Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel: Notes on Family (1870+), Part II

[Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel: Notes on Family (1870+), Part II. My rough transcription. 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.]

Lucy Henry, my grandmother, was the wife of Col: Valentine Wood, who held, for forty years, the office of Clerk of Goochland. He, his father & his grandfather, were each only sons. His parents were both English, & came of a good family. He was a wealthy & influential man. 

Unfortunately, his sons were not worthy descendants of an honorable pair. They squandered the large estate he left, & brought my grandmother, in her old age, to comparative poverty & neglect. They prevented her, by their unworthy insinuations & their crafty deceit, from coming to live with my parents, who were most anxious to have her in their care.

At last, she who had been the centre of attraction in a wide circle, and the possessor of large wealth, was removed by her sons to a miserable old dwelling in the midst of deep woods, far away from friends & society. There the last years of her life were spent in uncomplaining endurance.

She had an original, rigorous mind, well stored with knowledge – a cheerful, serene temper & earnest piety. These sustained her in her lone old age.

I must not omit, however, to mention one comfort that was left her -- & a truly remarkable one it was.

She had a servant, a woman named Sukey, whose faithful & affectionate attentions did much to soothe her years of helpless infirmity. Sukey was not only a most devoted attendant, but quite an interesting companion: being remarkably intelligent for one of her color, & having always lived in the family. She stayed beside her beloved mistress day & night, with a tender fidelity that was never worn out. So did her niece towards my mother.

Elizabeth Henry, the only one of my mother’s aunts that I ever saw, married first Gen. William Campbell, the hero of the battle of King’s Mountain. He was a most gallant officer, & a devoted patriot. Died early in life, leaving a son who died in early youth; & one daughter, Sally Campbell, who was an heiress, & a celebrated beauty. Surrounded by lovers before she was well grown, she chose Francis Preston & was married to him while two others of her suitors had gone off to N. Carolina to fight a duel on her account. She was a wife at the age of fourteen, & reared ten children, of whom the eldest was my beloved cousin William Campbell Preston. 

One of the daughters is known to you as Mrs. Floyd. These relatives of my mother being the only ones within her reach (their usual abode being in Abingdon) were always most intimately associated with our family, and the friendship remained unbroken till dissolved by death.

Of all my kindred, none outside my own immediate family was so loved and admired as William Preston. I wish I could describe him so truly as to give a just conception of his character. But no words of mine can tell what he was. As an orator, he was considered equal if not superior to Henry: excelling the latter, no doubt, in cultivation & exquisite polish – while he possessed all the fire, the force, and the genius of his illustrious kinsman. He had the advantage of a splendid person, & a fine face, with a manner all grace & elegance.  

I have heard some of the most noted orators of America, but none, with the exception of Henry Clay, could compare with Preston. Yet it is not as a statesman or an eloquent speaker that I would praise him. These were the least of his excellences. It was that large, loving heart, that governs noble nature, which won the fervent affection of all who knew him.

He was my ideal of a man. I could see no imperfection in him, though I was admitted to the closest intimacy in his household, of which I was a privileged member. He offered me a home in his house on the death of my father, & he and his charming wife did all they could to induce me to take there the place of an elder daughter.

His first wife gave him seven children, of whom one only survived. The last wife lost her only child in early infancy – but they lived to see the last one laid in the grave. I was able, at one time, to be a real comfort to them; and they never forgot me.

Penelope Davis, cousin William’s second wife, was the most brilliant and interesting woman I ever knew in society. “Grace was in all her steps” – her manners irresistibly winning. She was as charming at home, in the quiet of her sick room (she was long a great sufferer) as she had been when the most admired of all her circle, she shone the brightest star. She was full of all womanly qualities – sweet, gentle, tender. Finally sunk, a willing victim to her wifely devotion by devoting herself too assiduously to tending her sick husband.

Dear cousin William! [B]est and kindest of friends! Let his loved name be a household word, earnestly, tenderly spoken by my children.

My aunt Elizabeth becoming a widow while still young, formed a second marriage with General Russell. By this marriage she had two daughters, Mrs. Frank Smith, & Mrs. William Thompson, both of whom died early. Gen: Russell was a harsh, tyrannical man, & the second marriage was probably not a happy one. He, however, died in a few years; & from that time she lived mostly in a small house near the Washington Salt Works.

She was a great enthusiast in religion, a Methodist of the Whitefield stamp. She made her house the home of all the travelling preachers, and an established place of worship. One of her two lower rooms being fitted up with a pulpit and seats, was constantly used for public services. She herself often led these services, praying with a fervor & an eloquence worthy of a Henry. It was her habit, whenever a friend called to see her, to call on him or her to join in prayer.

On one occasion, the late Thomas Benton turned from the road to pay her a brief visit. According to her custom, she invited him in to unite with her in prayer. He, though not delighting in such exercises, knelt down; and the old lady poured forth such a stream of earnest, pathetic supplication, as melted his heart completely, and he burst into a passion of tears.

She considered it wrong to have any luxuries, & made it a point to live in the plainest way, although she had ample means. Her peculiar dress & her stately, grave manner made a lasting impression on my young mind. I looked upon her with awe.

[Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel (1811-1892).
Lucy Henry = Lucy Winston Henry (1743-1826).
Valentine Wood (1724-1781).
Sukey = possibly the same person named in Peter Johnston, Jr.'s will as "Suckeye." Link here.
Her niece = not sure of her name.
Elizabeth Henry = Elizabeth Anne "Betsy" Henry (1749-1825).
William Campbell (1745-1781).
Sally Campbell = Sarah Buchanan "Sally" Campbell (1778-1846).
William Campbell Preston (1794-1860).
Francis Preston (1765-1836).
Mrs. Floyd = Sarah Buchanan Preston (1802-1879), who married JOhn Buachanan Floyd (1806-1863).
Henry Clay (1777-1852).

His first wife = Maria Eliza Coalter (1792-1829).
Penelope Davis (1805-1853).
General Russell = William Washington Russell (1735-1793).
Mrs. Frank Smith = Elizabeth Henry Russell (1785-1804), who married Francis "Frank" Smith (circa 1782-1851?) in 1804.
Mrs. William Thompson = Jane Roberston Russell (1788-1816), who married Dr. William Preston Thompson (1788-1848) in 1805.
Whitefield stamp = George Whitefield (1714-1770). 
Thomas Benton = Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858).

Portrait of Elizabeth Anne "Betsy" Henry Campbell Russell from George Morgan, The True Patrick Henry, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1907, between pages 236 and 237.]  

Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel: Notes on Family (1870+), Part I

Patrick Henry (from Sully)

[Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel: Notes on Family (1870+), Part I. My rough transcription. 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.]

My mother was Mary Winston Wood, daughter of M[?] Valentine Wood, who was [the] only son of James Wood, an Englishman of a highly respectable family who came to Virginia early in life, & settled in Buck Island in [left blank].

The said James Wood is known to us only as a worthy gentleman. Mr. Valentine Wood married Lucy Henry, a sister of the famous Patrick Henry. She was a woman of unusually fine mind, highly improved by constant reading of the best English authors. The ladies of the Henry family, as well as their celebrated brother, were noted for their conversational powers – and, my grandmother’s abilities in that line were said to be most remarkable. She was handsome in her youth – tall & stately, an elegant gentlewoman of the old school. She lived to be upwards of seventy, having survived her husband [by] more than thirty years.

They had four sons & four daughters. The sons were William (never married), John, married Miss Garrett of Charlottesville & had but one child, a daughter who married & went North. Henry, who went out to Kanawha when young & was lost sight of by his family. Valentine, the one worthy son, died just as he reached manhood.

Of the daughters, the eldest, Martha, was twice married. Her first husband, Mr. Southall, was a gentleman of talents & great worth. The second, Mons. Stras, a Frenchman, won her regard by his pleasing manners & person. He was a professional gambler. She was a handsome woman, much admired for showy qualities, but was worldly and ambitious of wealth. Her Southall children were Philip, an excellent man, a physician, lived and died in Prince Edward. 

Valentine, an eminent lawyer and an admirable gentleman. He lived in Charlottesville, & left a large family. Mrs. Lucy Cutts, Mrs. Martha Van Zandt, & Jane, who died single. The Stras children were Emily & Joseph.

My mother was next in age to Aunt Patsy. She was married at the age of twenty, & died in her fifty-seventh year, of lingering consumption.

Next to her was Lucy, who married Edward Carter of Amherst – left three children, Champe, Peter & Mary. Aunt Lucy was a lovely woman – amiable, sensible – the favorite sister of my mother, who always spoke of her with great tenderness.

The youngest daughter was Jane Robertson, who never married, as I have heard it said, because she could never find her equal. She was a woman undoubtedly of superior abilities & much culture: excelled especially in music, a rather rare accomplishment in her day. She was handsome, & extremely dignified. Most of her life was spent in my father’s house. He was enthusiastically fond of her, looking upon her as his eldest daughter, and my older brothers regarded her with a romantic sort of admiration, as well as most tender affection. She died early – I don’t know at what age – but I have heard them say she was in the perfection of womanly loveliness, when she was taken from the household of which she was the ornament and the chief delight. 

My great-grandfather was named John. Of him and his wife I only know that they were worthy and intelligent and gentlefolk.

The first ancestor of the name in America was an Englishman a Clergyman of the Episcopal Church. He had a parish in Hanover county, which was the residence of his descendants. He was grandfather to my grandmother. Here I must remark, and I wish my children to remember it well, that all of my ancestors on both sides were Episcopalians, and were among the most respectable, nay honorable people in a section of country which was noted for the high character & the refinement of its inhabitants.

Mr. Wirt, in his “Life of Patrick Henry” deviated widely from truth in representing him as the son of an obscure family, & as having been destitute of education. Mr. Wirt, himself a man of low origin, must have been influenced by a desire to bring down the mighty orator & statesman to his own original level, or else to enhance Henry’s glory by making him appear a self-taught genius. 

Whatever may have been the motive, the statement was an utter falsehood, as I have heard from the lips of those who were thoroughly cognisant [cognizant] of all the circumstances attending Mr. Henry’s family and his education. I have often heard my father speak with indignation of this misrepresentation, and characterized the whole book as a fiction. It was called by those who knew the facts, the Romance of Patrick Henry. 

My husband, when at Hampden Sydney, used the same copy of Virgil which had been studied by P. Henry, with his name in it, and numerous notes in his handwriting. This book had passed into the hands of his nephew, Patrick Winston. It was in itself a sufficient refutation of Wirt’s assertion.

My grandmother had but one brother, Patrick & seven sisters, all of whom married. 

Susan, Mrs. Madison, who left numerous descendants. Her husband was brother to Bishop Madison, the first Bishop of Virginia. 

Mary, Mrs. Christian, who also had a large family – her descendants are to be found for the most part in Kentucky, the State to which she removed in middle life. 

Agatha, Mrs. Thomas, who died young and childless. 

Jane, Mrs. Bowyer, of whom I can only make the same brief record. 

Sally, Mrs. Meredith, who had two daughters – one married Col: Armistead & was remarkable only for her eccentricities. She did not live long with her husband. Took such violent offence at his telling her a falsehood about her horse, that she separated from him, & lived for the rest of her life alone: with no companions but her dogs, which were her delight. Her end was a terrible one – her house took fire one night & she, with all her pets, was consumed. 

The other Miss Meredith married a gentleman of great worth, David S. Garland. They had several children, one of whom you know as Mrs. Mary Cabell. One of the sons is noted as a man of great learning, and has been connected (as Professor) with the University of Alabama. Dolly, Mrs. Winston, was mother of a large number of children, of whom I know but little.

[Mary Winston Wood = aka Mary Valentine Wood (May 8, 1769-June 25, 1825).
Valentine Wood (1724-1781).
James Wood = Henry Wood (1696-1757).
Lucy (Winston) Wood (1743-1826).
Patrick Henry (1736-1799).
William Wood (1765-1824).
John Wood = John Henry Wood (1776-1850).
Miss Garrett = Mary A. Garrett (1796-?).
Henry Wood (1765-1814).
Valentine Wood, Jr. (1777-1790s?).

Martha Henry "Patsy" Wood (1768-1834).
Southall = Stephen Turner Southall (1757-1791).
Stras = George Frederick Stras (1746-1811).
Philip Southall = Philip Turner Southall (1791-1857).
Valentine Southall = Valentine Wood Southall (1789-1861).
Mrs. Lucy Cutts = Lucy Henry Southall (1790-1868), married Charles Cutts (1769-1846).
Mrs. Martha Van Zandt = Maria Martha Wood Southall (1787-1862), who married Nicholas Biddle Van Zandt (1777-1863).
Jane = Louisa Jane Southall (1784-1807).
Emily Stas = Emily Catherine Stas (1803-1872).
Joseph Stas = Joseph Henry Stas (1808-1885).
Lucy = Lucy Henry Wood (1774-1837), who married Edward Champe Carter, Jr. (1768-1825).
Champe Carter (1815-1873).
Peter = Peter Johnston Carter (1809-1862).
Mary = Mary Champe Wood Carter (1805-1879).
John Henry (1704-1773)

Jane Roberston Wood (1776-1810).
Mr. Wirt = William Wirt (1772-1834).
My father = Peter Johnston, Jr. (1763-1831).
My husband = Harvey Mitchell/Michel (1799-1866).

Henry sisters (years approximate in some cases) = Sarah Winston Henry (1710-1784) was first married to John Syme (1690-1732) and secondly to John Henry. John Syme, Jr. (1729-1805) was a son from the first marriage. Daughters from the second marriage included Anne Henry (1738-1790), Mary Jane Henry (1738-1819), Sarah "Sally" Henry (1738-1819), Susannah Henry (1742-1831), Lucy Winston Henry (1743-1826), and Elizabeth Ann "Betsy" Henry (1749-1825). Agatha Henry, according to Jane, was another daughter.  

Jane's listing of Henry sister marriages may conflate somewhat, matching sisters with the wrong husband. I will not attempt to untangle them all here.]

Nella Fontaine Binckley: "Odds and Ends from an Artist's Life," Chapter I, Part 1

Moritz Retzsch illustration for Friedrich Schiller's Pegasus Im Joche

[Nella Fontaine Binckley, "Odds and Ends from an Artist's Life," Chapter [I], part 1. From a transcription annotated by Patricia D'Arcy Binckley of typewritten original, February 25, 2005. Original "written some time after 1941 by Nellie F. Binckley, 1860-1950 or 51." Notes in brackets are mine, unless followed by the initials "P.D.B." Occasionally, 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 a scan of the original document, and in turn many thanks to Peter Binckley and Patricia D'Arcy "Trish" Binckley (1951-2007), at the source.]

Apollo, god of the fine arts, was the only one of the gods who ever had to make his living. And did he do it with any of his various arts? Nay, verily. He had to tend the flocks of King Admetus in order to eat. Perhaps this significant fact should have served as a warning to all of us who follow after him. But it has been generally disregarded. We artists blithely set forth along a path we are well aware is a steep and rocky one, bordered by thorns, beset with quagmires, and [often] precariously skirting the brink of precipices. But we chance it. We say of Art, as it was said of Love, "All other pleasures are not worth its pains."

Not that I really had any other alternative. From the time I could hold a pencil, there was but one thing for me. I must be an artist. After all, it was in my blood. My mother's father, Harvey Michel, was a well-known portrait painter in his day. He was a favorite pupil of Washington Allston, and his portraits may be found in many of the old Southern homes. Mother drew beautifully -- figures, she never did landscapes. And Grandmother, while she never painted, used to put a spray of flowers before her and copy them with her embroidery silks. Father was a lawyer, but amused himself painting charming landscapes. His father, likewise a lawyer, also painted landscapes for his own pleasure. Father's mother painted flowers in water colors. So I came honestly by my own bent.

Father was born in Somerset, Ohio, the youngest of four sons. There were no daughters. His father died when he was a boy. Uncle George, who came next to Father, was very anxious to go to West Point. A boy who had grown up with him, named Phil Sheridan, was also very anxious to go there. And when the appointment was given to Uncle George, Phil was so bitterly disappointed that he cried. Uncle George was a generous fellow, and he gave up the appointment to his friend, who afterwards became the famous General Sheridan. Uncle George went West, became a mining man, and died in Colorado.

I think Somerset must have been some sort of a Catholic centre. There was a splendid church there -- perhaps it was a cathedral [St. Joseph's Church, first Catholic church in Ohio.] The Pope of that day sent over as an altarpiece, one of Raphael's paintings. Later the church took fire and burned.

Father was only a boy, but he was so distressed at the destruction of a picture done by Raphael's own hand that he rushed into the burning church and with his pocket knife cut out the head of one of the cherubs. I have often looked at it with reverent eyes. [I]n my childhood, in its portfolio. Alas! The precious thing, with other of our art belongings, was lost by a careless storage company. 

Among the pictures I grieved for most was a huge heavily bound book of Rembrandt's etchings. And I loved two books of exquisite line drawings by Moritz Retach [Retzsch], The Song of the Bell [an illustrated edition of Friedrich Schiller's Das Lied von der Glocke], and a smaller one whose name I've forgotten. It told the story of the beautiful winged horse Pegasus, and the poet he came to live with. But the poet was unworthy, and sold Pegasus to a peasant, who harnessed him to a plough. The last picture showed Apollo on the back of the rescued Pegasus, soaring aloft in the sky, while the peasant stared upward in stupid amazement. [See this link.]

My family all had the wandering foot, and in our various peregrinations, much was lost. The old saying "Three moves are as bad as a fire" I know to be tragically true. To be sure, I am like the rest of the family and love to travel and go about. I don't mind moving, and can easily make a home wherever I may be. Yet all my life I have longed for a fixed home to come back to. A place where I could leave my belongings. But I have never had it. I have always had to go about like a snail, carrying my home on my back. 

One treasured thing, however, we have managed to cling to. That is a plaster bust of Patrick Henry, done from life by the sculptor. My grandmother's grandmother was one of Patrick Henry's sisters -- his youngest sister Lucy. [She married Valentine Wood -- P.D.B.] This bust has come down in the family. Grandmother [Jane Johnston Michel -- P.D.B.] inherited it and she gave it to mother [Mary Louise Michel Binckley -- P.D.B.] I grew up with it. In her old age Mother gave it to my brother George [George Sydney Binckley -- P.D.B.] His widow now has it in her home in Hollywood, California -- the charming home George built into the face of a cliff. As far as I know, it is the only authentic portrait of Patrick Henry in existence. The one on the Capitol in Washington, painted by Sully, was done ten years after his death, and from description only, as Sully had never seen him.

Father's paternal ancestry was English, while his mother was of German descent. [Where the English ancestry idea came from is unclear. The Binckley name was first spelled Binggele, later Binckele, then Binckley/Binkley. The origin is Swiss. -- P.D.B.] There is a family tradition of a castle on the Rhine, and a grandfather [Stocker -- P.D.B.] who was an idealist -- a dreamer -- who gathered a group of friends and retainers and came to America to found a colony, a sort of Utopia. It did not turn out as he had hoped, and it was said he died broken hearted. 

Mother's father [Harvey Michel -- P.D.B.] was of Huguenot descent. Three brothers Michel fled from France on Saint Bartholomew's Eve and came to Virginia. Her mother [Jane Johnston Michel] was of Scottish blood, and her great-great grandfather, Peter Johnston, was born in Annandale, Scotland and was a great friend of Sir Walter Scott. 

If I were a dog, I'm afraid I'd be a yellow one, with four strains of blood in my veins. 

[Ellen/Nellie/Nella Fontaine Binckley (September 1, 1860-April 27, 1951). Family names and dates were whimsically tweaked by their owners during their lifetime, adding mystery and sometimes causing confusion. For Binckley's "Artist's Life," I'm opting for the full artist's signature name, Nella Fontaine Binckley. 

Harvey Michel/Harvey Mitchell (1799-1866)
Washington Allston (1779-1843)
Mother = Mary Louisa Binckley/Mary Louise Binckley (1838-1930)
Jane Johnston Mitchell/Michel (1811-1892)
John Milton Binckley (circa 1831-1878)
His father = John Henry Binckley (1788-1849)
His mother = Charlotte Stocker Binckley (1788-1877)

George Binckley = George Michael Binckley (1828-1885)
Philip Henry Sheridan (1831-1888). Appointed to US Military Academy in 1848 and graduated in 1853. There are conflicting accounts about this that I hope to delve into via a later post. 

There was a fire at St. Joseph's in 1864, but not sure of the origin of this story. The central image is remarkably similar to Ray Bradbury's story "The Smile" (Fantastic, 1952), published a year after Nellie's death. 

Moritz Retzsch (1779-1857)

Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
Lucy Henry Wood (1743-1826)
Valentine Wood (1724-1781) 
George Sydney Binckley (1870-1941)
Widow = Helen B. Gilbertson Binckley (1874-1965) 
Sully = Thomas Sully (1783-1872)
Peter Johnston (1710-1786)
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). He is conflated with his father, also named Walter Scott.]