UDC Elects New Officers For 2016-2018 Term

  • Monday, October 17, 2016

The United Daughters of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis Chapter 900 held its first monthly meeting of the new year on Sept. 17 at the Kinser Church of God in Cleveland.

Meeting Minutes:

The meeting was called to order by President Marilyn Kinne. The ritual was read by Helen Riden, chaplain.  Salutes were given to the Christian flag, United States flag, Tennessee flag, and Confederate flags.  The songs, How Firm A Foundation, The Star-Spangled Banner, Tennessee Waltz, and Dixie were sung. The minutes of the previous meeting were read by Secretary Debbie Riggs.  The treasurer’s report was given by Peggy Morrison.  MiniSu Willard reported on the Children of the Confederacy and their up-coming projects.  Anita Green presented the registrar’s report.   Debbie Riggs presided over the installation of the new officers for the 2016-2018 term.

New officers are as follows:  President-Marilyn Kinne, Vice-President-Lisa Pritchett, 2nd Vice-President-Robin Ramsey, 3rd Vice-President-MiniSu Willard, Secretary-Amy Kibble, Treasurer-Linda Ballew, Registrar-Anita Green, Registrar of Military Service Awards-Marilyn Kinne, Historian-Christy Peden, Chaplain-Harriett Caldwell, Librarian-Teresa Silvers.

 President Kinne, and Registrar Anita Green presented Amy Kibble with her membership certificate.  Her Confederate ancestor was Ansel Green Whitmire, Company A, 11th Regiment, Georgia Infantry, CSA.  Peggy Morrison was presented a Supplemental certificate on her Confederate ancestor Andrew Bain.  Lisa Pritchett was also presented a Supplemental Certificate for her ancestor, James Alexander Womac.

 Amy Kibble furnished the meal for the meeting.

 In new business, everyone is working hard on finishing touches for Hosting the United Daughters of the Confederacy 120th Annual Convention to be held in Chattanooga at the Historic Read House Hotel in October.

Linda Ballew presented the September program on “Good Enough for a General”.  She states she came across the information while researching her great-great grandfather John Henry Myers.  He was born May 20, 1845.  He enlisted in Walker County, Al. as a private in Company B, 10th Alabama Calvary, CSA.  The story was about her great, great, great grandmother Sarah James Myers.  She was born October 1817 in Warren County, Ga. and moved to Autauga County, Al. with her parents, Phillip and Sarah Margaret (Windham) James before 1834.  It was there that she met and married William James Myers.  Together they made their home in Coosa County, Al.  Sarah gave birth to 12 children.  William always called her “Sarrie”.  Although not unusual for the time, Sarrie was an accomplished spinner and weaver.  She took great pride in the fact that she could spin thread from cotton or wool so thin and fine, it would rival the finest linen of the day.  She had learned from her mother a process of weaving wool and cotton together in a way to make the most comfortable and beautiful cloth around.  The “norm of the day” was fabric so coarse and rough it would scrape the hide right off your bones.  Perhaps until the very day she died, Sarrie hand made every single garment worn by her family, including the hats on their heads.  And so superior in quality was her material, neighbors started to take notice and begin buying “yard goods” from her. Soon a cottage industry was born and it was all Sarrie and her oldest girls could do to keep up with the demand.  The boys picked the cotton and sheared the sheep, the girls spun the cotton and wool and Sarrie wove her beautiful cloth using her secret process.  William hunted fresh meat, tended the corn and bee hives.  It was just as he insisted they do, everyone worked, everyone contributed, no one was going to be lazy in his house. Times were looking good for the William James Myers family.  With all the extra cash coming in, William began to look with hungry eyes to the north.  In the late spring of 1857 he heard of soil so rich, a fence post would grow.  He took a month off working and with his new son-in-law James Edward “Ed” Windham, went to Walker County to see for himself.  Upon his return, the first thing out of his mouth was “Be a packin up the goods and gather up th young’uns Sarrie, we’re a fixin to make a move after harvest time”.  And just like that, in two ox carts the two families came to Walker County, near Pleasant Grove Church, Al. to spend the rest of their days.  As the years passed, Sarrie continued making her family's clothes, but with most of the older children getting married and leaving home, she didn’t have the extra money coming in.  But truth be known, I think she was okay with that, she still had more than enough to do, there were now grandchildren to teach and nurture.  In April 1861 when word came that a war was going on with the Northern United States over “states'  rights” her sons reluctantly at first began joining up with the Confederacy.  Soldiers needed uniforms and what better place to have them made at the hands of their own mother.  The color of the uniforms was to be gray or butternut.  And what better coloring agent to make gray than coal dust, coal dust boiled in vinegar.  When the whitish cloth was allowed to soak overnight in the black brine and then rinsed in a clear stream of water, gray was the resulting color.  Since certain parts of Walker County were abundant in surface deposits of coal, there was no shortage.  In 1863,  John Henry Myers, (Ms. Ballew's great-great grandfather) volunteered to fight and joined the newly organized 10th Alabama Calvary.  The Commanding Officer was General Phillip Dale Roddy.  When John Henry enlisted, he was wearing one of the uniforms his mother had made and it just so happened that the General noticed the fine cut of his clothes.  Asking where he got such a nice uniform, General Roddy then commissioned a uniform made by Sarrie (James) Myers from the same beautiful material that she had woven.  She had been making clothing for her men-folk for so many years, that all she needed to know was height, breadth and weight and she could fit a man perfectly without ever seeing him.  In the fall of 1864, the southern cause in the war between the states was becoming desperate.  The year before had been a disaster for the Confederacy.  On the fourth of July, 1863, Vicksburg, Ms. had fallen to General Ulysses S. Grant and just the day before that, the Union had won at Gettysburg, Pa. exactly when they needed a victory the most.  Those two victories were perhaps responsible for saving the Union.   When Sarrie completed the magnificent uniform for General Philip Roddy, he couldn’t wait to show it off to his fellow generals.  In December at a “meeting of the minds” in Richmond, Va., Major General William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, who had just recently been released from a federal prison was searching for just the right birthday gift for his father.  Upon seeing the quality of General Roddy’s new “Sarrie made” uniform, General Fitzhugh Lee knew he had found the perfect gift.  It took Sarrie two weeks to make it and another month to deliver it, but finally the uniform was in the hands of its recipient, none other than the General of the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert Edward Lee himself, just in time for him to wear it to Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, to sign the articles of surrender that ended the American Civil War.  Ms. Ballew concluded she is very proud and honored to have Sarrie James Myers as her great-great-great grandmother, and John Henry Myers as her great-great grandfather.

 The meeting was adjourned.

Anyone interested in the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis 900 can visit www.facebook.com/udcjeffersondavischapter900 or www.udcjeffersondavischapter900.com.

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