March 2006 Newsletter

Jubal Early Chapter #553
Newsletter
Rocky Mount, Virginia
Volume 8 - Number 3
www.jubalearlyudc.org
March 2006
Chapter News
Eleven members and one guest met on March 11, 2006
at the Franklin County Library. Linda All presided in Paula’s
absence. The Chapter sang Dixie and Linda All gave a short
program on the song and it’s author which can be found on
page three of this newsletter.
Gale Brown gave a committee report on the ideas for
the chapter cookbook and examples of formats available
to us. An exact cost will depend on the number of pages
in the brochure and will be discussed further at the April
meeting.
Our yard sale has been scheduled for Saturday, May 6th
from 7:00 a.m. until noon at the Airlee Court Baptist Church
parking lot on Hershberger Rd. across from Crossroads
Shoping Center. The rain date has been set for June 3rd.
Those with items to contribute should contact either Linda
All or Paula, or bring them to the sale.
Gale Brown, Sissy Chitwood and Linda Nezbeth are
on the Nominating Committee and will present a slate of
officers to the chapter members at the April 1st Meeting.
Due to the First District Conference being held on
April 8th, our Chapter meeting date has been moved
up one week. Our April meeting will take place at the
Franklin County Library, from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.
on Saturday, April 1, 2006. Please mark your calendar
with this change!
The Chapter will be planning several trips for members
to participate in. Gale Brown will bring dates and locations
to the April Meeting. Most of these will be day trips with a
few overnight trips planned as well.
Those memebers interested in attending the 1st District
Conference on Saturday, April 8th, from 9:00 a.m. until the
close of the afternoon session which begins at 1:00 p.m.
please contact Paula or Sissy.
There will also be a Veteran’s Day parade in Washington,
DC on Monday, May 8th. Look for more information in
upcoming newsletters.
The Proclamation Signing date has been changed and
will now take place at the Franklin County Court House
on Tuesday, May 16th at 1:30 p.m. Those interested in
participating should plan to arrive in period attire at 1:00
p.m.
Linda N., Gale, Ditty, Maxene and Paula, along with Hunter & Lindsay Nezbeth,
Lindsay & Loren Powell, and Maggie Meador prepare to march in the St. Patrick’s
Day Parade with the Fincastle Rifles Camp of the SCV in Roanoke on March 18th.
Other News
Poplar Forest in Bedford County is conducting a “Civil War”
funeral re-enactment on June 17 and 18 for a program entitled, “The
Civil War Touches Poplar Forest” The mock funeral is for William
Christian Huttter who lived at Poplar Forest and was killed in action in
Hampton Roads in 1862. His body was returned to Bedford County
and buried at St. Stephen’s Church. ‘Ladies in Mourning’ are needed
for both days for approximately one hour. Chapter Members who
would like to participate in one of the “mock funerals” should contact
Linda All or Linda Nezbeth for further details.
Upcoming Events
April 8, - 9:00 a.m. April 9, - 2:00 p.m. April 29, - 2:00 p.m. May 16, - 1:30 p.m. June 17 & 18, - 11:00 a.m.
1st District Conference Blacksburg.
East Hill Cemetery, Salem Marker Dedication.
Manassas Mem. Ceremony Manassas Battlefield.
Proclamation Signing Franklin Co. Courthouse.
Mock Funeral, Poplar Forest
April Meeting
Sat., April 1, 2006 - 11:00 a.m
Franklin County Library
See you there!
Confederate Ancestor of the Month
Each month the Jubal Early Chapter of the UDC features a Confederate Ancestor. The “Ancestor of the Month” for March 2006 William H.
Bradner. The Jubal Early Chapter is proud to present his story.
William H. Bradner
William and Kissiah (Doss) Bradner,
circa 1915
William H. Bradner was born on 31 October 1841 in
the Union Hall area of Franklin County. He was one of at
least six children born to John H. and Catherine (?) Bradner. John was listed as a stonemason and farmer.
Other siblings were: Frances J. born circa 1837; Louisa
C., born circa 1845; Martha Ann, born circa 1847 and married on 22 February 1883 to William W. Mitchell; John H.,
born on 7 August 1849, married 19 January 1882 to Nannie
C. Rice and died 14 April 1945; Mary Ellen, born 31 August
1855.
On 22 June 1861, William enlisted in Richmond as a
Private in Company C, 46th Virginia Infantry which would
become a part of Wise’s Brigade. William was listed as being sick on 15 October 1862 and was wounded and taken as
a POW at Petersburg on 16 October 1864. He was sent to
Point Lookout, Maryland two days later and then confined
at Elmira, NY in July. He served as a nurse for his comrades
and was exchanged on 9 February 1865. He was listed as
being on the rolls on 25 February 1865.
As stated by the National Park Service, “Petersburg,
Virginia, became the setting for the longest siege in
American history when General Ulysses S. Grant failed to
capture Richmond in the spring of 1864. Grant settled
in to subdue the Confederacy by surrounding Petersburg
and cutting off General Robert E. Lee’s supply lines into
Petersburg and Richmond. On April 2, 1865, nine-andone-half months after the siege began, Lee evacuated
Petersburg.”
William would return home and marry Kiziah E.C.B.
Doss on 17 January 1867. She was one of eight children
of James and Catherine (Ferguson) Doss. Together, William and Kiziah had at least six children: Beverly, born
circa 1869; William C., (nicknamed Rip), born 1895;
James who died at the age of 14; Bruce, born circa 1875
and Sousan [sic], born circa 1878 and Ellam [sic] who
was born in 1886 and died in 1897. William applied for
and received a pension in 1908.
Kiziah died 20 April 1923 and William died on 10
June 1930. They are buried with two of their children
in the family cemetery in Union Hall.
Daniel Decatur Emmett
The composer of “Dixie”, Daniel Decatur Emmett, was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, on October 29, 1815. When he was sixteen he ran
away to join a traveling circus, his act being to present songs of his own composition, with banjo accompaniment, in the Spalding & Rogers
and Oscar Brown circuses.
Later, with three stranded musicians, he traveled widely, singing and playing the banjo and violin. Emmett was so successful that in
1842 he and his three companions formed the Virginia Minstrels, the first black-face minstrel company in the United States. To the burnt
cork, they added a combination of white trousers, striped calico shirt and blue swallowtail coat, which eventually became the trademark of
all minstrels. After appearances in New York and Boston, the troupe tried their luck in England, but the English did not seem to be amused
by such strange antics and the engagement was not a success.
Returning to New York, Emmett earned a living as a musician in brass bands, for he found that during his absence abroad many
competitive minstrel troupes had sprung up and copied his performance style. In 1858 he joined the Dan Bryant Minstrels, in which he both
composed and performed comic songs and plantation Negro “walk-arounds.” The latter were the songs sung at the end of the show as a
solo performer walked around the stage.
One Saturday night in 1859, the manager of the company stopped him after a somewhat unsuccessful performance. The attendance
had been meager all week. The numbers seemed to have gone stale, and applause was unenthusiastic and feeble.
“Dan, I must have a fresh tune. Can’t you compose a new walk-around, something lively in the git-up-and-git style? Make it lively,
something the bands will play and the boys will whistle in the streets. I’ll expect it on Monday morning at rehearsal.”
Sunday was cold and wet, and Dan sat in the kitchen without any inspiration. When his wife Catherine came into the room, he said,
“What a morning! I wish I was in Dixie.”
“You show people,” she said, “you keep talking about being in Dixie. What does it mean?”
“Well,” he replied. “it’s a common expression. When it’s cold we yearn to be south of the Mason and Dixon line, or in Dixie, where the
weather is fair and mild. When things aren’t going well where you are, you wish you were in Dixie -- in Dixie -- in Dixie.”
This was the magical moment. “Suddenly, “ he later told a reporter, “I jumped up and sat down at the table to work. In less than an hour
I had the first verse and chorus. After that it was easy....”
At the rehearsal the next day, Mrs. Bryant, wife of the manager, expressed her fears that the first stanza might offend the religious-minded
in the audience, so it was never used, though Emmett sometimes included it in souvenir copies:
Dis worl’ was made in jiss six days,
An’ finished up in various ways;
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land!
Dey den made Dixie trim and nice,
But Adam called it “paradise,”
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land!
Emmett sold the publication rights outright to the New York firm of Peters for the sum of five hundred dollars, all that he ever received
for it. The song was issued under the title “I Wish I Was in Dixie Land.”
The first performance in the Southern states appears to have been in Charleston, South Carolina, in December, 1860. But it was in New
Orleans that “Dixie” was first accepted as a Southern war song. In March, 1861, after Louisiana had seceded, the theatrical troupe of Mrs.
John Wood was opening in “Pocahontas” at the Varieties Theatre. At the first evening performance, as the last number, the gaudily dressed
Zouaves marched onstage, led by Miss Susan Denim singing “I Wish I Was in Dixie.” The audience went wild with delight, and demanded
seven encores. From that evening “Dixie” was the favorite song of the Confederacy.
P. P. Werlein, a New Orleans publisher, had received a Northern copy of “Dixie”. Werlein wrote to the composer to secure the Southern
copyright, but with the declaration of war he decided not to wait for an answer, pirated it, and published the song in thousands of copies
without any payment whatever to Emmett.
Just as “John Brown’s Body” spread through the North, so from New Orleans “Dixie” spread throughout the newly formed Confederacy.
The song was played at Montgomery, Alabama, when the Confederate States of America was provisionally established. At the inauguration
of Jefferson Davis as President of the permanent Confederacy, on February 22, 1862, the program was so arranged that the band led off
with “Dixie”. This was equivalent to its official adoption as the national song.
----------------------------------------C. A. Browne (revised by Willard A. Heaps), The Story of Our National Ballads, New York, NY, 1960 (originally published in 1919), pp.
124-131.
Source: http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/dixie.html