#52 Ancestors 2024 Week 7 Immigration: Part 1 Immigrant Ancestors Paternal Line

 

With the theme of immigration, I decided to look at how many of my immigrant ancestors I have been able to identify.  However, since there are a lot of them, I'm breaking it down into sections.  Here, I'm looking at the first eight immigrant ancestors from my father's family.

1. Scrivener

As best I can tell, the immigrant in this line was Richard Scrivener, my 6x-great grandfather.  He was born, probably in England, 2 April 1686.  His marriage to Mary Burck was recorded at St. James Parish in Lothian, Anne Arundel County MD on the 1st of September 1709. The parish register also records the birth of three sons to this couple: John (my 5x-great grandfather), Richard, and William.  Richard Sr. was alive in Anne Arundel County until at least 1753 when he is mentioned in an estate settlement, and was likely a tobacco farmer. As I have written about elsewhere, I have not been able to trace Richard back to his origin in England, but I strongly believe that is where he came from. 

2. Barber

The immigrant ancestor of the Barbers in Maryland was Dr. Luke Barber, my 9x-great grandfather, born 28 February 1615 in Yorkshire, England. Dr. Barber married Elizabeth Younge in 1641 in Yorkshire.  At one time, he worked for Oliver Cromwell, probably serving as a physician or surgeon in the Lord Protector's army.  He came to Maryland in 1654 aboard the Golden Fortune, and settled in St. Mary's County in southern Maryland. He was a zealous friend of Lord Baltimore and served as a member of the Assembly, a Justice of the Provincial Court, and Deputy Governor. He died in St. Mary's County about 1674, leaving his home plantation, Lukeland/Luckland, to his son Edward, my 8x-great grandfather. Dr. Barber had children: Luke, Elizabeth (8x-great grandmother), Mary, Edward (8x-great grandfather), Thomas, and Ann. (With thanks to Robert Barnes, British Roots of Maryland Families II.)

3. Gwynn

The immigrant ancestor of this line may have been Hooper Gwynn, my 5x-great grandfather on both my paternal and maternal lines.  He is as far back as I have been able to trace this line.  He was in Prince George's County MD in the 1730's as a School Master and Court Scrivener, indicating that he was an educated man. A man of this name married in Yorkshire, England in 1725.  It's an uncommon name and odds are it is the same person or at least a close relative, but I really can't be sure if the man was born in England (or Wales, since Gwynn is definitely of Welsh origin) or was born in Maryland to immigrant parents.  Hooper Gwinn died in Fairfax County VA about 1759.  He had one son that can be documented: Bennett Gwynn, my 4x-great grandfather on both sides of my family. I have written more about Hooper and the Gwynns here. (With thanks to Effie Gwynn Bowie, Across the Years in Prince George's County.)

4. Keene

The immigrant ancestor of the Keenes in Maryland was Richard Keene, my 8x-great grandfather, born 7 December 1628 in Worplesdon, Surrey, England. Richard arrived in Maryland in 1653 with his brothers, Henry and Edward. He was a Quaker and was fined for refusing to train for military service. He was a close friend of Maryland's Governor, Charles Calvert and a large landowner, with over 10,000 acres on both sides of the Patuxent River. (Possibly these two facts are connected?)  His principal estate was St. Richard's Manor in St. Mary's County, where Lord Baltimore's Council frequently met. Richard married Mary, the widow of John Hodgkin shortly after he came to Maryland.  They had two sons: Richard and John, my 7x-great grandfather.  Richard Keene died in 1675 in Calvert County MD. 

5. Dent

The immigrant ancestor of this line of the Dents was Captain John Dent, my 8x-great grandfather, born in Yorkshire, England about 1635. He emigrated to Maryland about 1661 and married Mary Hatch shortly after his arrival in the colony. There is some evidence that he had an earlier wife in England and children there. He inherited land in Charles County MD from his uncle Thomas Dent, but eventually resided in the northern portion of St. Mary's County near Charlotte Hall. He was appointed Captain of the Chaptico Hundred in 1689 and served for some years as Justice of the Peace.  Like some of my other great-grandfathers, he was involved with Josias Fendall's rebellion against Lord Baltimore. (I’m looking at you, Thomas Gerrard!) John Dent had children (some with Mary Hatch): Peter, Michael, John, my 7x-great grandfather, George, Mary, Lydia, Anne, Abigail and Christian.  Captain Dent died in St. Mary's County MD about 1712, leaving tracts of land to each of his children. (With thanks to Harry Wright Newman, Charles County Gentry.)

6. Wright

I haven’t found the immigrant ancestor for my Wright line. The earliest Wright I have found is Littleberry Wright, my 4x-great grandfather. The 1860 Census puts him in Newnan GA, next door to his son, attorney William Wright, my 3x-great grandfather. The census says he is 60 years old at that point, born in South Carolina. He probably met his wife Henrietta Austin there and moved to Georgia with her family. He subsequently won two lots in the Georgia Land Lottery. He is found in the 1830 Census of Harris County GA, aged 30-39, along with 3 young boys, 2 young girls, a woman aged 30-39 and 6 slaves. His property in Harris County was sold to pay his debts in 1833. Henrietta filed for divorce in 1835, apparently on grounds of abandonment.  I haven't found Littleberry again until the 1860 Census, so I'm not sure if he stayed in Georgia.  I also haven't found a death or probate record for him in Georgia.  So, dead-end on this for now. 

7. Turner

I have a candidate for the immigrant Turner ancestor, but not a solid trail.  I believe the immigrant was William Turner, my probable 9x-great grandfather, who settled around St. Leonard's Creek in Calvert County about 1650. He probably came from England. He died in Calvert County MD about 1663. He left a will that named his children: Eldest son William, Edward, and Richard, all receiving land along the Choptank River (Dorchester County) and daughter Jane, wife of Stephen Clifton.  No wife is named, so I assume she is dead at this point. The reason I connect him to my line of Turners is because the family stayed around the St. Leonard's Creek area. William Turner Jr., who was of age in 1663, died in 1719 in Calvert County.  William's son, John, called John of St. Leonard's, predeceased his father about 1716. His will names his wife Johanna and sons John, Thomas, Gideon who are not yet of age. After that I can trace the Turners pretty clearly in my line. So, for now, I'm going with this rather tenuous thread of location/land ownership.  Calvert County having lost most records to several courthouse fires, it is hard to turn up more evidence. 

8. Somervell

The immigrant ancestor of this line was Dr. James Somervell, about whom I have previously written. Dr. Somervell, my 7x-great grandfather, was born 20 February 1688 in Ayershire, Scotland. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and was captured at the Battle of Preston and exiled to America. He prospered in the new world, married Sarah Howe in 1722 and had children with her: Rebecca, John, James and Alexander, my 6x-great grandfather, about whom I have written previously. Dr. Somervell served as a Justice of Calvert County and as the Sheriff.  He died in Calvert County in 1750. 

On the whole, then, I have done pretty well at identifying the immigrant ancestors for this section of my family tree. Four immigrants are very well documented since they were prominent land owners and active in provincial politics.  They knew and interacted with other ancestors of mine. Only one complete dead end, one kind of tenuous tie, and two open-ended connections back to England. I'm probably lucky that so many of these immigrants landed in Maryland and knew and interacted with each other, making connections somewhat easier to find. 

#52 Ancestors 2022 Week 46 Tombstones: All Saints Cemetery, Oakley, St. Mary's County MD

 Like many genealogists, I love visiting cemeteries.  One of my favorites is All Saints Cemetery in Oakley, St. Mary's County, Maryland.  There, I have the opportunity to commune with my ancestors reaching all the way back to the mid-19th century.  Dozens of my Dent forebears have their final resting place in this peaceful church yard. 

The oldest of my ancestors found here are my 4X-great grandparents, George Blackistone (1780-1842) and Rebecca Hebb Goldsmith (1790-1851).  They are buried side-by-side with beautifully engraved markers.  And--the blessing that every genealogist prays for--their markers identify their parents! Yes!

Five of their eight children are also buried at All Saints, including my 3X-great grandmother Leila (also Lillia) Dent Blackistone Dent, 1815-1884.  (Yes, there was a lot of intermarriage among the Blackistones and the Dents.) Leila married John Francis Dent, about whom I have written previously. Notice the lovely design carved into Lillia's marker, a lily suggesting her name.

John Dent's parents are buried at the family cemetery in Charles County MD, but John Francis Dent is buried at All Saints, along with his sister Sarah and brother Walter. 

John and Lillia Dent had eight children, of whom four are buried at All Saints: Fannie (and her Dent husband and cousin, Joseph Hugh Dent), Kate (Joseph Dent's first wife), John Marshall, and Robert Taney Beauregard Dent, 1861-1872, the last dying at age ten and remembered with the touching words: Our Dear Little Boy and small lamb carving. 

Joseph Hugh Dent, the son of William Barton Wade Dent (a cousin of John, and a member of Congress from Georgia) is buried at All Saints with both of his wives (both daughters of John and Lillia.) Notice the Confederate symbol on his stone.  Like many of his Dent relatives, Joseph served in the Confederate army. After the War, he moved from Georgia to Maryland and married both of his wives there.

Joseph's first wife, Kate Rebecca Dent 1842-1872, died after only about a year of marriage, shortly after giving birth to her only child, also named Kate Rebecca. Baby Kate died a few weeks after her mother. Their shared monument shows an angel holding a baby, representing both Kates.

John Marshall Dent Sr., my 2x-great grandfather is also buried at All Saints, along with his wife, Ida Elizabeth Wright, whom he met and married in Atlanta GA. And yes, he did serve in the Confederate army.

Ida's mother, Elizabeth Caroline Dent Wright, (my 3X-great grandmother and the sister of Joseph Hugh Dent mentioned above) is also buried at All Saints. She and her husband, Judge William Felix Wright, came from Georgia to visit their daughter.  When her husband unexpected died while on this trip (1887), she stayed in Maryland with her daughter until her death in 1914. Judge Wright also has a memorial in this cemetery, although it is not clear if he is actually buried here.  His obituary says he was buried in Alexandria VA where he died, and he also has a memorial in the Atlanta cemetery.  So who knows where he really ended up.

Eight of the ten children of John and Ida are buried at All Saints, along with their respective spouses: John Marshall Jr., William Francis, Wade Gilbert, Frances Katherine, Lillia, Walter Pinkney, Ida Louise, and Arthur St. Clair Dent. 

My great grandfather, John Marshall Dent Jr. and his wife, Mary Peterson Turner are buried here. All of their children, however, are buried elsewhere, including my grandmother, Elizabeth Dent Scrivener, who is buried with her husband Frank Scrivener, in New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore. 

Mary Turner's sister, Bessie Turner, the wife of Wade Hampton Blackistone, is also buried here. 

There are a total of about 450 people in this churchyard, and I bet I could find a relationship to a very large percentage of that number. At least a quarter of the burials are Blackistones and Dents.  So, this is a place filled with family history for me: politicians, judges, soldiers, doctors, housewives, loving mothers and fathers, children who died young, folks who spent their whole lives in St. Mary's County and folks who died far from their birthplace. I love walking through a place like this and discovering the connections. 

#52 Ancestors 2022 Week 9 Females: Elizabeth Dent--Sorry She's a Girl

 A regular part of my genealogy research is to search online newspapers for mentions of any of my family members.  On one search, I came across a very surprising story about my grandmother,Ida Elizabeth Dent. Elizabeth "Lib" Dent was the daughter of John Marshall Dent and Mary Peterson Turner, born 21 October 1902 in Oakley, St. Mary's County MD. She was named after her grandmother, Ida Elizabeth Wright, although she didn’t like the name Ida and never used it.

In the fall of 1911, The Evening Sun ran a contest for young writers, giving a new topic every week and a prize of $5 for first place and $1 for the next five places. Here is the announcement for October 16:

My grandmother apparently felt strongly that she had something to say on this topic and sent in her story.  She won a $1 prize for this story:

Not this: 

But this:

I have to say I never detected that hint of liberation thinking in my grandmother.  But obviously this little girl had issues! 

Lib had a brother, Jack, 2 years older than she. I wonder what Jack got to do that made Lib so mad? Clearly, he did not have to set the table. She also had an uncle, Elliott Dent, who was a professional baseball player.  Perhaps she had secret dreams of an athletic career.  Her great-grandfather, John Francis Dent, was a well-known politician.  Perhaps she wanted to follow in his footsteps. 

Elizabeth Dent Scrivener

Now Elizabeth grew into a very beautiful young woman, who won a DAR scholarship to St. Mary's Female Seminary, taught school for two years, married, and raised five sons and a daughter.  As far as I could tell, she was totally devoted to her husband Frank and stayed at home to take care of her children. She never even learned to drive a car. I never knew my grandmother as an outspoken feminist, but I hope that she lived some of her dreams and in the end was not sorry to be a girl.  And did she make her sons set the table? 

Even if she did not achieve those early aspirations, though, I strongly suspect that she passed on that feminist gene to her daughter, Louise, whom everyone referred to as Reds because of her flaming hair. I know for a fact that Aunt Reds never stood for any @#! from anyone, especially her brothers. Even when Aunt Reds was in her 90's, the other residents of her assisted living facility elected her as their spokesperson because she could always get results for their requests. 

I think a few of Lib's granddaughters may have inherited that gene also. Just sayin'

 

#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 42 Proud: My Cousin the First Lady, Julia Dent Grant

After watching Grant on the History Channel this week, I was reminded that Grant’s wife Julia Boggs Dent, was a cousin of mine through my grandmother Elizabeth Dent,  so I would like to share something about her. 

Frederick Dent Sr.

Julia was the oldest daughter of Col. Frederick Fayette Dent and Ellen Bray Wrenshall, born in St. Louis MO 26 January 1826. Her grandfather, George Dent, fought in the Revolutionary War with the 3rd Maryland Battalion of the Flying Camp and was the Surveyor General of Maryland, who laid out the city of Cumberland MD, where he died in 1812.  

Like his father and grandfather, Frederick Dent was a surveyor.  In the early 1800's, Frederick left Cumberland where he was born and moved to Pittsburgh PA where he went into the mercantile business. There he married Ellen, the English-born daughter of Methodist preacher John Wrenshall.  

Dent, along with his brother-in-law, George Boggs, moved to St. Louis MO about 1815.  Frederick became the Surveyor General of Missouri and acquired Whitehaven plantation outside St. Louis, which stayed in the Dent family for three generations afterward. It was here that Julia Boggs Dent was born and grew up, enjoying a very comfortable lifestyle in the highly social environment of her father's plantation. Frederick Dent, active in politics and rabidly anti-abolitionist, counted explorer William Clark and Missouri Governor Alexander McNair among his close friends. 

From 1836 to 1844, Julia attended Miss Moreau's boarding school in St. Louis, where she enjoyed studying literature, but was not so keen on mathematics.  Here she developed a lifelong passion as a voracious reader of novels.  She was an accomplished pianist and enjoyed singing along to her own accompaniment.  She was also an avid horsewoman and loved riding and attending horse races throughout her life

Lt. Grant

Her brother Frederick, meanwhile was a cadet at West Point where he was a classmate of Ulysses Grant and his roommate during their last year.  He wrote to his sister how impressed he was with Grant: "I want you to know him; he is pure gold." When Grant was later stationed at Jefferson Barracks outside St. Louis, he naturally paid a call on his friend and as he noted in his Memoirs, "found the family congenial, so my visits became frequent."  Certainly 17-year-old Julia was a big part of the attraction.  Col. Dent disapproved of the match, believing that his daughter would not be able to endure the hardships that being married to a career Army officer might require. Nevertheless, they became informally engaged, and eventually Col. Dent gave his reluctant blessing to the marriage.  Grant's service in the Mexican War delayed the wedding until 1848 when they married at the Dent's town home in St. Louis. 

Grant's parents, Jesse Root Grant and Hannah Simpson, extremely religious and vehement abolitionists, did not approve of their son marrying into a slave-holding family, and refused to attend the wedding. 

Captain Grant and his wife spent the first several years of their marriage in Army camps, stationed in Detroit MI and Sackett Harbor NY.  When Grant was sent to the Pacific Coast in 1852, Julia returned to stay with her family in St. Louis along with their two sons, Frederick and Ulysses. In 1854, depressed and drinking heavily, Grant resigned from the Army, and the family struggled financially as Grant tried farming and finally moved to Galena IL where Grant took a position in his father's tannery shop.  

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Grant determined to return to active military service.  President Lincoln commissioned him as a Brigadier General. Whenever possible, Julia joined Ulysses in camp, often volunteered as a nurse, and took over responsibility for managing the family finances.  Julia's father tried to induce Grant to join the Confederate Army, but Grant was committed to preserving the Union and most of Julia's family denounced her.  "If you are one of the accursed Lincolnites," one of her aunts wrote, "the ties of consanguinity shall be forever severed." Julia did manage to avoid an outright breach with her father, while maintaining her absolute loyalty to her husband. 

After his victories in the Western Theater at Vicksburg, Chattanooga and elsewhere,  followed by a hard-fought campaign in Virginia, Grant accepted Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House in April 1865 and emerged from the Civil War as a great public hero.   Grant himself seemed somewhat embarrassed at his post-war honors, but Julia reveled in seeing him made a hero. When the Grant family arrived back home in Galena IL, the city presented them with a fine brick house that was their residence for many years. 

Julia was extremely protective of her husband's reputation and vehemently denied that her husband ever consumed excessive alcohol, whether because she believed that or was unaware of the extent of Grant's drinking.  She was also concerned about her own presentation to the public and being very sensitive about her crossed eyes, always had her picture taken in a sideways view. 

Five days after his victory at Appomattox, Grant attended a cabinet meeting in Washington, and was invited to join the Lincolns at Ford's Theatre.  At Julia's urging, Grant declined and boarded the train with Julia for their home in Philadelphia, thus avoiding a potential assassination along with Lincoln.

Following the impeachment of President Johnson, the Republican Party nominated Grant for president in 1868 and he was sworn in as the 18th President on March 4, 1869 and was elected to a second term in 1872. 

Julia Dent Grant exulted in her position as First Lady. (In fact, she was the very first to be called the First Lady.)  She cherished the adulation she received and happily embraced her public role. She ordered the Capital building open to the public once a week and encouraged working-class government clerks to feel comfortable attending her public receptions.  She put a great deal of effort into planning elaborate state dinners, hiring an Italian chef to create lavish 25-course feasts for her guests.  She helped expand the popularity of Victorian Christmas celebrations and was among the first to send out the newly popular Christmas cards. She encouraged the press to write about her and her events.  

One of her more ambitious projects was the refurbishment of the shabby public rooms of the White House.  With a $100,000 appropriation from Congress, she brought the rooms to the epitome of  Gilded Age style: heavily scrolled and crested furniture, elaborate chandeliers with multiple globes for gaslight. She even had the Army Corps of Engineers add Grecian columns to the façade of the building. The Grants' only daughter, Ellen Wrenshall Grant, was married in the newly redesigned East Room in 1874, making national headlines with images of the ceremony, the decorations and the clothing. 

Julia Grant enthusiastically encouraged her husband to seek an unprecedented third term in office and was devastated when he declined to do so. She cried as she left the White House.

Grants at Chinese Emperor's Palace

Within weeks, however, Julia and Lyss set off on an unprecedented and legendary two-and-a-half year world tour. They were feted through England, Scotland, Belgium, France, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Poland, Austria, Spain, Portugal, India, Singapore, Thailand, China, and Japan.  Julia wanted to experience every new thing on her trip. In India she rode an elephant; her appearance at the Paris Exposition of 1878 caused a sensation; in China she gamely tried eating with chopsticks; she rode donkeys up the Italian hillsides. 

The New York Tribune covered the trip providing a running chronicle of Julia's adventures that contributed to the public affection for her during the rest of her life. 

The Grants finished up their tour with a trip across the United States, finally arriving at their home in Galena in November 1879.

The Grants lived in New York after their return where Julia greatly enjoyed being at the center of the Gilded Age social life, appearing at theater premieres and subscribing to the Metropolitan opera. Julia held receptions for visiting celebrities in rooms decorated with relics of her husband's military  career and the lavish gifts presented to the Grants during their world tour. When the Grants lost most of their money in a ponzi scheme, they were rescued by financier Cornelius Vanderbilt.  Julia attempted to repay him by giving him their world tour gifts.  But Vanderbilt insisted that they should be left to the American people instead and so Julia donated Grant's Civil War memorabilia and state gifts to the Smithsonian. 

Grant hoped to restore the family fortune by writing and publishing his memoirs but was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer.  At Julia's urging, he retreated to a cabin in the Adirondacks donated by a friend to work on his writing. Julia and their married children and grandchildren all took up residence. Mark Twain was among the visitors to the Grants. 

On July 23, 1885, just a few days after finishing his memoir, Grant died.  Julia was too devastated to attend what was the largest public funeral ever held in New York.  Julia insisted that the plans for Grant's Tomb include space for her as well. She was a central figure in the groundbreaking in 1891 and at the dedication in 1897.

Grant's memoirs were very profitable; Julia received the largest royalty check in history ($200,000) just a year after their publication. She invested well and was able to have a comfortable lifestyle in her widowhood.

As a presidential widow, Julia continued to maintain a high public profile and had close relationships with other first ladies. She was even captured in an Edison moving picture, the first instance of a First Lady being recorded in this manner. In her later years, she often made herself available to reporters and others seeking the likely viewpoint of the late president on various matters and began to write short articles for popular national magazines. She also wrote her own memoirs, but they were not published until 1973.

She traveled to California, to Europe and to Canada before finally settling in Washington DC with her daughter. She died there on December 14, 1902 at the age of 74 and was buried beside her husband a few days later. 

A Literary Digest reporter granted an 1896 interview by Mrs. Grant recorded that, “No married couple ever lived closer to each other than did the General and Mrs. Grant. She was, perhaps, his only real confidant. The two were one in almost everything, and their life was a most beautiful one.” Julia Grant claimed that any recognition she received was not due to her own accomplishments but a reflection of respect for her late husband, that “the light of his glorious fame still reaches out to me, falls upon me, and warms me."  

For more detail on Julia, see the wonderful First Ladies site:

http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=19

#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 12 Popular: Elliot Estill Dent, Popular Ball Player

Elliot Estill Dent, my 2X great-uncle, was the eighth of ten children of John Marshall Dent and Ida Elizabeth Wright.  He was born in Oakley, St. Mary's County MD 8 December 1887.  According to the local St. Mary's Beacon, Elliott was very popular with his peers, loved parties and was often  responsible for putting together dances, outings and festivities for the young  people around Oakley. Like many of the men in the Dent family, he attended Charlotte Hall Military Academy, graduating in 1905.  While there, the 6'1" Eddie, as he was nicknamed, earned a reputation as a talented pitcher for the Charlotte Hall Sluggers. (That is Eddie in the middle of the back row with Charlotte Hall on the front of his shirt.)

By 1907, Eddie was playing for the Southern Railway team in the Capital City League and then moved on to the Walbrook Athletic Club in Baltimore, where he caught the eye of the Carolina League and made his professional debut with the Winston-Salem Twins in 1909. He pitched in 31 games, going 18-11 before his contract was bought by the Brooklyn Superbas (later Dodgers) on July 28. According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, in his first outing with the Superbas, the 21-year-old "failed to discover the weaknesses of the [Philadelphia] Quaker batters" and lost his first major league game 7-2.  Nevertheless, the paper opined,

"Dent is a tall chap, with plenty of strength and a delivery similar to that of George Bell, but he lacks the speed and control of Brooklyn's star twirler.  This may come with more experience, however, and the new recruit may in time become a great twirler."  

A couple of weeks later, however, the right-hander with the powerful curve ball was able to dazzle the arch-rival Giants with a 10 to 1 victory and as the Eagle put it "is now aces in this neck of the woods. "  He started five games in the Majors that year, beginning on August 31, and went 2-4 with a 4.29 ERA. 

In 1910 Dent started the season with the New Haven Prairie Hens of the Class B Connecticut State League.  He went 17-15 in 38 appearances that season, and began the 1911 season there as well.  He went 21-14 for the re-named Murlins before the Dodgers called him back up.  In five games for Brooklyn he went 2-1 with a 3.69 ERA.  The next season, he made only one appearance, on April 11, allowing four runs on four hits in one inning of work with one strikeout.  He was sent down during the season to the Newark Indians of the AA International League and never returned to the Majors. 

In 1913 Dent joined the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association and had his best season as a pitcher, going 14-4 in 28 appearances.  In 1914 he went 15-12 in 35 games.  He played briefly for the Venice/Vernon Tigers and the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League at the start of the 1915 season, but finished the year back in Atlanta. (with thanks to http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Eddie_Dent for this analysis of his career)

Elliott enlisted with the Nineteenth Field Artillery in 1917 and served in France during WWI, promoted to Captain by the end of the war. The Atlanta community remembered him fondly as the local newspapers published several stories about him and his reports from the front.

After the war, he married Eleanor Semmes Freeman in St. Mary's County in 1920.  They had two sons: Elliott Jr. and Robert. The family moved to Birmingham AL in 1936, where Elliott pursued a career as the district manager for Equitable Life Insurance.  He was an active member of the community, serving in the Kiwanis and heading up fund drives for the Red Cross.

Elliott Estill Dent died in Birmingham AL in November 1974 at the age of 86. Just goes to show, you never know adventures might be hidden behind a seemingly quiet life as an insurance salesman.

#52 Ancestors 2019 Week 35 At Work: Lettie Marshall Dent, First Woman Superintendent of Schools

My cousin, Violetta Marshall  "Lettie" Dent, was the first female superintendent of schools in Maryland and until 1980, the only female superintendent of schools in the state.

Lettie, the youngest daughter of Joseph Hugh Dent and Frances Lillia "Fannie" Dent, was born in Newnan, Coweta County GA 7 March 1894. She attended St. Mary's Female Seminary in St. Mary's County, MD, graduating in 1911.  (Followed a few years later by her cousin and my grandmother, Elizabeth Dent.) Here is her picture at May Day 1911.

She went on to Western Maryland College in Westminster MD, graduating in 1915 with cum laude honors.

After college, she became a teacher in St. Mary's County Public Schools and by 1928 was the principal at River Springs Elementary school.

At that time, the superintendent's position became open and a member of the school board encouraged Lettie to apply.  She did and was appointed at age 34  to the position which she held for the next 30 years, retiring in 1957.

"Miss Lettie," as she was known, took a very personal interest in the schools she supervised.  Sometimes, in lieu of meetings, she would take School Board members on a tour of the one of the 48 schools in the county so they could see first-hand what was happening in the schools. She also had a reputation for personally selecting new teachers hired in the county.

Certainly Miss Lettie's tenure as superintendent was not without challenges.  In her first decade, she had to deal with the effects of the Great Depression as she struggled to find resources for the schools.  During and after World War II, she dealt with enormous growth in the system as many military-connected personnel and their families moved into the county.  In her last years as superintendent, the system was dealing with the enormous changes brought by the movement to integrate the schools.

In the 1950's, the county built consolidated schools that drew in students from the old one-and two-room school houses, but these schools were still segregated. In 1956, the N.A.A.C.P brought suit against her and the St. Mary's Board of Education on behalf of 66 black children,  claiming that the schools provided for these children were inferior to those provided for white children and that the county had no plan in place for integrating the schools, despite a Supreme Court ruling directing integration.

A judge at the time described the county this way: "St. Mary's County is the southernmost county in Southern Maryland, slow to change. Its traditional pattern has been disturbed during the last fifteen years by the establishment of Patuxent Naval Base.  Serious problems exist with respect to school facilities and transportation."

According to the first black member of the St. Mary's School Board, appointed in 1955, Miss Lettie was against integration of the schools and even threatened to resign when a black man was appointed to the Board,  However, she did not resign and integration proceeded slowly, but fairly peacefully.  In August 1956, the School Board announced that it would begin voluntary integration in the next school year.  Four black students applied for transfer to white schools, but none actually attended the next year. In 1958, the year after Miss Lettie's retirement, two black students attended the formerly all-white Great Mills High School.  The local paper reported that "race barriers crashed silently as two Negro youngsters quietly took their place in class.  Except for a cluster of out-of-town reporters, it seemed like any other opening day at Great Mills." Thus St. Mary's County became the 15th of Maryland's 23 jurisdictions to integrate the public schools.

 Miss Lettie retired from her position 31 December 1957.  At the time, her salary of $6500 was the lowest superintendent salary in the state. After her retirement, Lettie married Arthur Page Gough, a widower and road contractor.  She survived her husband by almost 20 years, dying in 1982 at a nursing home in Lexington Park at age 88.

St. Mary's County honored the memory of Lettie Marshall Dent by naming an elementary school in Mechanicsville in her honor.

#52Ancestors Week 7 Romance: Zaida Dent Wright

#52 Ancestors Week 7 Romance: Zaida Dent Wright

Of all the people I have researched for my genealogy, Zaida (Ida) Dent Wright probably had the most adventurous and exciting life.

Zaida was the daughter of Hinton P. Wright, my 3X great-uncle, an Atlanta attorney,  and Marie Louise Robinson, daughter of a wealthy plantation owner. The excitement started even before Zaida was born when 20-year-old Hinton Wright killed Marie Robinson's brother, Edwin, in a duel (illegal) outside the local church in Newnan GA in 1869. Somehow the death was ruled accidental and Hinton escaped without serious damage. The couple then eloped and married against her parents' wishes.   Zaida was born in Atlanta GA in 1871, followed by a brother, Albert Spaulding Wright, in 1873.

Hinton Wright, the son of a prominent judge, William Felix Wright, seemed to have a promising career and was highly regarded in Atlanta's legal community. However, his career went downhill with accusations of bribery and Hinton became a drunkard and lost his position in the community.

Marie finally divorced him and took a job as a writer with the Sunny South, a literary magazine.  She eventually became a travelling correspondent for the New York World, where she became a celebrated writer, renowned for her travels in Central and South America.   Her 1890 illustrated book on Mexico was especially famous.  She represented The World at The World's Fair and the Paris Exhibition.  In 1893, accompanied by her son and daughter, she returned to Mexico for a comprehensive study of the country.

Because of Marie's travels, her daughter was well educated, a graduate of Vassar and spoke several languages.  She was also considered quite a beauty.  She accompanied her mother on a trip to Salvador in 1894, where she won the heart of General Antonio Ezetta,

the brother of Salvador's president and later the newly elected president.  Atlanta was abuzz with the news of their engagement and the fabulous upcoming wedding.  The Atlanta Constitution burbled effusively about the gowns, the jewels, and the general social brilliance of the affair which would take place in St. Patrick's Cathedral with the Cardinal officiating.

But alas!  It was not to be.  Antonio's brother decreed that he should marry none but a native Salvadoran or live in exile.  The engagement was broken, the fabulous jewels returned.  The General died in Panama in 1897, still unmarried.

Ida went on to marry a Boston doctor, Walter Ernest Seymour in 1897.  That marriage ended in divorce.  She married a second time in 1906 to actor Aubrey Beattie, a native of Nova Scotia, by whom she had one son, Albert Aubrey Beattie.

In the meantime, in the last years of his life, Ida's father, Hinton Wright found religion and ended his life as a preacher denouncing the evils of drink.  He married a second time in 1888 to May Bowen and had a daughter Lucille with her.  He died at a revival meeting in Marietta GA in 1892.

Ida's brother Albert died in El Paso TX in 1894.  Her mother died in Sullivan County NY in 1914.

Aubrey Beattie achieved some success as an actor appearing on stages throughout the United States and even made a few films in the early part of the century.  Ida died in a boarding house in Brooklyn NY in 1937.  Her husband Aubrey died in the King's County Hospital in Brooklyn in 1944, his stage and film career largely forgotten.  Both are buried in Kensico Cemetery in Westchester County NY in a plot paid for by the Actor's Fund.

So a life that seemed full of adventurous possibilities ended rather quietly in Brooklyn.