Have I mentioned before
that my only academic qualification in a science subject is in geology? I’ve a
large mineral collection at home which is mostly hidden away in boxes. One day I’ll
have more space to put them all out of display, a hope that has been fuelled
over the fast few weeks by one of those fortnightly publications that goes on
sale every year or so that gives a different mineral with a magazine with each
issue.
That also got me thinking
about a mineralogist I researched a couple of years ago for my Ology of the
Month series. I didn’t have time to write about her then so I’ll write about
her now. She was, like myself, an enthusiastic collector rather than a proper
scientist, and she was called Mildred Berryman (1901-1972).
Mildred Jessie Berryman
was born in Salt Lake City, the youngest of the three children of English-born
Richard Berryman. She was named after her mother, Richard’s actress wife
Mildred “Millie” Stokes. Richard was working as a bartender but had spent some
time as a miner in Colorado. Perhaps this is where he became interested in
minerals, a passion his daughter shared, though his birthplace back in England,
Cornwall, is also a rich source of minerals and he could have worked in one of
the famous tin mines.
Mildred’s first academic
interest when she was teenager at Westminster College in Salt Lake City was
controversial to say the least. She wanted to do a study on lesbianism. The
College was appalled. Mildred had also just come out as a lesbian to her future
sister-in-law and became very distressed by the attitude of the college, and
the families of some of her classmates who objected to her presence in class.
In order to get away from
the pressure Mildred ran away and got married. The physical nature of the
relationship repulsed her so much that she left her husband and returned to
Westminster College to finish her education. In his biographical article on
Mildred last year for the “Mineralogical Record” Wendell E. Wilson suggests
that she may have taken introductory courses in geology and mineralogy on her
return to college.
Mildred joined the
Mineralogical Society of Utah, formed at the University of Utah in Salt Lake
City, before the autumn of 1940. In that year two reports indicate she was
active in mineral collection. First is a report in the “Salt Lake Tribune” of 2nd
October which includes an account of Mildred giving details to the society of
their next field trip. The second, in the specialist magazine “The Mineralogist”,
was the first advert for “The Berryman Menage”.
This Berryman Menage was a
mineral showroom and shop which also offered gem stones for jewellery. It was
located in the family home in Salt Lake City and was run by Mildred and her
father Richard. Mildred had had several jobs before the Menage opened,
including those of stenographer and photographer, and she carried on with her
photography for another year or so. Her studio was located on the upper floor
of her home, and doubtless the photos she displayed to the Minerological
Society at the University of Utah when she gave details of the field trip
mentioned above were taken by herself. Another report in the “Salt Lake
Tribune” in January 1941 describes her as “historian and photographer for the
Mineralogical Society of Utah”. Although Mildred didn’t seem to hold any
official position within the society it is clear she was highly regarded and
led some of their meetings.
During World War II
Mildred worked in a factory making small arms. It was there that she met her
partner for the rest of her life, Mrs. Ruth Usherman Dempsey. By this time
Mildred’s father was becoming ill and he died in 1945. Mildred, preferring to
be called Barrie (a diminutive form of her surname, no doubt) and Ruth began a
jewellery-making business called Berryman Novelty Manufacturing and the
Berryman Menage seems to have ceased trading.
Mildred died in 1972 aged
71. Ruth died in 1979. Mildred had achieved some social standing in Salt Lake
City. As well as being a successful businesswoman she was a President of the
Business and Professional Women’s Organisation. She wrote several articles for
“The Mineralogist” magazine, the last one being published in 1943. Other work
was published after her death.
You remember that thesis
on lesbianism that Westminster College stopped her from writing? Well, Mildred
began writing it after leaving college and completed it in 1939. It was titled
“The Psychological Phenomena of the Homosexual” though it remained unpublished.
On Mildred’s death Ruth hid the manuscript from Mildred’s family when they
descended on her home to take away anything they could. Fortunately the
jewellery business was in Ruth’s name so that was safe and at least she had an
income. In the late 1970s Ruth passed the manuscript on to her daughter in the hope
that she would have it published. Some of Mildred’s thesis was reached
publication in “Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society” in 1978.
As a passionate
photographer and mineralogist Mildred Berryman provided Utah with a wealth of
visual and physical material, some of which still survives in the archives at
the University of Utah. But it is probably her thesis on lesbianism, a snapshot
of the lives of women during the middle of the 20th century, which
is more likely to be studied more closely.
Happy St.
Patrick’s Day!
I think I’ve
mentioned before that I have Irish blood on my mother’s side. I’m proud of my
Celtic heritage and my Irish great-grandmother, Sarah Maria Bagley. Being
one-eighth Irish I often joke that I always celebrate the fact on the eighth
day of the week! That’s true Irishness!
To celebrate
St. Patrick’s Day I’ve turned today’s article into emerald green. Let’s look at
the city in which my great-grandmother was born, Dublin, and discover its lgbt
heritage. I’ve selected ten subjects and tried to make them as varied as
possible while still within walking distance of each other (without being
clumped together). The simplified map below shows present-day Dublin and the
subjects I’ll describe below.
1) Upper Mount Street. This was the home of my great-grandmother’s father Noel. He was
a game-keeper to one of Dublin’s prominent families. My mother always said that
Noel and/or Sarah Maria worked for a Lady Leonette La Touche. I think there
must have been some confusion over the name as I’ve only been able to find a
Lady Annette La Touche in Dublin at the time. It must be the same person. The
La Touches were influential Dubliners and no doubt knew of Oscar Wilde’s family,
if not knew them personally. Speaking of whom, just a short walk away we find…
2) Oscar Wilde’s birthplace, 21 Westland Row. The building is now home
to the Oscar Wilde Centre, a research and educational organisation run by
Trinity College. I don’t want to say more about this today because it seems
like a very good subject for a Heritage Spotlight article in the future.
3) Merrion Square. One of several public parks in Dublin opened in the 1800s.
Oscar Wilde and his family lived in one of the posh houses around the perimeter
until 1879 when his mother sold the house and moved to London. The park
contains a statue of Oscar Wilde, an unusual example of a reclining figure,
which is facing the old family home. The annual Dublin Pride festival has been
held in Merrion Square since 2012, the parade through the city centre ending
here.
4) The George, South Great George’s Street. This is one of Ireland’s
oldest existing gay bars and clubs and celebrates its 40th
anniversary this Easter. Before then it was a traditional Irish pub with a
reputation for having and ageing clientele. In 1985 it was bought by Cyril
O’Brien, an openly gay businessman, who turned it into a brighter, more
vibrant, gay-friendly bar and club. Homosexuality was still illegal in Ireland when
The George opened, but it quickly became the main venue for the lgbt community.
5) Rice’s, South King Street. Before The George there were other gay bars,
including Rice’s, owned by Bobby Rice and opened in 1960. Again, it was
previously a traditional pub but whereas The George’s straight and gay
clientele mingled freely, the gay clientele at Rice’s had a separate bar area
where they could socialise more comfortably. Rice’s closed in 1986 shortly
after The George opened, and was demolished to make way for a shopping centre.
6) The Gate Theatre, North Frederick Street. This small theatre is
housed in a former public function room of an old hospital. In 1928 it became
the home of a new theatre company formed by what has been called Ireland’s most
famous gay couple (despite the fact that both were English-born), Hilton
Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammoir. The Gate Theatre introduced Irish audiences
to many American and European plays for the first time. Edwards and Mac
Liammoir were regulars at Rice’s pub.
7) Alternative Miss Ireland, Olympia Theatre. For 17 consecutive years,
and for one earlier contest, Dublin celebrated diversity and fun together with
the Alternative Miss Ireland contest. For the last half of its long run the
contest finals were held at the Olympia Theatre. The first contest was held in
1987 with Miss Isle as the winner. The contest returned in 1996 and was held
every year on the Sunday nearest St. Patrick’s Day. The last contest in 2012
was filmed by the Irish broadcaster RTE, and was won by Miss Minnie Melange
(real name Sinead Burke)
8) Dublin Pride (several locations on the map). The first Dublin Pride
took place in June 1983. The parade went from St. Stephen’s Green, a notorious gay cruising site, to the front of
the General Post Office on O’Connell
Street. For several years the post-parade festival was held at the city
council’s offices on Wood Quay before relocating to Merrion Square in 2012.
9) “Bunny” Murphy, Queen Street and Grafton Street. These were the home and
business addresses respectively of Bernard “Bunny” Murphy, a society and
celebrity hairdresser. During the 1940s his clientele included stars such as
Maureen O’Hara and Paulette Goddard. In the 1950s he moved to London. After his
partner’s death he moved to Brighton where he met Dominic Dalton. A
relationship developed, despite the age gap – Bunny was 65, Dominic was 29.
Bunny developed Alzheimer’s in the 1990s and Dominic became his carer. The
pressure led to depression and in 2001, in a depressive rage, Dominic strangled
Bunny. He admitted to the killing, and the court found that due to his mental
state at the time the crime was declared manslaughter. Dominic was sentenced to
6 years.
10) Outhouse, 105 Capel Street. Outhouse is Dublin’s main
lgbt community and resource centre. It was founded in 1996 and moved to its
present location on Capel Street in 2001. It was officially opened by the Irish
President Mary McAlysse.
Today’s Coded Lives looks
at a code that was popular in the romantic circles of the Victorian period. It
was a code which expressed secret desires and emotions, and one of the acknowledged
originators of this code was Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu (1689-1762).
Lady Mary has featured
several times on this blog over the years, and today, looking forward to a
summer of floral colour, we’ll have a look at the code she popularised.
The flower code, or
language of flowers (it even has its own name, floriography) was most popular
during the reign of Queen Victoria across Europe and in northern America. Many
different meanings have been given to flower since Lady Mary’s time and there
hasn’t been a central authoritative body to decide which definition is
“correct”. Before I list some of the more popular meanings of flowers in use
today we’ll take a look at the Turkish influence of Lady Mary’s language of
flowers and its development.
Lady Mary was the wife of
the UK’s Ambassador in Turkey between 1716 and 1718, William Wortley-Montagu.
Among the folk cultures of Turkey there was a system of rhymes and poems which
were to help in remembering medicinal, herbal and culinary uses for a whole
variety of plants, not just the flowers but the seeds, roots and leaves as
well. This was known as a “selam”. The selam wasn’t a code like the later
romantic language of flowers became. It was acknowledged in the 1830s, long
after the secret language of flowers became popular, that the selam was a
system of openness in its meanings and was no secret at all. Lady Mary wrote
about the selam in her letters which were published after her death and she
believed them to be just that, secret meanings, and it is her misconception of
the selam that led to the coded meanings of flowers that developed.
Meanwhile, another visitor
to Constantinople, Aubrey, Seigneur de la Mottraye, also mentioned the selam in
a book published in 1727. By the early 1800s the phrase “language of flowers”
had become common across Europe in romantic literature and poetry. Many books
were published in the middle of the 19th century which gave lists of
flowers and their secret meanings. This was when different definitions for the
same flowers began to emerge. Most of the current meanings derive from a book
published in 1819 called “Le Language des Flores” by Charlotte de Latour. These
lists were republished year after year in the popular annual almanacs.
Lady Mary may not recognise
today’s language of flowers but the predominantly romantic meanings will be
familiar. From the original memory-aiding rhymes of the selam to the romantic
lists of the Victorian era new floral “codes” developed, with specific flowers
now being assigned to birth-months and star signs.
So, if you want to give
your loved one or secret love some flowers this summer expressing your emotions
you could choose from the list of selected flowers below.
Last time : 10) Tom Waddell founded the Gay Games in which he, 9) Jacques Snyman Wiechiech and 12) Shaun Mellors have competed. Jacques was a member of the gay rugby
club of which 11) Tim Sullivan is
Chair, and who was an Olympic torch bearer, as was Shaun Mellors and 13) Prudence Mabele.
13)
Prudence Mabele
(b.1971) was the first black woman in South Africa to reveal her HIV status in
1992. Like 12) Shaun Mellors
Prudence has become a leading activist and educator for fellow HIV patients,
and both were chosen to carry the Olympic torch in 2004 in recognition for
their work. Prudence is a founder member of the Treatment Action Campaign and
the National Association of People Living with HIV and AIDS.
As well as being honoured
by carrying the Olympic torch Prudence has received many other international
awards for her HIV/AIDS work. In 1999 the International Gay and Lesbian Human
Rights Commission (IGLHRC) presented Prudence with their Felipa de Sousa Award.
This award is named after a Brazilian woman called 14) Felipa de Sousa (1556-c.1600) and is presented to individuals
and organisations who have made a significant contribution to AIDS research and
education.
14)
Felipa de Sousa was
born in the Alvarge, Portugal, and was known to have been well-educated for a
16th century woman of working class background. She was probably
educated in a convent school, for the IGLHRC says on its website that Felipa
was expelled from a convent for “sodomy”.
The year of Felipa’s
arrival in the Portuguese colony of Brazil is not known but it is recorded that
she was a widow. It doesn’t appear to have been long before she married again.
Her second husband was a baker called Francisco Pires. Apparently there were no
children from either marriage.
In 1591 the Catholic
Church of Portugal decided to begin an Inquisition into what it saw as
heretical practices in the empire. Most of this was anti-Semitic in origin,
though witchcraft and sodomy were to be included. The Inquisition had been in
Brazil before 1591 but in this year it arrived in Bahia, the main Brazilian
province, with the main intent of dealing with alleged sodomy.
There were many cases of
homosexuality, lesbianism and cross-dressing reported to the Inquisitor and
they were put on trial. In December 1591 Felipa de Sousa was accused of lesbian
contact with several women. By this time Felipa was widowed again, and it isn’t
clear if the sexual activity she was accused of began before or after her husband’s
death.
Felipa confessed to her
“sins” and said that she had been having sex with other women since 1583. It
was the most recent of her lovers, Paula de Siqueiro, who had reported her to
the Inquisitor. The penalty for “sodomy” for both men and women was death, but
the Inquisitor let it be known that he would be lenient with those who
confessed. This would be why Felipa revealed her affairs, and why other women
came forward to accuse her and escape prosecution.
Of all the women in the
provincial capital of Salvador who were accused of sodomy only Felipa was put
on trial. There was no question from the start that she would be found guilty.
On 4 January 1592 she was condemned to exile from Brazil. Before that, however,
she was whipped through the streets and had to pay the trial costs.
Another person who was
investigated during the same 1591 Inquisition and after whom an award is also
named, is 15) Francisco “Xica” Manicongo
(exact dates of birth and death unknown). Xica was a slave from West Africa.
She always wore female clothes and behaved like a woman at all times, so
complies with our modern concept of a transsexual rather than a cross-dresser.
A male by birth, she was baptised as Francisco, and her given surname Manicongo
was a common title in the African tribes from which she was kidnapped. Whether
this means Xica came from the ruling class of her tribe isn’t known.
It was common knowledge
among the other slaves that Xica preferred sex with men. In her native West
Africa Xica would have been referred to as a “quimbanda”. Her owner ordered her
to stop wearing women’s clothes several times and she eventually complied,
reluctantly. After being presented to the Inquisitor she was “denounced” for
wearing female attire. After that Xica disappears from the records.
The Association of
Transvestites and Transsexuals in Rio de Janeiro (ASTRA-Rio) declared 9 March
as Xica Manicongo Day, and presents their Xica Manicongo Award each year to
people and allies who have made a significant contribution to the trans
identity in Brazil.
With such an open
celebration of Brazilian transgender identity it seems at odds with the
statistic that most transgender murders occur in Brazil. This is made apparent
every year during the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
The Transgender Day of
Remembrance began in 1999. However, it wasn’t a Brazilian murder which was the
catalyst but the murder of 16) Rita
Hester (1963-1998). We’ll look at how and where the Day of Remembrance
began next time.
To mark today’s
International Women’s Day we concentrate on one woman who has conquered the
American entertainment industry – Ellen DeGeneres. In 2010 Lisa Kudrow revealed
some of Ellen’s French-Canadian ancestry and cousinship to Madonna on her tv
show. What I’d like to do today is look at Ellen’s other ancestors. Her
ancestry reveals her DNA has been inherited from some influential woman in
British and American history.
Ellen is descended from a
network of close family relationships and is descended from people who not only
founded America (Mayflower ancestors included) but also founded Maryland,
Baltimore and Capitol Hill. In fact, Ellen’s ancestors WERE Maryland.
Let’s begin in the 16th
century and the heart of England where we find Ellen’s most influential female
ancestor of the Elizabethan age. No, not the Virgin Queen herself but a woman
known as the Queen of the Midlands, and popularly known as Bess of Hardwick.
My own family has a
distant genealogical link to Bess, but a closer link comes through some of the
properties her children inherited – Clumber Park, Nottingham Castle and Welbeck
Abbey. My sister, myself and my eldest brother have worked in those respective
properties.
Elizabeth “Bess” Hardwicke
(1520-1608) was born into the minor gentry of Derbyshire. By a fortunate string
of four marriages Bess rose to become one of the richest women in England
owning more estates than most men. Her first marriage was when she was a
teenager and she was widowed soon after. It is her second marriage in 1547
which has the biggest impact on genealogy. Her second husband was Sir William
Cavendish of Chatsworth. They had 8 children. One son became the 1st
Earl of Devonshire (ancestor of the later Dukes) and is ancestor of many UK
Prime Ministers (including David Cameron) and the Queen. Incidentally, there’s
no such place as Devonshire – Devon is a county not a shire, the 1st
Earl invented the name to stop being confused with already existing Earl of
Devon. It is from Bess and Sir William’s eldest son Henry Cavendish (1550-1616)
that Ellen DeGeneres descends.
After Sir William’s death
Bess remarried in 1559 to Sir William St. Loe, another wealthy landowner. He
died in suspicious circumstances in 1565, probably poisoned by his brother –
and this isn’t the last murder in Ellen’s ancestry, as we’ll see later.
By 1565 Bess of Hardwick
was the wealthiest woman in England after the Queen, whom she knew personally
and acted as Lady of the Bedchamber. Bess’s final marriage to the Earl of
Shrewsbury brings Mary, Queen of Scots, into the story. When Mary was arrested
and awaiting execution she was placed under house arrest in the custody of Bess
and the Earl.
Henry Cavendish (mentioned
above) had several illegitimate children. One daughter, Anne, married Vincent
Lowe of Derbyshire and they were the parents of Jane Lowe (1633-1700), our
second influential female in Ellen’s ancestry.
Jane Lowe and two brothers
settled in Maryland in the early 1660s (Ellen is also descended from one of
these brothers). Jane followed her great-grandmother by marrying well. First
she married Col. Henry Sewall who became Secretary of Maryland. He was given
lots of land in the colony by the governor, Hon. Charles Calvert.
A brief word on the
Calverts. They “owned” Maryland. The family held the title of Lord Baltimore,
and the present city is named after them. Also, as their colonial flag the
Calverts used their family standard (coat of arms in flag form) and this is
still the flag of Maryland (pictured).
In 1665 Col. Sewall died,
leaving Jane a wealthy woman and owner of over 9,000 acres of land. Not long
afterwards she married the aforementioned Governor Calvert. He moved in with
her on her Sewall estates and Jane became First Lady of Baltimore. Nine years
later Calvert inherited his father’s title and Jane became Lady Baltimore. Jane
has many descendants by both Col. Sewall and Lord Baltimore, including Charles
Carroll, one of the Signatories of the Declaration of Independence, all cousins
of Ellen DeGeneres.
In 1681 Lady Baltimore’s
brother, Vincent Lowe, accused one Christopher Rousby of treacherous words
against Lord Baltimore and the king. Accusations flew around for a couple of
years until 1684 when Rousby was stabbed to death by Lord Baltimore’s cousin.
The king gave him a pardon! However, that’s not the end of it. In 1691 Rousby’s
successor as the king’s tax collector was murdered by Nicholas Sewall, Lady
Baltimore’s son! So that’s 3 murderers in Ellen’s ancestry!
Let’s leave all this
law-breaking and look at some law-making. The murderous Nicholas’s sister
Elizabeth followed her mother’s example and married colonial governors, Jesse
Wharton followed by William Digges. Elizabeth’s children by Digges gives Ellen
DeGeneres a descent from King Edward III. Lady Baltimore’s grandson Notley
Rozier (1673-1727) (Ellen’s direct ancestor) inherited the Duddington manor in
Maryland. In 1791 Notley’s grandson sold the estate to the US government who
were looking for a site for their parliament building. Today, that Duddington
manor (Ellen’s ancestral estate) is known as Capitol Hill, Washington, DC.
Finally, another lawful,
if not crusading, connection comes in Lady Baltimore’s more distant ancestors.
Through her father Jane is descended from the Willoughby’s of Wollaton Hall in
Nottingham. This stately home became a film star in 2012 when it was turned
into Bruce Wayne’s stately mansion for the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises”
(seen near the start of this official trailer). Also, most of the properties inherited from Bess of Hardwick have been used for tv and film locations.
It’s not often that a
chance meeting between an openly gay astronomer and a physics professor leads
to a threesome, but that’s what happened in Chile in 2013.
The threesome in question,
however, didn’t actually take place between the two scientists but 25 light
years away in the constellations of Piscus Austrinus and Aquarius. All three members of the
new threesome are stars known as Fomalhaut A, B, and C.
Fomalhaut deserves to be
more well-known in the popular imagination, on a par with the Pole Star, Alpha
Centauri or Betelgeuse. It’s one of the most dynamic star systems known, and is
the only system where you can actually SEE another planet orbiting another star
with the naked eye (you’ll need a VERY big telescope, though).
Let’s look at the
Fomalhaut system before we look at the gay astronomer who helped to uncover the
threesome. The illustration below shows the stars in the night sky (stars shown
larger than actual size) divided into constellations, showing where all three
of the Fomalhaut stars are located. All 3 stars are orbiting each other but
with so many other stars in between them it seems difficult to visualise. But
when you realise that the Fomalhaut stars are nearer to us than the others it
becomes easier to visualise.
Ancient astronomers
thought all stars were the same distance away – fixed onto a dome’s inside
surface. We all know that they aren’t, of course. It’s a pity we can’t see the
night sky in true 3D – it’ll be mind-blowing!
How big is this Fomalhaut
3-star system? The sheer size of the Fomalhaut system is itself a rarity. Very
few triple stars are so disperse. That’s one reason why it wasn’t until 2013
that Fomalhaut C was recognised as being the third star in this triple system.
Which brings me back to that chance meeting in Chile.
Dr. Todd Henry, a member
of the Out LGBT Astronomers list, and 1994 Gay Games 5,000 and 10,000 meters champion,
is founding Director of RECONS. He is also Distinguished Professor of Astronomy
at Georgia State University where RECONS is based.
RECONS is the Research
Consortium on Nearby Stars, and Fomalhaut, at 25 light years, is one of the
nearest. The RECONS astronomers had detailed data on all of the nearest stars,
including one in the constellation Aquarius called LP876-10. One of Todd
Henry’s students was working on a thesis with RECONS and had obtained more
detailed information about the star’s movement and characteristics.
Todd Henry had the
research notes with him when he was staying at a hotel in Chile, and that’s
where he met Dr. Eric Mamajek, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at
the University of Rochester. Dr. Mamajek, knowing Todd’s expert knowledge of
near-by stars, got talking about LP876-10, which he noticed a few years earlier
when he was studying the motions of all the stars in that part of the sky.
In 2013 Mamajek was hoping
to discover if LP876-10 was actually linked to Fomalhaut (already known to be a
double star). LP876-10 seemed to be moving in the same direction and at the
same speed at Fomalhaut and he needed more detailed information. Hence the
chance meeting between Todd Henry and Eric Mamajek led to the discovery that
LP876-10 was indeed the third member of the Fomalhaut system, and it was
renamed Fomalhaut C.
Again, it was the apparent
distance from Fomalhaut A and B that led astronomers to think that LP876-10
wasn’t part of the system – it was so far across the sky, and in a totally
different constellation. In fact, against the deceptive, flat-looking night sky
you can put 11 full Moons between Fomalhaut A and the new Fomalhaut C.
The whole Fomalhaut system
is an amazing place. There are bright dust and debris rings and comet clouds,
and each of the 3 stars is different. Fomalhaut A, star known to the ancient
Arabs as “fum al-hawt” (“mouth of the fish”), is about twice the size of our
Sun but 16 times brighter. One planet was discovered orbiting on the edge of a
dust cloud and comet belt. Fomalhaut B is a variable star, fluctuating in
brightness due to an orbiting dust cloud. Fomalhaut C is red dwarf star and,
like Fomalhaut A, has a dust ring.
Todd Henry’s work at
RECONS is helping us to understand our nearest interstellar neighbours. By
studying the planet, and others orbiting other stars, he is following on from
his earlier research into the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
I’ll return to Todd Henry and SETI later in the year.
Of
the stories about women’s lives in the Wild, Wild West of the 19th
century none can be more extraordinary than that of Mary Fields (c.1932-1914), pictured left.
She was even a hero to one of the great Wild West movie cowboys.
Mary’s
story begins, as does so many black Americans in the 19th century,
in slavery. The exact year of her birth has not been ascertained, but it is
believed she was born in, or about, 1832. Even the date of her birth is a mystery.
In the town of Cascade, Montana, the townspeople held her is such high esteem
in her later years that the local schools were closed on her birthday which,
she variously claimed, was in March or October. Yes, Cascade accepted that Mary
had two birthdays a year, such was their high regard for her!
Following
the abolition of slavery many former slaves left their old slave homes for new
lives elsewhere. Mary Fields was one who remained in the service of her former
owner, Judge Edmund Dunne, and became a valued and trusted employee. When she
felt it was time to leave and move on Mary found work as a chambermaid on the
legendary steamboat “Robert E. Lee”. Mary was actually on board the “Robert E.
Lee” when it won the race up the Mississippi against the steamboat “Natchez” in
1870.
After
a few years Mary decided to go back to work for Judge Dunne. When the judge’s
wife died in 1883 Mary took the five Dunne children to live with their aunt,
the Mother Superior of a convent in Toledo, Ohio. A few months later, however,
the aunt was appointed to lead a mission to Cascade, Montana, to establish a
Catholic school for local Native American girls.
On
receiving news of the Mother Superior’s ill health in Montana some months later
Mary Fields left her job as a carpenter at the Toledo convent and sped across
to nurse her old friend. From that moment the Catholic mission of St. Peter’s
and the town of Cascade became Mary’s home.
Until
now Mary’s life was only extraordinary in that she lived pretty much as a man
in a world where women had to know their place. Once in Cascade her life became
extraordinary even for a man. Many of the details have been elaborated with
legend and apocryphal stories, but there’s no smoke without fire, as they say,
and there’s no reason to doubt some of the most extraordinary tales told about
her.
Mary’s
everyday life at the Mission near cascade consisted of acting as a general
“handyman” – chopping firewood, building stone walls, digging trenches. She
probably built the schoolhouse and chapel single-handedly. She also tended the
mission’s chickens and garden.
One
story told is of one of her regular trips to Helena township 120 miles away.
Travelling alone as usual, her waggon was attacked by wolves on her return
journey. The houses bolted and overturned the waggon spilling all the food and
provisions onto the ground, and Mary kept the wolves at bay all night,
protecting the supplies for the convent with her rifle and revolvers.
Mary
was also quite adept with her fists as well as her guns. Reports tell of many
unfortunate men who tried to get the better of her. She was a regular drinker,
and the Mayor of Cascade gave her permission to drink in any male-only saloon
she liked. There was a standing bet in one saloon that she could knock a man flat
with one punch. The bet lapsed after 2 men lost their bet. A local newspaper
once wrote that Mary had “broken more noses than any other person in Montana”.
Even when she was 69 years old she flattened a man who refused to pay her for
his laundry cleaning!
It
was this feisty temper that lost Mary her job at the mission. Another mission
handyman complained that she earned more than he did, so Mary challenged him to
a duel. The unfortunate man ended up with one of Mary’s bullets in his
backside, and Mary was dismissed for firing a gun on convent property.
Mary
tried several jobs after that. She opened a couple of restaurants but was so
charitable towards genuinely poor and needy customers by giving them free meals
that they went bust.
In
1895 Mary got the job which led to her nickname. By hitching a team of horses
quicker than any of the male applicants she got a job with the US Postal
Service.
Now
in her 60s Mary drove the mail coach single-handedly. Loaded with mail, money
and valuables she made the daily trips across the state of Montana, with just
her trusty revolver under her apron and a rifle by her side. Day after day,
without fail, Mary travelled over the rough roads (when there were any) to
ensure the US mail arrived at its destination, no matter what the weather or
attack from Sioux tribes. When the mountain snow got too deep for the horses
Mary would strap the mail bags over her shoulder and walk miles and miles.
Mary’s reliability earned her the nickname “Stagecoach Mary”.
Mary
retired from the mail service in 1901 and opened a laundry in Cascade. She also
baby-sat for most of the families in town. At this stage of her life Mary was a
well-known character. The Hollywood cowboy Gary Cooper met Mary when he was a
youngster and he was living in Helena township. He admired Mary greatly and
contributed to an article about Stagecoach Mary in “Ebony” magazine in 1977.
In
1912 tragedy struck when Mary’s laundry and home burnt down. The people of
Cascade clubbed together and built her a new home. Mary died of liver failure 2
years later at the age of about 82.
