Part 23 (1/2)

Many of the citizens of the town still remember the willow baskets, of variegated colors, which Mr. Frieze made and peddled about town for a livelihood, as long as he was able to appear on the streets. Mr. Eubank moved to Charlottesville, where he died and was buried in that city.

A GRAND-NIECE OF WAs.h.i.+NGTON AND NAPOLEON.

The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo sent into exile, among others, his grand-nephew, Prince Charles Louis Napoleon Achille Murat, a colonel in the defeated army, son of the exiled King of Naples and Charlotte Bonaparte. He settled in Tallaha.s.see, Florida. Soon Col. Byrd C. Willis, of Willis Hill, moved to the same city, carrying with him his wife, Mary, daughter of Col. Fielding Lewis and Bettie Was.h.i.+ngton, and also his daughter, Catherine, who married a Mr. Grey and was left a widow at sixteen. She was beautiful, accomplished, winsome and a leader in society.

She attracted the attention of the young prince, who laid siege to her affections and was victorious. The marriage soon followed. By this union Catherine, who was a grand-niece of Gen. Was.h.i.+ngton, became also a grand-niece of the great soldier, Napoleon Bonaparte. She was born where the National cemetery now stands and died in Florida August 6, 1867, in the 64th year of her age.

WELLFORD--HERNDON--WILLIS.

In the City cemetery lie the remains of Doctor Francis Preston Wellford.

Dr. Wellford was a native of Fredericksburg, where he was held in the highest esteem by all who knew him for his gentle and kind disposition, his upright life, his abounding charity and his deep piety. In 1871 he left his native town and settled in Jacksonville, Florida, where he commenced the practice of medicine and established a high reputation as a skillful physician. His brethren of the profession were not slow in recognizing his ability and great worth, and made him president of the Medical a.s.sociation of the State. He was holding that honorable position when the yellow fever scourge visited Fernandina, in 1877, which almost depopulated the town. For weeks it raged in the doomed city, and all of the physicians were either down with the disease or had become worn out with serving day and night. A call was made for a.s.sistance and volunteer physicians. Dr. Wellford, forgetting self, not fearing his personal danger, responded to the call and went to the sick and dying of the panic-stricken Fernandina. It was while ministering to those people he was stricken down and died of the disease. Thus went down to his grave, amidst the tears of thousands of people, the n.o.ble physician and Christian gentleman, who sacrificed his life for the good of others. Dr. Wellford's remains, some years after his death, were brought to Fredericksburg for final interment, and now repose in our beautiful cemetery.

In response to the call for physicians made by the people of Fernandina, another physician, born and raised in Fredericksburg, Dr. James C.

Herndon, made his way to that city, and like Dr. Wellford, was stricken down and died from the disease. It is peculiarly appropriate that his sacrifice to professional duty should be acknowledged in connection with that of his brother physician's.

To the honor of these n.o.ble men a memorial window has been placed in St.

Peter's Episcopal church in Fernandina by Dr. J. H. Upham, of Boston, who felt that they had honored the profession by the sacrifices they made, and he wanted their heroism to be placed upon a lasting record. In describing the window the Fernandina Mirror says:

”The design is that of a crown in the upper section of the arch. Below this is a beautiful s.h.i.+eld of purple illuminated gla.s.s. A cross of mother of pearl forms the center of the window, ornamented by a bunch of grapes, with the symbol of the anchor representing Hope, the holy Scriptures, ill.u.s.trating Christian Faith; alpha and omega, the symbol of the Almighty Power, the beginning and the end; the cup of salvation, and the paten, the emblem of sacrifice. In the lower part of the window an illuminated tablet has the following inscription:

Francis Preston Wellford, M. D., Born in Fredericksburg, Va., Sept. 12th, 1829.

James Carmichael Herndon, M. D., Born in Fredericksburg, Va., Sept. 22nd, 1831.

Died in the faithful discharge of their duties, at Fernandina, Florida, Oct. 18th, 1877.

To whose memory as a grateful record of their n.o.ble lives and heroic deaths this window is dedicated by a New England member of the profession which they so much honored and adorned.

'Greater love hath no man than this, That he lay down his life for his friends.'

”The beautiful execution of this window, and the n.o.ble purpose to which it is dedicated by its generous donor, deserve the admiration and warm appreciation of the citizens of Fernandina, to whom the memory of Drs. Wellford and Herndon is deservedly dear, and will be regarded by our citizens as a graceful professional tribute by Dr.

Upham to these n.o.ble men, as well as an indication of his kind feelings towards our city. There is a striking coincidence in the fact that these n.o.ble men should have been born in the same city, in the same month, and, having volunteered their services, reached Fernandina in the midst of the epidemic on the same day, and that their deaths should have occurred the same day. It was, therefore, peculiarly fitting that the same memorial should have been erected to those who were faithful in life, even unto death.”

William Willis, whose remains are buried in the City cemetery, left Fredericksburg for Memphis, Tenn., in the summer of 1870, which city he made his home. When the yellow fever scourge struck that place in 1878, and the city was deserted of most of its inhabitants, except the helpless, the sick and the dying, it was then, in spite of the entreaty of his friends to leave the city, that Wm. Willis stepped forth and took charge, as the chief executive in managing the affairs of the city, and in distributing food, clothing and medicine, sent from all quarters of the country, to the sick, the helpless and the needy. It was while in the execution of this n.o.ble work that he too, was stricken down, and a few days' struggle with the terrible disease and William Willis was no more.

In his delirium, feeling the great necessity of some one taking up the work, he had so faithfully prosecuted, where he was compelled to lay it down, he uttered these as his last words: ”Send some good man to take my place,” and then peacefully pa.s.sed to the spirit land.

Thus went down to their graves three Fredericksburg men in the years 1877-78 of yellow fever, who sacrificed their own lives to save the lives of others.

MRS. LUCY ANN c.o.x.

There is buried in the City cemetery Mrs. Lucy Ann c.o.x, with this inscription upon her head-stone. ”Lucy Ann c.o.x, wife of James A. c.o.x, died December 17, 1891, aged 64 years. A sharer of the toils, dangers and privations of the 30th Va. regiment infantry, C. S. A., from 1861 to 1865, and died beloved and respected by the veterans of that command.” The stone was erected by her friends. Mrs. c.o.x was the daughter of Jesse White, the practical printer, and married Mr. c.o.x just before the Civil war. She followed him all through the campaign of the entire war, cooking and was.h.i.+ng for the soldiers of her command, and often ministering to the sick and wounded.

Molly Pitcher carried water from a spring, at Monmouth Courthouse, New Jersey, to her husband and others who had charge of a cannon during the battle, and when she saw her husband shot down and heard an officer order the gun to the rear, having no one to man it, she dropped her pail, ran to the cannon, seized the rammer and continued loading and firing the gun throughout the battle. For this heroic act Was.h.i.+ngton praised her, gave her an honorary commission as captain and Congress voted her half pay for life.

Mrs. c.o.x engaged in no battle, but instead of sharing the privations and dangers of her husband at one battle she followed him through the entire war of four years, and was voted the honor of a Confederate veteran after the war by the veterans themselves. It is doubtful whether in all the past a similar instance can be found.

A REMARKABLE GRAVE-STONE.