Tributes and Treasures

Picking up with Sophie Bibb, woman with a cause, a purpose, and a tender heart. Again, quoting from my book:

"When Sophie Gilmer Bibb died January 9, 1887, three years after the death of her husband, Judge Bibb, she was honored in death with a public demonstration unparalleled in the history of the State. The City and Supreme Courts were suspended during her funeral, which the Veterans and State officials attended in a body, and it was stated that such impressive honors were never paid in Alabama to any other woman.”

Sophie and her husband are buried in Montgomery at the old Oakwood Cemetery in the same plot as Elizabeth Lewis Gilmer. That cemetery is a trip unto itself. It is divided into the very old and the more recent. An example of the more recent is the grave of Hank Williams--guitar, boots, etc. all on his tombstone statuary.  Sorry, no picture of Hank.

Again, here's more on Sophie and the way she was remembered. This excerpt from my book is a quote from a piece written in the 1960s.  The Sophie Bibb Chapter is no longer in existence, but the UDC still convenes at the old cemetery on Confederate Memorial Day. Her home did remain on Moulton Street where my grandmother resided as the last descendant of Sophie until the late 1960s when the house was demolished  It may no longer exists physically, but  in my memory it stands and I imagine  it will remain steadfast until my memory eludes me.

"The largest chapter of United Daughters of the Confederacy in Alabama bears the name of Sophie Bibb a fitting tribute to one whose heart was bound up in the Lost Cause. The old home of Sophie Bibb still stands at 111 Moulton Street, Montgomery, Alabama, this being the dwelling where she spent most of her life, and it is still occupied by her descendants."

One more quick thing I should mention--the treasure, or the "holy grail" of our family's possessions. Through the years, the family has carefully guarded the goblet from which Jefferson Davis drank when he paid his last respects to Sophie. It is still in the family at my house with a newspaper clipping and a handwritten description of the event. I'm sure it hasn't been polished since the day JD drank from it. His DNA may be on it for all I know. It sits in an antique case I called the "curio case" and I wonder what to do with this sacred object. I must admit, I think it should be passed on to a museum and I'm considering such a transition as a likely one.

Sophie was a good woman and she had good women around her. The next post will bring them, or at least one of them, into light.

These are portraits of Benajah and Sophie Bibb in the Alabama Department of Archives and History Building in Montgomery with their descendant, me.