Blog
I began the process by painting a traditional quilt block pattern on a gessoed board, using acrylic paints. Some of the patterns I used included Log Cabin, Grandmother's Flower Garden, String Quilt, Card Tricks, Nine Patch, Four Patch, and Memory Block.
After the quilt block design was painted on the board, I added a bird, flowers, vines, and other vegetation.
As a final step, I coated each board with spar varnish for protection.
To employ my passion for quilting, I uploaded each painted image to Spoonflower, a company which prints original fabrics. I ordered a piece of fabric for each bird block, stitched them together with a solid block in between, and made a quilt "sandwich" of lining, batting, and the top. I placed the sandwich in my quilt frame and hand quilted each block. My quilting stitches followed the lines of the traditional quilt block pattern. On the dividing blocks, I quilted along a tiny feather design printed on the fabric. When the quilting was complete, I added a bias binding.
For the single quilted dove wall hanging, I followed the same procedure except the fabric block is larger than those in the quilt. Additionally, I hand quilted along the lines of the vines, leaves, and straw in the dove's nest.
Enjoy!
My hand-quilted quilt began as a painting project three years ago. I combined my love of painting and my love of music by creating images on pages of printed music, most of it from piano music I practiced as a child. I attached the pages of music to cradled panels, painted the images in gouache, and shellacked the finished paintings.
This year I combined my love of painting and music with my love of fabric art. I uploaded each painted image to Spoonflower, producing the image in fabric. I combined the fabric images in the composition I preferred and stitched them together. Next, I pinned the top into my quilting frame with a layer of cotton batting and lining to produce this quilt.
I quilted it by hand, following the staff lines of the music and important lines and movements within each image. Thus, each block has a unique quilting design.
Enjoy!
Sing My Story
Just outside the Hazen Brigade Cemetery wall at Stones River National Battlefield stand two military grave stones. They mark the resting place of William Holland (1834-1909) and William Harlan (1895-1979). William Holland began his life as a slave.
Although no known photographs of William Holland exist, I felt compelled to honor him and his family who lived in the Cemetery Community in Rutherford County. Using a photograph I located of his second great-grandson, as well as my understanding of features of the face, I created an image which I imagine to be William Holland.
My image also includes symbols representing cemetery stones, railroad tracks, a river of blood, cannon blasts, and milkweed growing on the land that was the Cemetery Community where William Holland eventually bought land and raised his family.
The facts I have gleaned about him and his family are from the following sources:
www.nps.gov
Stones River National Battlefield
www.ancestry.com
www.familysearch.org
Sometime between mid-1820’s and 1834—William is born a slave in Kentucky; becomes the property of Benjamin Harlan in Maury County, TN.
1850—Slave Schedule of the 1850 Federal Census shows Benjamin Harlan owns 32 slaves. William is one of those.
1862—Sometime after Union army enters Tennessee, William escapes from slavery.
March 1, 1864—William Holland joins the Union army as a private in the 111th Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops.
September 1864—William’s unit is captured by General Nathan Bedford Forrest, where he is assigned to Dr. James Cowan, Forrest’s chief surgeon, and where he remains for three months.
Early 1865—William returns to the Union lines. He helps to create the Stones River National Cemetery where he and fellow black soldiers rebury the remains of thousands of Union soldiers and begin building a stone wall surrounding the cemetery.
1867—William purchases land near the cemetery.
William marries Eliza Love according to an Ancestry family record
1868 Eliza dies according to Ancestry family record.
1870—According to the 1870 Federal Census, William Harlan, 40, is living in District 9 of Rutherford County in the household of S.S. Doolittle, superintendent of the cemetery. William is a farm laborer. David Harlan, 35, is also in the household. The census record tells us that David and William both were born in Kentucky. Is David his brother?
September 9, 1871—William marries Ruth Miller.
January, 1872 or 1873—Josephine, first child of William and Ruth, is born.
August 20, 1874—William Lenard, second child of William and Ruth, is born.
1878—Ruth dies.
1890—William Holland’s name is listed on the Veterans Schedule, a resident of District 9, Rutherford County.
1891—William Holland’s military service record is affirmed.
August 17, 1893—Josephine’s son, Joseph L., is born.
August 10, 1895—Josephine’s son, William Edith, is born.
July 10, 1899—Josephine’s daughter, Marie, is born.
August 14, 1902—Josephine’s daughter, Jimmie Evelyn, is born.
1900—William is a widower, living with his daughter Josephine and son William Lenard; William Lenard’s wife Della; and Josephine’s children, William Edith and Mary (Marie). His daughter Josephine is single, a day laborer, and can read and write.
August 10, 1909—William Harlan/Holland, Sergeant is Capt. James H. Dunn’s Co I, 111th Regiment Colored Infantry, and patriarch of the Harlan family dies. He is buried on his property in the Harlan/Holland Family Cemetery.
June 5, 1917—William Edith registers for the draft. He is medium height, medium build, brown eyes, black hair, and has a tumor on his leg. He enlists for WWI on June 21, 1918 and is released July 25, 1919.
January 15, 1918—Della Harlan, daughter of William and Alice Yeargan Jordan and wife of William Edith, dies of acute gastritis.
September 12, 1918—William Lenard Harlan, son of William and Ruth, registers for the draft. He’s a farmer, and his nearest relative is Marie Harlan, his sister.
1910—The United States Federal Census show William Harlan (Hollands), 36, living with his wife Della; his nieces Marie and Jimmie Evelyn, 11 and 9; and his nephews Joe L, and Will, 17 and 13.
1920—The United States Federal Census shows Joe Harlan, 24, living with his siblings, William, 22, Marie Hall, 20, Jimmie Bass, 18 in District 9, on Dixie Highway, Rutherford County, TN
1930—The United States Federal Census shows Joe Harlan, 36, living in District 9, Rutherford County, TN, with his wife Mattie and daughter, Helen, an infant.
1940—The United States Federal Census shows Joe Harlan, 46, living with his wife Mattie, daughter Helen, brother Will, and nephew Harris Gaines in Rutherford County, TN.
March 29, 1953—William Lenard Harlan, son of William and Ruth, dies. His death certificate indicates that he is buried in Harlan Cemetery, but no stone exists for him there.
June 26, 1955—Joseph L. Harlan applies for an upright marble headstone for his grandfather William to be placed in the Holland Family Cemetery, adjoining Hazen Brigade Cemetery, Stones River National Military Park.
November 18, 1979—William Edith Harlan dies; survived by his brother Joe, and two sisters, Mrs. Marie Thompson of St. Louis, MO, and Mrs. Evelyn Outley of Kansas City, MO. He is buried next to his grandfather in the Harlan/Holland Family Cemetery, adjoining Hazen Brigade Cemetery, Stones River National Battlefield.
July 20, 1990—Joseph L. Harlan, grandson of William Holland/Harlan, dies. He is survived by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Harlan Lee; sister, Mrs. Evelyn Outley of Kansas City, MO; and four grandchildren: Jimmy D. Manson, Elma Atkinson, Robert E. Lee of Nashville, and Tamara Miles of Augusta, Maine.
May 5, 1995—Jimmie Evelyn Harlan Outley dies.
Mary F. Lewis
This is my charcoal and pastel drawing of Mary Frances Lewis, the daughter of Steven and Jane Norville Lewis. I don’t know how I am connected to her, but I share DNA with her granddaughter. My paternal line is Norville; Mary’s maternal line is Norville. But I haven’t discovered our connection.
In honor of Black History Month, I tell here what I know of Mary’s story.
The Search for Mary—-
Mary was born about 1874 in Crockett County, TN. She was one of six children born to Steven and Jane. The other children were Susie, Audie, Cordie, Lonnie, and Robert. In the 1880 census, Mary F. Is listed as a six-year-old child with Jane and Stephen, along with one-year-old Susetta.
In the 1900 census, she is listed as Frances, the wife of Robert Carter. She has two children, Jimmie and Viola.
In the 1910 census, she is listed as Frankie. Children listed are Jimmie, Izora, and Lonnie.
In the 1940 census, she is living with her second husband, Harry S. (Hans) Singleton. Hans died November 5, 1944, of myocarditis, according to his death certificate. The census reports that Mary attended school, completing fourth grade.
According to Frankie’s death certificate, she died of a pulmonary hemorrhage July 31, 1947. She was a 76-year-old widow whose usual occupation had been housekeeper. Both of her parents, Steven and Jane, were listed as having been born in Crockett County. She is buried in Harris Grove Cemetery in Crockett County.
The Search for Jane—-
In my search to discover my biological connection to Mary’s granddaughter, I explored Mary’s maternal family. Mary’s mother Jane Norville was born December 28, 1862, in Haywood County, part of which in a few years became Crockett County. This information came from one of her death certificates. According to the 1870 census, Jane is a 13-year-old Mulatto farm laborer living in Dwelling Number 60 in Cageville, later Alamo. Her father Bob is listed as Mulatto, her mother Mirah as Black.
Jane’s siblings, according to the 1880 census, are John, 14; Frances, 12; James, 11; Julie, 10; Martha, 9; Louisa, 6: and Bob, four months. The nine-year-old and older are listed as farm hands. Mirah, her mother, keeps house. Interestingly, they are living next to my maternal second great-grandfather and his family, Francis Ruffin Clark.
On December 25, 1873, Jane married Steven Lewis, also of Crockett County.
In 1910, Jane and Steven are listed in the household with children Susie, Lonnie, Bobbie, Sarah, and Elbert.
Jane died February 1, 1916, of chronic nephritis, according to the death certificate signed that day. Her father is listed as James Norville and mother as Francis Norville. She is buried in Harris Grove Cemetery where her daughter Mary would be buried some thirty years later. The informant for this certificate in Steven Lewis, her husband.
However, a second death certificate filed the day after her death lists her father as Peter Bob Norville. Peter Bob Norville and Mirah Norville also lived in Crockett County. The informant for the second death certificate was Prince Williams. I have not been able to determine the connection between Prince Williams and Jane Norville Lewis.
The Search for Peter Bob Norville and Mirah Norville—-
I’m sure that my biological connection goes back several generations, at least to Peter Bob Norville and his wife Mirah Norville. For not only do I share DNA with Mary’s granddaughter; I also share DNA with the great granddaughter of another child of Peter Bob and Mirah, Jane’s brother John.
All of this brings forth the question: Who are Peter Bob and Mirah Norville?
In the 1880 census, Robert and Almira E. are in Haywood County with their children Jim, Julia Ann, Martha A, Lucinda, Bob, Susan E, and Clemma. Robert’s sister Viny, 34, is also living with them. Robert’s race is noted as Mulatto; however, Viny, his sister, is noted as Black. Robert’s birthplace is listed as Tennessee; the birthplaces of his mother and father are listed as North Carolina.
According to marriage records in Crockett County, Peter Bob Norville was also married to Rose Swift—November 2, 1884, and later to Belle Williams—June 29, 1895. Perhaps Prince Williams who signed Jane’s second death certificate is somehow connected to Belle Williams.
It is unlikely that I will ever find Peter Bob and Mirah named prior to 1870. The question remains—what is the connection to me?
My Norville ancestors migrated from Edgecome County, NC, in the early 1830s. According to a Pitt County, NC, deed, on March 20, 1819, Enos Norville, Jr, my third great-grandfather exchanged slaves with Allen Atkinson. In the 1850 slave census, Enos owned eight slaves:
One 28-year-old male
One 13-year-old male
One 7-year-old male
One 2-year-old male
One 25-year-old female
One 10-year-old female
One 10-year-old female
One 4-year-old female
Peter Bob was born about 1835. Is he that 13-year-old male? Is he the son of my third great-grandfather and one of his slaves? Or is he the son of my second great-grandfather, also a slave-owner in Crockett County.
Edmond Norville, my second great-grandfather was born February 22, 1817, in North Carolina.
The 1850 slave census records that he owned four slaves:
One 50-year-old female
One 9-year-old female
One 6-year-old female
One 3-year-old male
I’ll probably never know the answer to my questions; I’ll probably never discover the ancestors of Mirah and Peter Bob Norville. However, I know, because of science, that Mirah and Peter Bob, are entertwined with my family.
I know because of scientific and historical research that Peter Bob and Mirah, Jane and Steven, and Mary and Robert created families, birthed descendants that share a bloodline with me.
I know because of scientific and historical research that several of my Norville kin also share a bloodline with Peter Bob and Mirah, Jane, John, and Mary.
I know because of the study of science, history, theology, philosophy, geography, the world, the universe that I share a bloodline with humanity. As a part of humanity, I try to act as a humanitarian—being compasionate, sympathetic, generous, and kind. I hope that all of humanity would be compasionate, sympathetic, generous, and kind.
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
My latest project is an imagined portrait of my fourth great-grandfather, John Goldsmith, born 1757 in Albermarle, Virginia. As no photos exist of him, I based his likeness on that of my great-grandfather as seen in old family photos. In the oldest photo, my great-grandfather had a beard; in later photos, he had a white mustache. Men in the late 1700s and early 1800s rarely sported facial hair, so I "shaved" John Goldsmith for this portrait.
John married Jane Powell in 1776 and shortly thereafter enlisted as a private in the 9th Virginia Regiment, serving with Captain Samuel Woodson's Company. He was discharged at Valley Forge.
His first son, Samuel, was born in 1776; son Wesley followed, 1787. Daughter Polly was born 1791 and Matilda in 1795. His last child, John, was born in 1799. Wesley is my third great-grandfather.
John and Jane made their home in North Carolina before going further west into Casey County, Kentucky, and Bullitt County, Kentucky. where on July 4, 1825, he applied for a pension for his military service during the Revolutionary War.
His pension application tells a story of hardship. John describes himself as a bricklayer by trade, now old and infirm and deriving no support from his grown children who have moved away. He has been forced to sell many of his possessions in order to pay doctor bills for his wife Jane. He lists his possessions as one cow and calf, thirteen head of small hogs, two chairs, household furniture, a broad axe, plough, small garden hoe, and shovel.
Just three months later, John died, October 30, 1825.
To reflect his trade of bricklayer, I painted a ghostly image of bricks near the lower border of the painting. I dressed him in the clothes of a farmer or laborer, yet painted the background in the warm umbers seen in many formal portraits of the period. I used a limited palette of colors in his skin tones and rough brush strokes in order to reflect his station in life, yet I captured the blue eyes so prevalent in subsequent generations of our Goldsmith men.
In order to tell his story, I surrounded his portrait with some of the details of his life, written in white charcoal and pastel pencils.
Finally, I framed the board in an old window frame which came from the house built by my maternal grandparents. My maternal grandmother, Ada Frances Goldsmith Clark, was the great-great-granddaughter of Patriot John Goldsmith. The house that once bore this window frame was the house where my mother was raised and a generation later where I was raised.
I am thrilled to have the opportunity to serve as Artist in Residence for Stones River National Battlefield, a Civil War site and part of the National Park Service.
As I walked the grounds of the Stones River National Battlefield during the first week of my residency, I thought about the soldiers who fought and died here, as well as the inhabitants of the area who must have lived in terror or perhaps in hope during the horrors of battle.
I was particularly drawn to the McFadden Farm and the story of Hollie McFadden and her family. McFadden Farm was the site of the battle's final action, where over 1800 Confederates were killed or wounded. As drawn as I am to their story, I am more compelled to learn about the enslaved people who labored on her farm and the farms of her adult children. I want to know who they were and what happened to them as they continued to strive for freedom after the war.
Determined to raise the questions, I know that I'll probably never know the answers, but I want to at least try to follow their lives.
It begins with Hollie Posey.
Hollie Posey was born to Zachariah Posey and Nancy Squires Posey April 30, 1801, in Edgefield. SC.
At the age of 14, on January 18, 1815, she married Samuel McFadden, also from South Carolina. They married in Tennessee.
She gave birth to at least thirteen children:
William Ralph McFadden
Caroline McFadden who married John N. Clark
Nancy McFadden who married Isaac McCollough
Eliza L McFadden who married James M. Collier
James Squires McFadden
Mary Jane McFadden who married Benjamin Moore
Susan H. McFadden who married Jasper Marshall
Sarah J. McFadden who married Joseph N. Warren
Holly A. McFadden who married French Rayburn
Samuel McFadden
Henry C. McFadden
Catherine Louisa McFadden
John W. McFadden
Hollie's husband Samuel died April 29, 1848, and is buried in McFadden Cemetery, located on McFadden Farm, part of the Stones River National Battlefield.
THE MCFADDENS IN 1850:
In the 1850 US Federal Census, widow Hollie is living in Rutherford County, TN, with eight children, Elizabeth, 21; Susan, 20; Sarah, 19; Holly, 16; Samuel, 13; John, 12; Henry, 9; and Catherine, 6.
The 1850 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedules report that Hollie owned six enslaved people. Although listed with no names, they include a black male, 26; mulatto female, 25; black male, 14; black male, 4; mulatto male, 3; and a mulatto male, 1.
Also, in the same 1850 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule, her son William R. Is listed as owning a mulatto male, 28, a black female, 26, and a mulatto male, 7.
Benjamin Moore, wife of Mary Jane McFadden owned a black female, 25; a black male, 6; two black males, age 5; a black male, 3; and a black female, age 1.
In 1850 the entire number of enslaved people held by the McFadden family—Hollie and her children—was fifteen—fifteen nameless, faceless humans held as property.
THE MCFADDENS IN 1860:
In the 1860 census, some two years before the Battle of Stones River which would decimate their farm, Hollie lived in District 9 of Rutherford County. Her real estate value was $3.000 and personal estate value, $8.000. Living with her were five children.
The U.S., Selected Federal Census, Non-Population Schedules give us this information about Hollie:
She owned 40 acres of improved land; 15 acres of unimproved land. Cash value of the farm is listed as $15,000. The worth of farm implements and machinery was $45.00. She owned three horses, one mule; two milch cows; two working oxen; eight other cattle, and 25 swine. The value of the livestock was $600.00. She owned 500 bushels of Indian corn and five bales of ginned cotton.
The 1860 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule reports that James Squires McFadden owned a black female, age 35; a black male, 24; a black male, 20; a black female, 10; a black male, 7; and a black male, 2.
William R. McFadden also owned slaves: a black male, 46; a black female, 43; a mulatto female, 35; a mulatto female, 15; a mulatto female, 13; and a mulatto female, 10.
John Clark, husband of Caroline McFadden, was the owner of a black male, 60; a black female, 45; a black male, 11; and a black male, age 4.
James Collier, husband of Eliza McFadden, owned 11 slaves: a black male, 35; a black female, 30; a black female, 20; a mulatto male, 16; a mulatto female, 12; a mulatto male, 10; a black female, 7; two black males, age 5; a black male, age 1; and a black female, age 1.
In 1860, the entire number of enslaved people held by the McFadden family—Hollie and her children—was 33 nameless, faceless humans held as property.
SAY THEIR NAMES:
So what happened to those nameless, faceless enslaved people held by the McFadden family? We'll never know for certain. However, we do know that slaves were often given the surname of the family who owned them, so my next step was to search the 1870 census for McFadden, Clark, Collier, and Moore names in Rutherford County.
I found them as farm laborers, cooks, servants, porters, and house keepers. Many families include children born during the years after the Battle of Stones River. Some are found in District 9 where they probably labored on the McFadden farm before the war. Some are found in nearby districts or wards in the city of Murfreesboro.
McFadden individuals who appear in the 1870 census, and who were of the age to have been counted in the 1860 census, include the following people.
Minerva, 20, servant. District 7
Peter, 30, servant., Murfreesboro, Ward 1
William, 40, porter, Murfreesboro, Ward 3
Mariah, 38, keeping house
Maren, 16, servant, District 9
George, 18, farm laborer, District 9
Laura, 35, farm hand, District 7
Brown, 15, at home, District 7
Martha, 50, at home, District 9
Brown, 20 farm laborer, District 9
Albe, 17, farm laborer, District 9
Adeline, 13, farm laborer, District 9
Ike, 28, farm laborer, District 9
Bell, 27, farm laborer, District 9
David 61, farm laborer, District 2
Mary, 44, keeping house, District 2
Julia, 80, at home, District 2
Mollie, 15, at home, District 2
Napoleon, 12, at home, District 2
Do I know for certain the individuals named above were owned by Hollie McFadden and her children? No.
Scores of black families bearing the names of Clark, Moore, and Collier also appear in the 1870 census. I'll never know if they, too, lived their early lives as property of the McFadden and allied families.
As I walk the acres of the Stones River National Battlefield and record images in paint on canvas, I feel the sprits of the people who were here before. The people who were here before were not only the thousands of soldiers who fought and died here. They were also the slaves held by the landowners in the area. They were Minervas and Ikes and Lauras and Marthas. Adeline may have been that young three year old in the McFadden household; David may have been a strong 51 year old. Albe may have carried water from the spring near McFadden Ford. Peter may have helped stack the rocks for that spring. Mariah may have gathered Indian corn and picked cotton. Brown may have walked behind a team of oxen turning the field for planting.
I want to give them names and honor their toil.
My latest creation has a story. Here is its story, which is also my mother’s story.
As many of you know, I am the caregiver for my 95-year-old mother. We spend much time together, both at her home or mine. In deference to her privacy, I do not discuss her health publicly. However, she has given me permission to tell this story. The important element to her story is that she is losing her sight due to macular degeneration.
A few years ago we were in the car—traveling to visit someone or running an errand or going shopping. She remarked, “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I see people.”
“You do?” I asked. “Do you see them now?”
“Yes, they were just back there on the side of the road.”
“Do you think you got a glimpse of fence posts or mailboxes?”
“No, they were little girls in green print dresses.”
“Did they resemble anyone you know?”
“No, I didn’t get a good enough look at their faces.”
“How old do they appear to be?”
“Some are just little children; some are older, maybe teenagers.”
“Are they walking away from us or toward us?”
“Sometimes, both.”
I assured her that I didn’t think she was crazy, but I had no idea why she saw the visions of little girls in green print dresses.
Often since then, she will remark that she sees her little girls, usually when we’re in the car. Once we were indulging ourselves in our genealogy passion, exploring cemeteries; I walked ahead, looking for particular names. When I returned where Mother waited, she calmly remarked, “The little girl was following you as you walked through the cemetery.”
When I walk down the driveway to fetch the paper and mail, the little girl often follows me across the road, according to Mother. When I’m picking up limbs in the yard, Mother sees her, or when I walk to feed the chickens.
So the little girls have become a fixture for us. They’re not distressing or disturbing—they’re just little girls in green print dresses.
In the meantime, I read about Charles Bonnet Syndrome, a condition which causes people with decreased vision to have visual hallucinations. Think phantom limb syndrome. Sometimes the visions are patterns, buildings, animals, plants—or people.
A few weeks ago, Mother mentioned that she was seeing red spots, so we quickly made a call to her retina specialist who wanted to see her immediately.
After a thorough examination, he assured her that nothing was wrong; in fact, she was experiencing visions that sometimes affect people with macular degeneration.
I asked, “Do you mean Charles Bonnet Syndrome?” He said yes; I told him about Mother’s girls in green print dresses.
We had a name, a reason, a confirmation, and I knew it had to become a work of art. Because one of Mother’s passions is creating with fabric, I decided that this work of art had to be of fabric. So a piece of cotton duck and a variety of red circles, squares, and rectangles stitched on it became the basis. I placed a large, dark circle in the center to symbolize the dark circle that causes the loss of vision for individuals with macular degeneration. I cut and stitched tiny scraps of greens, browns, whites, and yellows to create the girls—two walking away, one facing the viewer. I randomly stitched over the entire piece in green and red thread. Finally, I bound the canvas.
Now we always have our girls in green print dresses.
Just outside the Hazen Brigade Cemetery wall at Stones River National Battlefield stand two military grave stones. They mark the resting place of William Holland (1834-1909) and William Harlan (1895-1979). William Holland began his life as a slave.
I have created a brief chronology which follows his life as a child and beyond through some of his descendants.
Although no known photographs of William Holland exist, I felt compelled to honor him and his family who lived in the Cemetery Community in Rutherford County. Using a photograph I located of his second great-grandson, as well as my understanding of features of the face, I created an image which I imagine to be William Holland.
I painted his image in pastels on paper on which I printed a copy of his military service record from the War Department, dated April 27, 1891.
The facts I have gleaned about him and his family are from the following sources:
www.nps.gov
Stones River National Battlefield
www.ancestry.com
www.familysearch.org
Sometime between mid-1820’s and 1834—William is born a slave in Kentucky; becomes the property of Benjamin Harlan in Maury County, TN.
1850—Slave Schedule of the 1850 Federal Census shows Benjamin Harlan owns 32 slaves. William is one of those.
1862—Sometime after Union army enters Tennessee, William escapes from slavery.
March 1, 1864—William Holland joins the Union army as a private in the 111th Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops.
September 1864—William’s unit is captured by General Nathan Bedford Forrest, where he is assigned to Dr. James Cowan, Forrest’s chief surgeon, and where he remains for three months.
Early 1865—William returns to the Union lines. He helps to create the Stones River National Cemetery where he and fellow black soldiers rebury the remains of thousands of Union soldiers and begin building a stone wall surrounding the cemetery.
1867—William purchases land near the cemetery.
William marries Eliza Love according to an Ancestry family record
1868 Eliza dies according to Ancestry family record.
1870—According to the 1870 Federal Census, William Harlan, 40, is living in District 9 of Rutherford County in the household of S.S. Doolittle, superintendent of the cemetery. William is a farm laborer. David Harlan, 35, is also in the household. The census record tells us that David and William both were born in Kentucky. Is David his brother?
September 9, 1871—William marries Ruth Miller.
January, 1872 or 1873—Josephine, first child of William and Ruth, is born.
August 20, 1874—William Lenard, second child of William and Ruth, is born.
1878—Ruth dies.
1890—William Holland’s name is listed on the Veterans Schedule, a resident of District 9, Rutherford County.
1891—William Holland’s military service record is affirmed.
August 17, 1893—Josephine’s son, Joseph L., is born.
August 10, 1895—Josephine’s son, William Edith, is born.
July 10, 1899—Josephine’s daughter, Marie, is born.
August 14, 1902—Josephine’s daughter, Jimmie Evelyn, is born.
1900—William is a widower, living with his daughter Josephine and son William Lenard; William Lenard’s wife Della; and Josephine’s children, William Edith and Mary (Marie). His daughter Josephine is single, a day laborer, and can read and write.
August 10, 1909—William Harlan/Holland, Sergeant is Capt. James H. Dunn’s Co I, 111th Regiment Colored Infantry, and patriarch of the Harlan family dies. He is buried on his property in the Harlan/Holland Family Cemetery.
June 5, 1917—William Edith registers for the draft. He is medium height, medium build, brown eyes, black hair, and has a tumor on his leg. He enlists for WWI on June 21, 1918 and is released July 25, 1919.
January 15, 1918—Della Harlan, daughter of William and Alice Yeargan Jordan and wife of William Edith, dies of acute gastritis.
September 12, 1918—William Lenard Harlan, son of William and Ruth, registers for the draft. He’s a farmer, and his nearest relative is Marie Harlan, his sister.
1910—The United States Federal Census show William Harlan (Hollands), 36, living with his wife Della; his nieces Marie and Jimmie Evelyn, 11 and 9; and his nephews Joe L, and Will, 17 and 13.
1920—The United States Federal Census shows Joe Harlan, 24, living with his siblings, William, 22, Marie Hall, 20, Jimmie Bass, 18 in District 9, on Dixie Highway, Rutherford County, TN
1930—The United States Federal Census shows Joe Harlan, 36, living in District 9, Rutherford County, TN, with his wife Mattie and daughter, Helen, an infant.
1940—The United States Federal Census shows Joe Harlan, 46, living with his wife Mattie, daughter Helen, brother Will, and nephew Harris Gaines in Rutherford County, TN.
March 29, 1953—William Lenard Harlan, son of William and Ruth, dies. His death certificate indicates that he is buried in Harlan Cemetery, but no stone exists for him there.
June 26, 1955—Joseph L. Harlan applies for an upright marble headstone for his grandfather William to be placed in the Holland Family Cemetery, adjoining Hazen Brigade Cemetery, Stones River National Military Park.
November 18, 1979—William Edith Harlan dies; survived by his brother Joe, and two sisters, Mrs. Marie Thompson of St. Louis, MO, and Mrs. Evelyn Outley of Kansas City, MO. He is buried next to his grandfather in the Harlan/Holland Family Cemetery, adjoining Hazen Brigade Cemetery, Stones River National Battlefield.
July 20, 1990—Joseph L. Harlan, grandson of William Holland/Harlan, dies. He is survived by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Harlan Lee; sister, Mrs. Evelyn Outley of Kansas City, MO; and four grandchildren: Jimmy D. Manson, Elma Atkinson, Robert E. Lee of Nashville, and Tamara Miles of Augusta, Maine.
May 5, 1995—Jimmie Evelyn Harlan Outley dies.
I am indebted to the life and service of William Harlan/Holland and his descendants. I am also thankful for the public records which provided me with the information for the chronology of their lives.
We may dance with the devil,
we may struggle across the desert,
we may be wrapped in briars,
but our tears will nourish
joy,
dreams,
beauty,
love.
I hope that my works of art stand on their own, without explanation; nevertheless, I include here my thoughts about this triptych combining music with art.
I chose three pieces of music with the thread of love tying them together. I began with Robert Schumann’s melody and Heinrich Heine’s text of a love that is made of the much loved rose, lily, dove, and sun.
Tom Waits’ “The Briar and the Rose” carries that thread of the narrator’s love through the image of the briar and the rose. Despite the pain of the prick of the briar, tears will fall to make love grow.
Finally, Brandi Carlile’s “The Joke” offers encouragement to those who are struggling to find their place, whether a quiet boy with gentle ways or a tired mother carrying her baby across the desert in search of home and safety. I felt it important to include the strong words of a contemporary female artist in this triptych.
I created abstract images to accompany the themes. Abstract images of the rose and the lily are scattered throughout the landscape, a landscape which begins with the stream in Brennan’s Glenn, which may be seen as the Rio Grande River where the young mother struggles across the desert with her child. Often a symbol of peace, the dove forgoes an olive branch, and instead carries a briar leaving drops of blood/tears to make love grow.
I hope you enjoy the work as much as I enjoyed creating it.
This little painting began with play, using gouache on paper. I had so much fun with the whimsy, that I decided to do a version in oil.
These photos include a couple of process shots as well as the reference photo. In my reference photo, Mr. Cock of the Walk was running straight forward. However, his comb and wattle were perfectly balanced for a nice contrapposto effect, so I decided to emphasize that in the sketch. I also wanted his tail feathers to reflect that counterpoise, so I exaggerated their lean.
I sketched the figure in ivory black. After getting the figure on the panel like I thought I wanted it, I began adding color to the body, focusing on the white saddle, hackle, and tail feathers and barred black feathers of the under body, plus the red wattle and comb.
As I began to lay in the black for the background, I decided that his tail feathers would better complete the contrapposto effect if I turned them to the right, placing them in the upper right corner of the composition. So I wiped and restated the tail feathers.
Until this point, I had used only cadmium red, ivory black, and titanium white. Adding a touch of black to the red gave me the darker values I needed in the comb. In other parts of the comb and wattle, I used combinations of cadmium red and yellow ochre, cadmium red and white, as well as pure cadmium red.
I used yellow ochre, with white as needed, for his beak and his feet. I also decided to exaggerate the turn of his forward foot.
One of my goals was to limit the palette to those colors. However, I decided that his monocle should be gold instead of black as I had done in my original gouache sketch. I thought using gold there would help to balance all the black in the figure and background. I couldn't quite get the rich gold I needed, using only yellow ochre. So I added a touch of Indian yellow to give it a richer gold. Indian yellow also helped to brighten his beady little eye.
I also decided some loose, quick strokes of white in the black background would help to add movement, so voila! And he's doing the schottische!
Thanks for reading! Thanks for looking!
