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The
Old Colonel
(Dec. 11, 1836 - Feb 24, 1903)
and his wife "Amanthis"
Real-life model for the characters in
Annie Fellows Johnston's "Little Colonel" series
"Along this street one summer
morning, nearly thirty years ago, came stepping an old Confederate Colonel.
Every one greeted him deferentially. He was always pointed out to new
comers. Some people called attention to him because he had given his right
arm to the lost cause, some because they thought he resembled Napoleon, and
others because they had some amusing tale to tell of his eccentricities. He
was always clad in white duck in the summer, and was wrapped in a
picturesque military cape in the winter."
Annie
Fellows Johnston,
In her autobiography,
Land of the Little Colonel (1929)
 His real name was
George Washington Weissinger, Jr., and indeed he was a Colonel and a Confederate
veteran. He is seen here on the porch of Locust in winter
garb. (Summer dress was the traditional white duck suit, closer to
the portrayal by Lionel Barrymore in the 1935 movie version of the
Little Colonel)
Just as portrayed in the Little
Colonel stories, the
Old Colonel had indeed lost his right arm. This was during the Civil War
at the battle of Sugar Creek, Arkansas (March 7-8, 1862) (document).
Colonel
Weissinger died on February 24, 1903 at the age of 66. (obituary)
This is most interesting in the context of the Little Colonel Stories,
particularly The Little Colonel at Boarding
School (1904). You may remember that it was the Old Colonel's
illness in that book (Chapter 1) that was the reason for the Little Colonel
going to boarding school in the first place. By the time the book was
published,
the real Old Colonel had already passed away. We speculate that Annie
Fellows Johnston must have wrestled with what to do about that. In the end,
she apparently decided to let the Old Colonel live for the sake of the
stories, though in later books his role is very much diminished.
The
Old Colonel died at St. Joseph's Infirmary, which was then located on Fourth
Street between Broadway and Chestnut (present site of The Palace
Theater). He was brought to his brother's (Harry Weissinger's) house in
Old
Louisville near the corner of 4th & Oak, and his funeral was around
the corner at
St.
Louis Bertrand Catholic Church. He was then interred at
Cave
Hill Cemetery. And that's where it gets interesting again.
Cave
Hill Cemetery (the most prestigious burial ground in the region) has records
that the Old Colonel was buried on February 25, 1903, his wife two months
later. A plot map shows the exact location of the graves. But
there are no tombstones or grave markers. Why? We don't
know. We also can find nothing about the death of Amelia Pearce
Weissinger (born Amelia Neville Pearce), his wife, just before her interment
beside him on April 30, 1903. Now we have some information
form the Weissinger descendents and others that
Amelia probably passed away in around 1870 (she had been his wife only
since 1865...Col. Weissinger is noted in local histories as having practiced
law in Owensboro and in Louisville after the death of his wife.)
There is confirming evidence of that in the Filson
Historical Society's Genealogies of Kentucky Families that puts
Amelia Neville Pearce's death date at October 19, 1870. That would be
correct for the Little Colonel stories, and so by inference the second burial
must have
been a re-interment. More evidence of the Old
Colonel's wife's premature passing can be found in the census record data we
include below.
Incidentally, in the stories, the Old Colonel's dear departed wife was
given the name Amanthis.
Amanthis, was in fact, the name of the Old Colonel's real-life mother. (Amanthis
Bullitt)
While
we're on incidentals, the Old Colonel's obituary notes that that, at his
death, he was survived by one daughter (also named Amelia). That matches the stories
perfectly. This would have been The Little
Colonel's mother. What doesn't match the story is that the
Old Colonel's relationship with his son-in-law (Papa Jack
of the stories) was actually quite
cordial. But if no literary license had ever been taken, there would
have never been a story.
The Portrait of Amelia Neville
Pearce Weissinger, "Amanthis"
The Little Colonel's Grandmother, wife of the Old Colonel
from Fox Film Corporation Scrapbook
by the Little Colonel
Productions, Inc., probably by Kate Matthews
In this case, however, it was not the real Amanthis
(who died around 1870, long before The Little Colonel was born) that was
the major character in the stories, but rather her portrait, and this is
shown above. From the first Little Colonel book to the last, this
portrait, hanging in the main drawing room at The Locust, was a recurring
source of admiratrion and inspiration for Lloyd Sherman, "The Little
Colonel." ****** Illustrations & documents,
including recent photographs of the grave site and adjoining areas:
On Col. George W. Weissinger Jr. The Old Colonel in the Little Colonel Series Genealogy
for the Weissinger clan http://home.ix.netcom.com/~fpm9944/weissngr/weissngr.htm
, specifically GWW http://home.ix.netcom.com/~fpm9944/weissngr/gww-sr.htm
****** Census
Records for George Washington Weissinger, The Old Colonel,
and his family
(many thanks to Toni Langlais, who's random
acts of kindness in regularly providing unsolicited information is ever
deeply appreciated. Notes in italics are our additions.)
 1870 census
Middletown, Jefferson County, Kentucky:
Weissinger, G. age 35 occupation—
lawyer ("The Old Colonel")
Amelia, wife, age 32
("Amanthis")
Anna A., daughter, age 3
(Amelia, model for Mrs. Sherman, the
Little Colonel's Mother)
1880 census Louisville, Jefferson County Kentucky,
Galt House, E. Main Street:
Weissinger G. 45, single, atty at law
("Amanthis" has passed away, he is now
single)
1880 census Rollington Distr. Oldham
County, Kentucky
Smith, Thomas, age 45
Blanche, wife, 41 (Blanche
was Col. George Weissinger's sister)
Amanthus, daughter, 19
George, son, 15
Anna, daughter, 13
Thomas, son, 11
Weissinger, Amelia, niece, 12
(Amelia, again, model for Mrs. Sherman,
the Little Colonel's Mother)
1900 census Pewee Valley, Oldham County,
Kentucky ("Lloydsboro Valley")
Cochran, John H, born Feb
1867, married 10 years
Amelia, wife, born Sept 1866
Harriet H., daughter, born Nov 1890
Weissinger, George,
father in law, born Dec 1835, widower, lawyer
While there are so many unanswered
questions and riddles to the Old Colonel's final fate, we have a
supporting page with pictures
which we'll keep on-line until the whole story is fully and reliably
explained.
Alex Luken found this biography and information from
from Harvard's 1906 memorial issue on the class of 1856:
This Site:
Home Page
What's New? Biography of Annie Fellows
Johnston,
Books on Line (Complete
Original Little Colonel Book Series)
The Little Colonel (link to U. Penn))
The
Giant Scissors
Two Little
Knights of Kentucky
The Little Colonel's
House Party
The Little Colonel's
Holidays
The Little Colonel's Hero
The Little Colonel
at Boarding-School
The Little Colonel in
Arizona
The Little
Colonel's Christmas Vacation
The Little Colonel, Maid of
Honor
The Little Colonel's
Knight Comes Riding
Mary Ware, The Little Colonel's
Chum
Mary Ware in Texas
Mary Ware's Promised Land
Check our home page for more titles by AFJ on other sites
The People & Characters:
The Little Colonel, Papa
Jack and Mrs. Sherman, The
Old Colonel, Two Little
Knights of Kentucky,
Two Little Knights of Kentucky(2),
Uncle Sidney & Aunt
Elise, parents of the Two Little Knights of Kentucky,
Grandmother McIntyre,
Aunt Allison, The
Waltons, Rob and Anna
Moore, Betty,
Joyce Ware,
Jack Ware, Mom Beck,
Walker, Katherine Marks,
Gay Melville,
The Lees of Arizona,
Small Parts
Their Final Resting Places
The Places: in Pewee (Lloydsboro) Valley:
Map,
Map 2,
Where it all began, The Locust,
The Beeches
Edgewood,
The Little Colonel's Cottage,
The Railroad Station,
"Lloydsboro Seminary",
Clovercroft, The
Post Office, Churches,
The Haunted House at Hartwell Hollow,
Confederate Home
Rollington,
Minor Places In Old Louisville:
The Culbertson
Mansion, "Home of a Hero" Elsewhere:
The Cuckoo's Nest (Indiana),
Lee's Ranch,
Camelback Mountain &
Hole-in-Rock (Arizona),
San Antonio and
The Little Town of Bauer (Boerne),
Texas,
The Gate of the Giant Scissors (France)
Letters from Annie
Fellows Johnston and "Mrs Walton"
Scrapbook
Links
Cooking with The Little Colonel
Guest Book
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best to answer your questions.. Much of the material included on
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