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Preface

3401 Coleridge Drive

Raleigh, North Carolina 27605

Christmas 1971

Hi!

All of my life Mother's family has radiated affection and admiration at the mention of my great grandmother--whom they called "Banny". Life apparently took on extra sparkle when she made the scene. True, families were closer at the turn of the century than now, but even so Banny had to be very special. Not the lavender-and-old-lace type but a dynamic and jolly matriarch. She was a successful businesswoman in what was then a man's world of commerce.

After getting her product well established she turned the business over to her son and "wrote a book", in her own beautiful handwriting, edited it even to the point of a table of contents and laid it aside, I imagine, to gallivant some more. The manuscript has reposed in various attics for at least 60 years now.

A cold night in February this year I settled down with it, unscrambled the original document from her edited version and sat back in absolute amazement at her spunk, her fine command of the English language, her candor in relating incidents in her career, her keen sense of humor, and her ability to achieve success in a very hostile climate for ladies.

Circumstances--invalid husband, diminishing resources, a family to provide for--made necessary her venture into the business world (in 1878). She had a secret formula for a "wonderful remedy" for blood disorders which she first shared with neighbors.

She took on the Raleigh medical fraternity--DID NOT TRIUMPH. Her work was labeled "humbug and quackery" by a Tarboro physician and she was scorned (but unscathed) by Tarboro society. She was let down by the legal profession in a case in which she was "clearly entitled to damages" (according to a present-day attorney who read and thoroughly enjoyed her journal) and she selected a couple of very poor businessmen for partners. But she licked a preacher, hands down! And built a thriving business which lasted for years. A resourceful, dedicated, enormously talented woman who could have been the original Women's Lib advocate.

So much for the review! I have contacted two friends with publishing connections with a view to getting it copyrighted and to find out if there might be some interest in a document of this sort. A typewritten copy was necessary to proceed. I decided to make additional copies and bind them for the family--as many as I can locate at this time.

The State Archives and History Department has agreed to preserve the original sheets and I plan to get down to some serious research, even if the project only winds up in the National Southern Collection at the University of North Carolina. If you have any documents or family records which would be helpful, please let me know. I have a letter from Uncle Rufus in which he gave Mother the manuscript and other notes in which he mentioned 40 or 50 pounds of letters belonging to Banny that I understand were delivered to Mother. These are not among the papers I have. I'm sure they'd be helpful.

My best wishes to each of you for a Happy Holiday season.

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