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theheartofdixie.net [email protected] CHAPTXIE XIV. SKETCHES OF WOMEN. " The sweetest flower earth knows Is the Rose of Alab~lmn." HIS chapter is devoted m:tinly to the preservatioll T of some ule~norials concerning a few of the daughters of Clarke county, who have made their homes outside of its borders. From the characteristic feature of the memorials the materials must be scantg ; yet there are those, doubtless, now living, who cokd have furnished many interesting records ; but such are scattered, no one knows where, over this broad land. If any of these should ever chance to glance into this chapter, they may be sure that the author regretted the scantiness of his material, so far as this chapter is con- cerned, and that he would gladly have inserted on these pages other names and other facts if he had possessed the means of obtaining them. And among the rnany young maidens who at diffur- ent timesThe have left the Heart quiet and, perchance, Of secluded Dixie hoines of their youth, and have gone into other counties and other states with the Inen to whom they had proved attractive, and to whom thug had gives their hearts and their hands, may be placed first, without any question, the name of Brewer writes Hainesworth. theheartofdixie.net [email protected] 424 ULARKP. AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. .Of the girlhood of Miss AINSWORTHvery little seems now, in this county, to be known. Mrs. Finch, now Mrs. Henderson, an aged lady mentioned in a former chapter, retnembers seeing her, but retains no ~articn- lars concerning her. She nlarried a young lawyer, John Gayle, who having graduated at South Carolina College. in 1813, born in South Carolina in 1192, came in 1813 to Olaiborne, where he read law and was licensed ,to practice in 1818. He .became a solicitor, a repre- 'sentative in the state legislature, a judge of the sa- preme. coart, Speaker of the Alabama Legislature, and from 1831 to 1835, Governor of Alabama. He was afterwards a rnember of Congress and then Judge of the United States District Clourt. His home was then at Yobile. ,The date of'Miss Ainsworth's marriage is unknown. It was probably not; later than 1822 and may have been a few years earlier. Of Mrs. Bayle it is said, that she was " a lady of rare-tdents and accomplishments, who dispens'ed thc hospitaliiies '' 04 the Governor's mansioa at Tuskalooss. with a dignity and grace never sur- passed." To her the author of the " Star Spangled Ban1 ter," Francis S. Key, seqt by the President of the United States .as Special Commission to Alabama in -1835,addressed a 'c beautiful poem as a GC personal com$liment~' to herself, which poem, it ia said, tE wrl.8 pnblishe4The and greatly Heart ad~nired.". Garrett Of sqs Dixie concerning her : " she was a general favoisik, and admired by all for her many+sIifdngvirtues and. talents which adorned social life,n lhfilre the year 1835 closed, this aixomplished woman died of locked-jaw, "universally repetted by the peoplee.of the %ate.'' Her eldest daughter theheartofdixie.net [email protected] SKETCIHEB OF WOMEN. 485 Dr. William B. Crawford, a leading physician of Ala- bama; the second married General J. Gorgos, who vas Chief of Ordnance of the Southern Confederacy ; the third married General Hugh Aiken of Sonth Caro- lina ; and the fourth married Thomas L. Boyne, a lawyer of New Orleans. One of her sons, Dr..Matthew Gayle, resides in Alabama; and the other, Captain Richard H. Gayle, in New Orleans. Governor Gayle, who took Miss Ainsworth from her home in Clarke and placed her where she at length graced the mansion of the highest officer in the state, was called, in his day, one of the best speakers and writers in Alabama. Where Miss Ainsworth was born, where or how educated, cannot here be recorded. Having been married possibly as early as 1820, it is not probable that her birth place was between these two rivers ; yet from the well established fact of her residence here she may justly be classed among the daughters of Clarke. The statements above concerning her daughters and sons are given on the authority of Garrett. ,Betweea 1820 and this year of 181'7 many have gone i~toparts of Alabama, into Mississippi, and into Texas, of whom no record can here be made. Indeed, a space is here pf thirty years, during which time many married andThe left the county, Heart with not a singleOf n&me Dixie to occupy this space in these records of woman. And 40 we pass to 1850. MISS ANNE ALSTON. '' Girl of the sunny South, Bright,round thy rosy mouth, Dim~lesand smiles are ever at -play - : Sweet in thy fountain eyesj Mirrored, the azure skiei Tell us of angels and heaven alway." 'Meek.' theheartofdixie.net [email protected] 426 CLARKE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. Born very near the then budding village of Grove Hill, probably about the time the county seat was removed from Clarksville, Miss Anne Alston was one of a cluster of beautiful maidens who, coming into earthly existence between 1830 and 1840, added much to the charms of life in their households n11d among their asso- ciates, around Grove Hill, for the succeeding ten or fifteen years. In 1852 Miss Anne had jnst entered upon womanhpod, %ad was then residing with her sister Mrs. I-Iowze, at that place between Grove Hill and Coffeeville so noted for containing, on the plslritatio~i around it, so many remains of the zenglodon. She often visited Grove Hill, ,coming in tihe Howze family .carriage, to attend the Academy examinations, or the Sabbath school anniversary, or religious meetings, or to , visit her friends. Like other nle~nbersof the family she was charakteiized by a marked politeness, and she also manifested a wii~ningloveliness. In dress, in style, in attractiveness, in intelligence, in winning ways; without. apparent pride or hauteur; secure in her own .social position, and showing respect to intellect, to education, to literary and ecclesiastic positi6n; Miss Anne Alston was a beautiful example of the true South- ern girl of wealth and culture, in this advanced period of Southern life between 1850 and 1860. She did not long rewain in the social circle of Grove Hill after reachingThe womanhood, Heart but was soon married Of to DixieL. B. Brown, of Enterprise, Mississippi. In that town ~rr;,. Brown and her huaband still reside. They have an child, Alston Brown, who has now entered 'upon, the Years 01 manhood. It is not likely that Mrs. Anne Brown has forgotten the home of ller girlhood anid tile aines of Alabama. theheartofdixie.net [email protected] SKET~EBOF WOMEN. 42'7 MISS EMMA IT. ILSTON. The youngest of six sisters, a pupil at the Grove Hill Academy in 1849, in 1852 attending a larger academy "up the country," Miss Emma soon com- pleted her education, enlivened with her presence the home of Mrs. I-Iowze and the social circle at Grove Hill, sharing in tho mildness, loveliness, and attractiveness of her older sisters, and married N. Alston Will- iams of North Carolina. Sonle years ago they removed to Lamar county, Texas, where they now reside, having a family of six children. Mrs. Emma \\'illiama may not remember the early mi~scadii~eswl~icll she helped to gather on the old plantation, she may not reinember all who remelrlber her bright image in girlhood, but she cannot forget, amid the wide prairies of Texas, and as a happy mother surrounded by her children, the first home whicll her childhood knew, the home in which she was left without a inother; she cannot forget all the scenes and associations of this county of Clarke. MISS MARTHA 0. CREIQRTON. One of that same cluster of maidens already mentioned, who enlivened with their presence the central parts of the county for some twenty years,. Miss OreightonThe was of about Heart the sarne age with Of Miss EmmaDixie Alston, or a year or two youuger ; alid was, like her, a inember of a large family, one having five sisters and five brothers, and the other havil~gsix sisters and foizr brotherg. In each family eleven children grew up to manllood and womanhood. Miss Martha was a daughter of Rev. Hiram Creighton, and was born amid the pines, not far from the old Fort Sinquefield; theheartofdixie.net [email protected] 428 CLARKE AND ITS SURROUNDfNQ.8. in the plantation home, about six miles from Grove Kill. Her next younger sister, Miss Margaret, " the pearl," was a rspecial companion ; and in the woods, after flowers, beside the streams, watching the squir- rels and the birds, the two sisters became fond of nature, indulged in many a day dream, and grew in years, in vigorous health, and in their native beauty. To- gether also they attended school ; learned, like all their compeers, to ride the well-trained saddle horses ; and made many a long horse-back tour, with their yourlg companions, in the bounds of their own county. Like the other' girls of this group Miss Creighton reached the verge of womanhood. Slie had health ; talent, rare in some directions ; was strangely intuitive in reading character and in discernil~gtruth ; possessed remarka- ble cheerfdness and vivacity ; was endowed by nature with large self-control ; and was blessed with a genuine, healthful piety. April 19, 1855, she was harried to Rev. T. 13. Ball, then in charge of the G-rove Uill Academy. She spent a few weeks as a resident ip the town, boarding at Mrs.

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