Sometimes even the most common articles will peak my interest. Take the following:
July 27, 1866 – Arkansas Gazette.
Public announcement was made in Washington of the award to Vinnie Ream, a citizen of Arkansas, of a commission to execute a statue of the late President Abraham Lincoln.
So I am thinking, wow, we had someone here in Arkansas sculpting a statue of Lincoln. Ok, so who was he (I am thinking man, Vinnie for Vincent) and where is this statue. Well, it turns out Vinnie was actually Lavinia Ellen Ream, and at 18 years old, was the youngest person ever awarded a federal commission for sculpture. She was awarded $10,000 to sculpt a slain Abraham Lincoln, an amount that attributed more to her charm than her abilities as a sculpture, even though she was very, very good. She was born in Wisconsin but through a series of events, her family relocated in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was said that she relocated to Washington in 1861 but the above article from the Arkansas Gazette indicates she was still a citizen of Arkansas in 1866.
Now for the really interesting part. It was speculated that she was the mistress of Albert Pike…and who knows, maybe his connections to Washington played some part in her most interesting life. While the extent of their relationship is not known…what is known is that he wrote her passionate letters that are located at the Library of Congress and he included her in Masonic activities that normally did not include women. He also had the power in Washington circles to promote her skills benefiting her financially. She also sculpted a bust of Albert Pike that is located in the temple in Washington. It is said that she met him in Washington but both clearly had ties to the north part of Arkansas and the military during the Civil War.
She eventually married Richard L. Hoxie 10 years later at the age of 28. She died in 1914 and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery with her husband. She makes for very interesting reading and if you want to dig more into her life I have included some links below.
More information:
- Vinnie Ream: http://vinnieream.com/
- Civil War Women Blog: http://www.civilwarwomenblog.com/2007/01/vinnie-ream-hoxie.html
- Vinnie Ream Hoxie by John McDonald: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/Bai/mcdonald.htm
- Vinnie Ream, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinnie_Ream
- Vinnie Ream, friend of Albert Pike: http://masonicservice.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=96&Itemid=22
