All About Moms: A sampling of historic Moms in Kentucky
by LISA KINDEL
It’s May and that means one thing—Mother’s Day!
Sunday May 10, we appreciate our moms with flowers, presents and cards so we are taking the time here to pay tribute to a few of Kentucky’s most Historic Moms and their contributions to the commonwealth of Kentucky.
Let’s start with Rebecca Boone. Rebecca married Kentucky’s frontiersman, Daniel Boone, in 1756 In North Carolina. She gave birth to a total of 10 children over a 25-year period, as well as trekking to the Cumberland Gap and then on to now Fort Boonesborough and Boones Station. Historians consider her a resourceful woman of her time for her many talents: performing as a community midwife, leather tanner, family doctor, linen maker and sharpshooter. Rebecca lived to the age of 74 in 1813 and is laid to rest in the Frankfort cemetery in our state capitol. She embodies Kentucky’s pioneering spirit and speaks to the strength of Kentucky’s founding mothers.
Lucretia Hart married The Great Compromiser, Henry Clay at her family’s home in Lexington in 1799. She gave birth to 11 children, 7 living to adulthood. Because of her husband’s political career, she managed the household at Ashland in his absence. Another resourceful homemaker, she sold dairy products to add to the household income. She also organized Ashland’s grounds, kitchens, and gardens, and studied agriculture to better the farm itself and work with the overseer. Lucretia’s events at Ashland were held in high regard, attended by local elite and politicians alike. After the death of Henry Clay in 1852, she moved to Ashland at Tates Creek until she died in 1864. Her signature events at Ashland helped propel Kentucky to the forefront of politics during the 1850s.
Mary Todd Lincoln, former First Lady, lived in what is now the Mary Todd Lincoln House on West Main Street starting in 1832 until she left for Illinois in 1839. She married Abraham Lincoln in 1842 in Springfield, Illinois and gave birth to four sons; only one child survived to adulthood, Robert Todd Lincoln who later became the US Secretary of War in 1881. Mary Todd as First Lady was regularly labeled a ‘westerner’ because of her Kentucky connections, in addition to her staunch support of Lincoln policies during the Civil War, though some of her family served in the Confederate Army. After witnessing her husband’s assassination and the death of her son, Tad, she traveled and eventually settled in Pau, France until returning to Springfield where she died in 1882. Mary Todd Lincoln bridges the political gap between the Kentucky of the Civil War and Lincoln’s presidency.
Henry and Lucretia Clay’s great-granddaughter, Madeline McDowell Breckinridge paved the way for Kentucky women’s right to vote in 1919. With her husband, newspaper publisher Desha Breckinridge, she wrote editorials campaigning for the rights of the poor, children and women. Her civic mindedness also built The Lincoln School in Lexington, a settlement designated to house, educate and employ the poor. Because of her frustration at the lack of state politicians’ support of her causes, she lobbied for women’s rights starting in 1912 until Kentucky granted women that right in 1919. She suffered from tuberculosis throughout her life, leading to the founding of the Kentucky Association for the Prevention and Treatment of Tuberculosis and Bluegrass Sanatorium. She mothered Kentucky’s women, children and poor through her suffragette activities and social groups that supported those activities.
Mary Carson Breckinridge, a distant relation of Madeline McDowell Breckinridge through marriage, began as a nurse in New York, France and England after the deaths of her children and divorce from her husband. After working in France as the director of Child Hygiene and District Nursing in war torn France, she realized the potential applications of midwifery and nurse midwives in rural Kentucky. There were no schools or training for midwives in the US at the time so she trained in England and returned to Kentucky in 1925 when fshe ounded the Kentucky Committee for Mothers and Babies, now known as Frontier Nursing University with campuses in Lexington and Hayden. In its first 30 years, Frontier Nursing saved mothers and babies lives in Appalachia. When Mary died in 1965, she had built a legacy of midwifery education and health care and her mission survives today.
From Maysville hails George Clooney’s famous aunt, Rosemary Clooney, born in 1928 (mom to the actor Miguel Ferrer). She started singing in 1946 with Tony Pastor’s big band on Columbia Records. She broke out with her first solo recording of the pop-classic “Come On-A My House” in 1951. She went on to record solo and with singers like Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby, including the classic White Christmas. Rosemary married actor Jose Ferrer, first in 1953 and again in 1964. She had 5 children, two becoming actors themselves. In 1956, she starred in her own show “The Rosemary Clooney Show” through 1957, in addition to keeping up with the demands of married life and raising children. After taking a step back from stardom, she came back to the spotlight when Bing Crosby asked her to perform on his 50th anniversary show in 1976. That same year, her sister Betty died of a brain aneurysm which led to the formation of the Betty Clooney Foundation for Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury in Long Beach, California. Rosemary herself succumbed to lung cancer in 2002. Her namesake museum in Augusta and music festival in Maysville honor her today.
Loretta Lynn also sang her way into the nation’s hearts with her song “Honky Tonk Girl” in 1960. She married her husband at age 15 and gave birth to 4 of their 6 children by the age of 20. She wrote and sang about her rural upbringing in Butcher Holler, near Paintsville. She broke traditional country music stereotypes by singing about women’s rights, birth control and the Vietnam War. (“Daddy don’t you worry none…”) Her music and her autobiography “Coal Miner’s Daughter” brought attention to eastern Kentucky, as did the Oscar-winning movie of the same name.
Martha Layne Collins, former beauty pageant queen, didn’t turn to politics right away. She taught at Woodford County Junior High School and worked for Wendell Ford’s gubernatorial campaign in the 6th District as co-chair in 1970. After impressing the Democratic Party during Ford’s campaign, she began her career in politics, working her way up from Democratic National Convention Committeewoman from Kentucky all the way to becoming Kentucky’s first female Governor in 1983. During her tenure as Governor of Kentucky, she was perhaps best known for bringing Toyota to Georgetown
Penny Chenery nurtured Secretariat to become the Triple Crown winning thoroughbred of 1973. Her father loved horses and instilled his love of them to Penny at a young age. Her father Christopher Chenery owned The Meadow, Meadow Stud and Meadow Stables in Ashland, Virginia where he raised thoroughbreds and Penny learned about breeding and racing. In 1968, Penny took over the breeding and stables from her father. In her years at Meadow Stud, she and her father bred Riva Ridge, the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner. The following year, Secretariat won the Triple Crown. In 1983, she and fellow female equestrians Martha F. Gerry and Allaire Dupont became the first three female members of The Jockey Club, pioneering the way for future women into the exclusive club. Her son John Tweedy produced the documentary Penny and Red: The Life of Secretariat’s Owner.
Speaking of Kentucky horses, let us not forget Zenyatta, Queen of Racing (2010 horse of the year). Her undefeated racing career of 19, including the 2009 Breeder’s Cup at Santa Anita, after winning the 2008 Ladies Classic Breeder’s Cup also at Santa Anita.
Her son, Cozmic One (sired by Bernardini) ran his debut race in April at Santa Anita. Zenyatta recently celebrated her birthday at Lane’s End with carrots, pears, yams, mints, cupcakes, and Guinness.
These are just a few of Kentucky’s famous mothers. Happy Mother’s Day to all Kentucky Moms!
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This article also appears on page 10-11 of the May print edition of the Hamburg Journal.
