Issue 131, Winter 2019

Issue 131, Winter 2019

On the cover: Sketch of a Young Girl by Nicola Marschall. [Wolfgang Ulbrich]

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Features

Sketch of a Young Girl by Nicola Marshall.
Cornelia Clark Lockett (1842– 1912), wife of Colonel Lockett.
This provocative sketch of a young woman displaying her ankle and labeled “Rubens” is perhaps the best drawing in the book.
Col. Isham Warren Garrott (1816–1863), attorney and politician from Marion. Garrott formed the 20th Alabama Infantry Regiment in 1861 and was killed in 1863 during the Siege of Vicksburg.
Marschall’s second patron, Col. Charles Walker of Cedar Grove Plantation, on horseback from behind. The portraitist painted all members of the family.

Finding a Forbearer

Discovering Nicola Marschall’s Early Sketchbook

By Wolfgang Ulbrich

In the late nineteenth century, Nicola Marschall painted numerous portraits throughout the American South, documenting both ante- and postbellum life in Alabama and Kentucky. However, the recent discovery of one of his sketchbooks in Germany sheds new light on his art and his subjects. Here, Marschall’s biographer describes how the sketchbook was discovered and what it reveals about the artist, his native and adopted countries, and his age. 

Francis Bartow Lloyd was a well-known syndicated columnist with political ambitions when he was shot to death at age thirty-six by John A. Gafford. (Photo Courtesy of Sketches of Country Life: Humor, Wisdom, and Pathos from the “Sage of Rocky Creek,” 1898)
Montgomery farmer George Morrison served as the model for Rufus Sanders, the character created by Lloyd to express his views on a wide range of topics. (Photo Courtesy of Sketches of Country Life: Humor, Wisdom, and Pathos from the “Sage of Rocky Creek,” 1898)
Syndication enabled Lloyd to purchase a farm near Greenville where he would write his columns. (Photo Courtesy of Sketches of Country Life: Humor, Wisdom, and Pathos from the “Sage of Rocky Creek,” 1898)

Francis Bartow Lloyd: The Sage of Rocky Creek

By Mollie Waters

In what his friends and fellow citizens believed would be the start of a long and fruitful political career, Francis Bartow Lloyd was gunned down by an acquaintance in nineteenth-century Greenville, Alabama. Lloyd’s death shocked the community, as he was well-known for his writing, particularly for his newspaper columns and the colorful southern character Rufus Sanders. Though Lloyd died young—at age thirty-six—his distinctive writing remained memorable to and valued by readers across Alabama. 

Mercer Barnett served as the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham’s second president. At the convention, Barnett played an important role in the negotiations with Allen Browne and arranged the cash payment. In 1920 he became president of Kiwanis International. (Photo Courtesy of Birmingham, Ala., Public Library Archives)
The 1919 International Kiwanis Club convention was held in the Tutwiler Hotel at the corner of 5th Avenue North and 20th Street in downtown Birmingham. The hotel was named for Maj. Edward M. Tutwiler, one of the investors, and opened on June 15, 1914. It was demolished in 1974. (Photo Courtesy of Birmingham Wiki)
William Bonham, who worked in the wholesale grocery and cigar business, was the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham’s first president. (Photo Courtesy of Kiwanis Club of Birmingham)

A Mission to Serve

The 1919 Kiwanis Club Convention

By James L. Noles Jr.

The 1919 annual Kiwanis Club Convention remains singular in the organization’s history, not just because of the excellent host city, Birmingham, but because during this convention the organization underwent abrupt and dramatic leadership restructuring. While attendees feasted on barbeque and reveled in the Magic City’s hospitality, leaders waged all-night negotiations to secure the exit of Allen Browne, who first conceived of the Kiwanis Club but whose interests in the organization had begun serving his personal needs more than the public good. Birmingham’s convention, then, helped straighten the course of the group, cementing its care for community welfare and service.

John Collins Jr. followed his father in the shipyard, using materials found on the island. The shipyard closed in 1955. (Photo Courtesy of Alphonsine Lyons)
The Wanda Rahamer, a shrimp boat, under construction by Ellis Zirlott, grandfather of Victor Zirlott. (Photo Courtesy of Patricia Zirlott)
Former students gathered for the blessing of the Creole School at its new location in 2018 as part of the Mon Luis Island School House Renovation Project. (Photo Courtesy of Alphonsine Lyons)
Early nineteenth-century map of Mon Louis Island, still in the possession of the Austin family. Th ree large properties on the northern end are labeled with the names of three members of the Bodin (Baudin) family—Alex, Louis, and Henry—as well as two smaller properties owned by Alex and Louis. (Photo Courtesy of Leigh Brown)

Mon Louis Island

A French Land Grant, A Creole Village, and a Seafood Community

By Laura P. Rodgers

Though unknown to many Alabama residents, Mon Louis Island packs a significant amount of history, representing varied eras and origins, into only a few square miles. Mon Louis Island has survived changes in industry and dramatic weather, including tornados, but its resilience and charm persist. Today the island still reflects its rich cultural heritage, including French settlers, a Creole community, and a historic building still in need of urgent preservation. It also boasts generations of residents who have relied on the products of Mobile Bay for their livelihoods. 

Department Abstracts

Alabama Makers

Barbara Birdsong

By Alley Paquin

After deciding to settle in Auburn, Alabama, Barbara Birdsong opened Perch Jewelry Studio, where artists and newcomers alike can explore jewelry design and making. In addition to hosting visiting artists, Perch offers classes, runs an after-school outreach program, and hosts the Insider Outsider Festival, which showcases artists from throughout Alabama. 

US Supreme Court justice and Huntsville founder John McKinley (Photo Courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Alabama 200

“Alabama Justice” and SCOTUS

By Jay Lamar

As part of the state’s bicentennial celebration, a new traveling exhibit, “Alabama Justice: The Cases and Faces That Changed a Nation,” commemorates the Alabamians named US Supreme Court justices and highlights significant US Supreme Court cases that indelibly reshaped public policy and social practices throughout the country. 

The tight money policies of the Second Bank of the United States, headquartered in Philadelphia, were blamed for the length and depth of the recession following the Panic of 1819, particularly in the South and West, where borrowed money was needed to buy land on the frontier. The loss of credit caused many Alabama landowners to default on their loans. [Photo Courtesy of Library of Congress]

The Alabama Territory

Quarter by Quarter: Winter 1819

By Mike Bunn

After the path was cleared for Alabama’s statehood, things appeared promising for the former territory. But national economic changes, consolidated in the Panic of 1819, dampened the new state’s prosperity and reshaped life for its citizens. In particular, the panic influenced the state’s political future, as residents sought to elect leaders who might help the state chart a more fruitful course.

Alabama Governors

John Gill Shorter

By Samuel L. Webb

As Alabama’s governor during 1861, John Gill Shorter oversaw the state’s entrance into the Confederacy. His reelection campaign resulted in a substantial defeat, largely due to citizens’ reactions to the economic and political consequences of the ongoing war. 

Gov. John Gill Shorter, painted by Adelaide Everhart in 1903. [Photo Courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History]
The late 1890s photograph by an unidentified photographer shows a frontal view of an elderly woman sitting in a woven wicker chair with her hands folded across her lap and looking directly at the camera. [Photo Courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History]

Behind the Image

A Portrait and a Coverlet

By Frances Osborn Robb

An intriguing cabinet card in the Alabama Department of Archives and History prompted Frances Robb to start exploring—and offers an excellent example of how the details of an image can reveal substantial information about its age, its subjects, and the society in which they lived. 

Ada Chitwood Jones’s 1934 sock-top quilt is a unique and colorful item in the Alabama Archives’ vast textile collection. [Photo Courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History]

From the Archives

Many Stories, One Quilt

By Ryan Blocker

An artifact in the Alabama Department of Archives and History and its counterpart in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History both reflect a little-known aspect of Alabama’s artistic and cultural history. Both artifacts—sock-top quilts made by Ada Chitwood Jones—demonstrate the unique possibilities that arise when artists use surplus products from their own environments, in this case, Fort, Payne, Alabama, home to a vibrant sock industry.

After years of viewing it from afar, author John Sledge made his first trip to Mobile’s Sand Island Lighthouse courtesy of friends David and Simona Newell and their sixteen-foot boat, Renommée. (Photo Courtesy of Simona Newell)

Recollections

A Visit to Sand Island Lighthouse

By John S. Sledge

Mobile historian and author John Sledge recounts a dramatic visit to a Mobile lighthouse, exploring its historical and cultural significance.  

At the time of publication, Alabama attorney Ben Spratling is in his second term as president of the National Genealogical Society.

Adventures in Genealogy

History Comes Alive: The National Genealogy Society

By Ben Spratling

In this quarter’s installment of “Adventures in Genealogy,” the president of the National Genealogical Society introduces readers to the organization and details its benefits for ancestry researchers. Among its offerings are conferences, courses, and publications of interest to both new and experienced genealogists. 

The Nature Journal

Attack of the Killer Wisteria

Alabama Heritage’s resident naturalist humorously traces the history of his backyard wisteria—and his heroic quest to vanquish it. 

Wisteria, both loved and loathed. (Photo Courtesy of W. Mike Howell)
Francis Bicknell Carpenter’s First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln (Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Reading the Southern Past

Art and the Civil War

By Stephen Goldfarb

This quarter’s column reviews several books of Civil War art: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: The Civil War in Art (Orion Books, 1993) by Harold Holzer and Mark E. Neeley Jr., Alfred R. Waud: Civil War Artist (Viking Press, 1974) by Frederic E. Ray, The American Heritage Century Collection of Civil War Art (Bonanza Books, 1983) edited by Stephen W. Sears, and The Civil War and American Art (Smithsonian Institution Art Museum/Yale University Press, 2012) by Eleanor Jones Harvey.

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