Paulina de Graffenried

Paulina de Graffenried

Paulina de Graffenried Pickett, c1816-1899, with daughter Sallie
portrait by François Bernard, New Orleans, 1850s

• Father: Allen de Graffenried b. 18 September 1764, d. circa 7 January 1821
• Mother: Sarah Thomas b. 2 September 1777, d. 31 January 1818

• Paulina de Graffenried was born on 16 October 1816 in Chester County, South Carolina.
• She married James Belton Pickett circa 1833 in Chester County, South Carolina.
• Paulina de Graffenried became a widow at the 4 June 1842 death of her husband James Belton Pickett.
• She married James Blair Gilmer, son of George Oglethorpe Gilmer and Martha Harvie Johnson. They divorced after a few years, and she resumed using the surname Pickett.
• James Blair Gilmer and Paulina de Graffenried appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Bossier Parish, Louisiana. Other members of the household included Sarah Allen Pickett. also in the household were three Gilmer daughters from his previous marriage, and Paulina's sons John (age 17) and James (12) Pickett.
• Paulina de Graffenried became a widow at the 8 August 1856 death of her husband James Blair Gilmer.
• She was listed in the 1860 Slave Schedule at Bossier Parish, Louisiana, apparently at three sites or plantations: at "Cash Point" 65 slaves, 13 age 10 and younger, 20 slave houses; "Willow Chute" 60 slaves, 14 of whom were age 10 or younger, and 18 slave houses, and at "Rough & Ready" 76 slaves, 21 of whom were age 10, and 18 slave houses.
• Paulina de Graffenried appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Benton PO, Bossier Parish, Louisiana, enumerated on three different plantations on one page, one with overseer James Mathews, the next with overseer J. A. C. Wilard, and the third with overseer A. L. Chapmen.
• On 3 December 1864, Green Mark Wood wrote to Rush Brevard Wood:
       Danville, Texas
  My Dear Son:
       I returned home day before yesterday after an absence of three weeks in the Reserve Corps. All were well when I arrived. Campbell was taken sick yesterday and your mother has chills every two or three weeks. The school is out and Solomon will be home today.
       We caught a good many deserters and conscripts in the Big Thicket. We get very little news now. We have not heard a word from you since Jack Williamson's letter just after the arrival of Capt. Raney Fisher. Old Lincoln is elected and the war will probably go on for years to come. So you may make up your mind to remain in the service for years to come. I regret it on account of my children. I shall not be able to give them an education. And I fear should it end you will not feel like going to school.
       I am looking for Mr. Cummings out here. He and his mother-in-law and brother-in-law are going to move out with all their negroes some 700 [sic] to get out of the way of the Yankees.
       I am expecting to send this by Mr. Nathan Burke. I am very hopeful about the final result of the war but very many are desponding.
       Your Uncle Campbell was well when we heard from him last. He had not been assigned to duty as yet. The Yankees captured his horse crossing the Mississippi, and he has not been able to get another. I hope you take good care of your horse. No news worth mentioning. Your mother and all the children send to you and Jack Williamson much love. We were disappointed in not getting a letter by the wagon when it returned. I can think of no more to write.
       Your father, Green M. Wood.
• She apparently was enumerated in the census of 1 Jun 1870 in McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee, in the large household of farmer Jonathan Smith.
• Paulina de Graffenried appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1880 in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, enumerated in the household of her son John Pickett with his wife and eight children, and a few household servants.
• Paulina de Graffenried died on 6 June 1899 at age 82.
• She was interred at Cottage Grove Presbyterian Cemetery, Bossier City, Bossier Parish, Louisiana.
• Research Note: L. P. Spyker's wife Sarah Gilmer was a sister of R. C. Cummings' mother-in-law Paulina de Graffenreid's second husband James Blair Gilmer.

• Last Edited: 29 Jul 2014