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cally encouraged. Brother William was more academic and was drawn to scientific interests. Word of George’s engineering ability spread far, and in 1842 Russian Czar Nicholas I personally offered him a seven year contract to help design and build the Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway. So Anna and George packed up their young family and moved halfway around the world. George threw himself into his new task. A 400-plus mile railroad was a major undertaking in 1840’s. George did such a good job, the rail line is still used today, more than 150 years later. (In fact, this author had the good fortune of taking the legendary Red ArBy J. Mark Powell row overnight sleeper train jmp.press@gmail.com on that very line in 1996. If you get the chance to make nna’s life was remarkthat trip, jump at it.) able. Never in Holy But before the massive Cow! History’s long project was finished, George and fabled existence have I contracted cholera and died shared a tale involving (in no suddenly in 1849. particular order) bohemian Anna packed up her boys artists, a Russian and returned to czar, a Confederthe United States. ate surgeon, a railTime passed. road found on the Anna put down Monopoly board roots in Connecti… oh, and one of cut. the world’s most James was adfamous works of mitted to West art, too. Point, but it Let me tell you Mark Powell_ wasn’t a good fit. History buff, humorist how she wove Anna McNeill Whistler, mother of James Black No. 1. The piece is heralded as “a silent Despite an inMcNeill Whistler, is seen in a world-famous reminder of a mother’s love,” as Anna travall those diverse dulgent attitude portrait known as Whistler’s Mother, more elled across an ocean to see her son. threads into a single amazfrom his instructors (largely formally known as Arrangment in Gray and ing tapestry. out of respect for his father) Anna’s story started in things finally came to ahead Wilmington, North Caroliwhen James failed chemistoday.”) school, became a doctor and As a southern woman with na, where she was born into try and commandant Robert So he became a painter settled in South Carolina. a son in Confederate service, a prominent family back in E. Lee was forced to expel and moved to Europe, freWhen the Civil War erupted life in the north wasn’t easy 1804. A charming southern him. (As James was fond of quently bouncing back and he served as an assistant surfor Anna. belle, she married George at saying later in life, “If siliforth between the Paris and geon in the 1st South Carolina Friends and relatives sugage 27. con had been a gas rather a London art worlds. Infantry fighting under Lee’s gested she head overseas until Her husband was a widsolid, I’d be a major general William went to medical army. things blew over. ower, a West Point graduate (who later taught for a year at the Academy) and a military engineer who rose to the rank of major. By the time he and Anna wed, another career was calling. George turned his skills toward the brand new field of railroading. His timing was perfect. He spent 1828 studying British cutting edge rail technology as it emerged. Returning home, George played a key role in planning and building railroads along the east coast. In fact, if you’ve ever played the board game Monopoly (and who hasn’t?) you know one of his greatest accomplishments: the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. (Insider’s tip: always buy the railroads when playing Monopoly. They’re guaranteed money machines and helped me win many a latenight game in college. But I digress.) As railroads grew, Anna and George’s family did, too. For more information go to Two sons survived childwww.scsbc.org hood. James displayed reor call (803) 252-5733 markable artistic talent as soon as he could draw, THE SC SMALL BUSINESS which Anna enthusiastiCHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Anna’s odd odyssey:
How she became motherhood’s icon
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Anna hadn’t seen James in years and missed him terribly. So she hopped on a steamer and headed to England. Arriving in London, imagine the genteel southern belle’s shock at finding James immersed in the art world’s bohemian lifestyle. Free thinking, free love, freely hitting the bottle and other stimulants, the bohemians engaged in a whole lot of everything except going to church. Anna overcame her horror, moved in with James and even brought a measure of discipline and respectability to his wildly disorganized life. James was preparing to begin a new painting one day in 1871 when the model didn’t show up at his studio. In a pinch, he asked Anna if she would fill in. His mother agreed, and the result was … That’s right, Anna was Anna McNeill Whistler. Her son was James McNeill Whistler. You and I know the iconic image as Whistler’s Mother, although its formal title is Arrangement In Grey and Black No. 1. And so the long, strange odyssey that began in North Carolina, stretched up and down the Atlantic seaboard and reached Russia finally culminated in a simple painting that paid tribute to moms everywhere. Ridiculed by some, beloved by many and known the world over, it remains on display in Paris’ Musée d’Orsay, seen by countless people every year. Paintings come and go, but this one stands the test of time in its simplicity as a silent reminder of a mother’s love, made possible by a mom who missed her son enough to travel across an ocean to see him.
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