Saturday, March 7, 2015

A Portrait of Judy Garland's Great Grandmother, Mary Ann Marable Baugh

What did Mary Ann Marable Baugh look like? That was a question Curry Wolfe, Mary Ann's great great granddaughter and I asked over and over. During the eight years I researched the Baugh family for my book, "From Tennessee to Oz," I collected a great deal of information on Mary Ann. Yet, through all this time, I wanted to see her face. Young or old, I wanted to know hat she looked like.

Mary Ann Marable Baugh’s life spanned nearly a century. Born in Virginia in 1812 - the same year the British invaded American, Mary Ann was the youngest of five children and the only girl. When she was twelve, she traveled across the wilderness to reach the center of the newly formed state of Tennessee, a land that was said to be a paradise. Society in this part of America was rough, but by other accounts, something like Jane Austin’s England. It was a very social world. 

Mary Ann's grandfather, the Rev. Henry Hartwell Marable, had become a Methodist minister late in life and was known for his powerful voice and passionate sermons--sermons he preached for over fifty years - longer than Judy Garland would live. 

Today, Rev. Marable’s Tennessee home can be seen at the Historic Sam Davis Home and Plantation in Lebannon, Tennessee. http://www.samdavishome.org The old log house awaits the needed funds for it's restoration. Five years after Marable’s death, the home became the birthplace of Southern hero, Sam Davis.

For a picture of this house, please visit my site: http://vaudevillesongs.tripod.com/fromtennesseetooz/id5.html

Certainly, Mary Ann visited this home many times as a young girl, until her very handsome distant cousin, John Aldridge Baugh came and took her to Alabama - at least for the early years of their marriage. In this this very simple home of her grandparents, Mary Ann learned about kindness and welcoming strangers from all walks of life. Her uncle John, brother of her father, married the daughter of Andrew Jackson’s business partner, Ann Watson, and eventually entered politics. 

During the thirty years of her marriage to John Baugh, Mary Ann gave birth to ten children. One little girl died in childhood, but most were healthy. Her youngest daughter, Clemmie, who was born with a disability of the spine, would one day marry Will Gum. 

Mary Ann lived through the Civil War, no small feat in Rutherford County. The African American slave, Miranda, whom she had known since childhood (and perhaps who was one of the closest and most trusted persons in her life) stayed in her household until her death. But despite whatever hardships she experienced,  none was worse than the fear of her son-in-law, Will Gum. Whether she had become senile or had reason to worry, this writer cannot say, but these facts taken form many records are presented in “From Tennessee to Oz, Parts 1 and 2.

During the eight years of the adventure writing this book, Curry Wolfe and I had many intense discussions about Mary Ann. There were so many ins and outs to her personality and to her life, yet one question we could not answer was, “What did she look like?”

Her family had money. Certainly, at one time there was a portrait of the lovely Mary Ann Marable. Yet,  when the Union soldiers came to town, many things were taken or destroyed. It seems that Benjamin Marable’s home was in the line of battle during the Battle of Stones River. Perhaps the house was burned to the ground. If not, many items were taken.

During the late 1860s and onward, there were photography studios in Murfreesboro. Mary Ann’s oldest daughter, Bettie, had her portrait taken around 1865. A great granddaughter kept this large picture carefully in her house; the house was very close to where Mary Ann  and family lived during the work. Surely, we thought, there must be a painting or portrait out there somewhere. If so, it may be unmarked. Another reason why it has yet to be discovered.

And so now, while hope has dwindled, we still wait with the question. What did Mary Ann Marable Baugh look like?


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