Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 9, Number 1, January 1999 Page: 41
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Documents, Letters, Reminiscences, Etc.
Reminiscences of Mrs. F. G. Mahon
I was born in the town of Medon, Madi-
son County, Tennessee, on Oct. 28, 1846. I
want to say here I am no writer, and I am afraid
I cannot make this paper interesting enough to
even hold your attention through its reading,
but there is one comfort. I know I am with
friends who will not criticize very severely. My
life as a child was in many respects uneventful.
I was a very delicate child, and did not have
many experiences other children of my age had.
I had no brothers, only one sister, and we were
inseparable companions until her marriage.
When I was almost a baby, my father and
mother moved to Lauderdale where many of
my mother's people lived.
The first thing I remember that made
any impression on me was the death of my
grandfather Henning (died 1853), who we all
loved very much. I was allowed to see him,
and remember nothing more only that I cried
because he did not return from the funeral with
the family. This impressed his death on my
young mind. A few years later my people
moved from this pretty home to Tipton County.
My father represented his district at Nashville
for several years, and mother, sister, and I vis-
ited him there for several weeks at a time, and
I remembered many things about the capitol
city that I thought very beautiful then. One was
the capitol on capitol hill, then said to be a fine
building but one of the least imposing of nearly
all capitol buildings now. And I remembered
the home of Mrs. James K. Polk, the widow of
President Polk. She was a lovely woman and
had a sweet, winning way with children. The
president was buried in the corner of her front
yard. There was a pretty, simple tomb or vault
with a marble canopy over it. The Senators all
seemed to think Mrs. Polk their special charge.
41This grave was later moved by the state of Ten-
nessee. Our home while in Nashville was at the
Sequio Hotel, now the St. Cloude Hotel.
The first railroad I was ever on was a
short road from Nashville to Murfreeburough.
My mother, sister and I visited the minister who
performed the marriage ceremony of my par-
ents. We were met at the depot by the old min-
ister and taken to his home in the mountains.
As children we had a wonderful visit, all lovely
and quiet, but a few years later this was one of
the battle grounds of Tennessee. While in Nash-
ville we attended services at old McKendry
church. We did not return home as we came in
a stage coach, but as my mother had no escort
and ladies and children seldom traveled alone,
we came on a boat on the Cumberland River,
thence down the Mississippi River to Memphis
and home in private conveyance.
My sister and I had never attended
school as we had always since old enough had
a governess. My father thought we were now
old enough to go to a boarding school, so we
were sent to Covington, eight miles from our
home, and we came home at the week's end.
We were then sent the following year to Den-
mark. I had a spell of sickness and was taken
home, but my sister remained until the school
closed. The next year, 1859, I think it was, we
were sent to Jackson, Tennessee, to Memphis
Conference Female College, a school under the
management of the Memphis Conference, hence
its name. We liked this school very much and
remained there until we came to Texas. My
father had visited Texas and was so pleased
with the country he bought land here and de-
cided to move to Texas, and the much talk of
war between the states hastened his decision to
move. He thought best to leave his children at
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Nesbitt Memorial Library. Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 9, Number 1, January 1999, periodical, January 1999; Columbus, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151405/m1/41/?q=nesbitt%20memorial%20library%20journal: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nesbitt Memorial Library.