Persona name:
Alethea Amanda Harmon Eaton ( nickname "Aley", pronounced "AILEY".)
This is merely a working sketch of my ficticious character. She will be fleshed out more as we go along. I would like to have someone for her to correspond with but if all else fails, she can correspond with her Grandmother whom she admires greatly, or perhaps she will have a NORTHERN girlfriend that she has known since her school days.
Physical appearance: 5'6" with a long elegant neck, slender build. Aley is usually taller than women around her and meets some men eye to eye.
Clothing & Style preferred: For her hair, she wears Lace and Ribbon net snoods, prettily decorated with flowers for "at home" attire or Pamela hats while out and about in the daytime. Day dresses such as the half mourning dress (
http://www.merchantshouse.com/half%2...ng%20dress.jpg), simple day dresss with white lace collars such as the Mott dress (
http://www.unr.edu/sb204/theatre/mott2.html) were typical for Ailey's daily life.
Evening wear:
www.bowesmuseum.org.uk/collections/image.php3?Name=Women%27s+Evening+Dress&image =1971-87-6-cst-1-88.jpg
or this
http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/large.../M974.15.1.jpg.
Aley wears matching cape with removable lined hood in inclimate weather. (As the years and the war progress, everything about her appearance will change due to shortages.)
Hairstyle: middle part, rather curly hair caught back in two thick plaits pinned in a bun, some tendrils escaping despite being covered by a snood. Evening style: piled in curls on top of head, band of velvet or strand of pearls looped through.
Hair color: strawberry blonde
Eye color: pale green
Ethnic origins: English, German
Native language: English, speaks some German, but prefers English always.
Literate: equivalent of 2nd year college student.
Educational level: finishing school for one year, but has studied with private tutors all her life. (Her father wanted a son.)
Political leanings: Has always followed the politics of her father and husband who served under Buchanan. Democrat
Religion: Episcopalian, as are all her family members.
Profession: none, travels with her father when he needs her, serves as his "First Lady" and handles the household affairs, servants, arranges his calendar, his appointments, etc., as she did for her husband when he was alive. However, she maintains her own home in Washington, D.C. since the death of her husband, a rather unorthodox position for a young widow of 22. She has many friends among the politicians in Washington and is well-liked by their wives, a rarity. (They don't feel jealous of her because they consider her too bookish, too intellectual, and are quite sure their husbands are uninterested in someone like Ailey.)
Personality type: forthright but not quarellsome; has decided opinions on most topics, but like women of the day, keeps these to herself.
Who is valued most: Father,her paternal grandmother, and men of intellect that she has met through her husband's work.
What is valued most: honesty, loyalty to the South. Since she is quiet about her political opinions this makes it easy for her to move within inner circles rather unnoticed. She has a great knack for bringing together diverse groups of people at dinner parties where she seats them for lively discussions. Aley still believes (before Ft. Sumter) that war can be averted if wise men will heed the warning signs. As things deteriorate she keeps her own counsel and thinks constantly of ways to help the South.
Most valued possession: cameo with a picture of her mother; books, all sorts of books.
What is felt about most people: Most people hide behind a facade. She is adept at figuring out what most people are really like. If you're a friend, she will be loyal forever. If you make her your enemy, woe be unto you.
Loves: Books, music, art. She loves horses but is unable to ride anymore because of a bad back. She circulates often between her small home in Washington, D.C. and her father's large home in Salisbury, N.C.
Early backround: to include childhood triumphs and tragedies. Aley's mother died when she was five. She has had tutors all her life, one in particular, a Miss Magret, who had decidely bohemian tendencies and didn't believe in following a strict curriculum. She taught Aley the three R's but it was young Mr.Brandorf who guided her attention towards military history and the art of war. Mrs. Harmon, her grandmother, taught her to play the pianoforte beautifully as well as violin, and also taught her the basics in running a household competently.
Ailey took a bad fall from a horse at age 12 and spent a year in bed recuperating. While there she read voraciously anything and everything that was put before her. She never rode again which was a bitter disappointment to her. She was surrounded by adults all her life so rather than act like a child, she was more like a small adult from an early age.
Family: siblings & their relative ages as well as feeling towards them: Has paternal Grandmother whom she adores. She has cousins on both sides of her family but they live far away and she doesn't see them often, but keeps up a running correspondence with them.
Family Status: ie social, economic etc: Small inheritance from her dead husband, as well as some money her dead mother left her. Her father is well to do, so she lacks for nothing, although she would never ask him for anything.
DOB: 2-14-1838
Location of Birth: (to include state or country) Salisbury, Rowan County, N.C.
Economic history: Grew up in the home of her father, a merchant. There were servants to attend to everything. (Her father owned house slaves: a butler Sam, his wife Lucy who is the cook, and Lucy's mother, Anna, who sews some. The two women kept the house clean and Sam also looks after the few horses/cow they own.)
In addition Ailey has a manservant and a cook/housekeeper that do the work at her home in Washington, D.C.
Social History: father: well-to-do merchant, mother: deceased since Ailey was five.
Husband: administrative assistant under Buchanan, recently deceased due to fall from horse. (This husband has given her access to the parties, soirrees associated with government up to the time of Buchanan's term end.) No children from this brief marriage of 4 years.
If a soldier: what state, unit, rank, experiance, feeling towards army
life etc life before the war.
If a civilian: connection to the War, changes due to the war:
Husband is recently deceased, but had been administrative assistant to President Buchanan. She and her husband, Charles, enjoyed discussing politics immensely. They both had political aspirations for her husband, Charles. They had long discussions concerning the South and the upcoming election, but tragedy struck and he was killed in a fall from a horse.
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