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SHE opened the small leather box which her grandfather had "toted" during the War Between the States. Bright copper scrolls decorated the edges of the glass on which was the portrait of her grandmother surrounded by five children clothed in red. The grandmother’s black dress appeared to be watered silk. Lifting the glass from the red velvet lined case, Mrs. R. L Pirkle, Sr. of Hoschton said, "This black silk was from her trousseau. It shows through the glass and gives the black parts color. Grandma had this ambrotype made and sent to my grandfather during the war. She made his uniforms, as most women did. The coat buttoned tightly as did the pants which had no side pockets, but the coat had skirts and he must have carried this case in pockets there." Mrs. Pirkle smiled as she recalled the stories of her grandparents youth. "My grandfather, Shepherd Green Pryor, was born on December 7, 1828, probably in Burke County. All of the connected families moved to Sumter County around 1836, just after the Indians left that area. Grandfather married Adaline Tinsley in 1851, but she died when their daughter, Margaret Lucinda was born. Penelope Tyson, who became my grandmother, lived across the river in Dooly County. She was a gay young flirt who loved a good time. When teased that a young widower was out looking for a wife she was not interested; however, she said, 'When I met him I didn’t have a word to say.' It wasn‘t long before they were married on October 4, 1853." "They settled down to farm several hundred acres. They had a number of slaves, but I heard it said that Grandpa never bought any, he inherited them. I remember Grandma telling about a Negro girl named Ret. When the girl’s mother was dying she gave Ret to Grandma to raise. Ret slept in Grandma’s bedroom on the floor in front of the fire. Her job was to keep the fire going and to be there if needed. This was a common practice at that time." The War of Secession made plantation life radically different. In June of 1861, Shepherd Pryor joined the Muckalee Guards, Company A, Twelfth Regiment Georgia Volunteers, A.N.V., C.S.A. "Grandma took over managing the slaves and directing the plantation work," continued Mrs. Pirkle. "She was tiny, but I remember her as being strong and straight as a ramrod. Because she was not as optimistic as Grandpa, she was more conservative than he. She actually managed the plantation quite well." Penelope’s competence was easy to believe because of the example of her granddaughter. Born in 1888, Mrs. Pirkle, the former Ada Belle Usry, not only does all of her own housework but also maintains a flower garden and propagates numerous pots of coleus. She briskly goes about her cleaning and enjoys cooking for her grandsons who live with her. Although Mrs. Pirkle has a sweet grandmotherly appearance, the only clue to her age of 82 was her apron, the mark of her generation of good housekeepers. Resuming her grandmother’s story of the war years, Mrs. Pirkle related, "Food was short and it was a struggle to raise the crops. Then a returning soldier brought smallpox. Grandma Penelope wrote in a letter that she vaccinated her children with a scab off someone's arm. "As soon as I get another good scab I will finish with the family', she wrote. Our family has a collection of Grandpa’s letters which Grandma saved."
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Captain Pryor was wounded at Jeffersonton, Virginia, in October of 1863. When he sufficiently recovered he returned home. "Grandpa had made a vow with a friend not to shave or cut his hair until they beat the Yankees," reminisced Ada Belle Pirkle. "The friend died but Grandpa wanted it known that he was a man of his word. His white hair was shoulder length and his beard was well down on his chest when he died in 1911. "I don’t know any of the war stories because Grandpa never wanted to talk about it. He had a hard time when he came home. He couldn’t manage the free labor as he had the slaves. Farmers couldn’t sell their cotton and raise money for taxes. Although he sold a lot of his land, Grandpa was still in debt. He was determined to pay off his debts and he did by establishing a shop where he made furniture. I still have the wardrobe he made for Grandma. He also made wagons. He made a buggy for my mother and father, Mary Ada Belle Pryor and Joshua Franklin Usry, when they married." Speaking of her parents reminded Mrs. Pirkle of two more of the unique ambrotypes in her possession. "One is my mother when she was three years old. The photographer was there for a wedding. Mother kept begging to have her picture made so the photographer put her on a stool and make this likeness. The third picture is of my paternal grandparents, Isaiah Green Usry and Charity Joshlyn Hart Usry. They had settled around Ellaville about 1836. " Mrs. Pirkle opened the brown leather case. |
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This artistic form of photography is little known today. The ambrotype was a photographic process which came into prominence at the end of the French daguerreotype era. In 1851 Frederick Scott Archer, an English sculptor interested in photography, made public his collodion process (also called the wetplate process) . He used a glass plate coated with collodion as a base for the silver salt. In 1854 an American, James Ambrose Cutting, patented the ambrotype which was a thin collodion negative on glass. He derived the title for his process from his middle name. The tintype, patented in 1856 by Hamilton L. Smith, another American, was an ambrotype made directly on black japanned metal. While the ambrotype is much less commonly seen in family collections than the tintype, it is actually a more lasting picture. The ambrotype allows the use of colors. The detail does not fade as with the tintype and the ambrotype does not deteriorate with the passing of time while the tintype eventually rusts. Mrs. Pirkle’s family scrapbook contained many photographs which were copied from tintypes. It also held a card printed in gold inviting the friends of Captain and Mrs. Pryor to their home in Sumter County, Georgia, on the occasion of their "Fiftieth Marriage Anniversary, October 4, 1903." "There were 54 children and grandchildren present," recalled Mrs. Pirkle. "We all wore these badges." She indicated a gold ribbon with 1853 printed at the top, then Pryor, Tyson, and 1903 at the bottom. "I remember it well. I am the tall girl fourth to the left behind Grandma in the family picture. I had long red curls. There were 100 guests there." In 1953 the one hundredth anniversary was commemorated with family branches from Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas, Texas , and Tennessee attending . Each year on that 1853 wedding date there is a family reunion held in Leslie. "I'm the last one living in my generation of my branch of the family, but I had six sons." She looked around the room at the picture gallery of children and grandchildren which lined the walls. "They are all interested in their family's history." Ada Belle Pirkle closed the cases on the unfaded ambrotypes. The memories which these small boxes held cherished would be preserved unfading, too.
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Georgia Magazine, January 1971 |
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