My Story for the Nineteenth Century

Once we were involved in the hobby of reenacting we began to notice that some of our friends took on the actual persona of famous people from the time period. We had friends that portrayed Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Governor Austin Blair and his wife, K.C. Barker the Mayor of Detroit during the Civil War, George Armstrong Custer and his wife, and others.

One afternoon I was sitting with a gentleman who portrayed Abraham Lincoln when a group of spectators came up and started to chat with him. After a short while they turned to me and asked if I was his wife, Mary Todd, and I answered "No, she is out giving a speech at the special impressions tent, but I am a friend". They inquired how I knew Mrs. Lincoln and I launched into an explanation. I told them that Mary was from Kentucky and was sometimes alienated and without many friends, living in Washington, as many people thought she had Southern ties, she was even being accused of spying. I understood her since I myself was from Tennessee. I had married a man from the North who had done business with my family's mercantile. My parents had also been conductors on the underground railroad and were anti-slavery. My husband was quite a bit older than I and when we wed I moved to Port Huron, Michigan with him and continued my families underground railroad activities by ferrying runaway slaves across the river to Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. We had two young children when my husband passed away with heart problems. In order to preserve my husbands business and wealth/inheritance for my son I had remained in the North placing a foreman to keep the business thriving, when the war broke out. I had brothers, Uncles and Cousins still in the South, many of whom were fighting for states rights in the Confederate army. I understood how Mary Todd felt, but also knew that she was a strong supporter of the Union, as was I. That is how Mary Todd and I had become friends..through our similar backgrounds. The Spectators left and Ralph (Lincoln) turned to me and asked me when I had come up with the personal back ground I had just explained? I answered "OH, about 2 minutes ago. I just made it up". He was quite impressed that I came up with the story on such short notice. Though here is what makes it all so strange . About two years later my Uncle was digging around in the family tree and found some interesting information on the family during the Civil War. It seems that my ancestors really did own a Mercantile in Nashville Tennessee. The family had six children four sons and two daughters. One daughter married and moved North....Do I hear the Twilight Zone theme song playing??? That is just too close to the made up story I told to those spectators off the top of my head. Perhaps there was some kind of genetic memory??

I have kept that story and embellished it to accommodate the aging of my children and myself. Now that the children are in their mid 20's I say that my son, being a strong unionist went to fight with the 2nd United States Sharp Shooters Co.B and I could not leave the family business and return to my family in the South without cheating my son of his inheritance. It still works as a story for the family. It puts us in the 19th century middle class and allows me to have a background that can be altered when necessary for any given event or time line.