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

Martha Washington Inn, formerly College, formerly Preston House, in Abingdon, Virginia, 2006 (Wiki Commons)

[Mary Louisa/Louise Mitchell/Michel Binckley Memoir, 1906 (and 1899), Part III. 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.]

The old Preston place (now Martha Washington College) was a fine old mansion, and Amy often took me there to see cousin Preston, a most dignified and stately woman, then long a widow with many grown children. Among them were Mrs. Carrington, Mrs. John B. Floyd, and Eliza who married my uncle Charles, & was cousin Eliza Hughes mother. 

Also Wm. C. Preston the brilliant orator & public man who lived many years in South Carolina. He was devoted to my parents. Mother, as a young girl, spent her winters with him in Columbia, S.C.  

Grandfather took mother from Abingdon in a carriage & 4 horses thro' North Carolina down to Columbia every fall. It took weeks to go. Cousin William had no children, and he and his wife urged my parents to give me to them for adoption. They refused, and some years afterwards Cousin W. adopted one of Mrs. Carrington's sons (the Carringtons had always tried to keep him from adopting me) and the son, strangely enough was a lover of mine when I was seventeen and he twenty. He died at twenty-two -- a dear, lovely boy.

The old Preston house when she lived was a stately home, whose great shade trees, green lawns and flowerbeds were fit setting for a house of simple elegance, where life trod with cultured steps, where old-fashioned formality was tempered by genial hospitality while good-breeding and scholarship was the rule, not the exception.

Life was simple, excitements few. Amusements rather prim but the self-control which was the ruling principle among the gentry, kept up a serene atmosphere morally, while physical existence was made quietly comfortable by such trained servants as the world will never know again. "Perfect serving" is said to be "the soul of living." If that is so, our ancestors ought to have had more than their share of soul. 

I have tried hard to think of that time without the usual inclination to glorify the past which one of my age is liable to do. But it us hard to look back when one is so weary, and not wish for what seems to have been so restful. Such a state of affairs could not naturally last, and yet if the war had not come, I am sure the South would have kept its tranquil ways intact for many years.

In the North, a hard climate, greater population and lack of servants combined to urge human beings on to invention, competition & progress. Whether the world is more comfortable in consequence, is an open question. One that the young cannot answer because they know nothing of anything else but this rush of the moderns.

The middle aged are too breathlessly busy to consider such things, and the old are too predjudiced [prejudiced]. My firm belief in equilibrium makes me hope that even my children may live to see some quietness come over the spirit of this tormented earth. 

Cousin Preston's house was then the handsomest in Abingdon, but there were many other substantial homes of brick and stone which still stand. But they were simply built -- no modern conveniences, and so lacking in  most of the comforts now universal, that I doubt if even I would enjoy going back to them. When my little red morocco shoes carried me down those old streets, there was not a bathroom in the country, not a bit of the necessity we call plumbing, no gas, no furnaces or stoves. 

Candles were the only light, and how eyes held out to do all that fine stitchery, I cannot imagine. The candles were of three qualities. Imported wax was the best and very expensive -- home-made wax and tallow was next, but most universal was common tallow made by each family for its own use. I used to long wildly to be allowed to hold one end of the candle mold as the hot grease was poured in, and never lost the thrill of interest over the transformation, when after a cold night, the mold was brought in, and long white candles came out where that sizzling stuff went in.    

[Mary Louisa/Louise Mitchell/Michel Binckley (1838-1930).
First memories are of "Lilliput" See 1841 letter from Jane (Mother), link here.  This part refers entirely to the Preston residence.
Mother = Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel (1811-1892).
Amy = enslaved servant. There are two Amys listed in the estate (dated 1832) of Peter Johnston, Jr. (1753-1831), and we may suppose that this Amy is one of them. Link here.
Preston = Sarah "Sally" Buchanan Campbell Preston (1778-1846), widow of Francis Smith Preston (1765-1836).
Mrs. Carrington = Elizabeth "Eliza" Henry Preston Carrington (1796-1877), married to Edward Codrington Carrington (1790-1855).
Mrs. John B. Floyd = Sarah "Sally" Buchanan Preston Floyd (1802-1879), wife of John Buchanan Floyd (1806-1863).
Eliza Madison Preston (circa 1803-1828) was actually the older Sally's niece, not daughter. Her parents were John Preston (1764-1827) and Mary Winston Radford Preston (1781-1810). 
Charles = Charles Clement Johnston (1795-1832).
Eliza = Eliza Mary Johnston Hughes (1825-1909), who married Robert William Hughes (1821-1901) in 1850.
W. C. Preston and wife = William Campbell Preston (1794-1860) and Louisa Penelope Davis Preston (1805-1853). 
Grandfather = Peter Johnston, Jr. (1763-1831). 
The son = probably William Campbell Preston Carrington (1836-1863), who was killed at the Battle of Champion Hill, Mississippi at age 27. His romance with Mary Louisa would have been in or around 1855 or 1856.] 

Nella Fontaine Binckley: "Odds and Ends from an Artist's Life," Chapter IV, Part 2

Martha Washington Inn, formerly College, formerly Preston House, in Abingdon, Virginia, 2006 (Wiki Commons)

[Nella Fontaine Binckley, "Odds and Ends from an Artist's Life," Chapter IV, part 2. 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.]

Grandmother had a niece there -- the only niece she had -- the daughter of her brother Charles, Eliza Hughes. Uncle Charles had been in Congress and lived in Alexandria, across the Potomac from Washington. There was a night session of Congress one very rainy and [stormy] night, and Uncle Charles wanted to go over to the Capitol. In those days there were no bridges, only a ferry boat. And very dim lights at the pier. The boat was rocking on the rough waves and as Uncle Charles tried to step aboard, he mised the footing and fell in the river. In the dark and the storm they could not [find] him and he drowned. His wife was dead, so his little daughter was taken and brought up in a friend's family, that of Gov. [John Buchanan Floyd], Cousin Nicketti's father [brother]. 

Cousin Eliza had married Judge Hughes of Norfolk, where they lived in the winters. In the summers [they] stayed at their place near Abingdon, called Val Verde. We used to visit out there, as well as at Eggleston. I remember one time we [were] out there and Cousin Sally Floyd, who had brought up Cousin Eliza, and was of course an old lady, was also visiting there. She was strongly allergic to cats. So whenever she was there, the family cat was shit up in the corn crib. This was a small building outside, with slatted sides, where the dry corn on the cob was stored as feed for the livestock. One morning we were all at the breakfast table and suddenly Cousin Sally screamed and fainted dead away. Everybody knew exactly what had happened. Old Tom had gotten out of the corn crib somehow. Sure enough, he was happily coming in the door.

Mother had entered me at Martha Washington College, though I was very young for college. The building was a big rambling old house, formerly the mansion of the Preston family, cousins of ours who had gone out in the world years before. I was well up in most studies, was reading Virgil, and went into classes of girls older than myself.

Except arithmetic! Both Mother and Grandmother hated arithmetic, so it was slurred over at home. I had never gotten beyond the rudiments. Once in a while Father would ask if I knew the multiplication table. I never did. He thought that disgraceful (which it was) and I was put in a room and told that I must stay there till I learned it. At first I threw myself on the floor and bawled. But when I got good and hungry I would rise up, buckle down and learn it. Then I'd recite it glibly to Mother and be let out. When Dad returned from the office, again a glib recital. But a day or so later, it had escaped me utterly. Evidently I was not built for mathematics. So this had to be gone through periodically. At college I had to go into an [elementary] class with small children. Most humiliating. But my teacher very kindly offered to hear me recite after hours, so I could catch up. Soon I went into University arithmetic with my contemporaries. I crammed before exams and got through. But none of it stayed with me. Through life I have managed to keep my accounts straight because I had to. But it always takes agonized concentration, and at the moment death seems preferable.

The Cave House, 1857/58, built for Anna Liza Hickman Campbell*

We boarded at Mrs. Ann Eliza Campbell's house. (Everybody pronounced it Analiza.) In her back yard was the large entrance to a cave. There was a spring just inside and shelves had been put up and she used it as a springhouse, where she kept her butter, milk, etc. It was always very cool in the summer. One could walk back in the cave for quite a distance to a place where there was a well. Overhead an opening had been cut up into the back yard of a family living farther up the street, who used the well. It was [said] that if you looked up from the cave through this opening you could see the stars at midday.

[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. 

Grandmother = Jane Johnston Mitchell/Michel (1811-1892).
Mother = Mary Louisa/Louise Mitchell/Michel Binckley (1838-1930).
Dad/Father = John Milton Binckley (circa 1831-1878).
Eliza Hughes = Eliza Mary Johnston Hughes (1825-1909).
Charles = Charles Clement Johnston (1795-1832).
His wife = Eliza Madison Preston Johnston (1803-1828).
Hughes = Robert William Hughes (1821-1901).
Nellie is conflating John Floyd (1783-1837) with his son, John Buchanan Floyd (1806-1863), brother of Nicketti Buchanan Floyd Johnston (1819-1908).
Sally Floyd = Sarah "Sally" Buchanan Preston Floyd (1802-1879).
Martha Washington = Francis Preston house, 1832-1858; Martha Washington College, 1858-1935; Martha Washington Inn, 1935-present.
Prestons = Gone with the Wind, but not completely. 
Ann Eliza Campbell = Anna Liza Hickman Campbell, wife of Frank Campbell and daughter of Adam Hickman, who had the "Cave House" built for her (279 East Main Street, Abingdon) in 1858. 
*Cave House picture via Creeper Trail Info 2013. Link here ]

Eliza Henry Preston Carrington to Sally Buchanan Campbell Preston, March 1837

[Eliza Henry Preston Carrington at Halifax Courthouse, Virginia, to Sarah "Sally" Buchanan Campbell Preston at Abingdon, Virginia, containing also John Preston Johnston at Greensboro, North Carolina, to Eliza Henry Preston Carrington at Halifax Courthouse, Virginia, March 15, 1837. Box 26, Folder 9, Robert Morton Hughes Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library, Old Dominion University Libraries, Norfolk, VA 23529. This is my rough transcription. Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading.]

Dear Cousin

For your last letter & what was therein contained (a five dollar note) I am very much obliged to you. I am glad that you are still in the notion of coming here to the examination; but I am wary that you have to come so far to see me disgraced. Every thing goes on here as usual; I have commenced the study of Algebra with which (although very hard) I am very much pleased. I can say without fear of contradiction that we have the best mathematical professor (Mr. Grettor of Richmond Va.) almost in the state. Mr. Wilson is beloved by the whole school; he also is a first-rate linguist.

I wish when you come you would bring with you a few pounds of first rate smoking tobacco for Mr. Wilson (who is a great smoker) which I know would please him very much.  He is a real Irishman, & a better man never lived, he is a very small man not much higher than I am a real Nullifier & very eccentric.

I really believe that I desire as much if not more good from attending the society as from going to school, for I have to speak & write composition & be criticized, but our business is private it is against the laws to disclose any thing that transpires in the society.

I would advise you if you come to stop at Mrs. Mosing’s tavern which is the only decent one in town. My respects to Mr. Gree & the rest of the boys.

                                          Your affectionate

                                                  Cousin

                                           John P. Johnston

My dear Mama

I have just got this letter from Preston and thought I would send it to you that you might see from himself how he is situated and shew it to his uncle. He writes regularly to me once a fortnight, which is what I require of him.

I had one of my bad headaches yesterday and suffered greatly all night. I am not well yet but can’t keep out of the garden [in] this charming weather, there are already a good many flowers blooming, and the air is perfumed by the violets. To our surprize yesterday when we looked out in the morning the ground was covered with snow, but a few hours of the powerful sun dissolved it and we were again enjoying warmth and work in the garden.

Yesterday evening I was lying down when I was disturbed by a bustle at my window, looking out I saw the long ladder which generally stays at the back of the house brought round to the front and all the men about of when fortunately there were a number collected around it, I wen[t] out and saw a light blaze on the roof of the house; however a few buckets of water put it out, and all was quiet in the course of a few minutes, for both the alarm and escape I am truly, thankful.

Tell Nana I wish she would come here and help me to persuade my old man to take us on to the general Assembly, where I hope we would meet Sophy. He has a scheme for Nana which I think he would take the trip to effect and tell her not like summer ones, but a real first rate pious man, an author of some celebrity, & widower with but two grown up sons, and with all very rich, a New Yorker with town & country house. I can answer for his manners which are those of a real gentleman. I beg her to come for I want to go dreadfully.

[$5 in 1837 = about $120 in early 2017.

Eliza Henry Preston Carrington (1796-1877), forty years old here, was married to Edward Codrington Carrington (1790-1855), "my old man."

John Preston Johnston (1824-1847), quite precocious at thirteen years old.

Mr. Grettor of Richmond = not sure who this is.

Mr. Wilson the "real Irishman" = not sure who this is.

Mama = Sarah "Sally" Buchanan Campbell Preston (1778-1846)

His uncle = Beverly Randolph Johnston (1803-1876)

Sophy = presumably Eliza's sister Ann Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge (1803-1844).

Nana = possibly Eliza's sister Susanna Smith Preston McDowell (1800-1847).] 


[Many thanks to Sue Davis, William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration.]   

John Preston Johnston to Susan Smith Preston Radford, April 18, 1842

[John Preston Johnston (aka Johnstone) at West Point, New York, to Susan Smith Preston Radford at Greenfield, Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia, April 18, 1842, to Box 26, Folder 13, Robert Morton Hughes Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library, Old Dominion University Libraries, Norfolk, VA 23529. This is my rough transcription. Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading.]

My dear Aunt

Yrs of 14^th March was received in due time, and by way of following the good example which you therein set me as to answering letters, I sit down to answer yours just three weeks after the reception, which for me, is quite an improvement in regard to all my correspondents, save Lizzy, to whom I always make a point of writing at least once a fortnight; and though I cannot promise you to be by any means an interesting correspondent, or at all times a very punctual one, yet, if you will only be as faithful in answering my epistles, as you were in the last case, I will trouble you with them as often as I can spare time and raise the energy; & tho’ more do I now wish you to write to me, as I have no longer any one, as Lizzy, in Virginia to give me news of my relations there, & consequently am kept in perfect ignorance of every thing concerning them.

Speaking of Lizzy reminds me that she told in her last (which I received only a day or so ago) that she had written you a long letter; a thing I had been trying to get her to do for some time past, but the truth is, that she is as lazy if not lazier about letter writing than myself, & nothing is more difficult for her to do than to open a correspondence, & you must by no means attribute her not having written sooner, to any want of affection or love for Aunt Sarah or yourself, but simply to her aversion to writing; for would you believe that I have been trying for upwards of two years to induce her to write to Uncle Jo, whom she loves as much as any one in the world, and she never did it until the other day, when suddenly a fit of reason seized upon her, & she wrote to both of you about the same time; and I dare say that if you answer her letter &  impress upon her your anxiety for her to continue writing to you, she will not fail to do it. You must have received her letter before this, but in case you have not I will give you her address, which is

                                    “Care of Dr. E. Marks

                                             Barnhamsville

                                                Near

                                                  Columbia

                                                          S.C.”

She is much pleased with her school & shool [school] notes – when she will come to Virginia, she does not know; she will either come with Cousin Margaret, who will come in shortly to see Cousin Thom. married; or if not then, Uncle Syd will bring her in about the 1^st of June, the latter, more probably, as she does not like to lose so much time as she would have to lose, were she to come with Cousin Mary. In my last to her, I gave her, as you desired me to do, your pressing invitation to come and spend her holiday or a portion of it with you & Aunt Sarah.  

Cousin Eliza still continues silent & I really do not know where she is or any thing about her, I shall write again however to her, & direct to Fincastle, some time this month. I have been much mortified at her not writing to me, but I suppose that the settlement of the Gen’s affairs, moving over to Botetourt, &c., occupy all of her attention & time. If you ever see her I pray you do not fail to give her my best love & beg her to write again to me.

Of cousin Sally McDowell’s separation from her husband, I know nothing more than the mere fact that they have separated, & am not aware of any of the reasons which caused it; it certainly is, as you say, a “horrible affair,” but the marriage in the first place I have always considered a very unfortunate one from what I heard of his character: of course, I take it [for] [gr]anted, that “he is entirely to blame.”

I hope very much that Lizzy or Minnie will soon . . . to write me a letter; nothing would please me more than to get one written in their own hand; & tell Lizzy, that if she will knot me a pair of socks, I will send her the next great big paper that comes out, all covered with pictures as Susan Bowyer’s was.

Carlton comes on finely as usual, & no doubt will continue to get along very well, though as well as myself he does get tired of studying sometimes; in fact, his stay here has raised in him so belligerent a disposition, that he is hot for joining the Texans to invade Mexico, especially if he could get Winston to go out before-hand to see what kind of place it is!! As for myself, I incline rather to entering the service of the Grand Seigneur of Turkey, or of offering myself as Commander in Chief of his forces to the Chief of the Celestial Empire; I have no doubt but that I could cause the British to “clear out” in “Double Quick.”

I see that Wm Radford U.S.N. has been appointed to the command of a sloop of war, & has lately sailed from New Orleans with the American Minister for Mexico; last fall as soon as he was kicked by Miss Bruce he came to New York, & got “ordered for sea” to cure his broken heart, though Uncle Jo, who saw him there, says he didn’t mind it much. I hear, by the way, that they (the Misses B) have been in Washington city for some time, giving more magnificent & grand Levees, than even the President can afford.

Do make Uncle Radford write me a letter; I should so like to get one from him, or aunt Sarah, or Uncle Bowyer; & if in no other way, the next let[t]ers I write to Greenfield, shall be directed to Aunt Sarah, for I consider that when I write to one, I write to all, & indeed it is equivalent to it.

Nothing of any interest is now occurring, save that from the last advices there appears a little more hope of War, a very pleasing thing to us.

Give me love most affectionately to Aunt Sarah, & the whole of her family, forget not to remember me also to any of my relations or acquaintances in that pat of the world whom you may from time to time come across. As I have very little spare time, any letters have to be written by snatches & piecemeal, & I doubt whether they are very commendable for accuracy, so you must excuse them.

                                               Yr. nephew

                                                  J. Preston Johnstone

[p.s.] Carlton sends h[is love] to the whole of Greenfield, & so do I; oh [how we] wish we could only have a chance to co[me] see you this summer; but, at any rate, ther[e] is very  little over one year more & then Lt. Johnstone U.S.A. is his own man.   JPJ

[Susan = Susanna (Susan) Smith Preston Radford (1805-1857).

Preston = John Preston Johnston/aka Johnstone (1824-1847), eighteen-year-old cadet at the US Military Academy (Class of 1843).

Lizzy = Eliza Mary Johnston (1825-1909).

Aunt Sarah = Sarah Radford Preston Bowyer (1806-1848)

Uncle Jo = First Lieutenant Joseph Eggleston Johnston (1807-1891), US Corps of Topographical Engineers.

Dr. E. Marks = Elias Marks (1790-1886), head of Columbia Female College, known variously as Barhamsville Academy, Barhamsville Collegiate Institute and South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute. Lizzy was a boarding student there at the time.

Cousin Margaret = Margaret Buchanan Frances Preston Hampton (January 13, 1818-January 27, 1852); she had married Wade Hampton III (1818-1902) in Abingdon, Virginia, on October 10, 1838.

Cousin Thom. = Thomas Lewis Preston (1812-1903) married Elizabeth Watts (1822-1843) on September 18, 1842.

Uncle Syd = Algernon Sidney Johnston (1801-1852).

Cousin Mary = this could be one of several people, unless he means Margaret above.

Cousin Eliza Carrington = Elizabeth (Eliza) Henry Preston Carrington 1796-1877).

General Carrington = Edward Codrington Carrington (1790-1855).

Cousin Sally McDowell = Susanna “Susan” Smith Preston McDowell (1800-1847), was married to James McDowell (1795-1851). But how Cousin Sally McDowell fits into the puzzle, I’m not sure.

Lizzy = Elizabeth “Lizzy” Radford (1832-1898).

Minnie = Mary Anne “Minnie” Radford (1833-1878).

Susan Bowyer = one of the Bowyer clan.

Carlton = Richard Carlton Walker Radford (1822-1886), West Point Class of 1845.

Winston = Edmond Winston Radford (1820-1861), who married Ann Maria Norvell on October 2, 1844. He was later killed at the Battle of First Manassas / First Bull Run.

William Radford, U.S.N. (1809-1890). The sloop was the USS Ontario with sixteen guns. Radford had a storied career with the US Navy, siding with the Union during the American Civil War.

Miss Bruce = either Sarah “Sally” Bruce (1822-1882) or Ellen Carter Bruce (1820-1862) of Halifax County, Virginia, daughters of James Bruce (1763-1837), third wealthiest man in the USA at the time of his death. Sally married James Alexander Seddon (1815-1880) on December 23, 1845. Ellen married James Marion Morson (1817-1868) on September 13, 1843.

Uncle Radford = William Moseley Radford (1810-1873), husband of Susanna (Susan) Smith Preston Radford.

Uncle Bowyer = Henry Morton Bowyer (1802-1893), husband of Sarah Radford Preston Bowyer.]

[Many thanks to Sue Davis, William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration.]  

Susan Smith Preston Radford to John Preston Johnston, March 14, 1842

[Susan Smith Preston Radford at Greenfield, Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia, to John Preston Johnston at West Point, New York, March 14, 1842. Endorsed by Pres: “Rec’d March 21^st 1842. Ansr’d April 18^th 1842.” Box 26, Folder 13, Robert Morton Hughes Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library, Old Dominion University Libraries, Norfolk, VA 23529. This is my rough transcription. Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading.]

My dear Preston

I promised myself that I would (by way of setting you a good example) answer you ever-welcome letter the day after I received it, but first one thing and then another has happened to prevent me until I have suffered nearly three weeks to pass without writing.

We have as usual had a lonely and dreary winter one of the mildest we have had for many years every thing begins to wear the face of Spring the fields green, and the peach trees are in full bloom which I much fear will be killed by frost.

Your Uncle Radford returned last evening after a visit of a week to Bedford he left them all well at Father’s. Dr. Radford and his Lady were there I could not go down as we had just got a teacher who boards with us, the little girls are getting on, very well with their studies and I hope will soon be able to write to you, they talk a great deal about you and are always wishing you lived near to us.

Cousin Eliza Carrington has not yet arrived in Botetourt but is expected the last of this month she has been greatly perplexed & harassed & I much fear it is not to end with her removal to Botetourt. It is generally believed that the Gen’l is totally ruined.

Aunt Sally I heard had settled something quite handsome on Cousin Eliza and we heard Mr. Brace had given some ten or fifteen slaves to the children, so that in any event they will be much richer than any of us in this part of the country. She has too you know a very opulent brother, and cousin Tom will be able & I have no doubt willing to do a good deal for them if they should require it, by the by have you heard that Cousin Tom Preston is certainly to be married to our Botetourt Bell [Belle] Miss Elizabeth Watts, since Mr. Holcomb’s marriage he has been a constant visitor and is to be married ere long – the day not fixed but all other preliminaries settled, I hope and trust that he will be happy for I have a sincere affection for him.

I had not heard until you wrote that Eliza had gone to the South pray when you write give me her address I wish to write to her and beg her to spend next summer with me, I know our house and neighborhood offers very few attractions for a young person but to tell you the truth I want to get acquainted with Eliza and she will not be able to stay in the South during the Summer months. I would be sincerely glad to have her with me, tell her as much in your next letter and when I know certainly where she is, I will write to her.

I did hear that cousin Sally Floyd expected to settle in Abingdon but her health is so bad she will hardly continue to keep house long.

Cousin Tom said Aunt Sally would come down as soon as the roads were passable to visit her daughter Mrs. McDowell who is in great affliction as I suppose you have heard of Sally’s separation from her husband Mr. Thomas of Maryland it is a horrible affair but all agree he is entirely to blame.

Mr. Peyton left here last Sunday on is way to Washington with his daughters to put them under the care of your Uncle Edward. I am truly glad to hear you say he is doing so well I hope he will continue to prosper. I think the occupation will suit him much better than teaching did, the old French people have gone to be with him in Washington.

When you see Uncle Joe remember me kindly to him I am not so entirely unacquainted with having met him some years ago in New York and I was exceedingly pleased with him.

Susan Bowyer received your big paper and was exceedingly pleased with it, the boys are going to school to our teacher and I hope are doing well. Tom I think is to be a plantation man. Tell Carleton to write to us we would be very glad to hear from him.

Your uncle and the little girls write with me in kind love to you Liz says she will knit you some socks if a soldier will were [wear] them. Write soon to your affectionate Aunt.

                                             S. S. Radford

                                                         

[S. S. Radford = Susanna (Susan) Smith Preston Radford (1805-1857)

Preston = John Preston Johnston/aka Johnstone (1824-1847), eighteen-year-old cadet at the US Military Academy (Class of 1843).

Dr. Radford and his Lady = Dr. John Blair Radford (1813-1872) and Elizabeth Campbell Taylor Radford (1820-1886).

Eliza Carrington = Elizabeth (Eliza) Henry Preston Carrington (1796-1877)

Gen’l Carrington = Edward Codrington Carrington (1790-1855)

Aunt Sally = probably Sarah “Sally” Buchanan Campbell Preston (1778-1846)

Mr. Brace = not sure who this is.

Cousin Tom, Tom Preston = presumably the same person = Thomas Lewis Preston (1812-1903) who married Elizabeth Watts (1822-1843) on September 18, 1842.

Mr. Holcomb = not sure who this is.

Eliza = Eliza Mary Johnston (1825-1909)

Sally Floyd = Sarah “Sally” Buchanan Preston Floyd (1802-1879)

Mrs. McDowell = probably Susanna “Susan” Smith Preston McDowell (1800-1847), married to James McDowell (1795-1851).

Sally = Aunt Sally above? Did she remarry briefly after the death of her husband Francis Smith Preston (1765-1836)? Or is this another Sally?

Mr. Thomas of Maryland = not sure who this is.

Mr. Peyton = probably either William Madison Peyton (1814-1868) or General Bernard Peyton (1792-1854), then serving on the Virginia Military Institute’s Board of Visitors with General Peter Carr Johnston (1793-1877), general in the Virginia militia. Probably Sue and Lizzie Peyton, who had been students of Edward’s at Botetourt Springs, circa 1839-1840.

Edward William Johnston (1799-1867) had moved to Washington City by this point. He was working as a newspaper editor but also, it appears, boarding and tutoring students.

The old French people = Jerome de Cressac Villagrand (1776-1845) and Joséphine Labarrière Costar de Cressac Villagrand (circa 1776-1858), mother of Estelle, Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar (De Cressac Villagrand) (ca. 1802-1848).

Joe = Joseph Eggleston Johnston (1807-1891), first lieutenant in the US Corps of Topographical Engineers.

Susan Bowyer = one of the Bowyer clan.

Carlton = Richard Carlton Walker Radford (1822-1886), West Point Class of 1845.

Little girls = Elizabeth (“Liz”) Radford (1832-1898) and Mary Anne Radford (1833-1878).]

[Many thanks to Sue Davis, William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration.]  

Susan Smith Preston Radford to John Preston Johnston, November 24, 1839

[Susanna (Susan) Smith Preston Radford (1805-1857) at Greenfield, Virginia, to John Preston Johnston at West Point, New York, November 24, 1839. Box 26, Folder 13, Robert Morton Hughes Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library, Old Dominion University Libraries, Norfolk, VA 23529. This is my rough transcription. Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading.]

My dear Preston

I have been entirely to blame for not writing to you sooner, be assured of one fact my dear child that my silence has not proceeded from want of affection. When I received your letter I was engaged in nursing your Aunt Sarah in her confinement which lasted a month she is now quite well and her boy William Radford his name is a very stout fine fellow.

Your uncle Radford has just recovered from quite a tedious spell of fever he was not very ill but sick enough to keep his bed for ten days he was prevented from taking his long promised trip to Missouri, Mr. Bowyer & Mr. Peyton have just returned. Your uncle Bowyer disgusted with every thing he saw in that country, poor as it is. He says your uncle William Preston’s family is buried alive they have no society nearer than St. Louis a distance of 50 miles and not a great deal there; he had four daughters grown and quite pretty but not very polished of that you are to say nothing about.

I received a letter yesterday from Opelousas informing me of the death of your grand mother Preston. She died of Yellow Fever she was only sick four days, singular coincidence of her having the same disease and dying in the month and the same day of the month (viz. the 15^th) that your uncle Edward did. Your uncle’s widow and child were alive but the last accounts from there the fever was still raging.

I have not heard a word from your sister since she left us last August she has not yet returned to school, I am afraid your uncle Edward is doing a poor business this session he has only nine schollars [scholars] – he has himself to blame for it, as his course was a very injudicious one last summer. He suffered the girls to run wild and to do just as they pleased he was frequently told of but made no alterations in his rules until the whole country was talking about the girls; the consequence was that all the parents kept their children at home, if they had have had last session the same regulations that they now have & the same assistants (Frederic[k] Johnston & Lady) I have no doubt there [their] school would have been very large. There is a report I know not how true it is that the school is to break up at Christmas I hope it is not the case.

I hope dear Preston you continue to be pleased with your situation, and that you will continue to act in such a way as to be able to retain your situation with honour everything depends upon yourself attend strictly to all the rules a[nd] regulations of the institution be just and honest in all your dealings and above all do not forget the religious instructions you have received from your kind relation Mrs. Carrington.

I wish my child you would write often to me and let me know every-thing about yourself your uncle would be very glad to get a letter from you he is not at home to day or I am sure he would add a few lines to my letter.

Your little cousins join in love to you and wish very much you were here to join with us in sating apples & drinking good cider.

      May God bless you my dear child is the

               Prayer of your affectionate

                      Aunt Susan

[Susan = Susanna (Susan) Smith Preston Radford (1805-1857)

Preston = John Preston Johnston/aka Johnstone (1824-1847), fifteen-year-old plebe cadet at the US Military Academy (Class of 1843).

Aunt Sarah = Sarah Radford Preston Bowyer (1806-1848)

Your uncle Radford = William Moseley Radford (1810-1873), husband of Susan.

Mr. Bowyer = Henry Morton Bowyer (1802-1893), married to Sarah.

Mr. Peyton = either William Madison Peyton (1814-1868) or General Bernard Peyton (1792-1854), then serving on the Virginia Military Institute’s Board of Visitors with General Peter Carr Johnston (1793-1877), general in the Virginia militia.

William Preston = William Radford Preston (1799-1846), married to Elizabeth Ann (Eliza) Cabell Preston (1799-1889).

Four daughters = their daughters included: Pauline, Marion, Aurinthia, Elizabeth, Isadora and Rebecca.

Opelousas = in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.

Grand mother Preston = Susan’s stepmother, Elizabeth Ann Carrington Preston (1768-October, 1839).

You uncle Edward = Edward Carrington Preston (1812-1837)

Widow and child = Mary Edmonia Hawkins Preston (1817-?) and Edward Carrington Preston II (1836-1886).
Your sister = Eliza Mary Johnston (1825-1909)

Your uncle Edward = Edward William Johnston (1799-1867), forty years old, was attempting to run a school at Botetourt Springs (now the site of Hollins University) on the property formerly owned by his uncle Charles Johnston (1769-1833).

Frederic[k] Johnston & Lady = Frederick Johnston (1804-1893) and Elizabeth Ann Carter Burwell Johnston (1810-1861).

Mrs. Carrington = possibly Elizabeth (Eliza) Henry Preston Carrington 1796-1877), married to Edward Codrington Carrington (1790-1855), or someone from the same extended family.

Little cousins = Elizabeth Radford (1832-1898) and Mary Anne Radford (1833-1878).]

[Many thanks to Sue Davis, William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration.]