Southern Bypass Comes to Life

Recently, my husband had shoulder replacement.
I'd heard the recovery would be tough, long, and would require lots of help from someone, like me. I knew I would be pretty near home and antsy for at least a month as I tended the recovering Don and his new shoulder. What would I do with all that at-home time? The answer was, "Finish your book, Southern Bypass."
 I had let it lie fallow for a year and a half with a copy on a disc and one in my computer. Its destiny was incomplete until I found a way to get it into the hard copy I'd originally planned  in the process of covering these long trails. My goal for my nursing free -time was set. But how?
About the time of the surgery, I happened to be in a group of  friends who gather regularly to discuss life and philosophy. One of the women is a life coach who has just published a book, Inspired and Prosperous. She told me about a self-publisher she had used, one that allowed lots of leeway in editing, assistance if wanted, and at the end,  a hard copy edition made available on Amazon. Create Space is the on-line company I immediately investigated.  I needed that missing piece of the puzzle and there it was, right on time. I had my publisher and way to accomplish my goal. I could get the seven copies I wanted to give my grandchildren and I had the time to do the final editing.
Having said that, I have completed the book and have it on Amazon. It has mistakes. There's a period in the middle of a sentence. There's a period beside an exclamation mark. And I'm sure a myriad more. But it's done and I worked hard to get it to this place. It's been a four year project, maybe five counting the hours I put into dusting letters and sorting documents. Was it worth it?
Yes. For me, yes. Eventually, for my grandchildren and children, maybe. My daughter has read part of it as she helped in proofing a copy and she told me she feels like she knows my grandmother, Nannie, for the first time. And likes her! Nannie would love that, and she would have loved Meriwether.   I had the same reaction as my daughter throughout the unraveling of my ancestors' lives. I got to know them and understand them. So,yes. It was a worthwhile effort if only for me. However, I sense congratulations from the women whose lives I covered in this chronicle. When I pass my great-great grandmother's  portrait,  I'm almost certain I see a slight nod of approval and a tiny wink of an eye.

On the Money Trail and its Trials

As we continue to travel onward with MDB, we encounter money problems resulting from the changes in the Southern economic climate in a healing country.

Letter and Draft

Hand-written

By Martha Dandridge Bibb

Montgomery, Ala

May, 1897

Dr. G. B. Fowler
Dear Cousin,

"I wish to ask your kind offices in regard to a matter of personal interest. For several years past my finances have been growing 'small by degrees and beautifully less' from the various causes, among them shrinkage values, stringency of these hard times, heavy taxation,  etc..."

 Sound familiar? She goes on to say--

"so I am seeking to build up my broken fortunes and knowing first of all your kind heart and enquiring mind and consequent knowledge of what is transpiring in the great world. I think you can give me some valuable information, and aid me in disposing of some relics and a few pieces of old coin. I am prompted to do this by the clippings, which I enclose. Some years previous to the War, my father came in possession of a fifty cent piece of silver with the date of his marriage, 1819, and gave it to sister Lou as a souvenir. It has on one side a head with the word “Liberty” above the date. It also is the date of Alabama’s admission into the United States. I have a gold dollar, which Dr. Rives received at Washington, Ga., after the surrender of the Confederate Army, dated 1853..."

Her list continues citing specific coins and stamps. I don’t know if she ever mailed the letter or if she simply pondered the idea. Her plight parallels present struggles in today’s fast lane. Not only the trying economic times, but her methods of attempting to “build up broken fortunes” resemble mine. Several of my family treasures have gone into an assortment of hands for various amounts to help in these troubling times. I have discovered Civil War relics maintain their lure and can be good money-makers. One day I may regret parting with James D. Porter’s spurs given to him by General Otho F. Strahl prior to the Battle of Franklin and the General's death. For now, I am grateful he got them, I got them, and someone else got them who appropriately reveres them. Letting go is part of my journey. Who knows what might be next?

Stepping on Toes

My great-great grandmother, MD Bibb, left a trail of letters. Hers by far outnumbered all the others I found in "the box". She carefully copied in duplicate her own letters and held onto them. She also kept correspondence to her family and to her. She is undoubtedly responsible for assembling the majority of documents I found together in one place. Of course, there were others after her who treasured what she had archived, and they probably added bits and pieces, too. I can't help but wonder what they all would have wanted me to do with their legacy. That now is my dilemma.

The next series of correspondence had to do with an on-going dispute with Martha Dandridge Bibb initiated by the family of Mary Phelan who served as Vice President of the Ladies’ Memorial Association under Sophie Bibb. Mrs. Phelan's children believed their mother was being shoved from a rightful place of honor in historical records. I shall mention this dispute briefly, compared to the amount I have in my book.

From Mrs. Phelan's daughter:

Phelan vs. Bibb

Montgomery, Ala.

June 24, ‘93

Mrs. M.D. Bibb.

Pres of L.M.A. (Ladies’ Memorial Association)

Montg. Ala.
"Dear Madam:

I beg your forbearance to read the enclosed letters, I am sure a perusal of them will show you the tenor of mine and my family’s feelings in the discussion between us and prove to you how deeply painful is the fact of seeming to wish to glorify our demised Mother. I have been forced to the issue by a flat contradiction several years after when I said before the Ass’n I had a right to speak to it because my Mother was one of the originators of the Ass’n. I would not have made that speech if I had foreseen the result, then to know a history had been written and her name ever being in doubt. I felt I must correct an injustice. What has subsequently occurred no one can regret as I...

I feel the name of my “dear good Mother” had been trailed in the dust by an excited scene for which I am grievously sorry. I did not wish or intend to convey an impression, I questioned your great, good Mother may have been primary in conceiving the idea of a Memorial Ass’n,..."

Mary Phelan Watt

Response by Martha Dandridge

Hand-written

Montgomery, Ala.
July 1st, 1893

"Dear Madam,

Your note and letters were not received until last night. Absence from home and business engagements must plead my apology for tardiness in acknowledging them.

I did not then make any suggestion in reference to the origin of this ‘Association’ as I did not suppose there was any difference in public opinion in regard to a fact, having the sanction of so many years, and on both occasions, I denied your assertion, simply, because it placed my mother in the unenviable position of receiving commendations for that which she did not deserve...

She was too modest, and too sincere, to have accepted the homage paid her as (your sister expressed it) “the mother of the Association”, had it not been a well known fact, but true to her noble nature would have declared, to Mrs. Judge John D. Phelan this honor is due...

Neither have I any desire to 'glorify my mother'. She only obeyed the promptings of her poise, unselfish character, and her tender sympathy for suffering humanity. She never claimed any superior merit for duty she performed, but often said that the ladies of the ‘Hospital’ and Memorial Associations deserved great praise, and that a nobler band of co-laborers never lived and without their hearty cooperation such grand results could never have been obtained..."

Believe me

Martha Dandridge Bibb

This type communication went on, and on, and on for over ten years!  The Phelans and MDB never resolved their differences but the Phelan family discredited  and assailed Martha Dandridge in a preface to one of the written histories of the Ladies' Memorial Association of Montgomery.  Martha Dandridge responded "in her manner born" by saying to S.H. Phelan--

"I have not replied to the charges made against me in your preface, because I am intensely averse to dissension and contention, and regard our sacred cause as too exalted to have its harmony broken by a discordant note. In this reply, I 'nothing extenuate or set down aught in malice'. In justice to the Memorial Association, to our faithful Secretary and to my honored mother, I must decline to accede to your request. Serious illness of five months duration will plead my apology for the tardiness of my reply."

I suppose the entire issue arose as a result of filial love, an honorable thing. I'm not sure, though. It's only my opinion, but I don't think the mothers, either Mrs. Phelan or Mrs. Bibb, would have cared at all who got credit for what. They seem to me the ones whose intentions were honorable.

A Monumental Task

The next group of letters I reference in my book had to do with the designing, building, and financing the Confederate Memorial Monument in Montgomery, Alabama, after the Civil War.The correspondence was between Martha Dandridge Bibb, Presidient of the Ladies' Memorial Association, and the company, as well as sculptor, in charge of making the monument.

CURBOW-CLAPP MARBLE CO.

Dealers in Marble & Granite Monuments

and Building Stone

Importers of Italian Monuments and Statuary

Iron Fences a Specialty

209 and 211 Dexter Avenue

Montgomery, Ala.

Dec. 3rd 1897
"Dear Mrs. Bibb,
I send you letter from Mr. F. Barnicoat, our sculptor in Quincy, Mass.-also send the photo he speaks of. I think it is a fine piece of modeling and will certainly be a grand piece of work when executed in granite.
There will be no photographs of the Infantry and Cavalry as they were accepted as shown with a few minor changes which are in our specifications with Mr. B.
You will please note what he says about the Marine statue time of shipment. I was afraid it would not be possible to ship as early as February.
If possible I would like to telegraph Mr. B tonight."
Yours very respectfully.
Oliver A. Clapp

A letter from the sculptor:

Hand-written

By Sculptor to Curbow-Clapp Marble Co.

F. BARNICOAT

GRANITE AND STATUARY

QUINCY, WESTERLY, SOUHEGAN

MILLSTONE POINT GRANITE MONUMENTS

CIRCULAR WORK A SPECIALTY

PORTRAIT FIGURES AND BUSTS

MODELING OF EVERY DESCRIPTION SOLDIERS AND IDEAL FIGURES IN GRANITE

SEND FOR DESIGN SHEETS OF GRANITE STATUARY

Quincy, Mass.
March 7, 1898
Curbow-Clapp Marble Co.
Montgomery, Ala
"Dear Sirs,
...We have commenced to cast model in plaster and shall be ready to commence work in the granite as soon as we hear from you. To model and cut this anchor will cost $100.00 extra. It means a good deal of relief work which takes time in granite."
Yours Truly,
F. Barnicoat

Oh, the problems that go hand in hand with construction! Those decisions were just  more in a string of challenges for Martha Dandridge as she marched on to complete her mother's dream. Her involvement  not only meant dealing with the sculptor, etc., but there were money problems as well.
Here's a little background:

"The men’s Historical and Monumental Association founded in 1865 had become quiescent during the dreary, difficult years of Reconstruction in Alabama. In 1885, a new organization, The Monumental and Historical Society, was formed on September 30, chaired by Montgomery Mayor Colonel Warren S. Reese. Under its auspices, Ex-President Jefferson Finis Davis, then 78, laid the cornerstone of the Confederate Monument on the north lawn of the Alabama State Capitol Building in elaborate two day ceremonies on April 29, 1886. However, the Society ran into difficulty raising the $46,000 needed to finish the job. Alabamians were still devastated and struggling...
The women stepped into the breach. The men’s Society had raised $6,755.00. Some shamed politicians raised $5,000, managed to get a legislative grant for $10,000, and then another $10,000 grant. The Ladies’ Memorial Association raised $10,000."

Nothing seemed to deter Martha Dandridge and the Ladies' Memorial Association from seeing their task completed. Martha did say in a communciation--

"…Though I am opposed to women’s rights in general yet regarding all things pure and tender as being within a woman’s presence, I am quite a lobbyist and have strong hopes of success for our Ladies’ Memorial Bill when the Legislature re-convenes in a few days..."

I dare say, she would have been a marcher for women's rights eventually.

Back to the Line

Next in line, after Sophie Gilmer Bibb, is Martha Dandridge Bibb Bibb. This portrait was painted in 1856.

My Great-Great Grandmother

Martha Dandridge Bibb (Bibb)

1828 - 1910

Daughter of Lucy Ann Sophia Gilmer

and Benajah Smith Bibb

Married 1849

1st cousin Joseph Benajah Bibb

1821 – 1869

Son of Reverend Peyton Bibb and Martha Cobb (Bibb)

Children-- Dr. William George Bibb

Captain Peyton B. Bibb

Martha lived in the family home at Moulton Street for her entire life.  She and her husband raised their family there and one of their sons, William George, came back to Montgomery with his bride, set up a medical practice, and continued to live and raise his family under the same roof that had covered him as a young lad.

Sophie's daughter. Martha, known affectionately at "Ma Dike" to family and close friends, picked up where her mother left off and continued to carry the torch ignited by Sophie and the Ladies' Memorial Association. I have dozens of letters written by and to her. She obviously made duplicates of all communications relating to her obligations to carry forth and conclude the efforts of her mother on behalf of the Confederacy.

"M.D.B’s son, William George Bibb, graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and received medical degrees from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, the University of Virginia, and three Universities in New York. He practiced medicine first in Nashville, then went home to practice in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1878, Dr. Bibb married Susanna Dunlap Porter, daughter of James Davis Porter, Governor of Tennessee."  The portrait of the child is William George Bibb, their infant son. He wears a coral sleeve bracelet that I have framed in my "curio case".

Little is recorded from Martha Dandridge’s written history about her two sons, although each of them gained prominence in their respected fields, one as doctor and the other as a Captain in the Navy.  According to records, Louisa S. Bibb known as Aunt Lou, never married but took on the responsibilities of house and parenting while her sister, Martha Dandridge, carried their mother’s torch to the finish line.
From my book:

"Ma Dike and Aunt Lou have stared at me from their gold-leafed encasements all my life, and before me, they stared at my mother. A slight smile on M.D.’s oil-painted once young face is now cracked and dried. It camouflages the true grit that drove her as well as what must have been a deeply entrenched adoration for her mother. The portraits of her, her husband, her sister Aunt Lou, and her child, William George Bibb, hang together now in my house that feels like a wrong turn on their long journey into these modern times and small spaces. The voices from the past secured their place on my mother’s walls with their “Treasure these…Forever!” proclamation that held her allegiant to a cause she never fought. "
For the time being, they are secure on my walls. I do not, however, feel I owe my soul to their immortal care.

Louisa S. Bibb, Aunt Lou. Painted 1856