This beautiful woman was Elizabeth "Bettie" McKiel née Klyce from Brownsville, Tennessee. She was born in August 1845.
Her father Andrew Jackson Klyce ran a carriage manufacturing business A. J. Klyce & Sons in Brownsville. When the Civil War began, Andrew joined the Confederate Army. I was not surprised to find out that the family owned 5 human beings in 1860 - a man, 42, a woman 30, a girl, 12, and two boys, 10 and 6, who lived in two slave houses on the Klyce property. I assume but I don't know if they were a family since I don't know their names.
Bettie married James J. McKiel in July 1875 in Brownsville. James was a farmer and 10 years older than Bettie.
Source: newspapers.com
1878 was a tough year for Brownsville citizens as the yellow fever epidemic struck in its most violent form. When I researched this bit, I couldn't help but feel a bit of a deja-vu to our own recent pandemic. People did not stop to take cautious measures when the first cases appeared in Tennessee, but when the first case of yellow fever was reported in Brownsville, panic took over. Apparently many left the Haywood county, leaving the streets empty, except for coffins that noone was bringing to the cemetery to be buried. The sick had to quarantine alone, cut off from the rest of the family and community. Businesses closed, except drugstores. Businessmen were upset cause their cargo was stuck in ports and restrictions lost them lots of money.
Source: newspapers.com
In the end, 200 people died in Brownsville. Bettie's father Andrew was the first man to die of yellow fever in Brownsville. Apparently he was quarantining on his own, I don't know for how long, he might have died of malnourishment.
Source: newspapers.com
In 1880, Bettie was widowed after just 5 years of blissful marriage. The couple did not have any children, James' last will left all his property to Bettie. Bettie never re-married.
It was probably her friendships, her mother Mary's support and her community that picked her up and carried her through the grief. Her mother moved in with her in her house in East Main Street. Bettie was active in her community, a devoted member of the Methodist church, secretary of the cemetery association and member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
She died in January 1917.
Source: newspapers.com
Here's Bettie telling her life story under 3 minutes for you:
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