Mariah (Bartlett) Vance Daytime Servant to the Lincolns Part 1 by Wayne C
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AFF Neoowslerrtte r ottf thhe Aeebra haPmP Leiencoooln Appssoclliaeteion Volume 6, Number 4 Winter 2004 S p r i n g f i e l d , I l l i n o i s Mariah (Bartlett) Vance Daytime Servant to the Lincolns Part 1 By Wayne C. Temple * blacks as servants and yet often impress the Old Settlers Association, mong the people who had a confided in them as she had in child- but by and large her narration is most close relationship with Abra- hood after her father brought home a valuable to Lincoln historians. ham and Mary Ann (Todd) stepmother. Throughout her life, Mary Stephen Shelton was born about ALincoln in Springfield was Mariah depended upon blacks who generally 1779 in Virginia. There, he married (Bartlett) Vance. Her first name is were more docile to her demands. (In a Lydia Heath. They moved to the 1 sometimes spelled Maria. From several private letter, Mary referred to them as mouth of the Scioto River in Ohio but primary sources it is known that “darkies.”) Most blacks—even in the later went back to a spot just across the Mariah worked as a daytime maid, North—had descended from slave fam- Ohio River in Cabell County in what is laundress, nurse, and baby-sitter from ilies that by necessity were forced to now West Virginia. From there Shelton about 1850 until 1861, when the Lin- “get along” even when their treatment took his family to Illinois. Lydia died 2 colns departed for Washington, D.C. was grossly unfair. As a result, Mariah on November 20, 1830, and on March She probably followed Catherine Gor- labored patiently for Mary Lincoln 12 of the following year, Stephen mar- don, who lived with the Lincolns in longer than any of her other servants. ried Judith (or Judy) Neall, born in 1850 but on January 7, 1851, married Even in the White House, Mary found Virginia circa 1804, the daughter of William H. Batterton and, of course, a free mulatto, Elizabeth Keckly, to be Daniel and Polly (Booth) Neall. Shel- 3 moved out. But Mariah never resided an invaluable dressmaker as well as a ton died on January 22, 1859, in Sang- 7 in the Lincoln home. She was already respected confidant. Of course, Eliza- amon County. A prolific sire, he married with several small children and beth was educated, whereas Mariah fathered twelve children by his first merely commuted from her house on was illiterate. Mary did not mention wife and five by his second, who had 9 West Washington Street, west of the Mariah in any existing letters. come to Illinois in 1828. Springfield Gas Light and Coke Com- Mariah had never been a slave, but Mariah truly had no idea in what pany, which was located on the north- her mother, “Phebe” Bartlett, was year her birth had occurred. She only west corner of Washington and First when she was brought to Illinois by knew that the date was on the “second 4 streets. A black woman, Mariah was her master, Stephen Shelton. Shelton is Sunday in October.” She gave the year especially loved by Robert Lincoln, not shown in any Illinois Census until as 1811, which is not correct. In fact, who always relished her corn pone and 1830, but he purchased land for the she related various ages to the census 5 bacon. Without doubt, she proved to first time on April 3, 1825, in what is taker over the years. Nevertheless, she be more subservient to Mary Lincoln’s now Curran Township of Sangamon was positive that she had been born in demands and tolerated her volatile County and listed his residence as Illinois. So, her birth might have taken 8 mood swings much better than the being in that location. Mariah, how- place sometime between 1820 and white girls and “wild Irish,” as Mary ever, stated that she was born in Round 1823 or so, with her sister’s a year after 6 Lincoln termed some of them. Those Prairie, four miles east of Springfield in hers. That very rough estimate works girls came to and left the Lincoln home Clear Lake Township of Sangamon fairly well with other known facts and like the seasons. Mariah would have County. That perhaps was true. The calculations. She named her mother as filled in for departed maids or upon Sheltons may have stopped in that area being a “Mrs. Bartlett,” but did not occasion augmented the labors of those before purchasing their own land in identify her father, only stating in 1880 who were in residence. Curran Township, southwest of that he had been born in Tennessee. In Mary Lincoln had grown up in Springfield. Mariah, quite naturally, 1900 she declared his nativity as being Lexington, Kentucky, where slaves gave some misinformation in her 1903 in Virginia. The latter seems correct, practically raised her. They not only did interview in matters that she had not since the Sheltons came from there. her bidding but also served as her sur- witnessed in person. And she greatly However, the mystery seems to be rogate mother. Thus she later viewed exaggerated her age, probably to continued on page 3 2 For the People “Lincoln in the 21st Century” A Two-Day Conference to Highlight the Opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum two-day scholarly conference will highlight the opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. The registra- tion cost is $50 and covers the two lunches and one breakfast event. Reservations can be made by going to www.alplm.org and printing out the registration form or by calling Deanna Painter at 217.558.8900. Seating is lim- Aited, so make your plans now. Sunday April 17 8:45 A.M.— Welcome 9:00 A.M. to 10:30 A.M.— Lincoln the Self-Made Man Moderator: Rodney O. Davis, Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College Speakers: Daniel Walker Howe, University of California at Los Angeles; Steward Winger, Lawrence Technological University 10:30 A.M. to 10:45 — Break 10:45 A.M. to 12:15 P.M. — The Intimate Lincoln Moderator: Wendy Hamand Venet, Georgia State University Speakers: Michael Chesson, University of Massachusetts; Jean Baker, Goucher College 12:30 P.M. to 1:45 P.M.— Luncheon Speaker: Michael Kauffman, author American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies 2:00 P.M. to 3:30 P.M. — Lincoln, Slavery, and Race Moderator: Frank J. Williams, Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Speakers: Graham Peck, St. Xavier University; Allen C. Guelzo, Gettysburg College 3:30 P.M. to 3:45 P.M.— Break 3:45 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. — Keynote Address: David Gergen, Presidential Advisor Monday April 18 7:30 A.M. to 8:30 A.M. — Abraham Lincoln Association Breakfast Report of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission 8:45 A.M.— Welcome 9:00 A.M. to 10:30 A.M.— Lincoln at War Moderator: Phillip S. Paludan, University of Illinois at Springfield Speakers: Jennifer Weber, Princeton University; Silvana Siddali, St. Louis University 10:30 A.M. to 10:45 A.M. — Break 10:45 A.M. to 12:15 P.M.— The Great Communicator Moderator: Douglas L. Wilson, Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College Speakers: Richard Carwardine, Oxford University; Ronald C. White, Huntington Library 12:30 P.M. to 1:45 P.M.— Luncheon Speaker: Louise Taper, “Collecting Lincoln” 2:00 P.M. to 3:30 P.M.— Lincoln and Presidential Leadership Moderator: Ronald Rietveld, California State University at Fullerton Speakers: Mark E. Neely Jr., Penn State University; Roger D. Bridges, Abraham Lincoln Association 3:30 P.M. to 3:45 P.M. — Break 3:45 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. — Summing Up: Three Generations of Lincoln Scholarship Moderator: Brian Lamb, C-SPAN Panel: David Herbert Donald, Harvard University; Harold Holzer, Lincoln Bicentennial Commission; Matthew Pinsker, Dickinson College For the People 3 THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN ASSOCIATION ROGER D. BRIDGES Mariah (Bartlett) Vance President MOLLY M. BECKER 5 RICHARD E. HART continued from page 1 See Literary Digest, Aug. 14, RICHARD MILLS solved in the finding of a probate 1926, 42. 6 Vice-Presidents record for “Black George” Bartlett in Justin G. Turner and Linda Levitt THOMAS F. S CHWARTZ Sangamon County disposing of his Turner¸ eds., Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Secretary personal effects—no real estate—on Life and Letters (New York: Alfred A. ROBERT A. STUART JR. April 25, 1823. This document shows Knopf, 1972), 46. Treasurer 7 that he was in Illinois prior to that For an excellent study of Mary ROBERT S. ECKLEY Immediate Past-President date. No other black, male Bartlett can Lincoln’s personality, see Jennifer Fleis- be found in the county during these chner, Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly Board of Directors ( ) Kenneth L. Anderson early years in question. It is probable New York: Broadway Books, 2003 . Dan W. Bannister that this man was the “husband” of For “darkies,” see Tuner and Turner, Judith Barringer “Phebe” Bartlett. George must have 61. 8 Michael Burlingame accompanied the Sheltons to Illinois Mariah’s 1903 interview reported John Daly Brooks Davis and fathered one or both daughters that her mother had been a slave Rodney O. Davis shortly before his demise. Mariah and owned by S. Shelton. Federal Tract Donald H. Funk her sister had to have been only babies Book No. 68, p. 13, MS., Illinois State Allen C. Guelzo Kathryn M. Harris when he died and never remembered Archives. It was the W1/2, SW1/4, Earl W. Henderson Jr. him at all. Sec. 33, T 15N, R 6 W, 3 P.M., eighty Fred B.