Cathrine STRATTON

  General Notes:

From the Winnsboro News, published in the Richmond Dispatch, October 30, 1898, Catherine wrote in part: "Seventy-four years ago I heard a prophecy of a prediction made by Marquis de Lafayette, when he visited Richmond, VA., in 1824. He had to land at Yorkville and I will not attempt to describe the splendid military display in sending to meet him, the splendid barouche and four magnificent horses glittering with silver. At the edge of town they formed the grand procession. First came the General and his suite, surrounded by the cavalry; next came the Richmond Blues Company and a brass band of twenty three pieces; then the artillery and then every prominent citizen joined in the procession...Next day the Capital Square was crowded again, everybody wanted to shake hands with the General. The Union Sunday-school pupils...were drawn up on one side; I was in the line standing about eighth from head, the General was announced, making some pleasant remark; as he shook hands with each one, he started, saying that we should never forget those who had fought and bled to give us such a republic--a republic that is destined to be one of the greatest in the world. He was holding my hand at the last expression--one of the greatest in the world. Seventy-four years of my life have passed, and I have lived to see the prediction fulfilled; for the United States now stands unrivaled in the world in size, strength, and power."

Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Volume III, VII--Prominent Persons: "... her education was acquired in the schools of her native city; in 1828 she became the wife of G. W. Ladd, a painter of portraits and miniatures; she established and was principal of a boarding school at Winnsborough, Fairfield county, South Carolina, for twenty years, covering the period between 1841 and 1861, she won fame as a writer, beginning her career in 1828, and in addition to articles on art and education, wrote numerous stories and poems for the "Floral Wreath" and other periodicals, and in 1851, through the press, urged the necessity of procuring white labor and of engaging in the manufacture of cotton in South Carolina; during the progress of the civil war she nursed the sick and wounded Confederate soldiers, and she is said to have been the designer of the first Confederate flag; at the close of the war she resumed her work of teaching; in 1880 she removed to a farm in Fairfield county, near
Winnsborough, South Carolina, where she spent the remainder of her days; her death occurred at Buena Vista, Fairfield county, South Carolina, January 31, 1899."

Cathrine married George Williamson LADD, son of Daniel LADD, III and Lydia DOW, on 28 Sep 1826 in Charleston, Charleston Co, SC. (George Williamson LADD was born on 21 Jun 1802 in Pontiac, Oakland Co, MI and died on 16 Jul 1864 in Winnsboro, Fairfield Co, SC.)