Famous Women of Carolina
Ulr.
Ьаипчк'е
frankly admits Dial lliis list
is by no Means coiiiplvlp. hut it fives you
soiuo idea of tlie s|»leu<li<l service that
women have rendered in North Carolina.
CAROLINA women have been
foremost since our earliest his¬
tory. Ijtwson, first Carolina
historian (1711) wn* struck with
their "brisk and charming eves." and
noted the fact that Edenton possessed
‘‘much female artillery." Rrieknell,
conceded a competent authority, pro-
iiotineed the figures of the women of
Carolina to he “as well formed and
finely shaped as any women in the
world." Early traveler from New
England, Janet Schaw. a lady her¬
self, was impressed with their "nc-
compl Uhmou t* and genteel manners.
Cornelius llarnett wrote large liis
name in Revolutionary history, but
was not so distinguished ns hi- wife,
who Is-caine famous for her "miueed
pic-s. tarts, cheese-cake- and little
biskets." No wonder Mr. Cornelius
contracted the* gout !
Formerly Possessed No Rights
Yet the early womanhood of
Carolina possessed no rights of their
own which anyone was obliged to
respeet ; they were hut chattel, at the
disposal of the manhood of (’arolina.
In 1787 a husband was busy beat¬
ing up his wife; to protect herself,
the lady killed him. On the trial
she was adjudged guilty of murder,
and sentenced to be hurmsl at the
stake! No, this was not in Russia,
hut here in Carolina. Corporal pun¬
ishment and branding was not
abolished as to women until 1855;
while I am ashamed to say how late
Carolina men retained the right to
chastise* their wives provided they
used a switch no larger than their
thumbs! As late as 1848 the Im-band
could oven soil his wife’s land over
her protest ami keep the proceeds as
his own.
Even when I came to the bar,
statutes usually contained a saving
clause “Provided, this section «hall
not apply to infants, idiots, lunatics
and married women." It was not
until the Martin act of 1911 that the
legal emancipation of women finally
came. Dr. It. I). W. Connor, ac¬
curate Carolina historian, well -ays
that woman's sphere was limited by
"the cook-stove on the North, the
By It. C. LAWRENCE
dairy on the East, the sewing ma¬
chine on the South, the cradle on the
West." Rut the |ienduluiu has now
swung to the other extreme, and
through the Colonial Dames, tlm
Daughters of the American Revolu¬
tion, and United Daughters of the
Confederacy, the Federation of Wom¬
en’s Clubs, and other massed activi¬
ty*, Carolina women have I landed to¬
gether until they have Iwcoine a
mighty force on every field of human
elidoavor. Limitations of space
prevent even a cursory reference to
ALL famous Carolina women; at best
I can mention but a few.
Perhaps the Carolina woman best
known to history was DOLLY
M ADI SON, who presided at the
White House with a queenly grace
and a commanding air, which has
been at once the envy and the despair
of her successors. It was she who,
when the Rriti-h ruptured Washing¬
ton during the war of I*nI2, cm the
portrait of the Father of his Country
from its frame and carri«*d it with
her when she He*!, lest it too fall
into the hands of the Rritish red¬
coats. She was born in Guilford
County, not far from the birthplace
of Uncle Joe Cannon, czar of our
national House of Representatives
for a generation.
On the frozen heights above
Fredericksburg, the Confederate army
lay ill winter quarters, the severe
weather admitting no warlike arlivi-
ties. Numerous General* were al¬
lowed short leave to visit their homes,
but that stern Presbyterian STONE¬
WALL JACKSON permitted him¬
self no respite from continuous duty.
It had been long since lie had seen
his wife, who had I teen Mi*. Morrison
of Carolina; he had never seen his
child, so he wrote: "You can imagine
with wlint longing I look to North
Carolina.” It was hut a short lime
until the soul of the great Captain
of the Confederacy took its Might, jn-t
after he said: "Let us cross over the
river ami rest under the shade of the
Carolina authors are many. There
is the great figure of Cornelia
Phillips Spencer (1825-190-'*) whose
long life was given to literature; and
whose memory bus been preserved in
Hope Chamberlain'* “Old Days at
Chapel Hill." There was Francis
Fisher Tiernan, who wrote tinder the
pt-n-nnine of Christ in
и
Hr i>t. She was
the author of twenty novels, and her's
was the pen which dubbed Western
Carolina as the "Land of the Sky."
Sarah I*. Kennedy wa« an author of
reputation, her worth-while novel
"Jocelyn Cheshire" having a revolu¬
tionary background. Margaret Ru-bec
Shipp was a nieinl- r of the short
story, and a figure on the field of
the nation'* literature. Her husband,
Lieutenant William E. Shipp, was
killed in action in the Spanish-
American War.
Carolina woman |Hiet* include
Pat tie Williams Gee. "Palace of the
Heart "; Olive Tilford Dargeii, "The
Cycle's Rim"; Clare Louise Unit,
“Ordered Chaos”; Lilia Yaa* Shep¬
herd and Edith Karusbaw, whose
poetical works have not as yet U-en
published, but which should Is* in¬
cluded in any anthology of Carolina
rhyme.
Outstanding Educators
On the field of education, we note
Miss Kate .McKiniiiion. for over fifty
years a power at St. Mary'» at Ra¬
leigh; Mis* Kale Shipp, founder of
the famous Fassifern School at Hen¬
dersonville; Miss Eliza Poole, who
toiled ill the public schools at Raleigh,
where a great building i«minem«ratw
her memory; Mrs. W. J. .lone* of
Snlcmlmrg, eo> president of Piiielaml
Junior College: Eli/al.-th MaeRae
and Mrs. S. P. Lees, founders of Lee»-
M lie Rile College, and the builders
i hereof; Sallie Lou McKinnon, many
year.» missionary and teacher on
foreign fields, now in charge of Wom¬
an'. Work in the entire Methodist
Epi.eopal Church. South; Miss Ilia
Poteat of Meredith, teacher of art
for nearly fifty years; Rev. Mother
Lorin, Mother Superior of Saint
Grnicve’s School at A-ln-villc; Mrs.
(Continued on paije eighteen )
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