Legacy- Newsletter- August 10, 2024

10 Aug Legacy- Newsletter- August 10, 2024

KATE THOMPSON SMUGGLED A $200,000 STOCK RECEIPT THROUGH UNION LINES

We covered the “Confederates on the Great Lakes” on July 13, 2024, Confederates on the Great Lakes and the Mystery of the Silver Teapot” in the June 29, 2024, edition Mystery of the Silver Teapot. We gave you a glimpse into the activities of Jacob Thompson, former Secretary of the Interior and Confederate representative in Canada.

During the war, Jacob Thompson’s Oxford, MS home was torched by the Union Army (picture of Union Army soldiers in Oxford), even though Kate and her daughter-in-law were still living in the house. The daughter-in-law had just given birth and was still confined to the bed; she was carried out on the bed and put into the yard. Luckily, someone remembered that the baby was still in the house and made a dramatic rescue. That baby has quite a legacy!

Meanwhile, Jacob was up in Canada trying to arrange for peace by working with the Copperheads. Thompson was then linked to all sorts of plots. You can find conflicting information that he was a master saboteur or a peace-seeker.

On his way to Canada, Jacob had been recognized in Portland, Maine. The Secretary of War was about to have Jacob arrested. After hearing of this, President Lincoln suspended the order and let Thompson leave the country unmolested. This shows the apparent depth of the relationship that still existed between them. The Secretary of War was enraged and allegedly caused a conspiracy to be put into play by northern radicals to remove Lincoln from the presidency. Legacy.

Then, President Lincoln was assassinated, and everything got crazier.

A plot was conceived in Washington to charge Jefferson Davis and his commissioners in Canada with planning the assassination. Perjured testimony was obtained by bribery. A $100,000 reward for the arrest of Jefferson Davis and a $25,000 reward for Jacob Thompson were offered. Jacob was accused of treason and conspiracy in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Jacob wanted to demand a trial to clear his name. His friends persuaded him not to do this.
Meanwhile, Kate had heard Jacob was dead, and she thought so until a message arrived from Canada. The message said that Kate should join him in Canada and bring his receipt for the $200,000 ($4m in today’s dollars) he had invested in British stocks.

Here is the story of Kate’s journey through union lines as relayed by a descendant:
“With forged papers, Kate started up the Mississippi River by packet steamer. In Memphis, she was sent ashore with the other passengers, and behind a screen with a lady attendant, she was stripped to the skin. When her corset, into which she had sewn the receipt, was handed to inspecting guards, she told a joke. It must have been a good one, as the soldiers tossed the garment back over the screen, and she could continue her flight.”

There was one more inspection point to pass in Cairo, Ill. For this ordeal, Kate was ready. She had bought a partial upper plate on a trip to Germany before the war. Making the receipt into a tiny wad of paper, she put it under the roof of her mouth and went safely through the lines and over the border to be reunited with her husband. “The southern belle had become an iron magnolia.”

The Thompsons fled to Europe, narrowly escaping their pursuers. Fortunately, Jacob was cleared of the conspiracy charges.

By 1869, they returned to America and moved to Memphis to begin a new life. Despite a few more run-ins with the Federal government (including charges of embezzlement from his time as Secretary of the Interior), Thompson lived out the remainder of his life in Memphis and served on the boards at Sewanee and the University of Mississippi, both of which benefitted from his generous financial support.

Jacob Thompson died in 1885. When he died, his close friend L.Q.C. Lamar was now the Secretary of War, and as was the custom, he had the flags in front of the department lowered to half-mast. Many Northerners were enraged, as they still saw him as a traitor.

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THE LEGACY OF THE PATRON SAINT OF TELEVISION, LIVED FROM 1194-1253. I WONDER HOW MANY CHANNELS THEY HAD BACK THEN?

We recently visited Assisi, the home of Saint Clare of Assisi who was an Italian saint who was one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi.

Inspired by St. Francis’s teachings, she founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a monastic religious order for women in the Franciscan tradition. The Order of Poor Ladies differed from any other order or convent because it followed a rule of strict poverty. Clare wrote their Rule of Life, the first set of monastic guidelines known to have been written by a woman. Following her death, the order she founded was renamed in her honor as the Order of Saint Clare, commonly referred to today as the Poor Clares. Above is the wax figure of Saint Clare of Assisi at the Basilica of Saint Clare in Assisi

Not only was Saint Clare of Assisi a pioneer in the religious sphere, but she also held a diverse range of patronages. She was revered as the patron saint of eye disease, goldsmiths, laundry, television, bicycle messengers, good weather, needleworkers, remote viewing, and extrasensory perception.

Specifically, Pope Pius XII designated Clare the patron saint of television in 1958 because when she was too ill to attend Mass, she had reportedly been able to see and hear it on the wall of her room.

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SURPRISE, SOCIAL MEDIA RECIRCULATES LEGACY MATERIAL ON SLOW NEWS DAYS

It’s hard to believe that these are slow news days, with presidential elections, wars, and attempted and executed assassinations.

However, in the past several weeks, I have been asked multiple times about Blackstone’s recent acquisition of Ancestry.com. That is all due to the story being recirculated again (altered to say, “just now”, so you can use it forever) after two previous circulations in 2020 when it happened and in June 2023, when I wrote this article about the ownership of the five biggest DNA databases: 5 largest DNA databases

However, there is some new news about the ownership of the second-largest database, 23andme. I last wrote about 23andme in our March 17, 2023, edition: 23andme. Last week’s headline reads:

“23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki files proposal to take the company private as stock craters”

Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe, has submitted a proposal to take the genetic testing company private as its stock price continues to hover below $1.

According to a Wednesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Wojcicki said she was prepared to acquire all of 23andMe’s outstanding shares of common stock in cash for 40 cents per share. She expressed interest in acquiring the company in April, stating at the time that she would “not be willing to support any alternative transaction.”

The proposed price of 40 cents per share reflects an 11% premium to 23andMe’s closing stock price from April. The filing said Wojcicki intends to complete the transaction “as promptly as possible.”

Shares of 23andMe closed at 40 cents on Wednesday.

The former billionaire co-founded the company in 2006, and it’s at-home DNA testing kits, which aim to give customers insights into their family histories and genetic profiles, rocketed into the mainstream. 23andMe went public in 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company valued at around $3.5 billion.

However, the company has struggled to generate steady recurring revenue since customers need only use its DNA product once to receive their results. The company’s stock has tumbled more than 95% since its debut.

“Our experience with the short-term focus of the public markets has led me to believe that the Company will be best equipped to execute against this mission as a private entity, allowing us to remove certain public company costs and distractions,” Wojcicki wrote in the proposal.

In November, the company received a deficiency letter from the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Department, which said it had 180 days to bring its share price back above $1. The company’s board of directors formed a “Special Committee” in late March to help explore options that could juice the stock.

According to Wednesday’s filing, the Special Committee must approve or reject Wojcicki’s proposal to take the company private.

23andMe declined to comment.

I was curious when the word “DNA database” became part of our lexicon, and I found this reference in 1966 in a British paper. The next after that was 1978, relative to solving a crime.

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THE LEGACY OF THE ANGEL OF LONG POINT

Abigail Becker (1830–1905), known as the Angel of Long Point, was a Canadian woman credited with saving the lives of numerous sailors caught in storms along the shores of Long Point, Ontario. When the storms had passed, she would wade in the water as far as she could to rescue trapped seamen from their doomed ships.

At seventeen, Abigail married the widower Jeremiah Becker, who already had six children – one girl and five boys. She and Jeremiah had eight additional children together – five boys and three girls. They settled in a trapper’s cabin on Long Point, Lake Erie.

On 23 November 1854, with her husband away trapping, she single-handedly rescued the seven-man crew of the Buffalo-based schooner Conductor, which had run aground in a storm during the night. The crew had clung to the frozen rigging in the darkness, and despite her inability to swim, she waded chin-high into the water after dawn to help the stricken sailors reach shore.

In another incident, four sailors arrived at the door of the Beckers’ cabin amid a severe fall gale and snowstorm. Apparently, they were only four of six survivors from a schooner that had gone ashore during the night, but two had given up and collapsed a mile from the cabin.

Abigail invited the four in to warm up by the fire and then set off in the snowstorm with two of her boys and some warm clothing to find the other survivors. Miraculously, despite the severity of the storm and resulting limited visibility, she was able to locate the two and coerced them to get up and go on, practically pushing them back to her cabin. All of the sailors survived.

During another late autumn gale, a schooner laden with barley went ashore near the Becker cabin. All hands were rescued except for the cook, a woman, who went unaccounted for. One morning, one of Abigail’s daughters came running back to the cabin crying, “Mother! Mother! There’s a woman in the schooner waving her arms at me!” Abigail, not believing her child, went to investigate anyway. She peered down the open hatch of the wreck to find the cook floating upright, her arms waving gently as the level changed with the heave of the seas through the broken hull.

After losing her husband, Jeremiah Becker, to a storm on the lake in January 1864, when he froze in the marshes, she raised seventeen children alone. A few years after Jeremiah’s death, Abigail married Henry Rohrer, with whom she had three more daughters.

She was awarded several medals for her heroism, and the people of Buffalo collected $350 for her through public conscription. The New York Life Saving Benevolent Association struck a gold medal in Abigail’s honor, and the Royal Humane Society did likewise. On a duck-hunting trip to Long Point, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) made a point to meet with Abigail to present her with a gift. Queen Victoria sent her a handwritten letter of congratulations and £50 as a reward. She put the money towards buying her own farm.

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THE FATHER OF AMERICAN SURGERY AND THE LEGACY OF TWO FAMILIES OF FRANKLINS

My wife’s Great-Great-Grandfather, Santarelli Sydenham Galitzin Franklin, was named by his parents, Benjamin C. and Mahala Jones Franklin, for three close acquaintances of Dr. Benjamin Franklin when he was the ambassador to France in Paris from 1779 to 1785.

Santarelli was an Italian count who taught music to Franklin; Sydenham was a member of the House of Lords in England; and Galitzin was Prince Galitzin of Russia.

Giuseppe Santarelli (1710 – 1790) was an Italian castrato, composer, choir conductor, voice teacher, and Roman Catholic priest. He was named a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Born in Forlì, he entered a monastery in the Order of Saint Augustine at a young age and was eventually ordained.

The exact details of his musical training are unknown, although he must have been thoroughly trained in music composition, music theory, and singing. He was active on the opera stage in Venice during the 1740s. In 1749, he became a singer in the Sistine Chapel Choir in Vatican City and was ultimately appointed conductor in 1770.

He was also the cantor at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore for many years. As a singing teacher, his notable pupils included Muzio Clementi and Venanzio Rauzzini. His compositions consist entirely of choral works.

In 1770, Santarelli met the English music historian Charles Burney, who was touring France and Italy from 1770 to 1771. Burney was highly impressed by Santarelli’s musical abilities, and the two men became friends. Santarelli used his influence to get Burney access to the Papal Music Archive, which proved invaluable for Burney’s books The Present State of Music in France and Italy (1771) and History of Music (1776). He died in Rome.

Lord Sydenham is a hereditary title, and I do not know which Sydenham specifically was in Paris during Franklin’s ambassadorship. The most famous Sydenham was Thomas Sydenham, the father of English medicine.

Prince Dmitri Alekseyevich Golitsyn (sculpture above)
(1728 – 1803) was a Russian diplomat, art agent, author, volcanologist, and mineralogist. By birth, he was a member of the House of Golitsyn. He supported the recognition of the United States and participated in drafting the First League of Armed Neutrality. He was the first person to be Russian-educated to make specific proposals to abolish serfdom in Russia.

The writings of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 8- by Benjamin Franklin includes a letter from BF to Francis Dana mentioning Prince Galitzin de Galitzin, Prince Dmitri. La Hague to Benjamin Franklin 1777 January 28 A.L.S. 7p. V, 38.

_One of Franklin’s most sincere admirers; his love of science and his excuse for writing to him lays before him certain conclusions he has formed about electricity; he begs to hear frankly whether he approves or disapproves of his ideas. His residence is always at The Hague, where he is the ambassador of the Empress of Russia. _

Prince Demetrius Gallitzin (d. 16 March 1803), the Russian ambassador to Holland at his son’s birth, had been previously Russian ambassador to France for fourteen years and was an intimate acquaintance of Diderot Voltaire, d’Alembert, and other rationalists of the day. His son emigrated to the U.S., where he served as a Roman Catholic priest and is currently being considered (for) sainthood.

The library of Benjamin Franklin By Edwin Wolf item #354- Blakey’s letter to Prince Galitzin

Franklin’s letter

Catherine the Great played a significant role in peacemaking efforts during the Revolutionary War. She sent Prince Dimitri Galitzin to act as the Russian mediator on her behalf.

So, where did Benjamin C. and Mahala Jones Franklin get the idea of naming their son after these European diplomat friends of Dr. Benjamin Franklin? Santarelli was born in the Natchez area, MS, and his parents were declared illiterate in the census. So, I doubt they were reading an edition of Dr. Benjamin Franklin’s writings and came across some interesting names.

They did, however, have robbers steal their books and musical instruments while moving from Natchez to Cincinnati in 1829. So, did the books possibly come from Mahala’s aristocratic Jones family?

Mahala’s father was Stephen Jones, a Natchez merchant, and he was James Jones’ brother. In the November 27, 2021, edition James Jones, we shared that he was killed in a duel with Brockholst Livingston. James and his brothers Evan and Thomas were Philadelphia merchants who made fortunes in Gulf ports Pensacola, Mobile, Natchez, and New Orleans. They were all the brothers of Dr. John Jones.

Dr. John Jones (1729 – 1791) was an American physician who wrote the book Plain, Concise, Practical Remarks on the Treatment of Wounds and Fractures.

Jones was born in Jamaica, Queens County, New York. He graduated from Reims University in 1751 with a degree in medicine. Among others Jones studied medicine under Dr. Percival Pott. Jones served as a surgeon in the French and Indian War. After the war, he wrote his guide on wound treatment and served as a professor of medicine at King’s College, which is today Columbia University.

In 1769, he was recognized by the American Society and elected to membership.

In his book, first published in 1775, Jones recommended removing bullets as soon as possible and cleaning wounds.

In 1777, Jones was appointed to the New York State Senate but resigned in February 1778 due to ill health. In 1780, he moved to Philadelphia and became the physician of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.

Doctor Jones was good friends with Gouverneur Morris, the “penman of the Constitution.” Jones and Gouverneur Morris boarded at Miss Dally’s boarding house on Market between Second and Third Streets in Philadelphia.

Benjamin Rush noted in his diary: “This day died Dr. John Jones…aged 57…He was much lamented by his friends, patients, and his brother physicians. His manners were gentle and amiable, and his conduct was truly liberal in his profession. He was without a rival in surgery in the United States. His education was extensive, and he spoke agreeably upon all subjects. He lived and died a bachelor.”

He died at his home in Philadelphia on June 23, 1791

My unprovable theory is that the idea of naming Santarelli Sydenham Galitzin Franklin came from a story passed down to Mahala by her uncle, Dr. John Jones.

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WHAT ABOUT YOUR DESCENDANTS KNOWING YOUR LEGACY?

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