Mary Louisa Michel Binckley Memoir, 1906 (and 1899): Part VI

Bedford (Liberty), Virginia, by Edward Beyer, circa 1855

[Mary Louisa/Louise Mitchell/Michel Binckley Memoir, 1906 (and 1899), Part VI. Additional paragraph breaks inserted for easier reading.

 

Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy, Sally Young and Sue Davis for their ongoing research collaboration; specifically to William for providing scans of the original documents, and in turn many thanks to Peter Johnston Binckley and Patricia D'Arcy "Trish" Binckley (1951-2007), at the source.]

Of that winter in the South I have few impressions. I believe we boarded with some distant relations, and father was ill, and some children (I don't know whose) tormented me.

But only two incidents stamped themselves clearly. I heard mother and her friends talking of a lovely lady they were all fond of and pitied and I for the first time took in the idea that a man could be cruel to his wife. 

Then in a store one day, mother's friend directed attention to a lady standing at a distant counter with her daughter an overgrown girl; and afterwards I heard them laughing -- "Sixteen, and her mother keeps her in pantalettes yet --" ["]Yes, the mother is a gay widow, and dresses that poor girl like a child for fear of being seen with a grown daughter." That also was a new revelation as to human possibilities. 

There are no pleasant ideas of the return trip to Abingdon. We must gave gone by stage as dear Blackie died in the South. Shortly afterwards we went to Bedford, and it must have been a sort of farewell occasion that mother took me with her to dine at cousin Preston's. My chin just did come over the edge of the table and the solemn silence children had to keep in their elders' presence gave me only more time for keen observation of guests and servants, while my first art criticism was aroused by the old blue willow-pattern plate so close to my nose. 

Mother had none of those plates, her set of China, as was often done then. Grandfather Johnston had sent for these in his early  married life. There is not one of them left, most being lost in the war. I had one or two of the desert [dessert] plates which were lost with nearly everything else I had stored in Chicago.

Uncle Tom Campbell lost his wife (my father's sister Martha) and wrote to urge Mother,) as we were intending to go to Bedford) to come to him for awhile and help him until he could get his houseful of children arranged for [parentheses as in original].

The baby, Fred, was very delicate, and poor uncle Tom was in such trouble that my parents consented to stay with them some months. The eldest, Mary (afterwards Mrs. Jones) was some years older than I but Charlotte (Mrs. Butts) was my age. Ann, younger. A little boy two years old, and the baby. Mother's devotion saved the sick baby's life, but that winter the country was scourged by a (then) new disease, diptheria, which raged for months. We were all ill, but recovered, except uncle Tom's splendid little boy, Willie.

That winter I saw sister Charlotte for the first time. She was living with her aunt, Mrs. Wingfield, and came out to visit us. Father's mother had died two several years before, and so had both his unmarried sisters, Mary, and Louise: his brother Stephen had died in the prime of life, just after writing a successful play -- a most brilliant youth.

The eldest brother Tom lived in Kentucky and married Miss Julian of Frankfort. The sailor brother, Fred, was captain of a merchant vessel when he died of yellow fever on the Gulf of Mexico.

Uncle Robert was the only one in Bedford, and lived in the old home place. He married the beautiful Lucy Phillipps and raised a family of twelve children to be grown and married. The handsomest set I ever saw.

Mother was the blessing of uncle Tom's house for more than a year when he married again. A most excellent match in every way, a she proved a devoted step-mother, and made herself beloved by all his kin. She was also named Martha, and during all her life was devoted to Mother. She lost one grown unmarried daughter, Martha, and had no son. Her daughter Fannie married a first cousin, Joe Wilson, Roberta married Hopkins, and Sallie is unmarried.

In case I cannot finish this, there is one thing I want remembered by my children. Although we were always struggling with poverty, the gay sweetness of my father, and the serenity of my mother, kept an atmosphere around us that made the poorest home enjoyable. Children should always be able to look around and find peace. 

[Mary Louisa/Louise Mitchell/Michel Binckley (1838-1930).
Mother = Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel (1811-1892).
Father = Harvey Mitchell/Michel (1799-1866).
The trip to Alabama probably occurred between 1842 and 1844. The move to Bedford occurred by 1845.
Grandfather Johnston = Peter Johnston, Jr. (1763-1831).
Uncle Tom Campbell (1813-1890).
My father's sister Martha = Martha Mitchell Campbell (before 1820-circa 1844).
Mary Campbell (circa 1835-?).
Charlotte Campbell (1837-1906) married Junius H. Butts (1830-1878) in 1858.
Baby Fred Campbell (born circa 1844).
Ann = Ann Henry Campbell (1837-?) married Thomas Kelso (1834-1867) in 1865.
Sister Charlotte = Charlotte Elizabeth Griffin Mitchell (1829-1921).;
Her aunt Wingfield = Charlotte Griffin Wingfield (1810-circa 1855), married to Gustavus Adolphus Wingfield (1808-1888).
Father's mother = Sarah "Sally" B. Hawkins Mitchell (1777-1841). 
Mary and Louise = Mary Jane Mitchell (d. 1839) and Louise Mitchell.
Stephen = Stephen Mitchell (d. before 1845).
Tom = Thomas B. Mitchell (1796-1868).
Miss Julian = Mildred Abbott Julian married Tom in 1823.
The sailor brother, Fred = Frederick W. Mitchell (d. circa 1849).
Uncle Robert and Lucy Phillipps = Robert Crump Mitchell (1807-1872) and Ann Lucy Phillips (circa 1809-before 1880).
Martha = Martha Sarah Crenshaw (1825-1890) married Tom Campbell on June 6, 1844.
Martha Campbell (dates unknown).
Fannie Campbell (1847-1938) married Joseph Watkins "Joe" Wilson (1846-1877) in 1872. His mother was Mary Jane Campbell Wilson (1810-1851).
Roberta Campbell (1851-1928) married John H. Hopkins (1852-1892) in 1880.
Sallie Campbell (1855-1925).]