Marriage
William Mahone was of Irish-American heritage and grew up in Southampton County, Virginia. He graduated with the Class of 1847 from Virginia Military Institute (VMI), trained as a civil engineer. He was hired in 1853 to build the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad (N&P), which passed through Isle of Wight County not far from the Butler's home in Smithfield.
Otelia married 29-year old Mahone on February 8, 1855. The couple settled in Norfolk, Virginia. Later in 1855, they escaped the yellow fever epidemic which decimated a third of the population of the Norfolk-Portsmouth area by staying with his mother in Jerusalem (later renamed Courtland) in Southampton County.
Popular legend has it that Otelia and William Mahone traveled along the newly completed Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad naming stations from Ivanhoe, a book she was reading written by Sir Walter Scott. From his historical Scottish novels, Otelia chose the place names of Windsor, Waverly and Wakefield. She tapped the Scottish Clan "McIvor" for the name of Ivor, a small Southampton County town. When they reached a point in Prince George County not far from the end of the line at Petersburg, the two could not agree. It is said that they invented a new word in honor of their "dispute", which is how the tiny community of Disputanta was named. The N&P railroad was completed in 1858, and William was named its president.
When her husband became an officer in the Confederate Army, Otelia served the cause in Richmond as a nurse. Small of stature at 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing only 100 pounds (45 kg), her husband was nicknamed "Little Billy". When Otelia was notified by Governor John Letcher that her husband had been injured in the Second Battle of Manassas, but had only received a "flesh wound", she replied "Now I know it is serious for William has no flesh whatsoever." Late in the War, during the Siege of Petersburg, Otelia and the children moved to Petersburg to be near him. Mahone himself became the hero of the Battle of the Crater in July, 1864, and was promoted to Major General.
Read more about this topic: Otelia B. Mahone
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“Every marriage tends to consist of an aristocrat and a peasant. Of a teacher and a learner.”
—John Updike (b. 1932)
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)