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A\(o±ct -lt;Lr -Li Clt;L tjfMarriage Claimed, for Reu Pratth *» e*owning may bpbridge eQON after Theodore Roosevelt bocamo president a |isg8 number of stories of the j i marriago of his father and ' i *j,her In Roswell, Ga.•- ^ro published In various nera The accounts were particular Interest at that time and showed that the president’s mother was a member of a prominent irgia family and was a i whole-souled southerner. ■*In some of the accounts f the wedding, which occurred at Roe-fweli in 1853. it has been stated that Rev. /James Dunnood, of South Carolina, performed the ceremonv It is claimed by |relatives of Rev N A Pratt, who was Hpaator of the church at Roswell, that he ^married Colonel Roosevelt to Miss Bui-[lock. A number of persons who were at^-f’tendartts at the wedding state positively . that Mr Pratt performed the ceremony, and the latest cvulo.ee in the form of a letter hug been received by Mr Charted Pratt, ot Atlanta, soA of Rev N A j Pratt, from a relative who was present at the wedding Tlfe letter followsIn regard to Mittle Bullock Roosevcl*. we grew up togethtr in Roswell and for manv jears wcie. the warmest of friends and the most inti m;* to our jovs and «or-rows were alwajs for each other's ears end sjrnpathj So I ought to know of whit I speak The clipping }ou sent m«» taken from an Atlanta paper containing the pictures of Mittic and Mr Roosevelt, are as unlike them as it. Is possible to bo I recognize nothing in it that reminds me of either of them Mittie was \ ^r} prettv and bright She was ttiler tbqn her sister Anna had black hair dark gray ee? and a fair rosy beautiful complexion, was verv cgsj and graceful in .her manners. lively in conversation, and verv* entertaining as became ttie sociotv woman she was in later vears She was elwava very tastv ana elegant in her dress Her features were long and slender and he% teeth white and even (Teddj his mother s teeth and nose much gerated of eouise bj the miserable paper representations) Annas face wa9 ova! She had the full round chin light blue ees and light hi own hair The two sisters were very unlike I remember no such hats worn In those dns as these pictures show Me wore bonnet* We all went to the old brick academy, but before that to a v ooden structure In which Mr Hunt taught us In the brick academy Mr Dodd reigned supreme for several years, then Miss Hamilton In later years jour father and Nat took charge and tried to guide both mind and oaie9 of a verv unrulj sot of boys Bv that time both Mittle and I had passed on to some higher institute, but none more thorough in its Instructor or dearer to our hearts than the old brick academy Mr Roosevelt’s picture Is also very nnllke him He was very homely in fare, but in figure was tall, slender and graceful His manners were those of a polished gentleman We all Tked him He was very entertaining in conversation, having traveled much in this countrtv and In EuropeMajor Bullock’s death 1n the Rosw«U church, Just before Sunday school, I well remember I walked part of the waythere with Irwin and 5n«:ic4©ffto himself Mittle was met o/the at the head of the ave-» Roosevelt nue (by, I don’t remem-Family her who), who told he*' Recalled of her father’s death She had started ahead of Anna that monlng they having eat**n a i-.te breakfast and hurried to Sunday echoed as soon as they were read} Anna regretted that she had not that moru-ig given her father his usual morning «s—the first omitted in months All of ris comes back to me, as I write, us if v wore only yesterday. The flag1' incidentnever heard of until you sent me theflipping Mittle was a warm southerner, nd Mr. Roosevelt just a a warm a not f timer, but I have heard that he one day **pressed his approval of Butler’s order ■» regard to southern women in New Organs It so aroused her that she told m if he could approve of such an order, bat she, who had until then held her ~ngue in regard to what was happening the euuth, would now, and in the fu-jre, say what she chose, and he could ke the consequences1 The flag incident _ght have been the outcome of that con-•'trsatlon, but I can t say It was a dar-ig act and might have cost her her life ithat time Old Archibalde certainly show out there1 Teddy seems to have is share, tooI have seen very lately in both The institution and^The Sunny South some re items in regard to Teddy^ parents refer to their marriage, which some orters certainly must have mlsunder-od. I wag present at the nfarrlage - d spent two weeks in Hbswell at at time I have always believed your 'her (Rev N A. Pratt) performed the ’emony. He was all hfs life pastbr of - Roswell church I have no recollection of Rev James Dunwoodj being ^resent even on that occasion, neither ies your cousin Jule, who was one of the ’Idesmaids I wrote to her to ask her he bridesmaids at the wedding were Lima Bullock Mary Cooper Stiles, Julia •gabella Hand and Evelyn King. Theme sho* nere y la nomine4med 1 T ovv -attonawhTi«ne:Ht*The Bailee*groomsmen were Cornelius Roosevelt, Stewart Elliott CMittie’s half-brother), Thomas E Kink an^l RdOph B King The ceremony was performed on December 23, 1853 While I have always believed Uncle Pratt performed the ceremony I am unprepared to swear to It, after forty-eight } ears. If Mr James Dunwoody 13 alive and says he is the man I cm not prepared to deny it When I first saw the account I simply felt Indignant believing It false Mr Dunwoody might have pronounced tho benediction, but that was all The reporters' were the ones who got mixed up, and when they do, which they often do, there is no telling what they will say of those that are prominent and fall Into their hands.•I have Just received a letter from Ea Baker Miss Evelyn King, whowas one of cti*. at. j wedding/and she says your father married Mittie and Mr. Roosevelt but that Mr. Dun-woody pronounced the benediction, and no doubt made the record o£ that for his own satisfaction, and that is probablj the truth She says the date was December IS, but both Julia and Joe Bullock, of Savannah, is his ‘record of t£ie Bullock family’ give the date as tho 23d Eva says there is no record as far back as tho civil war in the church books she has seenI know the bridal couple did not leave Roswell for several days after the wedding Tt sems that they had the time to spar© before arriving in New York for the CThristmas festivities if they cared to go there for them So Mr Dunwoody s date of the 18th day may be correct-**How Br Btrttoaa Was lUdnapedanti HetesisesiBy R J Massey, M DIE Dr Bratton * referred toin the columns of The Sunny South of November 30, was Dr J R Bratton, of York-v t i©, S C , known by his hosts of friends throughout the south as Dr Rufo Bratton Many years before the beginning of the civil war. he had become a very popular physician and eminent surgeon And after *he suspension of hostilities and the surrender of tlfh confederate forces, his name had become familiar in almost every southern household on account of his having been kidnaped in Montreal, Canada, and brought by force without show of law or author-It\ back to the United States I eet directly from his nephew. Dr D R Bratton, a member of Bratton s pharmacy ,of this city the following facts During the trying ordeal through which all the southern states passed in the bitter times of reconstruction. South Carolina Is thought to have suffered niore than any sister state Owing to the leading part she assumed in the act of secession she was made to feel in every possible conceivable manner the direful effects of her action As all the older residents of the southern states will remember, there came down amongst us from the north vast_ hordes of adventurers whom we fitly dubbed as carpetbaggers. ’ These men were unscrupulous and uncompromising to tho last degree, and combining with a resident element of whites favoring their nefarious acts and designs, quickly availed themselves of the advantages which they could easily gain by taking undertheir management and guidance the igno7 rant and unsuspecting negroes who had Just been freed and felt that they owed something to the present government for having gii'en them their freedom/* asthey called^ it.Through tho agency of these carpetbaggers and scalawags, as the white people who Joined them were called,! these blacks literally held sway and were made to do everything in their pcwer to humiliate and persecute th'* former alave-owner cr respectable element of the white people Tliis state of affairs continued, daily to grow worse until the whites in their desperation cbuld stand it no longer They prepared themselves for defense The gpxrfct of independence and resentment forconstant, ■and repealed wrongs at tfho hands of these people impelled them to self-protection, oven at the point of bayonets In many Instances they took great delight m punishing the negroes for their insolence, impudence and other mean practices.Abo-ut this time there was a secret organization formed all ever the southquietly transferred himself to the Dominion of Canada He took the oatli of citizenship to Great Britain, settled in Montreal and resumed the practice of bis profession He had been there but a few months when, one Sunday afternoon, out walking on the lawn, a marshal by the name of J 1 D Conwell. who was hired by the same HesUr, slipped up behind Bratton and with tho assistance of a halt;kman seized him, ttiiew him dwn and handcuffed him Generally the doctor carried a pitrtol, but this particular afternoon he had none Dr Bratton asked him whom he was arresting and for what puirpose Show me jour authority. You. have arrested the wrong man ’*The marshal said. We Know what we nfre doing, we’vo got the right man ” Dr Bratton replied, Show me vour papers, ypu d-d rascals They refused I 11 make you pay well for thiS,” the doctor said Carry me to a magistral Irstead, they carried him up and down the road and across the lawn and around about until the train artived They put him on the train* and kept him in a dark room The first thing re recognized was the calling out of Detroit ” United States of America They had brought him across the line It developed that they bad no warrant for the doctor, but a warrant for a Dr A vary, and when this was found out they wanted to turn h m loose Bratton would not be released, saying You scouhdrels, you. you have arrested the wrong man, and I will make you pay well foi this I am a citizen of Canada and a British subject, and I will call upop my ccuntiy for protection ’Dr Bratton was then taken to Yorfc-ville, 9 C and having a- friend iri court, he was released upon what is called astraw bond ” He at once An went to Washington city.to Queen VictoriaReleaserhole mattercalled upon the minister representing Great Br*t-aln and laid the case of kidnaping before him, who at once referred the to Queen Victoria The queen immediately, through her minister at Washington, made a requisition upon General Grant, then president of che United States, to h^e Dr Bratton released and restored immediately to Montreal, his place of residence It being plainly a casus belli General Grant saw at once the importance of prompt action, and promptly honored her majesty s requisition Dr Bratton was forthwith lelcnsed and restored to liberty Dr Brattcn after * pending a few days with Ids family at Yorkville, S C went back to Montreal, telegraphing his nephew, R Bratton, at Charlotte N C . to- #--meet him at that place on the arrival of the train and to go with him to Canada Young Bratton did so and escorted the aoctor to Canadabeforeone s able, able.1Mrs,gestuiImarklt;ab!enlt;Enic hand you 1 at all I frienc pcse havin It 1 sent engac forth wpnd‘Isaid beha^ one v circle criticIIs I Hi point saidIhershe’sIJOU ias c quite
Newspaper Details
Atlanta Constitution
Atlanta, Georgia, US
Sun, Dec 15, 1901
Page 36
Full Page
Clipped by
Pam N.
USA 10 May 2018
Other Publications Near Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta Weekly Intelligencer and Cherokee Advocate
Atlanta Presbyterian of the South
Atlanta University Center Light
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