Mary and the African American church

[Donna McCreary]

I remember reading a story in which a nearby African American church wanted to hold a Sunday School festival and luncheon on the South Lawn of the White House. According to the story, Mary granted permission and said for the staff to "have everything done in the grand style for them."

Does anyone have a source for this story? I found an article on-line, but it used no footnotes.

[Steve]

The St. Matthew's Colored Sunday School held an anniversary and independence day celebration on the White House grounds on July 4, 1864. Is that what you are referring to?

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lin...16%2C+1864

[Donna McCreary]

Steve, Yes, and thank you. This is the event I am researching. I am still wondering where the quote from Mary is located.

[ELCore]

A fuller story, though I can't vouch for its accuracy, says that the festival was also a fund-raiser: the black Catholics wanted to build their own chapel and Sunday School building. See, for instance, President Lincoln and the Black Catholic Community of Washington. Lincoln Day by Day (Monday, July 4, 1864) does not record the event, but it would not do so if Lincoln himself is not known to have put in an appearance.

The article, and (apparently) the book it references, says that the arrangement was facilitated by the husband (Gabriel) of one Mary Coakley who was Mary Lincoln's seamstress. We all know, however, that Elizabeth Keckley was Mrs. Lincoln's dressmaker, and I can't find any mention of a "Mary Coakley" anywhere, though she might very well have been another seamstress working for Mrs. Lincoln or for Mrs. Keckley. Thus, I am unsure of the validity of (at least parts of) the story.

[Steve]

I found these documents that describes Gabriel and Mary Coakley's family when he applied for compensation for the emancipation of his family. Gabriel had bought his wife as a slave and it seems that he didn't emancipate them for legal protection.

http://civilwardc.org/texts/petitions/cww.00332.html

Gabriel's description of Mary is more of a housewife than a professional seamstress, but then again the petition is 2 years prior to the church celebration on the White House lawn.

---

This book has an in-depth description of what happened:

https://books.google.com/books?id=CeUrc-...pg=PA3&dq=

According to the book, while Gabriel Coakley's story and documents about the picnic first appeared in print in 1883, the part about Mary Coakley being a seamstress for Mary Lincoln didn't appear until an oral history interview with Coakley descendants in 1974. That along with the similarity in names of Keckley and Coakley leading to possible confusion would seem to me a good reason to try and see if any contemporary sources back that part of the story up.

[RJNorton]

While researching this I came upon a web page with some colorized images I do not recall seeing before:

https://carlanthonyonline.com/2013/02/22...m-to-know/

I am quite skeptical about Mary Coakley at this point. Does anyone know where in Keckly's book there is a reference to Mary Lincoln employing other seamstresses in addition to Keckly? I would be interested in reading Keckly's exact words on this topic (apparently there is no mention of a Mary Coakley). Thanks.

[ELCore]

So, that Gabriel Coakley was involved in organizing the festival seems more sure than any connection in his family to Mary Lincoln.

And, indeed, the resemblance of "Coakley" to "Keckley" struck me immediately. But, it could be one of life's many weird little coincidences.

[RJNorton]

(04-07-2018 08:08 AM)ELCore Wrote:  So, that Gabriel Coakley was involved in organizing the festival seems more sure than any connection in his family to Mary Lincoln.

Agreed, Lane. It's the Mary Coakley/Mary Lincoln "dressmaker connection" that I wonder about. Anytime a name allegedly connected to the Lincolns is not mentioned until 1974....I wonder....

[Steve]

(04-07-2018 05:10 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  I am quite skeptical about Mary Coakley at this point. Does anyone know where in Keckly's book there is a reference to Mary Lincoln employing other seamstresses in addition to Keckly? I would be interested in reading Keckly's exact words on this topic (apparently there is no mention of a Mary Coakley). Thanks.

Keckley's book is transcribed at this website:

http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/keckley/keckley.html

It should be searchable using your computer's Cltrl-F function. I couldn't find any mention of other dressmakers of Mrs. Lincoln mentioned, but maybe I wasn't looking closely enough.

[Donna McCreary]

Mary hired at least two seamstresses while living in Washington. One was Mary Ann Cuthbert, an Irish immigrant who began her career as a seamstress for Mary and later became the White House housekeeper. Another was Rosetta Wells. I think Rosetta was hired to do the "plain sewing" and therefore, would not be considered a dress maker.

Mrs. Keckly had several women working for her. I have never seen any of their names.
(By the way, since the publication of Jennifer Fleischner's book, I always use the spelling "Keckly.")

---

Regarding Gabriel Coakley, I found this:

http://civilwardc.org/texts/petitions/cww.00332.html

I also found a reference saying the story about the fundraiser for the school first appeared in CATHOLIC MIRROR on June 16, 1883.

[Steve]

I found this great 2007 Washington Post article about the musical legacy of the church:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/l...5a1c2bd05/

Since this thread is focused on whether Mary Coakley helped make Mary Lincoln's dresses, I need to correct an error in the Post article. The Mary A. Coakley who sang in the opera company was Gabriel and Mary's daughter, not Mary herself.

[Donna McCreary]

(04-07-2018 05:10 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  While researching this I came upon a web page with some colorized images I do not recall seeing before:

https://carlanthonyonline.com/2013/02/22...m-to-know/

I am quite skeptical about Mary Coakley at this point. Does anyone know where in Keckly's book there is a reference to Mary Lincoln employing other seamstresses in addition to Keckly? I would be interested in reading Keckly's exact words on this topic (apparently there is no mention of a Mary Coakley). Thanks.

Roger,
This is the article I found which mentions the comment about having everything done up in a grand style. I am still trying to find documentation for the quote.

---

It seems there was at least one more celebration held by an African American church on the White House Lawn. According to the WASHINGTON D.C. EVENING STAR (August 5, 1864), Mr. J. R. Pierre of the 3rd colored Baptist Sabbath school organized an event on the grounds between the Executive Mansion and the War Department. The event was held on August 4, 1864. The money raised from their event was used to purchase a banner for the school. It was to say, "Banner of Freedom."

Now I have found two events . . . and still no documentation for the quote.

[Steve]

To add just a little more confusion to the "Mary Coakley being Mary Lincoln's dressmaker" matter, I checked the 1870 census record and Mary Coakley is only listed as a housewife and she's not listed in any city directories as a dressmaker either. But there is a different Coakley family of dressmakers. There's a Martha Coakley dressmaker listed in the 1863 Washington Directory. So it's possible the author of the 1999 book confused Mary Coakley nee' Calloway, wife of Gabriel with a 1974 oral history of this other Coakley family. (Or it could be one of those weird little coincidences of life; but if that is what happened there's still that delay until 1974 before the dressmaker for Mary Lincoln story is recorded.) Either way, a copy of the original 1974 interview should be found to be sure.

Here's images from 1862 and 1863 District of Columbia directories:

   

   

   


Martha Coakley Find A Grave page:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/142784284

[RJNorton]

Many thanks to Steve for sending these. He found newspaper clippings for the picnics as well as a St Matthew's Sunday School to be held on July 11, 1864 at a Washington Park.

[Donna McCreary]

Thank you for posting all of the newspaper articles! But without dates for these articles, I am confused. Were there two events? or one? I found one article about the St. Matthew's Sunday School picnic, and another article about the Baptist Church fund raiser for the banner. So, were the two events combined into one with both churches participating? Or were there two events - one in July and one in August?