You and I know that's the Community House, but now people from out-of-town won't be going in there thinking that it's the town hall. Not as often, anyway. |
The Community House on the evening of the Milford Regional Medical Center melange - November 7. |
November 15, 2015 No. 288 The Kentuckians, Part 2 Hopedale in November Additions to existing pages on hope1842 during the past week include: Marge Hattersley (Milford News article and picture on the retirement party for Marge.) Now and Then - The Post Office (Clipping tells of the William Bancroft house/Brae-Burn Inn annex that once stood where the post office is now.) The Henry Lillie house and sawmill (Map added to show location) Deaths <><><><><><><><><><> Just received and for sale at the Hopedale Blank Book Manufactory, a very superior article of "Orrris Tooth Soap," expressly adapted to purify the teeth, by removing all noxious substances so injurious to their growth and beauty and thus giving to them a pearly whiteness. It also imparts to the breath an agreeable perfume, and, unlike most other soaps, has no injurious properties. The Practical Christian, Hopedale, February 6, 1858. The abolishment of slates and the earlier adoption of pen and ink in the primary work is advisable. The little folks should use crayons. They have less strain brought to bear upon untrained muscles and undeveloped nerves if they learn to form their first letters standing at the blackboard rather than cramping tiny fingers around heavy pencils, and bending their small bodies to bring the eyes too near the painful labor of forming the new characters. Elmer E. Sherman, Superintendent of Schools, 1894 <><><><><><><><><><> The Kentuckians, Part 2 Continuing from last time, here's a bit more about General Draper's in-laws and extended Kentucky connections, starting with his father-in-law, Confederate General William Preston. General Preston himself was an eminent lawyer, a distinguished statesman, and a brave and successful soldier. He was a lieutenant-colonel in the Mexican War, member of Congress, United States minister to Spain, major-general in the Confederate Army, and special envoy from the Confederacy to Maximilian in Mexico. He commanded the Kentucky division, which broke our line at the battle of Chickamauga, after losing a large percentage of its effective force dead and wounded on the field. He had an especially brilliant staff, including Captain (now Senator) Blackburn, Theodore O'Hara, who wrote "The Bivouac of the Dead," (in Mexican War) and Walker Fearn, afterwards minister to Greece and judge of the International Court at Cairo. He possessed large means, inheriting a large part of the land on which the city of Louisville now stands. A man of commanding presence and great social talent, highly educated, and an eloquent speaker, he became naturally one of the leading figures in his own State and the entire South. Mrs. Preston, nee, Margaret Wickliffe, was a worthy wife for such a husband. -- in fact, she was of the same stock, being his third cousin. Her father, Robert Wickliffe, was a prominent lawyer and United States circuit judge, and, like her husband, a large land owner. In his later years he was commonly called "The Old Duke," because of his distinguished bearing. Her uncle, Charles Wickliffe, was governor of Kentucky and United States Postmaster General. Her stepmother was the daughter of John Todd, who commanded the pioneer forces and was killed at the Battle of Blue Licks. Her brother, Robert Wickliffe, Jr., was the United States minister to Sardinia at the time of King Humbert's birth, and later, while ambassador to Rome, I found among the archives a copy of his letter announcing that event. She was devoted to the social side of life and was famous both in America and Europe as an entertainer. She took pride in having given the first course dinner west of the Alleghenies, and her gold table service (procured while General Preston was minister to Spain) was the pride, and one of the wonders of the State. This service my wife inherited, and it served and excellent purpose while I was ambassador to Italy. During the War of the Rebellion, while General Preston was in the field, she was hospitable to both sides, and on one occasion, when a Union officer was breakfasting with her and some Confederate forces arrived, she saved the former from capture by hiding him in the tower of the hose, while General Bragg and some of his officers finished the breakfast. During the meal her little daughter spoke of the man in the tower, but it was received as a joke and the Union officer escaped. Mrs. Preston's great regret was that he was obliged to go without finishing his meal. Later, it being thought that in her letters to her husband, which passed easily through the lines, she might give information of the movements of the Union troops, she was notified that she must leave the State; and at great pecuniary loss she abandoned her home, raised money, and took her family to Canada, where she resided until the war was over. There, the Canadian sympathy being with the South, she was warmly received in the best circles and became almost a heroine among them. Among other friends made there, who have continued close friends, since, was Sir Garnet Wolseley, then lieutenant-colonel on Sir Fenwick William's staff, and later commander of the British Army. Coming from such ancestry, my wife naturally inherited their characteristics. Thoroughly devoted to the "Lost Cause" and permeated with its attendant views, not to say prejudices, she was a type of the southern aristocrat, a type that is passing out of sight with the division of the estates of the old families, which after division cannot support the ancient splendor. She, however, was able to see that the question between the two sections was settled and to appreciate the good points of the broader, if less picturesque, northern civilization. We, therefore did our part toward filling up the "bloody chasm," and I think it is the only instance on record where a general in the Union Army married the daughter of a Confederate general whom he had met on the field of battle, or vice versa. William F. Draper, Recollections of a Varied Career, pp. 204-205. The wedding of Gen. Draper and Susan Preston Draper marriages to Kentucky mates Ezine Menu HOME |
Gen. William Preston, C.S.A. |