Caroline Meriwether Goodlett
President of the United Daughters of the Confederacy
Personal details
Born
Caroline Douglas Meriwether

(1833-11-03)November 3, 1833
Woodstock Plantation
Todd County, Kentucky
United States
Died(1914-10-16)16 October 1914
Nashville, Tennessee
United States
Resting placeMount Olivet Cemetery
Spouse(s)John Sturdevant (divorced)
Michael Campbell Goodlett
Children2
Parent(s)Charles Nicholas Minor Meriwether
Caroline Huntley Barker
Occupation
  • philanthropist
Known forCo-founding of the United Daughters of the Confederacy

Caroline Douglas Meriwether Goodlett (November 3, 1833 – October 16, 1914) was an American philanthropist and the founding president of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Early life and family

Goodlett was born on November 3, 1833, to Caroline Huntley Barker and Charles Nicholas Minor Meriwether at Woodstock, her family's plantation in Todd County, Kentucky.[1][2]

On December 3, 1853, she married John Sturdevant. As a wedding present, her father gave her 300 acres of land near Woodstock, across the state line in Montgomery County, Tennessee. The property included a large two-story log house, where her father had lived prior to building Woodstock.[1] Goodlett and Sturdevant had one child, a son named Charles James. The marriage was an unhappy one and the couple later divorced.[1]

Confederate philanthropy

At the beginning of the American Civil War, Goodlett's brother Edward enlisted to serve in the Confederate States Army. After his death in 1861, Goodlett focused on aiding the Confederacy. She converted her tobacco barns into workshops where women from her community would gather to make bandages and clothing for Confederate soldiers. Goodlett also provided nursing care to wounded soldiers housed on her estate until they were transferred to hospitals. Additionally, she brought medicine and other supplies to Confederate troops.[1]

After the war, Goodlett sold her property and moved with her son to Nashville. In 1866 she founded the Benevolent Society with the purpose of funding medical treatments and artificial limbs for wounded Confederate veterans.[3] She became a charter member of the Board of Confederate Monumental Association, funding the construction of Confederate monuments in Nashville.[1]

In 1869 she married Colonel Michael Campbell Goodlett, a Confederate veteran officer and widower. Her husband was the brother of John A. Goodlett. They had one daughter, Caroline Barker Goodlett, who was born on October 3, 1871.[1]

In 1893 she represented Tennessee as a commissioner at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.[2]

United Daughters of the Confederacy

Goodlett was elected president of The Auxiliary of the Confederate Soldiers' Home in Tennessee in 1890. The organization was established to assist widows, wives, and children of Confederate veterans. The Auxiliary later changed its name to The Daughters of the Confederacy in 1892. She served as the state president of the organization.[4] She was unaware that, at this time, another society bearing the name "Daughters of the Confederacy" was being run by Anna Davenport Raines in Georgia.[1][5] Goodlett and Raines were made aware of each other's organizations and joined them together, extending invitations to similar women' societies in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri to create the National Association of the Daughters of the Confederacy.[6] When the organization became a national organization in 1894, Goodlett was elected as the first president.[7] In 1905 she was recognized as the organization's founder at the General Convention in San Francisco.[1]

Death

Goodlett died on October 16, 1914, and was buried in the family plot in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.[1][2][8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Meet the Founders | United Daughters of the Confederacy". hqudc.org.
  2. 1 2 3 "Confederate Veteran". S.A. Cunningham. June 20, 1914 via Google Books.
  3. Cox, Karen L. (June 20, 2003). "Dixie's daughters: the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the preservation of Confederate culture". Gainesville : University Press of Florida via Internet Archive.
  4. "Nashville No. 1, United Daughters of the Confederacy". tennesseeencyclopedia.net.
  5. "About the UDC". Alabama Division United Daughters of the Confederacy. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  6. DuRocher, Kristina (May 6, 2011). Raising Racists: The Socialization of White Children in the Jim Crow South. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0813139845 via Google Books.
  7. Deiss, Ruth Davenport (1966). "Reviewed work: The Courageous Caroline: Founder of the U D C., Josephine M. Turner". The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 64 (1): 81–83. JSTOR 23376032.
  8. Hoobler, James A.; Marks, Sarah Hunter (October 1, 2000). Nashville:: From the Collection of Carl and Otto Giers. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738506326 via Google Books.
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