- 1. Keeping the Home Fires BurningWives, Mothers and Daughters
ofSouthwest Virginias Heroes
2. Thanks to the work of historians especially these women Mary
B. Kegley (Early Adventurers on the Western Waters) Lula
Porterfield Givens (Christiansburg, Montgomery County, VA) Patricia
Givens Johnson (biographies of William Preston, AndrewLewis, etc.)
Roberta Ingles Steele (Escape From Indian Captivity) Claire White
(William Fleming, Patriot) Nelly C. Preston (Paths of Glory)
Elizabeth Lemmon Sayers (Pathfinders and Patriots) 3. Some of the
questions that motivated me to prepare this talk Was William Ingles
really a Tory? Did Mary Ingles really have a baby? Why did Susanna
Preston and Mary Ingles never getremarried? How well was Mary
Ingles treated after her return fromcaptivity? Were there ugly
rumors circulating about her? What sort of difference did it make
for a woman to havean education in the mid to late eighteenth
century? I know that Elizabeth Givens is my grandmother, too.What
can I find out about her? 4. Prominent Soldiers and Statesmen
Southwest Virginia (1750-1780s) General Andrew Lewis (1720-1781)
Colonel William Preston (1729-1783) Colonel William Ingles
(1729-1782) Colonel William Christian (1743-1786) General William
Campbell (1745-1781); General William Russell William Fleming
(1728-1795) Governor Patrick Henry (1735-1786) George Rogers Clark
(1752-1818); William Clark (1770-1838) 5. Brides Elizabeth Givens
(1728- 1781) m. Andrew Lewis 1740 (?) Susanna Smith (1740-1823) m.
William Preston 1761 Mary Draper (1732-1815) m. William Ingles 1750
Anne Henry (1767- 1790) m. William Christian 1770 (?) Elizabeth
Henry ( -1825) m. William Campbell 1776 m. William Russell 1782?
Ann Christian ( - ) m. William Fleming Sarah Shelton (-1775) m.
Patrick Henry 1754 & Dorothea Dandridge ( -1831) m. Patrick
Henry 1776 Ann Rogers ( 1730-1799) m. John Clark (?) 6. Portraits
of Women A Rarity! Susanna Smith Preston 7. Motherhood Elizabeth
Lewis - seven children Susanna Preston - ten children Mary Ingles -
six children (possibly seven) Anne Christian - six children
Elizabeth Campbell - two children by Wm. Campbell;then four more by
William Russell Anne Fleming thirteen Sarah Henry - six children -
Patrick Henrys first wife Dorothea Henry - eleven children Henrys
2nd wife Ann Clark - ten children, including George Rogers Clarkand
William Clark 8. Mary InglesTrials and Sorrows:Attack at Drapers
Meadows; decision to leave infant behind; attack at Burkes Garden
(grandchildren); husband accused of being a Tory 9. Elizabeth Henry
Campbell Russell after death of General WilliamTrials and Sorrows
Campbell, Elizabeth discoveredthat her daughter did not wanther to
remarry (William Russell);Arthur Campbell, cousin ofWilliam
Campbell (deceased),disapproved of William Russell,too, and
asserted his familyrights to control Sarahseducation, etc. Mother
anddaughter did not reconcile formany years. 10. Elizabeth Givens
Lewis We dont know very much about her, but we do know thatAndrew
was always off fighting, perhaps more than any othermilitary leader
in the period between 1750-1780 However, Andrews Mother, Margaret
Lynn Lewis, became wellknown during the mid-nineteenth century
Interesting storyabout her commonplace book 11. Trials and Sorrows,
Continued Sarah Shelton Henry developed severe mental problems
(talk ofputting her in an asylum); Patrick Henry moved more often
than anyother (see map) Anne Henry Christian husbands determination
to move west,husbands death in Kentucky, and Annes subsequent death
fromTB Susanna Smith Preston Smithfield was located in a
neighborhoodwhere there were many Tories, thus requiring the
posting of militiafor protection; after husbands death, letter show
she was ratherlonely at Smithfield, despite all the slaves Ann
Rogers Clark during 1770s, all of her grown sons were offfighting
or languishing in prison somewhere later William went allthe way to
the west coast; the Clarks moved to Kentucky in 1780s. 12.
Virginias Expanding Frontier 1750s through 1780s Of the women in
this study, I believe thatonly Mary Ingles, Ann Christian, and Ann
Rogers traveled as far asKentucky 13. The Lure of Land in Kentucky
Every Family Was Tempted by thePossibilities Andrew Lewis
Greenbrier & Ohio William Ingles Clinch, New River (Ingles
Ferry),Burkes Garden, etc. William Preston Everywhere, including
Kentucky William Christian Dunkards Bottom, then Kentucky William
Fleming Kentucky Arthur Campbell State of Franklin (Tennessee) John
Clark Kentucky Patrick Henry acquired property in Kentucky (but
Idont think he ever traveled there) 14. Although Patrick Henry (and
his family) moved frequently, as indicatedin this interesting map,
he never moved his family to Kentucky 15. Eighteenth Century
Families on the Move Andrew Lewis Family near Staunton, then
Richfield, near Salem William Preston Family Tinkling Springs,
Greenfield & Smithfield Ingles Family Pennsylvania, North Fork,
Drapers Meadows,Bedford, and Ingles Ferry Christian Family Bordens
Tract, Mahanaim (Dunkards Bottom),Kentucky (Anne did not want to
move to Kentucky) William Campbell - Aspenvale Fleming Family
Belmont Patrick Henry Studley Plantation, Scotch Town, Red Hill
(Hanover,etc.) Clark Family King and Queen County, Carolina County,
AlbemarleCounty, Kentucky 16. Ann Christian Flemings Sampler Women
preserved and passed along the history and culture, through
story-telling and education, and by passing along skills,
hand-crafts, recipes, andso on 17. Importance of Letters and
Journals:Letter From Anns Husband, William Fleming, to Cousin Sally
(1794),a niece in Scotland I live in a pleasant situation one
hundred and eighty miles from Richmondnear a big Lick in Botetourt
County. I have retired from all publick businessfor several years.
I am now old, my constitution broke, maimed by severalwounds, and
often attacked with violent pains in my limbs, brought on bycolds
and many years of severe duty in a military line. I am just able to
walka little after two months confinement to my bed and room. Your
aunt is in pretty good health but tender. My eldest son Leonard
ismarried, has several children and lives in the State of Kentucky;
my eldestdaughter Elizabeth was married last December to a
clergyman by the nameof Allen; my daughters Dorothea, Anna,
Priscilla and sons William and Johnare with me. We have buried six
or seven children. 18. Patrick Henrys Sphere of Influence: Most of
the individuals in thisstudy probably met Patrick Henry in person
or were well acquaintedwith one of his siblingsRed Hill 19. One of
Henrys Homes: Scotchtown Notice the resemblance to Smithfield 20.
Postscript:Frontier women may have had it hard, but Tidewater
gentry had their ownmisfortunes, as illustrated by this entry I
found in a copy of the Virginia Cavalcadeabout Mary Willing Byrd
(1740-1814), who married into the prominent and wealthyByrd family.
She sold the famous 3,500 volume library of her father-in-law,
William Byrd, II (1674-1744), to help pay the debts of her husband,
William Byrd III (1728-1777) who had committed suicide. 21. Some
concluding thoughts Only Mary Ingles and Elizabeth Campbell Russell
achieved a degree offame in their own lifetimes. Mary, of course,
because of her remarkableand almost legendary ordeal, and Mme.
Russell because of her marriage totwo generals as well as the
leading role she played in launching theMethodist Church in
Southwest Virginia. Accept for court documents listing weddings and
wills, the lives of the otherwomen in this study were not recorded
in public records, but some of theirstories have been reconstructed
through the patient and painstaking effortsof their descendants,
genealogists, and historians. 22. Womens History Month: A Chance to
Pay Tribute to the Women Who packed up all their possessions and
moved to the backcountry, bravingunknown dangers Who bore so many
children, often in a lonesome, isolated cabin, far fromsisters,
mothers, or other family Who managed to provide for their children
during long periods of separationfrom their spouses, with complete
responsibility for child-rearing, foodpreparation, education,
animal husbandry, gardening, doctoring, and ofteneven Homeland
Security (defending the cabin against Indian attack, orfrom raids
by Tories) Who found ways to be resourceful and independent in a
world that affordedthem fewer opportunities and less power than
women can today enjoy. Who contributed their fair share of passion
and enthusiasm in the process offorming the new republic
