Moving Along

Before leaving Martha Dandridge Bibb, I applaud her pioneer efforts for working women. In “the box”, I found several small booklets entitled, “Association for Aiding Working Women and the Helpless”, of which M.D.B. was a Trustee. The Association was organized in 1881 in Montgomery and according to their Constitution--

“the object of the Association shall be to provide a home for Working Women and the Helpless in which they can obtain comfortable rooms to aid them in obtaining, work, so that they may be able to make a support for themselves and their children—to care for them in sickness, and to use every means to help them to help themselves.”

Martha Dandridge Bibb can rest on her laurels.

Introducing a new set of characters:

My other 2nd Great-Great-Grandmother

Susanna Eliza Dunlap Porter

June 17, 1832 - November 5, 1914
and her husband

Governor James Davis Porter
1828 – 1912

Governor Porter has been mentioned, but not properly introduced, nor has his wife, nor have the paths from Kentucky and Tennessee.

Enter here those paths. James Davis Porter of Paris, Tennessee, and Susanna Eliza Dunlap married June, 1851. She was the daughter of John Henry Dunlap and Marietta Beauchamp Dunlap also of Paris, Tennessee. Governor Porter’s wife was affectionately called “Sue” by him and perhaps others but I have no record of that. Her ancestors, the Dunlaps, were among the earliest settlers in Tennessee, and the founding settlers of Knoxville. James D. Porter’s family, the Kennedys, were the founding settlers of Covington, Kentucky, originally called Kennedy Landing or Kennedy’s Ferry until 1815, and the builders of the historic Old Stone House.

According to a newspaper clipping, tradition says that while visiting in the area, Harriet Beecher Stowe stayed with the Kennedys at the Old Stone House and while there, wrote several chapters of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.

Next post, some of their correspondence.