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From: "Ann Allen Geoghegan" <>
Subject: Re: [MSJEFFER-L] The Facts Unravel #7
Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2003 01:18:48 -0600
References: <20031109062232.34480.qmail@web41510.mail.yahoo.com>


Just been rebuilding my computer and couldn't find it for a day or so!

Ann
----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce Liddell
To:
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 12:22 AM
Subject: [MSJEFFER-L] The Facts Unravel #7


The Facts Unravel #7

[Sensitive readers should skip this essay, which
includes frank reproductive discussion.]

Two days after St. Valentine's, 1838, my ancestor
Jimerson (James Jr.) Liddell posted an unloving
newspaper announcement in Rodney, Jefferson County MS.


"Notice. All persons will take notice that, whereas my
wife, Martha Ann Liddell did quit my bed and board,
without provocation, during the month of May [1837], I
will hereafter pay no debts that she may contract.
Jamison Liddell."

What on earth was that all about? I still don't know,
but I've unraveled enough facts for a working theory:
a newlywed spat gone public, two years of celebration,
separation, joy, sadness, farce, tragedy, and a happy
ending.

Celebration, autumn 1836. Jimerson Liddell age 36
married Martha Ann Baldridge age 21 in September. By
the finger-counting method, assuming full-term
delivery, Martha Ann became pregnant around
Christmastime.

Separation, spring 1837. By May at five months Martha
Ann probably began to "show." At this point middle
class women commonly withdrew from male society for
"lying in" until the baby was born. (Poor women and
slaves kept working until birth-pains started.) Since
her widowed mother Mary "Polly" Stampley Baldridge
lived in Jefferson, the young wife probably went home
to Mama.

For over a year Martha Ann lived apart from her
husband. Though her motives cannot be known, perhaps
she had difficulty adjusting to married life under
Jimerson, a New York City Scotsman 15 years her
senior. (Jimerson and I have the same hair. Assuming
the personalities beneath the hair to be similar, my
sympathies lie entirely with Martha Ann.)

Joy, summer 1837. Martha Ann's pregnancy advanced with
the season. On September 22 firstborn son John Wesley
Liddell arrived in the world. But mother and child did
not come home to Jimerson.

Sadness, winter 1837/8. On January 8, 1838, Mary
"Polly" Stampley Baldridge died a month short of age
46, leaving six adult and three minor children, more
or less. If Martha Ann was living in her mother's
house (now probably her brother's house) she and her
infant stayed on without the excuse of visiting mama.

Farce, spring 1838. Tuesday February 13, the day
before St. Valentine's, Jimerson raised $5000 with a
first mortgage on his plantation. (Converted to
today's prices, $5000 is more money than I've seen in
my whole life.) Probably Jimerson intended to buy land
or slaves, or otherwise increase his fortune, but very
likely he offered a nice present to Martha Ann as a
Valentine gift, and she declined. If so, doubtless his
nose was seriously out of joint. Friday he cut off her
credit in the newspaper notice above.

Tragedy, autumn 1838. John Wesley Liddell died October
2, a few days past his first birthday. (Infant
mortality is one antidote to nostalgia for the "good
old days." Martha Ann ultimately lost 4 of her 10
babies.)

Happy Ending. Perhaps their son's death reminded the
newlyweds of the most important thing in life, Life. A
week or two before the tragedy the couple reconciled
and Martha Ann again got pregnant. Over the next
fifteen years Martha Ann bore Jimerson eight more
children, a sure sign of a satisfactory marriage.

For me personally their decision proved of vital
importance. The seventh child, my great-grandfather,
was born in 1848. Had Jimerson and Martha Ann not
reconciled, I wouldn't even be here. Grin.

Liddell family research by Barbara Liddell Thornhill
and her late father Jefferson Walter Liddell Sr.

Bruce D. Liddell,
Birmingham AL, 08-Nov-2003


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