her there, and reminisced about old school days:
"I called on Tuesday to see Mrs. James Hooper, who is an old schoolmate (Margaret Broadfoot). Of course she did not know me. But as soon as I told her who I was, she seemed very glad to see me. I invited her & Miss Mallett to take tea with me but they could not do so. From her I learned the wearabouts &c of several of my old friends. I enjoyed her society wonderfully." (Lucy Martin Plummer Battle to her husband William, 4 October 1845, Battle Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection)But by the time of the 1850 census, Margaret was back in Fayetteville, listed as a 50-year-old widow with real estate worth over $10,000. She died in 1880.
The whole family seems to be buried together, which is helpful: Margaret Broadfoot Hooper's dates are 1801-1880; her mother's name is given as Hetty Coit or Hetty Mumford (1776-1820); James Hooper's dates (1797-1841) indicate that Margaret became a widow in 1841, at age 40. She seems not to have had any children.
Some extra items about Margaret's husband: James Hooper's grandfather was William Hooper, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence from North Carolina. His brother Thomas married another Mordecai alumna from Fayetteville, Eliza Donaldson, in 1825, but Eliza died within six months of the wedding. James Hooper's stepfather was Joseph Caldwell, the first president of UNC.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
59. and 60. Mildred and Sarah Britton
Two girls named Britton are on the roles of the Mordecai school. Mildred and Sarah are both listed as being from SW Laurel, VA, and both attended for three sessions, from the beginning of 1817 to the middle of 1818. The name William Britton is associated with their account. "Wm Britton" is paying for "daughters" in the January 1817 pages of the ledger; he's also shown making payments in June 1817, November 1817, January 1818, and June 1818.
There's a definite mention of Sarah Britton's wedding in an 1820 letter from Rachel Mordecai to her brother Solomon:
From this passage, a reader will get a good sense of the tart way the Mordecais sometimes talked about their former students (not just poor Miss Britton). This was not, apparently, a beloved or admired young woman in their conversations. But it certainly gives solid leads about her adult life! In another letter, there's mention of a "Miss Britton" going to the Virginia Springs for her health in July 1817 (Ellen to Solomon, 24 July 1817, Mordecai Family Papers, Southern Historical Association).
From there, we have no trouble locating these sisters: Sarah and Mildred Britton both married Bouldin men, brothers: Sarah Barksdale Britton married Rev. Robert Ephraim Bouldin (1795-1881), and Mildred W. Britton married Stith (Seth?) Bouldin (1797-1867); and apparently the both married in 1820: Sarah in January and Mildred in July. (Mildred may not have lived long after she married; her husband had a second wife, one of Mildred's cousins, Lucy Pleasants.) A family bible belonging to Sarah's descendants gives her birth as 1802, and her death as 1884; and shows her having three daughters, Elizabeth (1825-?), Margaret (1833-1878), and Henrietta (Etta; 1835-1908).
So now, we see 14-year-old Sarah Barksdale Britton and her younger(?) sister Mildred, daughters of William Britton and the former Elizabeth "Betty" Thweatt of Virginia, arrived at the Mordecai school in January 1817. One of the girls left for health reasons in July, but returned to finish their three sessions there in mid-1818. Two years after they left school, 18-year-old Sarah and her sister Mildred had married brothers; Sarah had three daughters, while Mildred may have died young.
Why did the Mordecais have such a mocking tone about Sarah Britton in 1820? No idea; that's the kind of information that generally can't be teased out of genealogical data.
There's a definite mention of Sarah Britton's wedding in an 1820 letter from Rachel Mordecai to her brother Solomon:
"If you feel inclined to laugh, look into the Enquirer of the 22d & you will find the marriage of Ellen Lady of the Lake, alias Sarah, daughter of William Britton esq, to, not Malcolm Graeme, but James fitzJames, alias Dr. Bouldin. Never did I imagine that Scott's beautiful lines could be so sadly misapplied, or could be made to appear so superlatively ridiculous."(letter dated 24 February 1820, Jacob Mordecai Papers, Duke University)
From this passage, a reader will get a good sense of the tart way the Mordecais sometimes talked about their former students (not just poor Miss Britton). This was not, apparently, a beloved or admired young woman in their conversations. But it certainly gives solid leads about her adult life! In another letter, there's mention of a "Miss Britton" going to the Virginia Springs for her health in July 1817 (Ellen to Solomon, 24 July 1817, Mordecai Family Papers, Southern Historical Association).
From there, we have no trouble locating these sisters: Sarah and Mildred Britton both married Bouldin men, brothers: Sarah Barksdale Britton married Rev. Robert Ephraim Bouldin (1795-1881), and Mildred W. Britton married Stith (Seth?) Bouldin (1797-1867); and apparently the both married in 1820: Sarah in January and Mildred in July. (Mildred may not have lived long after she married; her husband had a second wife, one of Mildred's cousins, Lucy Pleasants.) A family bible belonging to Sarah's descendants gives her birth as 1802, and her death as 1884; and shows her having three daughters, Elizabeth (1825-?), Margaret (1833-1878), and Henrietta (Etta; 1835-1908).
So now, we see 14-year-old Sarah Barksdale Britton and her younger(?) sister Mildred, daughters of William Britton and the former Elizabeth "Betty" Thweatt of Virginia, arrived at the Mordecai school in January 1817. One of the girls left for health reasons in July, but returned to finish their three sessions there in mid-1818. Two years after they left school, 18-year-old Sarah and her sister Mildred had married brothers; Sarah had three daughters, while Mildred may have died young.
Why did the Mordecais have such a mocking tone about Sarah Britton in 1820? No idea; that's the kind of information that generally can't be teased out of genealogical data.
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