Aiken's House, Women In The War

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
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Young woman, photo taken by Brady at Aiken's House, Varina's Lading on the James River, Virginia. She has remained unnamed, her reason to be there unknown. The house was HQ for Butler and other officers, surely must have held wounded at some point and for us, a recognizable landmark. We do not know why she went to war-but she did.


Once did a thread, " Women In Weird Places ". Intent was to show how our women of the war permeated its fabric, so pervasive was their presence. For all the talk of staying home, awaiting word from some distant battlefield many just, plain did not. We continually catch sight of them however fleetingly. Nameless, mostly, sometimes obviously an officer's wife still, they were there.

It's important as part of our History to include them- when we think of the ACW, we must develop memories long enough and comprehensive enough to contain our wives and mothers and sisters. Aiken's House, Varina's Landing, James River an important name in the war.

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The present brick house was built in 1857 by Albert M. Aiken and was the headquarters of General B,F. Butler while he was digging the Dutch Gap Canal. Called Aiken's Landing, Varina was a place for the exchange of prisoners; the brick bam (?) was used as a detention station. “
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/vaguide/tour24.html

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A collection of staff and people in residence
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Two different photos showing women and children on the porch. One article states after 1864, when ships used Aiken's, women and children could no longer live at the house but I'm not sure this wasn't taken when the famous double turret monitor photo was.

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“ In the year 1864 the scene was no longer so peaceful at Aiken's Landing, once used as a place of exchange. Union vessels occasionally steamed as far up the river as this point. The queer-looking craft in the center of the river is the double-turreted monitor Onondaga "
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2001.05.0112%3Achapter%3D1.4

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“ These convalescent colored troops are resting at Aiken's Landing after a march. On the right is A. M. Aiken's house, on the brow of the hill overlooking the river. The scene was much the same when this was a point of exchange in 1862, but there were no colored troops in the Union armies until the following year. These men are evidently exhausted; they sit or lie upon the ground without taking the trouble to remove their knapsacks. This appears to be only a temporary halt; the wayfarers will shortly march out on the pier to a boat waiting to take them down the James. “
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2001.05.0112%3Achapter%3D1.4

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" Varina's Landing ", and it was called this well before the war, and Aiken's were the same place, a little confusing- this pontoon bride photo showing a removable section for James River traffic ( albeit seems close to shore and small- must have been a larger section further out for ships ) was in front of the house, pretty much.

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Another woman, on the porch is in this photograph- she's wearing a light dress so easily missed.

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And a hat! It does make you wonder who they were, what their function was- and why they went to the war instead of staying home.

Like I said, it's important we know these women, whether or not we ever know their names or why they were there. If anyone has any, other images of women at Aiken's House during the war, happy to see them.








 

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Wow, cool photos, Annie! You find the neatest stuff!:smile:


Ha! Thank you Pam but it's all just rampant curiosity and not being able to stay out of LoC- what a crazy cool place! Been browsing in there for five years plus and still find new stuff! Plus, the high defs let browse inside each photograph. I'll be here until my grandchildren are 76.
 
Maria Lousie Aikin
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https://photocolorizing.wordpress.com/tag/virginia/


It's my presumption and I believe the proof is out there, that the young lady is 14 year old Maria Louise Aiken. At worse, its her older sister Elizabeth B Aiken, age 16.
Note: Ages are based upon my research and roughly the time of the image, just prior to each turning a year older.

The Aiken family lived in the house before and after the CW, and apparently during. What struck me, both sisters had remarkable lives to say the least.

Maria Louise Aiken/Aikin/Akin left for California and got married.
Elizabeth B Aiken got married and lived the social life in Richmond.
Henry C Akin went to California too, settling in the Santa Monica/Monrovia area, where some of his descendants have taken an active part in that city even today.

I'm positive there are photographs of these two sisters, in private hands, it would be cool to compare them to the image.

Albert M Aikin Sr. was wealthy, his property value in 1870 was $200K ($3.5 million today).

1860 Eastern Division, Henrico, Virginia
Albert M Aikin.........M.....43......Virginia
Elizabeth W Aikin.....F......40......Virginia....1st wife
Seddon P Aikin........M.....15......Virginia
Elizabeth B Aikin.......F......12......Virginia
Maria L Aikin............F......10......Virginia
Albert M Aikin..........M......7.......Virginia
Henry C Aikin...........M......3.......Virginia
Emma Aikin..............F.......1.......Virginia
Ellen A Peeble...........F......22......Virginia....school teacher


1870 Varnia, Henrico, Virginia
Albert Aiken.........M....50....Virginia
Mary Aiken...........F.....48....Virginia....2nd wife
Zabina Aiken.........M...24....Virginia (Seddon)
Betsey Aiken.........F.....21....Virginia (Elizabeth)
Maria Aiken..........F.....19....Virginia
Henry Aiken..........M...14....Virginia
Emma Aiken..........F....11....Virginia
Fannie Aiken.........F.....8....Virginia
Note: I adjusted all the ages of the kids except Seddon, they were all mixed matched on the census. It had Fannie age 18, Henry and Emma flopped, a mess.

1870
Farm labor and keeping home (listed with Albert Sr.)
Edmond Williams.....M....28.....Virginia....Blk
Sally Williams............F....27.....Virginia....Blk
Ned Jones................M....24.....Virginia....Blk
Crisby Scott...............F....40......Virginia...Blk


Summer 1864
19....Seddon Pleasant Aiken, b. 1845
16....Elizabeth Brockenborough Aiken, b. Sept. 1847
14....Maria Lousie Aiken, b. Dec. 25, 1849
11....Albert Monroe Aiken jr., b. 1853
8......Henry Cox Aiken, b. Dec. 14, 1856
5......Emma W Aiken, b. 1859
2......Fannie Aiken, b. Oct. 1862

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In this image you have (L to R) Albert (11), Emma (5) and Fannie (2), Maria (14) and Servant. That's probably Seddon (19) standing at the stairs with several horse collars. Albert Sr. standing to the right (white collar), same man is holding the hand of the youngest while sitting on stairs in another picture.

Mrs. Emmert was formerly Maria L. Aikin, a native of Virginia, and a daughter of Albert M. Aikin, a representative of an old German family. Her mother was Elizabeth Frasier in maidenhood. The second daughter in a family of seven children, Maria L. Aikin passed her girlhood days in Virginia, where she attended select and private schools. She came to California in 1880 and the following year was married to Mr. Emmert. She is intellectual and accomplished, and presides over her home with much gracious dignity. Mr. and Mrs. Emmert are the parents of two children, Varina at home, and Michael T., Jr., a student in the State University.

Who was Elizabeth Brockenbrough Aiken Whitlock?

Elizabeth Brockenbrough Aiken Whitlock, her husband Charles Evans Whitlock and their two daughters and son lived at 100 E. Franklin Street, which was called Linden Row, a hub of social activity at the time. Linden Row housed several noteworthy schools, including the school founded by Miss Virginia Randolph Ellett, which was to become St. Catherine’s School. Elizabeth was active in philanthropic organizations in Richmond and her family were parishioners of St. James’s Church at its first location at the corner of 5th and Marshall Street. Her husband Charles Evans had a prosperous career with a lumber company and later a cigar and tobacco company. After his death in 1911, she remained at Linden Row later moving to 820 W. Franklin Street. Naturally, she continued to worship at St. James’s which moved to its current location in 1913.

St. James’s Whitlock Legacy Society
Elizabeth Whitlock left $5000 to St. James’s Episcopal Church at her death in 1930. The value of that gift today would be $ $68,757.

Elizabeth Brockenbrough Aiken Whitlock died in Palm Beach Florida.

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More to come...
 
@57th Indiana Infantry , thanks so, so much! Aiken's/Varina's Landing shows up so frequently, it just pulls one. I always got the impression ' The Story ' was somewhere- not merely random photos scattered through LoC and National Archives.

Please excuse some days passing before getting to your contribution- it's not really a contribution, it's anchoring History, so a little harder to label. The passage of Time has tended to orphan so much. Very grateful to have this reunion here on the thread, thanks again!
 
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One of my all-time favorite cavalry photographs- it took awhile before connecting the title ' Protecting pontoon bridge at Varina's Landing ' with Aiken's House.

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Steamer New York- famous photo from Aikens, prisoner exchange

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Wish we knew their names, esp. the children. They must have watched History on the James, from Aiken's Landing, if not the house.
 
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