203, 204. Harriet Goodwyn, Susan Goodwyn

 Two Mordecai students named Goodwyn are listed in the appendix to my 1996 dissertation: 

Harriet Goodwyn was at the school in its final year, both terms of 1818, and has the name Braddock Goodwyn attached to her account. Susan Goodwyn was only at the school for one term, the first half of 1816, and has the name Susan Goodwyn attached to her account. I don't have much more to go on; Harriet may have been from a place called Goodwynville, and Susan from a place abbreviated "Btsbg". But their name isn't so common, maybe there will be something out there now?

Or maybe not.

Easiest name to search was Braddock Goodwyn (c1741-1820). He was from Dinwiddie, Virginia, and one of his many children was... Harriet Goodwyn (born 1795). Which might be the right age for a Mordecai student, but not for one who attended the school in 1818--she would have been in her 20s by then. So I suspect we're looking for another Harriet, a niece or younger cousin of the one born in 1795. Like I said--big family. Peterson Goodwyn, a Congressman and Braddock Goodwyn's brother, was probably a relative, but he didn't have any daughters named Harriet or Susan.

Goodwynsville was once a settlement in southern Dinwiddie County; it no longer exists.

188, 189. America Fuqua and Saluda Fuqua

Well, nobody can say these two students had common names! America Fuqua and Saluda Fuqua were students at the Mordecai School in its later years, 1816 to 1817 for America, and 1816 to 1818 for Saluda. The adult name attached to their account is Samuel Fuqua. Also, my dissertation appendix says that Saluda was born in 1805, and died in 1886. So that's a lot to start with, for a change... 

America and Saluda were the daughters of Captain Samuel Fleming Fuqua (1787-1820) and Prudence Ford Fuqua (1787-1813). A few years after their mother died, their father placed them at the Mordecai School. 

Saluda Baker Fuqua (1805-1886) was born in Charlotte County, Virginia, when both of her parents were 18 years old. She was 16 when she married William Henry Browne Christian in 1821, the year after her father died. The Christians had six children. After she was widowed, she married again in 1847, to William Harloe Watson, and had one more child. She lived in Douglas County, Kansas, in her later years, and died there in 1886. Her eldest daughter America Fuqua Christian (born 1824) married Daniel Woodson, who was the acting Territorial Governor of Kansas several times in the 1850s.

Saluda's younger sister America E. Fuqua (born 1810) was a student at the Mordecai school when she was a small child of 6 and 7 years, but her older sister was also there. She died young, before 1830.

These girls had another sister, Evaline Ann Frances Fuqua (1807-1832) But I don't see any evidence of her attending the school, and she may have had chronic health issues. Evaline lived with Saluda and W. H. B. Christian in her last years. Their only brother, La Marquis Washington Fuqua (1810-1846, known as Marc) also died young.

A last note: The source of America's first name is obvious, but Saluda's name origin may be less so. Saluda River, Saluda Mountains, Saluda, North Carolina, and Saluda County, South Carolina, are all Southern placenames, but not very close to where Saluda Fuqua was born or lived. (There is also a Saluda, Virginia.) But the name seems to come from a Cherokee word, Tsaludiyi, meaning "green corn place".

176, 177, 178. Charlotte Fort (Gorman), Mary Ann Fort (Mason), and Martha Fort (Andrews)

 There are three girls named Fort in the rolls of the Mordecai school that I assembled in the early 1990s:

Charlotte Fort attended the school in both sessions of 1811.

Mary Ann Fort attended the school for three years, from early 1816 until the end of 1818. She was from Hicksford (now Emporia), Virginia, with Lewis Fort as the adult name on her account. She married in 1821.

Martha (or Patsy) Fort attended the school for two years, from early 1810 to the end of 1811.

Mary Ann Fort Mason (1803-1870) I was able to learn about in the early 1990s, because she married someone fairly prominent, and because she was at the school long enough to be mentioned in the Mordecai letters. Rachel Mordecai called her parents (Lewis Fort and Eliza Harris Coleman Fort)  "quite diverting people" and noted that her mother wrote "droll letters". Her planter family held slaves. At age 18, in 1821, she married John Young Mason, whose sister was a Mordecai student. They had at least eight children together, and her husband became a congressman, and an ambassador, and Secretary of the Navy, and Attorney General of the United States--so she was a busy political wife, until he died in 1859, in Paris. At least one of her sons (Simon Blount Mason) served in the Confederate army during the Civil War. She died in 1870, in Virginia.

Now what can some online searching reveal about the other two Fort girls?  Charlotte Ann Fort married John S. Gorman in Wake County, North Carolina in 1818--the age/timing is exactly right for that to be the Mordecai student. AND she had a sister Martha Fort. Aha! So we have them.

Charlotte Ann Fort Gorman (1802-1883), daughter of James Fort and Chloe Powell Fort, married John Spear Gorman in Wake County in 1818. They had at least one child, Annie, in 1832. Charlotte was widowed when J. S. Gorman died in 1836. She died in 1883, aged 81 years.

Martha W. Fort Andrews (1797-1876) was Charlotte's older sister. She married Cullen Andrews Jr. in Wake County in 1816, and they had ten children born between 1817 and 1837. The Andrews family lived in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. Her husband died in Texas in 1857. Martha Fort Andrews died in 1876, aged 79, in Columbus, Mississippi.

All three Fort girls were Southern widows in their 60s when they lived through the American Civil War.

163, 164. Eliza and Harriet Field (and maybe 165. Another Eliza Field?)

Two students named Field are in the rolls of the Mordecai school, both from Mecklenburg, Virginia, both among the first students when the school opened in 1809. Eliza Field and Harriet Field were both at the school for six sessions, on and off between 1809 and 1813 for Harriet, 1814 for Eliza.

These might be Harriet and Eliza Field, the daughters of judge Hume Riggs Field (1772-1831) and his first wife Millicine (or Mildred) Young Field (1782-1827), of Mecklenburg Virginia.  The dates might not work out, though: Harriet H. Field was born in 1800--so she was nine the year the school opened, that makes sense. Eliza, however, was younger--born in 1806--maybe too much younger to be a Mordecai student in 1809.

If Harriet's sister Eliza was the Eliza Field at the Mordecai school in 1809, she would have been three years old, and the youngest known student. So I suspect she was the Eliza who attended after 1812; but a different Eliza Field, maybe a cousin, might have been there in 1809 and early 1810. The name isn't so unusual, anyway. Assuming the daughters of Hume and Millicine Field attended the Mordecai school...

Harriet H. Field (1800-1850) married Charles Perkins in about 1821, and they had at least one child, Marietta. She was widowed around 1828, and died in Tennessee in 1850, aged 50 years.

Eliza Mildred Field (1806-?) married Charles Perkins' brother, Constantine Perkins (1792-1836) in about 1824, and they had at least three children, Constantine, Ann Eliza, and Virginia in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Her husband served in the Alabama legislature, and as the state's attorney general.

158. Sarah Fauquier (Emmerson? b. 1804?)

There's a student on the roster of the Mordecai school that I compiled in the early 1990s named Sarah Fauquier. She's listed as being from Norfolk VA, attending for both 1818 sessions, and having William Fauquier as the adult on her account.

There is a Fauquier County in Virginia--but the name is probably still variously spelled in early 19c. sources, including Farquhar, Forker, Falkier, etc. And Sarah might also be Sara or Sally. But we have a parent(?) name and a city, which is a good start. And attending only in 1818 means she's likely born a few years after 1800--looking in the vicinity of 1805 would be best.

A Sarah Fauquier, daughter of William M. Fauquier, married at Benjamin Emmerson at Norfolk on November 10, 1824--that Sarah seems like a very good candidate, age is a good match, everything else lines up.

A William May Fauquier (1773-1827) was a chemist in Norfolk VA, and appears as "William M. Forguher" in his wife's family bible; he married Ann (Nancy) Benthall in 1801. They seem to be the parents of the same Sarah (Sally) Fauquier Emmerson above; that woman, born 1804, named one of her eight children Anna Benthall Emmerson. William May Fauquier was a deacon at the Baptist Church in Norfolk.

Is she the one? Anyone with further useful information, please share in comments.

151, 152. Catharine Williams Epes Green (1802-1887) and Elizabeth Campbell Epes Jones (1803-1880)

There are two girls named "Epes" in the rolls of the Mordecai school.  Catharine/Catherine Epes was at the school for two years, 1813 and 1814; Elizabeth was there for all of 1817.  There's a Thomas Epes associated with Catharine's account, and a William B. Cowan might have been acting as guardian for Elizabeth.  They're from Virginia, from my notes.

Note that the common Virginia surname Epes can also appear as Epps or Eppes.  We've already met one Mordecai girl with the name Eppes as her middle name, Sarah Eppes Doswell Cabell -- so she's a possible school connection to Catherine and Elizabeth Epes too.

So this was maybe easier than I expected:  Catherine Williams Epes Green (1802-1887), daughter of Thomas Epes and Catherine Williams, married William B. Green in 1827.  Catherine's uncle John Epes had daughters Catherine Grace Epes Cowan (who married William Bowie Cowan) and Elizabeth Campbell Epes Jones (1803-1880), who married Richard Jones in 1818.  So Mordecai students Catherine and Elizabeth were first cousins.  Fellow student Sarah Eppes Doswell was another cousin; Sarah and Catherine had their Williams grandparents in common. Elizabeth's mother was John Epes' second wife, so she wasn't truly first cousins to Sarah Doswell, but these families were all very much entangled.  Congressman Sydney Parham Epes (1865-1900) was one of the Epes' girls' distant nephews, and Congressman James F. Epes (1842-1910) seems to be from the same extended family.

How does William B. Cowan come into the story? Elizabeth Epes's father John died in 1816, so it makes sense that her older half-sister's husband, Cowan, paid Elizabeth's accounts at the Mordecai school the following year.

Catherine Epes Green doesn't seem to have had any children in her long life; Elizabeth Epes Jones had about eight children, maybe more.  Both women lived through the Civil War and into old age, and as far as I can tell neither ever lived away from Virginia--except for during their schooldays in North Carolina.

149. Elizabeth Elcan (1805-1823)

A student named Elizabeth Elcan is listed in the student rolls for the Mordecai school.  She was there from mid-1815 to September 1818, when she left the school in ill-health.  The adult names attached to her account are Lionel (or Lion) Elcan and Christopher Hunt.  The Elcans and Mordecais were friends even before 10-year-old "Betsey" appeared in Warrenton.  Elizabeth Elcan is also the first Mordecai student whose story reached her present-day kin through me.  In the early 1990s when I was working on my dissertation, Carl Coleman Rosen got in touch by letter (remember, this was before most folks had email).  He had heard of my interest in the school and wondered if I knew anything about Betsey.  I did!  He included a page about her in his family history, 244 Years of Elcan Family History (self-published, 1994).

So here are some details about Betsey Elcan.  She was born in 1805, the daughter of Lion Elcan (1750-1833) and Elizabeth Hooper Elcan.  She was the second-youngest of their nine children, born between 1788 and 1811. Their father was born in Prussia, and the family lived in Buckingham County, Virginia.  When she was ten, she was brought to the Mordecai school by her sister Sally (Ellen to Samuel, 25 June 1815, Mordecai Family Papers at the Southern Historical Collection), where she stayed until she was 13. 

In 1821, Betsey visited the Mordecais at Spring Farm with her sister Sally, Mrs. Christopher Hunt. The report of her health wasn't good:  "Betsey has grown, and is very pretty.  She is in deep decline, and looks almost as delicate as her amiable sister...I never felt anything so touching as her manner on Sunday night.  She had a spasm, and lay perfectly insensible on the bed, and while her hands were forcibly contracted, with a countenance as mild as an angel, in the softest tone of voice, she repeated those lines from the Universal prayer beginning 'teach me to feel'...Betsey came out her and stayed several days, she does not like a city life much..." (Ellen to Caroline, 20 September 1821, Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke)

Two years later, she died, age 18, after a long illness; four of her siblings also died before age 30, and none of the nine Elcans lived to see age 55 (Their parents lived to be 88 and 68.)  Presumably some of them occupy the unmarked graves at the family's cemetery, at their former estate, Elk Hall.

139, 140, 141. The Easthams (Anne, Eliza, and Mildred)

There are three girls named Eastham in my student rolls for the Mordecai school.  Anne, Eliza, and Mildred Eastham are almost certainly sisters, all from Halifax County, Virginia, all with James Eastham as the adult on their account.  I have Anne and Mildred (Milly) arrived in mid-1814; Anne left after just one session; Mildred stayed for most of the next two years, with their sister Eliza joining her.  Mildred and Eliza both finished at the school at the end of 1816.  James appears in the school ledger through during sessions.

Either Milly or Eliza was ill during August 1816, requiring a visit from their talkative father:  "Miss Eastham I hope has recovered before her father's anecdotes are exhausted.  And I congratulate you on having a visitor that could talk." (Solomon to Ellen, 23 August 1816, Southern Historical Collection)  Julia wrote about the same visit to Samuel Mordecai:  "The best news I can give you is that Miss Eastham, her talkative & goodhumoured father & mother left us on Friday.  She was much better & will I hope soon recover.  Her father must I think be a good man, he has at any rate a very tender heart, he bid us farewell with tears in his eyes & was so much affected that he could hardly speak." (Julia to Samuel, August 1816 [und.], Southern Historical Collection)

A James Eastham was deputy sheriff of Halifax County in 1815; there are a lot of Easthams in Halifax County, but he seems like a good candidate for starters.  The same man was also the county surveyor in 1810.  But his name mostly turns up in legal documents, no family history I can see.

I see a Mildred Hardeman Eastham (1805-1857), who was born in Virginia, married Alfred Hicks Rose (a fellow Virginian) in 1828, had seven children, and died in 1857 in Tennessee (here's her grave).  Her dates are perfect, and we know that a lot of Mordecai-connected families moved west to Tennessee in the 1820s. 

Now, here's a thought:  What if Ann and Eliza are the same person? Their times at the school don't overlap, and if anything it makes more sense if she's one person--it means two sisters, Ann Eliza and Mildred, who were at the school simultaneously, arriving in mid-1814 and finishing in 1816.   I found an Ann Eliza Eastham (1803-1881) who was born in Halifax Co. Virginia, married Thomas J. Spencer in about 1819, had two children, was widowed very young, and died in 1881.  Her dates are perfect for a Mordecai student.

I have no evidence at hand that Mildred and Ann Eliza were sisters, or were Mordecai students--only their dates and place of birth, really.  But I'm intrigued at merging Ann and Eliza Eastham into one student.  Makes more and more sense as I think of it.... any clues from Virginia family historians out there?

137. Elvira W. Dupuy Eggleston (1805-1878)

There's a student named Elvira W. Dupuy in the list of Mordecai school students, compiled by me in about twenty years ago.  I'm seeing her listed as a resident of Virginia, at the school for its last three sessions (mid-1817 to the end of 1818), and with Captain James Dupuy as the adult on the account, appearing in the school ledger in June 1817, November 1817, January 1818, and June 1818.  That seems like a lot to go on!  And Elvira is an unusual enough name, there should be more to find.

And there is.  Elvira Dupuy was born in Nottoway County, Virginia, in October 1805, the youngest child born to Captain James Dupuy (1753-1828) and Mary Purnell Dupuy (1758-1828).   Her father's military rank came from his service during the American Revolution. Her mother was 47 when Elvira was born, and Elvira's only sister Elizabeth (b. 1803) died young--so a girls' school might have seemed like a good idea for a lot of reasons when Elvira was twelve years old.  At age 22, Elvira married fellow Virginian Richard Beverly Eggleston (1797-1853) as his second wife, and the following year both her parents died.  The Egglestons had six children. Her last child was born in 1839, when Elvira was 34; and all of them were born in Virginia.  She was widowed in 1853, age 48; she lived through the Civil War and died in 1878, a few weeks before her 73rd birthday.

Her grandson Joseph Dupuy Eggleston (1867-1953) was a noted educator, president of Virginia Tech and Hampden-Sydney College, as well as Virginia's state superintendent of public schools (1906-1912).

The Eggleston papers at the Virginia Historical Society Library may have more about Elvira and her family.

134. Sarah Eppes Doswell Cabell (1802-1874)

I have a student called Sarah Doswell in the appendix if my dissertation.  It says she was at the Mordecai school for four sessions, 1813 and 1814, and that a Mrs. Doswell was the adult on her account.  Indeed Mrs. Doswell appears in the August 1813 ledger page, paying board, tuition and "musick."  And again on January 1814, paying for "Sally" (aka Sarah).  She's mentioned as "S Doswell" once in a Mordecai letter, on 2 January 1814, Rachel mentions to Ellen that "I will go & see A Young & S Doswell, who have just arrived."  So our Sally Doswell may travel with an A. Young (Ann Young was a student at the school in the same sessions as Sally Doswell, precisely). 

Sarah Epes Doswell Cabell (1802-1874)
(portrait of white woman, dark hair curled over ears, white pleated collar)

Not a lot to go on, but Doswell isn't a super-common name (though there is a town named Doswell, Virginia).  And we know she'll be born around 1800.

Here's a very likely candidate:  Sarah Eppes Doswell (1802-1874) of Danville, Virginia, daughter of Major John Doswell (1744-1820) and Mary Poythress Eppes (1767-1823; the Eppes is also spelled Epps and Epes).  That puts her at the Mordecai school when she was ages 10-12.  She married Benjamin William Sheridan Cabell (1793-1862) in 1816, at age 14.  (Benjamin's sister, Mary Pocahontas Rebecca Cabell, married a lawyer named Peyton Doswell, presumably a relation of Sarah's).  They had eleven children together, and lived in Danville.  Benjamin was in the US Army, and served in the Virginia state assembly.  Six of their sons fought in the Civil War, on the Confederate side, and two died in the war.   She died in 1874, age 72.  Here's her gravesite.

The descendants of Sallie Doswell included some prominent folks.  Her son William Lewis Cabell (1827-1911) was a West Point graduate, a Confederate general, and after the war was mayor of Dallas, Texas, and a railroad executive.  His son was also mayor of Dallas.  His grandson was also mayor of Dallas.  Another of Sally's sons, George Craighead Cabell (1836-1906) was a six-term Congressman from Virginia. (She died at his house.)  Her great-grandson Charles Pearre Cabell (1903-1971) was Deputy Director of the CIA at the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion.

No solid mention of this woman attending the Mordecai school, but I haven't run across any other Sarah Doswells that would fit the profile for a Mordecai student, and this one does, perfectly.

117. Susan Cutler

There's a student in the rolls of the Mordecai school named Susan Cutler.  She attended the school for two years, 1817-1818, and may be connected to a place called "Goodwynsville," and a person called Dr. Cutler.  "We were rather surprised Friday," notes Caroline Mordecai in a February 1818 letter, "not at the arrival of Susan Cutler, but to see her accompanied by Lucinda Mason, they sleep in that share bed in the little room..."  (Caroline to Ellen Mordecai, 2 February 1818, in the Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke University)  In another mention, we learn that Susan might have continued at the Warrenton school after the Mordecais sold it in 1818:  "S. Cutler & H. Goodwyn return wh. their father--he was not alarmed but recd. such positive directions from Col. G. that he had no discretion." (Solomon to Rachel & Ellen, 11 April 1819, from Warrenton).  Dr. Cutler appears in the school ledger in February 1817, making payments "for Susan, for M. Hill, for L. W. Mason."  And again in June 1817, "for daughter, for L Mason." And again in November 1817, "for Miss Mason and daughter."  Also in June 1818, again for Susan and Lucinda.

That's a good bit to work with!  Okay, let's see what the online family histories can tell us...

Goodwynsville, no long inhabited, was in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, near Stony Creek.

A Dr. William Cutler (1766-1836) of "Mount Pleasant" in Dinwiddie County was a horse breeder of some repute, originally from Boston (some sources claim he was the son of Yale rector Rev. Dr. Timothy Cutler, but that seems unlikely as Timothy Cutler died in 1765, aged 81; perhaps they were kin, though).  He married twice.  His second wife (married 1804) was Susan (or Susanna) Greenway Mason (1764-1836), widow of William Mason.   His son from his first marriage, John H. "Jack" Cutler, became a doctor, and was married to Lucinda Wingfield Mason, youngest daughter of Susan Greenway Mason from her first husband.  Pretty sure this is the daughter we want:  Susan Greenway Cutler, daughter of William and Susan.  (So the Mordecai students Lucinda and Susan were half-sisters, and became sisters-in-law as well.)  She married twice:  to Robert W. Mason (1801-1827) in 1826, and to Richard P. Stith (1801-1850) in 1837; she had a daughter, Susan Greenway Stith in 1840, just before she died in 1841. (Richard remarried, to Mary Louisa Parham.)  There were four Mordecai students named Stith, so Susan Cutler's second husband may have been a longtime member of her wider social circle.

113. Maria Crenshaw

There was a student at the Mordecai school named Maria Crenshaw.  I have her attending for the last three sessions (mid-1817 to the end of 1818), from Hendersonville VA, with an adult named Branch Osburn possibly connected to her account.  "Branch Osburn for M. Crenshaw" appears in the school ledger for July 1817; and "Osburne for Miss Crenshaw" in November 1817; again the names are paired in the January 1818 ledger page.  In June 1818, a "Capt. Knight" is paying for Miss Crenshaw's schooling. 

Now, bear with me, this gets a little complicated:  Branch Osborne (b. c1793) of Nottoway Co., Virginia married twice.  His first wife, Elizabeth Guerrant Dupuy, was the older sister of a Mordecai student, Elvira Dupuy (more on her soon).  His second wife, Mildred Carter, was kin to the Crenshaws--her stepmother was born Lucy Anne Crenshaw, and two of her brothers married women named Crenshaw (presumably kin of Lucy's).  So we have this Mr. Branch Osborne connected to the Mordecai school through his first wife, and to the Crenshaw family through his second wife.  But still no Maria Crenshaw...

So I feel like I'm close, but no bingo.  Maria Crenshaw was very likely one of the Crenshaw/Carter/Osborne clan living around Nottoway and Amelia Counties.  But which one, and what happened after her brief stay in Warrenton, I still can't say.

(A further tidbit--there are Marthas in this family.  Did I misread Maria/Martha?  Doesn't seem likely, but maybe.)

112. Arnette S. Craig

A student named Arnette Craig is on the rolls for the Mordecai school; she was there three sessions, mid-1817 to the end of 1818 (and maybe past, because there were some students who stayed past the sale).  I have her as a student from Richmond VA, with a Samuel Paine as the adult name attached to her account, along with a Mrs. Craig, suggesting that Mr. Craig died before mid-1817.

Her unusual first name helps find mentions...except that it's spelled so many different ways. 

"Papa received a letter from Mr. Saml. Paine, the gentleman who conversed with you respecting the school requesting admission for Miss Craig.  She cannot be received this session, but if they wish it will have a place reserved for her next," Rachel Mordecai wrote to Solomon Mordecai in the summer before Arnette came to Warrenton (27 July 1817).  She seems to have shared a ride to school with another student, Harriet Marx, who was kin to the Mordecais (18 January and 17 February 1818); Rachel reported the scene on Arnette's arrival at school, "I have just heard an alarm sounded of 'Arnett Craig is come' but as she has not made her appearance I cannot vouch for it being well grounded" (15 February 1818).  The next year we find Rachel reporting from outside Richmond, "Mrs. Payne, Arnot Craig's mother, died suddenly a few days since..." (6 December 1819).

Okay, turning to the genealogical information online:  Arnette S. Craig (1805-1873) was the younger daughter of Adam and Mary Mallory Craig, of Virginia.  This is the Adam Craig house in Richmond (here's the marker).  Adam died while his daughters were young; Mary Mallory Craig remarried to Samuel Paine in 1817.  In 1822, Arnette Craig married Philip Whitehead Claiborne (b 1801, also in Virginia).  At some point around 1830, the Claibornes move to Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama, where they were still living in 1860.  They're listed with at least eight children; this is the grave of one of Arnette's granddaughters, Mary Claiborne Porter (1859-1939).



Arnette must not have minded her unusual first name, because she named one of her own daughters Philapella (1843-1871).

106, 107, 108. The Colemans

I have four (well, three*) students in my dissertation appendix named "Coleman":

H. Coleman who was only at the school in late 1818, right before the school was sold.

Louisiana Coleman, of Richmond VA, who attended for both sessions of 1817 and may have had a "John W. Pleasants" attached to her account.

Margaret M. Coleman attended both sessions of 1813, and was connected to a Col. H. E. Coleman.

Maria Coleman attended for six sessions, mid-1815 through mid-1818, and was also connected to a Col. H. E. Coleman. 

 *(It turns out that H. Coleman is really Maria Coleman again--see below.)

The main mentions of these Colemans in the Mordecai papers seems to be in the ledger:  Col. Coleman paying for music and French in July 1813 (so that's for Margaret),  "John W. Pleasants for Miss Coleman" in January 1817 (so that's Louisiana), "Col H E Coleman, Miss Maria" in January 1818, etc.  There was a bill paid to a shoemaker, for boots for a group of girls including "M Coleman," in March 1818.   The family also knew a Dr. Coleman in Warrenton, who may have been kin to these girls, but there are no mentions of daughters or nieces of his at the school.

Louisiana Coleman's unusual first name makes her a good place to start.  Louisiana Coleman (1804-1883) was the youngest daughter of Maj. Samuel Coleman (1755-1811) and Susannah Pleasants Storrs, of Henrico County, Virginia.  Her unusual first name was part of her family's pattern--she had among her older sisters "Araminta" and "Emmeline."  Her father died in 1811, so the John W. Pleasants who covered her bills might have been a maternal relative.  She married John Newton Gordon (1793-1870) in 1823, and they had eight children who all lived to adulthood:  Susanna, James, Amelia, Mary, Maria, Ann, John, and Edward (guess she didn't inherit her parents' fancy for offbeat names.)

Col. Henry Embry Coleman (1768-1837) turns out to have been a prominent figure.  Among other roles, he was on the jury that tried Aaron Burr for treason in Richmond in 1807.  His house, Woodlawn, was in Halifax County on the Staunton River, near John Randolph's plantation.  He and Anne "Nancy" Gordon (d. 1824; not a sister to the John Newton Gordon above, but maybe not a distant relative either) married in 1795, had twelve children; their eldest daughter Elizabeth married Charles Baskerville, whose sisters Mary and Ann Baskerville attended the Mordecai school.

Second daughter Margaret Murray Coleman (1798-1869) was probably the Mordecai student Margaret M. Coleman.   She was fourteen when she arrived at the Mordecai school for a year of education.  She married in 1821 to Richard Logan (1792-1869) of Halifax County, a lawyer and member of the Virginia legislature.  They had seven children; Margaret's son Richard died at Gettysburg.  She died just six months after becoming a widow, and is buried in Halifax County. 

Henrietta Maria Coleman was the fifth child, third daughter in the family--so "H. Coleman" and "Maria Coleman" in the rolls were, indeed, very likely the same person.  She was born 1803, attended the school from 1815-1818 (ages 11-15), and married in 1834, to Rev. John Thomas Clark of Halifax County.  They lived at Chester VA (this house seems to have been Rev. John's), and had three children.  She died in 1844, age 40.

81. Sarah Camp

One student named Sarah Camp attended the Mordecai school, for both 1818 sessions. She's listed as being from Norfolk VA, with a John Camp as the adult on the account.

First thing I see from online is that the surnames Camp and Kemp can be found interchangeably. Good to know. And apparently there's a genealogical volume out there, The John Camp family pertaining to the ancestors of John Camp of Norfolk Virginia (1936) by Sadie Scott Kellam, but it's not (yet) on Google Books. These Camps and Kemps, including Lt. John Camp, a Revolutionary War veteran from Virginia, might also be kin? Especially interested to see that they were connected to the Nashes, who were kin the Camerons (see immediate previous entry on Cameron girls). Lt. John Camp (1743-1818) of Norfolk did have a daughter Sara (aka Sallie), but she was born about 1770 (d. 1854), probably too old to be a Mordecai student herself. But she reminds me to remember to look at Sarah/Sara/Sallie/Sally as equivalent names, too...

I can't seem to get any further than this. Suspect the Camp family all those links connect to is the right one, but beyond that... the right Sarah (or Sara, or Sallie) Camp (or Kemp) isn't jumping out of the genealogical websites.

78. Eliza Callagham

I have a student named Eliza Callagham (or Callaham, or possibly Callaghan or Callahan) on my Mordecai school roster, listed as being from Halifax VA, kin to James Callagham, attending the school just one session (the second half of 1815). James is shown in the ledger paying for Eliza's tuition in July 1815; otherwise I don't think the Callaghams appear in the Mordecai materials.

Seems like the name might also be Calliham... this family tree finds several spellings used interchangeably by Southern Callahams/Callihams in the 1700s and 1800s. That tree includes a James Callaham (b. c. 1773) who married a Mary "Polly Smith" in 1797, in Halifax Co., VA. That puts them just exactly in the right place and time to be the parents or at least guardians of this Mordecai student. Beyond that listing, the trail seems to run out--I can't find Eliza herself. But maybe someone else is more creative in their spelling and searching?

72-76. The Burwells (Eliza, Lucy, Martha, Mary, and N)

So my list has five girls(?) named Burwell who attended the Mordecai school:

Eliza Blair Burwell was there for both sessions of 1812.
Lucy Burwell was there for both sessions of 1817.
Martha C. Burwell was there for four sessions, 1811-1812.
Mary W. Burwell was there for both sessions of 1812.
And N. Burwell was on the rolls for 1809.

I have most of these names attached to Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and the adults named Armistead Burwell and Richard Boyd are found in the ledger, paying for their accounts (possibly also William Robards). Martha C. Burwell was married to Grandison Field in November 1816, and is mentioned as "Mrs. Field" in some of the Mordecai letters after that date (for example, 3 July 1831, Caroline Plunkett to Ellen Mordecai, in the Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke University). So that's where I'm starting from.

I know this is a recurring theme of this blog, but there were a lot of Burwells in the area--and even several Armistead Burwells, all related. One branch of the family even ran a girls' school in Hillsborough NC, in the 1830s. (That linked website for the Burwell school does some of what I'm trying to do here, in listing all the known students and, where possible, their life stories.)

With that in mind, we'll start with the one we know most about: Martha Christian Burwell (b. 1795) was the youngest child of a very large family of Burwells--she was the sixteenth and last child born to Col. Lewis Burwell (1745-1800), who served in the Revolutionary War, and the fourth child born to the second Mrs. Burwell, Elizabeth Harrison (1754-1824). She would have been a five-year-old when her father passed away, and was a teenager during her years at the Mordecai school--seventeen when she left, making her one of the older students. She married Charles Grandison Field in 1816, in Richmond. (His name is sometimes spelled Feild or Fields or Feilds, by various branches of the family.) Charles Grandison Field and Martha moved to Tennessee in 1836, with their whole household, including a significant number of slaves. (Among the slaves in that group were the ancestors of Tennessee Assemblymen John Boyd and William A. Feilds.) Martha was widowed in Tennessee, and seems to have remarried at least once. She might have had children, but I can't find mention of their names (she might also have raised step-children). I saw one mention of her dying in 1898, which would mean she was over a hundred years old--possible, but without seeing it mentioned in multiple places I'm not going to assume that's true.

The other Burwell girls couldn't have been Martha's sisters, because all her sisters were older than her and wouldn't have been young enough to attend the Mordecai school. Unfortunately, they all have fairly common names for the Burwell families, and I'm not locating any that are the right age.

Thus end the Bs! Next entry, we move onto the C names.

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:

"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.

55. and 56. Ann Elizabeth and Maria Brander

Two students named Brander attended the Mordecai school. Ann Elizabeth Brander was at the school from mid-1815 to the end of 1816 (so, three sessions); Maria Brander was there for both 1816 sessions. Both girls have James (or J.) Brander listed as the adult on their account. The Branders might have been from the Richmond area, according to this sentence in a Mordecai family letter:

"This will go to Richmond by a Mr. Brander, who with a Mr. Bott of Manchester is to be out in a few days, each with un petite fille."--Rachel Mordecai to her brother Samuel, 12 June 1815 (Mordecai Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Chapel Hill NC)

James Brander appears in the school ledger for June 1815 (paying for "Ann Eliza"), and again in November 1815, January 1816 (paying for Ann Eliza and Maria, "board & musick"), June 1816, and November 1816.

Genealogical websites pretty quickly show Ann Elizabeth Brander (1800-1826), daughter of James Brander (1760-1829), a Scotsman by birth, and Elizabeth T. Harrison, born at Manchester, Chesterfield County, Virginia.* She was the fifth of twelve children born to her parents, and was apparently sent to the Mordecai school shortly after the birth of the twelfth child, her sister Mary Catherine. She only lived to be 26; no indication that she married or had any children. (Her older brother Alexander named his daughter Ann Elizabeth Brander in 1842, probably in her memory.) But here's the surprise: Ann Elizabeth didn't have any siblings named Maria. So... Maria Brander might have been a cousin?

Yes. Found references to a Maria Brander Moore Robertson (1803-1873), daughter of John Brander (also of Scotland) and Martha Field Robertson. She married John Thomson Robertson Sr. (1801-1882, maybe her cousin?) in 1823, at Petersburg VA, and they had six children together, between 1823 and 1841. (She may have had a brief marriage before this one, to account for the Moore in her name.) During the Civil War, one of her daughters, Lelia, died in childbirth (in 1863), her son Stanhope was in the 12th Virginia Infantry, CSA; her son Archibald was a young physician who died from typhoid in 1864. (Another son, James, had died in 1847, age 24; and an newborn infant, Maria, died in 1841.)

So it looks like two Scottish brothers, John and James Brander, both lived in the Richmond/Petersburg neighborhood; James brought his 15-year-old daughter Ann Eliza to the Mordecai school in 1815, then after one session she was joined by her 13-year-old cousin Maria.

*Today in Chesterfield County, Virginia, you can find streets named Branders Creek and Branders Bridge.

52. and 53: Eliza and Evelina Boykin

Two students named Boykin attended the Mordecai school:

Eliza Boykin from Smithfield was at the school for three sessions, mid-1815 to the end of 1816, with Simon Boykin as the adult name attached to the account.

Evelina Boykin, also from Smithfield, was also at the school from mid-1815 to the end of 1816, also with Simon Boykin taking responsibility for her account.

The notation in the ledger page for October 1815 says "Simon Boykin for Eliza and Evelina." Another notation at May 1816 just says "Majr Boykin," and at September 1816 there's "Maj. S. Boykin" making another payment.

I'm going out on a limb and guessing that Eliza and Evelina are kin. ;) Not necessarily sisters; they could be cousins. But first: Smithfield VA or Smithfield NC? Smithfield NC still has a Boykin Motors listed among its major local businesses. But Smithfield VA (home of Smithfield ham) has Fort Boykin Historic Park, on the James River. A Simon Boykin of Virginia seems to have been a Revolutionary War officer, but there were a handful of men named Simon Boykin, all in the same family, including sometimes brothers (who went by Simon Jr. and Simon Sr., and named their sons Simon just to keep things interesting).

One interesting tidbit emerges from the mess of Simons: Major Simon Boykin (of Smithfield VA) had a daughter Louisa Boykin (1791-1850). She married a Daniel Boon (1786-1870--not the Daniel Boone), and they had a number of children, including daughters Eveline and Eliza, both born c. 1815. Were the Boon daughters named for Louisa's sisters, who would have been young teens and soon Mordecai students at the time? To complicate things, this Boon family seems to have lived in Smithfield NC before moving West in 1835.

So, which Smithfield? Which Boykins? Surprising that the rather uncommon name "Evelina Boykin" gets no useful hits, even with various spellings. So she doesn't turn up in marriage records or cemeteries or even family genealogies (not so uncommon for daughters, especially if they don't marry or die young). Or maybe she just used another first name for most of her life? There are several Eliza Boykins who might be the right age to be the Mordecai student, but not much about any of them.

Anyone want to claim the Boykin girls?