FURTHER TAYLOR-KEAN CORRESPONDENCE, 1913-14
(Edited from the Archives by Robert T. Coolidge, Historian of the Monticello Association.)
Introductory Notes:
In the 1981 Annual Report, I described and published two letters, one of which was written by Cornelia Randolph Taylor to Jefferson Randolph Kean about conditions in the Graveyard and other family matters during the first two years of the Association's existence (1913-14). They were Vice-President and President, and the Secretary- Treasurer was Virginius Shackelford. There are three other letters in the archives from "Nely Taylor" to "Ranny" during this period, all dealing with the same general concerns. I want to publish just one of them, for reasons of space, and provide a commentary in the form of notes to the text.
This letter is the first of the series. The envelope and a note inside indicate that Col. Kean sent it to Preston H. Bailey 113131, to be read and returned, since it contained the text of an inscription for the gravestone of Governor Wilson Cary Nicholas, who was Bailey's 4-great grandfather (see Collected Papers, Vol. 2, pp. 48-49). He was at the University of Virginia (No.44, West Range) and returned the letter on March II, 1914, according to the postmark.
I shall reproduce the text as faithfully as possible, without altering the spelling or punctuation.
Lego
December 8th 1913
Dear Ranny,
You have been spared a letter from me for a long time, but now I feel I must write and report to our honoured president, happenings in connection with the M. G. A. First, Virginius asked me to attend to the markers for the Graves whose positions we know - When I counted them up there were fourteen besides Governor Nicholasl- Of these, as you know, Betsy Carr McDonald sent the money for one,2 and my niece, Martha, Jeff's daughter paid for one for her mother,3 intending to replace it with a larger one when she gets the money .-I ordered them and went to work to find dates and I am glad to say I have found them all –
Now the question occurs to me about Cary Ruffin -I think his name should be put Randolph, on a stone with bare name and dates as the last name, would be very misleading as to his parentage -and I always thought his ex-wife responsible for the change of name, but while I feel that the name should be Ruffin, I do not think it right for me to take that responsibility on myself -I believe his brothers and the rest of the family would prefer the Ruffin -as the change was always unpopular with us all -so I am referring this matter to you -I will make his stone the last.4 –
Also, I was directed by Bro: Bennett's sons to have that broken slab, removed at their expense -and that has been ordered5 –
While giving these orders it seemed to me that it was belittling to a man of Governor Nicholas's Distinction to have a tiny stone of commemoration.6 -So I wrote to Sally Carter and she, Polly and their Cousin Cary Link,7 gave the money and chose a slab, such as the one over Dabney Carr -I send you for your approval the inscription, we propose to put on -Polly Carter pronounces it "very dignified" we all like it -Again, after thinking the matter over I came to this conclusion -W. C. N. died six years before his friend Th: J -In the second decade of the 19th century there had been buried in the line with Mrs. Peter Jefferson, Wm Mortimer Harrison,8 a cousin, and Wilson Jefferson Cary ; the latter her Grandson9 -Now I judged it reasonable to suppose that with the few graves that were in the lot then, that Nicholas was laid in the same line -However before I put the monument I will make Williams find a grave 10 -At any rate it will be a memorial, and I trust a permanent one -the other two died less than ten years before Gov. Nicholas -I forgot to mention that Hollins also contributed to the stone 11 –
All that I have done towards accomplishing the marking of the graves has been done at the personal request of Virginius (Shackelford) -So you must not think I have been officious -The only thing that was my initiative was to collect the money for this last - that was a labour of love -I loved the memory of our Grandmother's father and I love her 12 -
We have all been watching Mexican relations with much interest -I feared that there would be intervention, there would have been under Roosevelt -but Wilson's policy of waiting has all the advantages that come from allowing the Kilkeeny cats to fight it out -The lives 10000 Latin-Americans would not have paid for the death of one of our men -And we have enough Mongrels hanging to our government now.13
It is so lately since you left the East14 that I have very little news to tell you –A late letter from Lucy Smith, tells me that Kate, Jack Mason's widow -had taken Jefferson to Washington to try the effects of an operation for his epilepsy -which a number of specialists think was caused by a blow, he received on his head some years ago -I have not heard the issue15 –
With love for Louise and the young people, and best wishes for a happy Christmas and New Year for you all, I am
Your affectionate Cousin
Nely Taylor –
Let me know at once about the name on Cary's stone –
(Enclosed on separate sheet)
Inscription for Monument to be placed over
Gov: Wilson Cary Nicholas –
(Text is the same as in Collected Papers, Vol. I, p. 254)
Notes:
1. There were, according to the list on pp. 217-218 of Vol. 2 of the Collected Papers, fifty-eight graves in the Graveyard in 1913. Some of the fourteen may be family plots rather than individual graves, so we cannot conclude that three-quarters of the graves were unlocated as well as unmarked.
2. Presumably for one of the Carr graves.
3. Martha Randolph Taylor 12241 was 23 years old. Her Mother died in 1909. (Grave C- 4)
4. The stone, on Grave E-9, is inscribed "Cary Ruffin Randolph", despite her objections. In the letter in the 1981 Annual Report, (in a passage omitted from the published text) when a visitor asked her "Is that man Cary Ruffin Randolph here?", she replied "He is my first cousin and lies yonder".
5. Bennett Taylor's gravestone includes his wife, who died in 1928.
6. Wilson Cary Nicholas was U .S. Senator as well as Governor of Virginia.
7. The two Carter ladies were presumbly descendants of Gov. Nicholas' granddaughter, Margaret ("Polly") Smith, who married Robert Hill Carter. His sister, Sally Carter, married Jefferson's grandson, Benjamin Franklin Randolph, and his son, John Cools Carter, married Ellen Banked (113).
8. William Mortimer Harrison (Grave no.18) was born December 23, 1801 and died May 19, 1812, by drowning. His parents, Randolph Harrison and Mary Randolph, were Mrs. Jefferson's nephew and niece, children of her sister, Susannah Harrison, and her brother, Thomas Randolph. (See Robert Islam Randolph, The Randolph of Virginia). Noel's efforts to have this stone repaired or replaced were not successful.
9. Wilson Jefferson Cary was actually the great grandson of Mrs. Peter Jefferson, since he was the grandson of Martha Jefferson and Dabney Carr. His wife, Virginia Randolph, was Noel's great-great-aunt (sister of Thomas Mann Randolph of Edgehill). This grave is discussed in the 1981 Annual Report letter, and in the Dec. 15 letter, she says "I have had the commission to order the Cary Monument -cost $135 -a granite slab that I fear will throw Wilson C. Nicholas' in the shade -"
10. "Williams" was the caretaker of the Graveyard. In the July 13 letter, she says, "Williams planted the grass at Monticello and finally got it in good order", but in the 1981 Annual Report letter, he is criticized as an unreliable painter .
11. Hollins Nicholas Randolph 12124.
12. Governor Nicholas, the father of Jane Nicholas Randolph, Ranny's and Nely's grandmother.
13. The revolution against Porfirio Diaz which had begun in 1911 was developing into a civil war between rival factions. Madero, who had been recognized by the U.S., was deposed and shot on February 18, 1913. The U.S. didn't recognize any successor unti11915.
14. Col. Kean was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1913 and 1914, according to the addresses on all four of Nely's letters.
15. Lucy Mason Smith 1272 (Nely's first cousin) had a nephew, Thomas Jefferson Mason 12733, who died in 1918 at the age of 22. In her letter of July 13, Nely confirms that the epilepsy has returned -"Truly some are taken from trouble to come."