Baldwin County GaArchives History .....History of Baldwin County - DuBignon Biography 1925
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 7, 2004, 10:43 am

p. 310-314

MRS. ANNE V. DuBIGNON

"Old Miss" 1823-1909

    Anne Virginia Grantland was born in 1823, in Virginia, at the home of her
great, great-grandfather, Col. Thomas Garland Tinsley, and was the daughter of
Nancy Tinsley and Seaton Grantland.

    Mr. Grantland, though a young man, was Assistant Editor of the "Richmond
Enquirer."

    Six weeks after this, Mrs. Grantland died and Mr. Grantland moved to
Georgia, bringing his family with him, which consisted of his son, Fleming,
Susan and Anne,—who came in the arms of her nurse, Hester, who remained with her
until her death in 1904; nursing her children and grandchildren and was the
typical old ante-bellum Mammy. Mammy had always said when she died she wanted on
her tombstone, "Hester Anne Buffington—Gone to Glory." So in the old negro
cemetery on the place, her wishes were carried out.

    Mr. Grantland established the "Milledgeville Recorder" which soon became a
power in the land, and gave tone and color to politics throughout the State.

    Mr. Grantland bought the home, with five thousand acres, from Governor
Clarke, which is still known as "Woodville." It was here that Anne Grant-land
spent her life. As a young girl, she and her sister, Susan, were sent to a
fashionable boarding school in Philadelphia; While there, their father married
Katherine Dabney, of Virginia, who became a real mother to his children and by
whom she was greatly beloved.

    In Milledgeville, the capital, the aristocracy of the State assembled, and
Mr. Grantland as twice representing his District in Congress, became a leader in
politics and his home a center for gatherings, where, after the death of his
wife, to his daughter, Anne, fell the domestic and social duties of the large
estate, where she presided with grace and dignity over the many brilliant
dinners and entertainments of her father, the Hon. Seaten Grantland. Some of the
handsome banquet clothes are still in good condition and used for large dinners
now by his great-grand-daughter, Mrs. Robert C. Alston.

    Susan Grantland, the eldest child of Mr. Grantland, married the Hon. David
J. Bailey, of Griffin, who left six children, among whom was the late Hon.
Seaton Grantland. The only two surviving children of this union being David J.
Bailey, of Griffin, and Mrs. Anne Vorhees, of California.

    Fleming Grantland was the only son and brother, a man of great promise, a
physician educated abroad, who died at thirty-six, and on whose monument we read
besides his name, only three words, "My only Son"—but how eloquent they are!

    In 1844, Anne married Charles duBignon, of Jekyl Island, Glenn County; then
a member of the Legislature. His grandfather, Christophe Poullaine duBignon, was
a French Royalist, who came over during the Napoleonic Era on his own ship,
bringing his family, servants and household furnishings, and settled on Jekyl
Island; which Island remained in the family until this generation, when it was
sold to a wealthy New York corporation as a Club House, and who have made it
into a veritable earthly paradise.

    Charles duBignon served his country in one of the Indian wars, the Mexican
War, and was also a captain in the Confederate War, in Cobbs Legion of Cavalry.
He was fondly called by his friends, from his gallant and handsome appearance,
"Our French Field Marshal."

    To this union were born five children, ie: Charles, who when but nineteen
years of age, returned from France, where he was at school, to enter the
Confederate Army; he and his Cousin, T. D. Tinsley (now of Macon), having been
like brothers, volunteering together. Charles died of meningitis the first year
of the war, a grief from which his mother never fully recovered. The only
daughter, Katherine, married Gen. Gilbert Maxley, of Savannah, who was Gen.
Longstreet's Chief of Staff, and who afterwards became a Brigadier General in
command of a brigade. Seaton, named for his grandfather, and who died before he
was thirty, Fleming Grantland duBignon, who married Caro Nicoll Lamar, of
Savannah, whose four children survive, and are: Mrs. Robert C. Alston, of
Atlanta; Anne Grantland duBignon of Atlanta; Charles, who lives in Moultrie, and
Mrs. W. C. A. Henry, of Philadelphia,—Christophe Poullaine duBignon, known as
"Dixie," lives in Milledgeville and is the only surviving child.

    In 1866, after the death of her father, "Old Miss" assumed charge of this
large plantation, having inherited her father's business acumen, force of
character and love of politics. Her son, Hon. Fleming Grantland DuBignon's
career was a source of great pride and interest to her; his notable success at
the Bar, his sparkling wit, magnetism and political interests he inherited from
his mother. He served two years as Judge of the County Court of Baldwin. In 1880
and '81 he represented that County in the Lower House. In 1882 and '83 he was a
member of the Senate. In 1883 he moved to Savannah and the following year was
elected Solicitor General of the Eastern Circuit, and in 1888, was elected
President of the Georgia Senate. In 1881 and '82 he was a Delegate at Large to
the Democratic National Convention and was Chairman of the Georgia delegation,
and in 1892 was a zealous supporter of Grover Cleveland in the Convention Hall.
In 1901, he could have had the nomination for Governor of his State, but owing
to ill health, his physicians advised against it.

    In politics "Old Miss" had always to be reckoned with. For years, lands
adjacent to her plantation were occupied by the "Pineywood Folke." These people
always sought "Old Miss' " advice in times of need and especially in politics.
"Old Miss" couldn't vote, but they would vote for her! Her death was a great
loss to these people whom she befriended and to whom she was a tower of strength.

    Many interesting stories are told of "Old Miss" and these people. One that
Captain Newell loved to tell, was of a Justice Court in the Piney Woods,
presided over by Judge Ringgold. One of her servants had been arrested, by a
bailiff of this Court, on a fake charge (there was always animosity between
these people and Old Miss’ niggers). Old Miss walked in, the judge was on the
Bench, and her laundress on the stand. "Judge, what do you mean by arresting one
of my servants?" she asked. He promptly left the Bench and began "Yes, Old Miss;
Yes, Old Miss." She turned to the woman on the stand and told her to go home to
her wash tubs and "Judge, you let my servants alone." He bowed and said: "Yes,
Old Miss; you are right, Old Miss."

    One, showing the explicit faith of the darky in "Ole Miss," was told of
Lumpkin, who was quite a well known character, whose chief claim to fame,
besides being Old Miss' woodcutter, was having shaken hands with John L.
Sullivan. Lumpkin was greatly disturbed by stories of the horrors of the Spanish
American War, and went to Judge Sanford to know why "Old Miss" and President
McKinley didn't "stop dis yer
war."

    Once, when a candidate for Governor spoke in the Court House, she was the
only woman present, and was on the stage. The candidate began his speech: "Mrs.
duBignon and gentlemen."

    She took the deepest interest in the State Asylum and its welfare, and each
year Dr. Powell invited her to dine with the Trustees, when she was taken in by
the Governor. Every week for years she and her daughter, Mrs. Fleming duBignon,
would carry hamper baskets to cheer the women of this institution, and to talk
to them.

    But nothing was quite so dear to her heart as the Episcopal Church, of which
she was an ardent member, contributing generously to its support and taking an
active part in all church work. Being a woman, she could not serve on the
vestry, but they always advised with her about the management of the Parish.

    In St. Stephens Church, on the Alter, are the Six Candlesticks, given by her
grand-daughters, in her memory, to the Church she loved so well.

    On December third, 1909, at her home in Woodville, two weeks to the day, of
her son, Fleming's death, "Old Miss," stricken with grief, passed into the Great
Beyond.

    Seated sorrowing, with her children and grandchildren, was "Aunt Becky," her
faithful cook, whose son Adam was her coachman, and whose mother and father had
been the cook and coachman before her.

    A few months afterwards, Aunt Becky died too, for she said "Ole Miss was
gone, all was gone."

    Mrs. duBignon was a true Southern woman of the highest type of the "Old
School." Possessed of a brilliant mind, a love of Justice, with a keen sense of
humor, an undying interest in all that was going on in the world, and throughout
all the years, the irradiating wit of "Ole Miss" kept its sparkle.

    She was buried from St. Stephen's Church, and laid beside her husband and
boys in the Grantland lot in the Milledgeville Cemetery, where she sleeps
beneath "The Shadow of the Cross.'"

CARO duBIGNON ALSTON



Additional Comments:
From: 

Part V

HISTORY of BALDWIN COUNTY GEORGIA

BY MRS. ANNA MARIA GREEN COOK

ILLUSTRATED

ANDERSON. S. C.
Keys-Hearn Printing Co.
-1925—


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