Elizabeth Keckley's "Behind the Scenes at the Lincoln White House

[Donna McCreary]

(04-21-2013 03:59 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Speaking of museums, has anyone ever visited the Batavia Historical Society?

Yes, I was there several years ago. The furniture used by Mary during her stay is displayed there.

[RJNorton]

Thanks, Donna. I lived in the Chicago area for over 50 years and never realized it.

[Jim Page]

(04-26-2013 04:04 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  I lived in the Chicago area for over 50 years and never realized it.

Where, then, Roger, did you think you were?!?!?

Sorry; I couldn't resist the joke!!!

--Jim

[RJNorton]

Good one, Jim! I actually do have a photographic memory; I just haven't developed it yet.

[Laurie Verge]

About a dozen years ago, the LGDC had a speaker who had grown up at the Batavia institution during the 1930s or 40s while his father was based there.

[Thomas Kearney]

Not much is known about Lizzie Keckley or who she was. I am currently reading her autobiography "Behind The Scenes" where you can learn about Keckley's early life, including how she was flogged by her master at age four for dropping the newest addition to his family, her struggle to gain her freedom while living as a slave in St. Louis, and some surprising facts, like the fact she worked as a dressmaker for Varina Davis. "Behind The Scenes" is a must have item for your Lincolniana collection!

[L Verge]

I agree completely that her book should be read by many, Thomas. You may not know this, but the Surratt Society (under the leadership of our former research librarian at the museum, Sandra Walia) was instrumental in raising the funds (over $6000) to mark the grave of Mrs. Keckly about five years ago. You can read about this on our website at surrattmuseum.org.

[LincolnToddFan]

I read "Behind The Scenes". Keckley lived an amazing life. To say that she was a courageous, resilient woman is an understatement. It really made me sad that she ended up indigent and alone....she deserved better.

[Susan Higginbotham]

If you're ever in Hillsborough, NC, you can see the Burwell School, where Keckley was enslaved (her master and mistress ran a girls' school):





This is the marker of Alexander Kirkland, who fathered Keckley's child, in the family graveyard at Ayr Mount in Hillsborough. I doubt Keckly would agree with the laudatory epitaph:

[RJNorton]

Susan, thank you for posting these photos!!!

Thomas, here is the program cover for the tombstone dedication that Laurie mentioned above.

[L Verge]

Toia, I cried first when learning that her beloved son was killed near the beginning of the Civil War. He had passed for white and enlisted in the Union Army. I have always felt that the loss of children is what forged the friendship between Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly. Mrs. Keckly devoted herself to helping the newly freed men and women, and Mrs. Lincoln never gets the credit I think she deserves for helping in that cause also.

P.S. The photo of Elizabeth Keckly that we used on the cover of that program came to us "quietly" via Roger's former 8th grade student, the well-known and well-respected Lincoln scholar Thomas Schwartz. Most people are used to seeing a younger Lizzie in what appears to be slave garb. That is actually an artist's sketch that does not even resemble Mrs. Keckly and was not intended to - if I am correct.

[Thomas Kearney]

I remember learning at Wilson's Creek the Summer between 8th and 9th grade that Keckley's son was killed there. See I used the proper word for the sentence.

[Rsmyth]

In 1868 John Brown biographer, James Redpath, edited "Behind the Scenes." It is not known how much of the book was his work. Her son was named George Hobbs.

George Hobbs was one of the Union Soldiers killed on August 10, 1861. In her book, Elizabeth, in part, wrote the following:

“Previous to this I had lost a son. Leaving Wilberforce, he went to the battlefield with the three months troops, and was killed in Missouri – found his grave on the battlefield where the gallant General Lyon fell.

The gallant General Lyon is Nathaniel Lyon who was shot in the heart and killed on Bloody Hill during the fighting. Lyon was the first general to die in the war and like all the dead was buried on the battlefield. The general was later disinterred for reburial in Connecticut. Elizabeth’s son was also killed that day. The remainder lay where they were buried until 1867 when a national cemetery was dedicated in Springfield. The dead, North and South were moved to the Springfield National Cemetery.

Unfortunately the majority of the dead were not identified. A bronze plaque in the cemetery is inscribed as follows:

UNITED STATESNATIONAL MILITARY CEMETERY SPRINGFIELD ESTABLISHED 1867 INTERMENTS 1521KNOWN 832 UNKNOWN 889

Although George Hobbs is not listed among those interred at Springfield National Cemetery there is a marker for each of the “unknown” buried there. In all probability, this is his final resting place.

[L Verge]

(03-06-2015 10:49 AM)Thomas Kearney Wrote:  I remember learning at Wilson's Creek the Summer between 8th and 9th grade that Keckley's son was killed there. See I used the proper word for the sentence.

Excellent, Thomas, you're a quick learner! Stick with us die-hard teachers, and we'll have you speaking and writing like a pro in no time.

Lesson #2 from this post: Your sentence structure would be better using the following example - "During the summer between 8th and 9th grade I remember learning that Keckley’s son was killed at Wilson’s Creek." Also, you do not need to capitalize "Summer," and I believe that I am correct that Mrs. Keckly did not use the second "e" in her name.

Rich Smyth - Thank you for posting about her son and his early death. Folks, Rich is the one who had the patience to track down Mrs. Keckly's remains after her original burial place was bought by developers. We thought the records had been lost, but Rich tracked them down and finally found a cemetery official who was willing to do some searching in the files. He was the one who suggested that the Surratt Society take on the project of marking her grave for the second time.

So far as we can determine, her first gravestone was either carted off as debris by contractors, or "snitched" by someone who used gravestones to shore up their waterside property.

I would also like to put in a plug for Jennifer Fleischner's biography of "Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly." There have been several others also, but they were more historical novels than bios. I also found that David Rankin Barbee - whom many of us recognize as a rabid researcher on the Lincoln assassination - once posited that Elizabeth Keckly did not exist. After her death, Elizabeth suffered the further indignity of having not only her memoirs questioned, but whether or not she existed at all.

"In 1935, a journalist named David Rankin Barbee, stated that not only had Elizabeth Keckly not written her autobiography, but that she never existed at all. Barbee claimed that the abolitionist writer Jane Swisshelm was the true author and had written it to advance her abolitionist cause. Many people who read the article challenged his claim, and came forward citing personal and/or secondary acquaintance. In an effort to 'clarify' his erroneous statements, Barbee backtracked and said that it "was not that no such person as Elizabeth Keckly existed, but that "no such person as Elizabeth Keckley wrote the celebrated Lincoln book." Good save!

[LincolnToddFan]

[Toia, I cried first when learning that her beloved son was killed near the beginning of the Civil War. He had passed for white and enlisted in the Union Army. I have always felt that the loss of children is what forged the friendship between Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly. Mrs. Keckly devoted herself to helping the newly freed men and women, and Mrs. Lincoln never gets the credit I think she deserves for helping in that cause also.]// quote Laurie

I could not possibly agree more. Keckly treasured her only boy, despite the traumatic manner in which she became pregnant with him. Poor Lizzie. Poor George.

President Lincoln had a lot of respect for her. According to Keckly he always referred to her as "Madame Elizabeth"...quite remarkable for a woman of color who was also a servant. And I suspect he was also grateful to her for the companionship and comfort she gave his wife.

She donated many Lincoln artifacts to Wilberforce University...for example AL's hairbrush and a quilt from his bed. But I think they might have been lost or destroyed in a fire.

I was under the impression that Keckley's remains were lost after the cemetery in which she was buried was closed. I am SO happy to learn that she was found and is being given the honor and respect that she deserves. Rankin Barbee made some unprintable comments about this remarkable lady. I will not even bother wasting more time on him.

THANK YOU RICH SMYTH!! And a BIG thank you to Susan for the amazing photos!