A Letter from John B. Tisdale, May 6, 1846

In Alfred S. Waugh's “Travels in Search of the Elephant” he quotes a letter from John B. Tisdale written shortly before Tisdale joined Doniphan's Expedition.

“Your letter of the 3d May, I should have answered last night that it might have gone by to day's mail but I got home after dark from hunting---tired and sleepy,---totally unfitted for answering your letter as it deserved, for it breathes the spirit of the good Col Waugh of Mobile, instead of the cross, crusty old bachelor of Missouri, it was an effort of the pen of the friend of Auld lang syne, and I read it with much pleasure.

I was one week painting the scenes for the Thespian Society, and on the second day I had a high fever (which did not leave in fact for twenty four hours) I painted however until I lost control of my mind,---lay down on the floor for about three hours---got up at the expiration of that time and, leaning with one hand on a chair, painted wit the other---gradually getting stronger until I could stand without an effort. After I had finished, White and an other fellow came down to clean up and would you believe it, this daub of a house painter, took it upon himself to improve my work, laying on strong light and shadow upon the distance, thus as it were suspending it in the air in the foreground. I was extremely vexed, and so much astounded when in answer to my enquiry, he told me that he did it, that I knew not what to say. But a few hours afterwards meeting him at the City Hotel I gave him such a cursing that he will not easily forget me, which will, I hope, effectually prevent his meddling with the work of an artist for the future.

Last Thursday night I killed half the audience with laughter in the character of Numps in the farce “Tis all a Farce”---forgot more than half my part, bid farewell to the prompter and rattled away on my own hook until I got ready to give the other fellow his 'cue', and judging from the continued and prolonged applause, I did not miss it far after all.---All the other characters were well sustained and the evening went off finely. Previous to the farce Douglas was performed; Martin as Norval, Yeomans as Randolf; Barnett as Glenalvan; and Mills as Lady Randolf. ---Mill's performance was classically fine; Martin and Yeomans played remarkably well and Barnett tolerably.

I am at leisure now, and will not work for any one, I owe nothing and am ready to start at a moments warning---I am relaxing, taking some pleasure, in fishing, hunting &c and do not know when I shall leave.

Remember me to all those who may value my friendship, and to Genl Lucas and each member of his family tender my kindest regards, and most sincere wishes for their health and happiness.---And now for yourself dear fellow, here is the hand of affection and esteem, I bid thee a sorrowing farewell, yet the future is filled with bright visions of hope for your prosperity.

God bless you. J. B. Tisdale

Lexington Mo., May 6^th 1846

Waugh's subsequent letter to Tisdale dated July 14^th, 1846 in Santa Fe is also quoted in the book's appendix titled “A Trip to Mexico.”

Southern Literary Messenger, XII (December, 1846)

A correspondent in the “Far West” has been so kind as to procure for the Messenger, a long contribution, “A Letter from Don Alfredo, El Artista Viajante. To his friend and pupil, J.B.T.”

He says, “it was not intended for publication; but it will not be less interesting in consequence of the unreserved, conversational style of master to pupil.” The author is an artist, who made a tour to New Mexico, during the last summer, for the purpose of collecting materials for an illustrated work on that country. He reached Santa Fe the 24^th of June, and commences his letter, from that place, “beneath the hospitable roof of an excellent son of the 'Emerald Isle,' on the eve of the festival of American Independence, and amid innumerable rumors of war.” But its length, with the time at which it was received, precludes the publication of the whole of it, in the present number; whilst the posture of our affairs toward Mexico, especially since the Expedition of Gen. Kearny, renders it desirable to avoid delaying it. We have therefore determined to omit the description of the journey from Independence, and with our Artist-Traveller we enter at once into SANTA FE: THE CAPITAL.”

A footnote by John Francis McDermott, the editor of Waugh's Journal, says:

Waugh left Independence for Santa Fe before Tisdale joined Company A of the Mounted Volunteers; he assumes here (and in the direction of his letter) that his friend is still in Independence or Lexington. They were not to meet in the Southwest, for Waugh left Santa Fe before the Army of the West arrived.

“Travels in Search of the Elephant: The Wanderings of Alfred S. Waugh, Artist, In Louisiana, Missouri, and Santa Fe, in 1845-1846,” published in 1951 by the St. Louis Missouri Historical Society, is available to read at Hathi Trust Digital Library

John B. Tisdale (c1822-1885)

John B. Tisdale, Belle Tisdale's uncle, died in Kushla, Mobile County, Alabama, on February 3, 1885. His obituary appeared on page 1 of the New Orleans Times-Picayune on February 5, 1885.  He was the last of B. F. Tisdale's siblings to die.

John B. Tisdale Obituary

Transcription:

MOBILE

Death of John B. Tisdale.

{Special to the Picayune.}

Mobile, Ala., Feb. 4. - The old citizens are dropping off very rapidly. Several have died during the last ten days, and this afternoon another well-known name was added to the mortuary list. John B. Tisdale, a native of North Carolina, but for forty years a resident of Mobile, died at Kushla, a few miles north of Mobile, at 3 0'clock, aged 62 years. He had been sick for a long time.

Early in life he took part in Doniphan's celebrated exploring expedition into Mexico and was in that country when the United States declared war. He served as surgeon to a Missouri regiment. Afterwards returning to Mobile, he entered the cotton business and continued until the civil war. He served in the Home Guard during that struggle. Soon after he was elected Tax Assessor of the county, and was often re-elected. He was connected with the office up to three years ago. He was a man generally liked for his many admirable qualities. 

Early research in the New Orleans Public Library by my mother had found that John B. Tisdale was listed in The New York Historical Society Dictionary of Artists of America, 1564-1860, by George Grace:

p.631-532  Tisdale, John B. Portrait Painter born about 1822 probably in Mobile, Alabama. Early in 1844 Tisdale became acquainted with Alfred S. Waugh in Mobile. They worked together there for nearly a year then moved to New Orleans and St. Louis. They hoped to join Fremont's third expedition as artists but were turned down and from July 1845 to June 1847 they divided their time between Independence and Lexington, Missouri. From June 1845 to June 1847 Tisdale served as a private in Doniphan's Regiment Missouri Mounted Volunteers seeing service in New Mexico and California. A sketch of "The Volunteer" which appeared in Hughes' Account of the Doniphan Expedition with the signature: J. D. Tisdell was undoubtedly the work of Tisdale. By 1855 Tisdale was back in Mobile where he seems to have spent the rest of his life. In later years he served as deputy sheriff and county assessor. His name disappears from the Mobile directory after 1855. McDermott, Travels in Search of the Elephant," Hughes "Doniphan's Expedition"   xii-xiii, Information from records in the Adjutant Generals Office, Dept. of Army, National Archives. [Vera Begue Booksh papers]

Later research turned up more information about Waugh and Tisdale in American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection by Dale Johnson, 1990:

Alfred S. Waugh (ca.1810-1856) p. 228

An itinerant sculptor, portrait and miniature painter profile maker, writer, and lecturer, Alfred Waugh was a native of Ireland, He studied sculpture in Dublin in 1827 and toured the Continent before coming to the United States. He was working in Baltimore in 1833, Raleigh in 1838, various parts of Alabama in 1842, and Pensacola in 1843. He painted a miniature of John C. Calhoun in Mobile in 1844. Waugh joined forces with a young artist, John B. Tisdale (ca 1822-ca 1885), in making colored profile portraits; the two took a studio in New Orleans for five months but were barely able to cover their expenses. They traveled north to St. Louis, hoping to join John Charles Fremont's expedition to the Rocky Mountains as recording artists, but their petition was not accepted. Next they traveled through Missouri taking profiles and painting miniatures in Jefferson City, Independence, and Lexington. When Tisdale joined the Missouri Mounted Volunteers in 1846, Waugh went to Santa Fe and then to Boonville, Missouri, for a year before settling permanently in St. Louis in 1848. He spent his time sculpting, lecturing, and writing articles about art. His autobiography, “Travels in Search of the Elephant: The Wanderings of Alfred S. Waugh, Artist in Louisiana, Missouri, and Santa Fe, in 1845-1846,” of which only the first part survives, was published almost one hundred years after his death (edited by John F. McDermott [St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society, 1951]) [This book is available to read at the Hathi Trust Digital Library website]

In his Journal Alfred Waugh writes about meeting John Tisdale:

"Some time in the early part of the year 1844 I became acquainted with a young man of (what is termed) smartness, he had a bold, manly, and prepossessing air, well calculated to win the friendship of most persons. He called on me one afternoon with a small picture, painted by himself, and which he wished to shew me and get some advice about the colering. It pleased me and after some conversation I invited him to renew his visits, promising to give him all the assistance I could in an art in which he seemed born to succeed. He came again, and again, and we became friends."

Waugh decided to travel for a couple of years and invited John to join him. Their first stop was New Orleans where they opened a studio on St. Charles Street. They barely made enough with their art to make expenses and began making plans to head up the Mississippi River to Missouri to join Fremont's expedition. They packed up  all their "pictures and properties" and forwarded them to Jacob Magee of Mobile, John Tisdale's brother-in-law. On May 8 they boarded a steam boat for Missouri and their adventures began.

Waugh's writing is colorful and detailed and contains many stories about Alfred and John's adventures in Missouri as they proceeded on horseback to try to join Fremont. Waugh writes:

   “On the morning of the first July (the anniversary of my birth day) I was awake and out before sunrise. Tisdale who prides himself on his acquaintance with camp usages, made himself quite at home, and undertook the preparation of our breakfast, with all the sang froid of a great artist......Now, Tisdale is a good hunter and extremely fond of the chase, and is, indeed, as excellent fellow in a camp hunt, as can be found, besides being a good shot with the rifle, and has no lack [of] courage.”

In spite of their efforts to join Fremont's expedition they were turned down and spent the next year in Missouri, on artistic pursuits. Waugh says, "Tisdale in the mean time had completed the miniature of Palmer and afterward painted one of a lady. Both these productions of friend Jack gave much satisfaction, and I was highly gratified by hearing them spoken of in terms of praise."  

Later Waugh writes, "...during the month I had been away that Jack had exerted himself manfully in miniature painting, in fact, had been more industrious after my leaving him, then while we were together. I found that he had produced some really fine paintings on ivory, very superior to any thing from his pencil which I had before."

Waugh and Tisdale said goodbye in Lexington. Waugh writes:

"With a heavy heart I shook hands with my friends and mounting my horse bid adieu to them and left Lexington for Independence, for the last time, as I supposed. I need not say that our parting was sad, Jack and I had been companions for some time; it was principally to gratify him, that I thought of going with Fremont, and for him I would have done almost anything. We had come thus far together, and now we were separated, perhaps for ever. In future he was to paddle his own canoe, and I to continue a Wandering Artist with no relative on the whole continent of North America to make me forget that I was a stranger in the land."

 In 1846 John Tisdale joined Doniphan's Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers as mentioned in his obituary. In 1847 he returned to Mobile and on February 15, 1849 he married widow Virginia Tardy VanCleek Read. Virginia's first two husbands had died.

John and Virginia are listed on the 1850 US Census living in Mobile with her two children, L. A. Tisdale, age 14, (son of Henry VanCleek) and Henrietta Tisdale, age 5, (daughter of Joshua Henry Read).  In 1860 the children are listed with their correct surnames, now ages 20 and 14.  John and Virginia are listed in the 1870 and 1880 censuses still in the Mobile area. After John's death, Virginia applied for a military pension in February 1887, but she died in October the same year. Her obituary appeared in the New Orleans Times Picayune in a column that strangely starts with a description of the arrival of the steamship L. D. Barker.

[Virginia Tisdale obituary transcription]

Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), Monday, October 10, 1887, Page 1

MOBILE

A Steamer from New York – Death of Venerable Residents.

   Mobile, Ala., Oct. 9.---[Special.]---The steamship L. D. Barker, from New York, came up to the wharf this morning, with a full assorted cargo, mostly for points on the Alabama river. While at the wharf, a difficulty occurred between Richard McCurdy, the mate, and one of the seamen, when McCurdy knocked the latter down. McCurdy was susbsequently arrested on a charge of assault and battery....

The funeral of Mrs. Virginia M. Tisdale occurred from the residence of her brother Edwin Tardy, Esq., at 4 o'clock this afternoon, Rev. G. C. Tucker officiating. She was a native of Augusta, Ga., and was married to Mr. John B. Tisdale, for many years county tax assessor, about thirty years ago. She was the youngest daughter of Alex. Tardy, a native of La Rochelle, France, and a sister of the late Balthazar Tardy, and Edwin Tardy, Esq., who is the only remaining member of the direct family now living. She was 66 years old, and came to Mobile when a child. A daughter, Mrs. W. G. Donovan, survives her. The pallbearers were Messrs. E. B. Lott, Price Williams, John F. Powers, C. H. Lindsey, A. H. Cain, J. H. Russell, John W. Miller and W. J. McCowan.