Publication of Betty's Diary

This is to announce that The Civil War Diary of Betty Herndon Maury will be published by the journal Fredericksburg History and Biography. The entire diary, together with annotations, will be available in early 2011.

Mrs. Gwin

This is a photo of Mrs. Gwin, she who gave the famous costume ball described in Virginia Clopton Clay's memoir, A Belle of the Fifties. I wrote about this ball in an earlier post, which you can read by clicking here. In the earlier post there is a link to a New York Times article describing the ball.

A Southern Girl in '61 [1861]

Publisher's Weekly, Volume 68, page 567
Review of A Southern Girl in '61 by Louise Wigfall Wright

Four Remarkable Biographies

Confederate Veteran, Volume 28, 1920, page 420
Four Remarkable Biographies

Reviews of the books of four southern women of the 1860s who have written biographies and memoirs:

• Memoirs of Jefferson Davis by Varina Davis
• Memoirs of Stonewall Jackson by Mary Anna Jackson
• Reminiscences of Peace and War by Sara Agnes Pryor
• Recollections Grave and Gay by Constance Cary Harrison
  

Lincoln in Richmond in 1865

The President Enters the Confederate Capital
Part II of With Lincoln From Washington to Richmond in 1865
by John S. Barnes
Appleton's Magazine, Volume 9, January - June 1907, page 742,

Matthew Fontaine Maury's war work

The work done by Matthew Fontaine Maury, Betty's father, during the American Civil War is chronicled in this book by his son, Richard L. Maury, the brother referred to as Dick in Betty's diary.

A Brief Sketch of the Work of Matthew Fontaine Maury During the War 1861-1865
by Richard L. Maury
Richmond, Whittet & Shepperson, 1915

Clicking on the link in the book's title will take you to Google Books where the book may be downloaded (free).

Charles and Ann Hite McGruder

Finally I have found the McGruders' graves at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. I went looking for them once before but without success. I was hoping to get more information about the McGruders from the gravestones, but unfortunately the stone(s) were so worn I could not read a word. I know I found the right place, for I had the Section and Lot identifiers (Section K, Lot 44) from the cemetery's web site; and there was another McGruder buried in the same lot whose name I could read.

Charles and Ann Hite (Maury) McGruder were relatives with whom Betty and Will Maury stayed in 1861-2. They lived in Henrico County, Virginia, which is next to Richmond. In February 1862 the McGruders told Betty and Will that they must leave and live somewhere else. According to Betty, the McGruders offered no explanation for the eviction.

I have not had much success in learning more about the McGruders. They apparently had no children, so genealogical research has yielded no results other than to tell me the names of Charles McGruder's parents. I know more about Ann, as she was a Maury by birth, but that doesn't tell me anything about what happened to her and her husband after the Civil War.


I'm not quite sure who this Mary L. McGruder is. The dates of birth and death are wrong for it to be Charles' mother, Mary Mallory (Woolfolk), who was born in 1799 and who died in 1833.
Perhaps Charles' father, Sublett B. McGruder (1781-1853) married again after the death of Charles' mother. It won't have much, if any, impact on the Maury family history, but my curiosity is aroused and I will try to track it down at some point.

And I want to express my gratitude to the man and woman at Hollywood Cemetery today who took the time to help me locate the McGruders' graves. Thank you!