Notorious Woman: The Celebrated Case of Myra Clark Gaines

326 Pages·2001·16.204 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Urban Alexander

Southern Biography Series
Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Editor
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Notorious Woman
THE CELEBRATED CASE OF MYRA CLARK GAINES
Elizabeth Urban Alexander
Louisiana State University Press BATON ROUGE
Copyright © 2001 by Louisiana State University Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 01 01
5 4 3 2 1
Designer: Barbara Neely Bourgoyne
Typeface: Sabon
Typesetter: Coghill Composition, Inc.
Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Alexander, Elizabeth Urban, 1947-
Notorious woman : the celebrated case of Myra Clark Gaines /
Elizabeth Urban Alexander.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8071-1698-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
I. Clark, Daniel, 1766-1813—Wills, 2. Gaines, Myra Clark,
1805-1885—Trials, litigation, etc. I. Title.
KF759.C57 A43 2001
346.7305'2'0269—den 1001033449
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources. ©
for my daughters, Lauren and Elizabeth
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Contents
Preface xi
Introduction: The Celebrated Case of
Myra Clark Gaines 1
I. A Journey of Discovery 11
II. The City by the River 30
III. "A Pair of Unscrupulous Adventurers" 46
IV. A Man of "Energy, Intelligence, and Pliability" 63
V. A Life of Intrigue 93
VI. A Romance in Real Life 128
VII. A Most Unusual Woman 156
VIII. A "Prolonged and Interesting Lawsuit" 173
IX. The Supreme Court Changes Its Mind 190
X. Victory at Last 214
Conclusion: "The Most Remarkable Case" 233
Bibliography 245
Index 285
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Illustrations
following page 92
Myra Clark Gaines at about age forty
Colonel Samuel Boyer Davis
Engraving of Myra Clark Gaines circa 1845, from Brady
photograph
Brigadier General Edmund Pendleton Gaines
Justice James M. Wayne
Justice John Catron
Illustration for dime novel Myra: The Child of Adoption
Myra at seventy