Customer Reviews

Kentucky Clay: Eleven Generations of a Southern Dynasty

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an intensely personal account of the Clay family because it is a family history built around the family folklore the author heard as a child. And so this book is filled with personal anecdotes that simply cannot be found in most history books. It makes this history feel like a collection of short stories; stories about the Clays and the Cecils, the Wittens, the Burns and the Batemans.

But this is more personal than a history. This book is also Katherine Bateman's attempt to reconcile herself to the history of the "Cecil mothers" (her term). A history of women who, generation after generation, bequeathed to their daughters a legacy of unlove, class, and belief that ordinary societal rules don't necessarily apply to a Cecil. It is a legacy Kate Bateman felt personally in the tug of war between her Mother and her Grandmother; a tug of war in which she was, often, the prize.

And (perhaps subconsciously) this family history is also a story of not-telling; a story of what the family chose to leave out. Because Katherine Bateman did not inherit only the blood of the Clays, the Cecils, the Wittens, the Burns, and the Batesmans; she inherited also the blood of the Native Americans. Katherine's Grandmother, Wynemah, was named for an "Indian princess". Katherine's Great Grandfather had Indian ancestry which (according to Katherine) showed clearly in his daughters' features. Yet the story of the people who gave the Frank Burns' daughters their beauty and Katherine's Grandmother her name is not told.

We are regales with accounts of the "normal" interactions between Katherine's White Family and the Native Americans. We are told how Henry Clay kidnapped three Native American children and made them slaves (and how their Grandchildren sued the Clay family for their freedom and won); how the Clay men fought and died in the wars with the Native Americans; how the Native Americans killed and scalped Phoebe Belcher Clay's children. But we are not told the other, more intimate, story of how Native American blood intermingled with that of the Burns and, thus, with the Clays.

And this omission makes the history of this one family seem more like a family saga; the sort of thing told to children so that they would know who and what they are. That doesn't make it worthless. In some sense, it adds to its value because it gave me a feel for the way the American South was settled and for what "family" means in the South. But it also left me wondering about the stories I did not hear.

So I recommend this book for its fine story-telling and for the feel it gives for the South but I also warn that this book (like most family stories) will leave you with as many questions as stories.

I am sure that Ms. Bateman was very pleased with her title, "Kentucky Clay," reflecting both one of her ancestral lines as well as the clay from which our heroes' feet are made. Unfortunately, that's the last bit of literary value in this overwrought diatribe on her families. Filled with excessive, and probably totally imaginative description of feeling the green grass under her feet, and attributing thought and feelings to various members of her family for which she seems to have no source, her volume is an adolescent rejection of the people of whom her material family is justifably proud. She uses the words "shame," "chagrined," and "embarrassed" as she discusses her forebears' accomplishments, judging 17th, 18th and 19th century people by 21st century standards. I have read many biographies and family histories that succeed in relating details without passing the judgments Ms. Bateman delivered. The only thing that kept me reading was curiosity as to who she'd trash next, and I wasn't disappointed. Her treatment of her ancestors was nothing to what she did to her more immediate family. I would assume that her vitriolic tale served as some sort of therapy for a childhood in which she felt ashamed by her ancestors' accomplishments, but it became nothing but a tell-all that was embarrassing to read. Her sources were not well cited, and it was impossible to tell what was researched fact, what was family legend, and what was her own vivid imagination.

This book gets five stars, because I think it does what it sets out to do. Don't look for any historical breakthroughs about Henry Clay or Cassius Clay. This is not a work of history but a work of heritage which seeks to find patterns in the dry family history, to flesh out the names on the ancestral chart, to find the discernable historical truth behind the family legends.

We are all of the same clay, more closely related than you might think. Katherine Bateman provides a handy genealogical chart at the front of her book which includes many of the intermarried families, but that chart could easily be extended to include many other famous families as well, white, black, and red. Any reader who would like to see how these families connect to Kentucky's other famous/notorious families should not fail to read Chapter 3 of Alvin F. Harlow's WEEP NO MORE MY LADY.

Again, this does not pretend to be a comprehensive history, but rather a work of family heritage. And as such, it is a splendid read.

This book seemed to be the kind I love, a juicy family history with all the faults of the family revealed. It makes me sad to say that it is not. It is a recitation of research and family oral traditioin. But none of the threads are ever followed through to a cohesive sense of someone's life. A life is not composed of just the birth notice, marriage posting, military enlistment and obituary, but for the most part that's all this book gives the reader. It never gives you a sense of the fuller reality these people lived in. A good family history should make the reader see the rooms, smell the cooking from the kitchen, and hear the family chatter, but there was nothing that intimate and personal here. It was like reading a list. Ancestor after ancestor but no real sense of their personality. The author's curiosity about her family is obvious and she delights in tracking down pieces of documents that give her data. Since she's a historian and scholar, she probably was hesitant to interpret the facts into feelings and emotions, but that's what this book needs. This book would be very interesting to anyone who was a member or descendant of these families. But it's not fulfilling to a reader looking for entertainment or a juicy story.

It's a genealogy rather than a history. The writing is mostly descriptions, extracts from letters and comments from her mother and grandmother. It is more "tell" than "show."
The strange thing is that the interesting Clays, the famous ones like Henry Clay and Cassius Clay, get no more treatment than anyone else. Since they had a place in history, they would interest a wider audience. But we don't get anything new about them.

It's a great title, "Kentucky Clay." But it makes me wonder why the editor wanted to publish it. Maybe it was knowing that title would create a response. The cover art and the photographic insert are both engaging.

Bateman writes of the long history of a distinguished American family. Tracing its heritage back to before the Revolution. It is rare that any American family can do this, and the pedigree exemplified here is impressive.

Unlike scholarly monographs on history, the book is directed at a wide audience. Bateman sprinkles many references and anecdotes to her own experiences in researching her family. This adds to the informality of the narrative.

The reader gets a sense of the Southern culture, as the Clay family was part of the landed gentry, the closest thing the US ever had to an aristocracy.

Anyone who's ever engaged in researching family genealogy will find much of this book very interesting - the author is quite meticulous. Those interested in the history of the South, particularly Virginia and Tennessee, will enjoy the early chapters. Those interested in social aspects of American life, particularly the role woman play, will enjoy the entire book. I found it to be a very easy read and enjoyed it very much.

History buffs who are interested in Henry Clay (the man who could have become President of the United States in the 1832 or 1844) will be disappointed as there is not much discussion of him (he's distant relative of the author).

I've always loved old family stories-not just my family either but everyone's. I suppose considering my near lust for historical fiction it makes sense-all the old family legends we have are the closest connection we're ever going to get to something that happened so long ago.

Because on my penchant for stories I found this book charming-the stories fit a variety of emotional moods and express a way of life. They were a lot of fun to read and I have to express that I'm a little bit jealous that the author got paid to write them down! After all, who wouldn't love to have their old family legends in print?

Four stars

Family histories have a reputation for being widely varying in quality. Some are ponderous dense genealogies or chronicles that are of little interest outside of genealogies or members that family. Others verge on becoming hagiographies excising the more unpleasant truths of a family, or are little more than lively page turners told in a narrative style. In more recent times family histories have served as a catharsis, to exercise family demons as with Edward Ball's excellent "Slaves in the Family." Katherine Bateman's "Kentucky Clay" falls into this latter category as she seeks to explore how our forebears shape the patterns that influence families for generations to come, and how individuals can create, shape, and alter a family's oral history to suit their own agenda. As a descendent of the Clay and Cecil families Bateman clearly has a pedigree to be proud of, but she discovers a Foucaultian break or rift in the dynamics of her family's oral tradition once the Cecils married into the Clays that surprises and confounds her. The narratives shift from an emphasis on the men to the women and the construct of strong women as being the central players in the family narratives.

Much like "Slaves in the Family," "Kentucky Clay" is more of a personal journey chosen by the author to exorcise ghosts. While "Slaves in the Family" was more about seeking racial reconciliation and acknowledging the legacy of slavery, "Kentucky Clay" is about the creation of proto-feminism and the "strong woman" narrative of oral history, focusing on how women sought to empower themselves in an era when their power was largely limited to non-public spaces. Bateman explores in depth how oral histories are created, shaped, and altered within a family and how each generation in turn alters those stories to suit their own purposes. Much of Bateman's narrative focuses on how the family's oral history transitioned form the centrality of male figures to female figures once her ancestor, Rebecca Cecil, marries into the Clay family. Before that merger of Southern dynasties the Clay men, such as John Thomas Clay and Charles Clay, figured prominently in the family history. But Rebecca Cecil Clay changed that paradigm to focus on the women, particularly the strong willed women, and a pattern emerged: that of women unwilling to accept their husbands or lovers' dalliances, but women who also often suffered lapses in judgment or who lapsed into mental instability.

Perhaps the toughest challenge in authoring a narrative on your own family or life is the potential to lose objectivity, which thankfully Bateman avoids. And Bateman certainly lays bare all of the family secrets, at times perhaps causing readers to cringe at too much forthrightness. There is a marked tendency by Bateman at times to focus or obsess too much on certain flawed family members. In particular the references to her Aunt Lena's syphilitic lip recur so frequently it practically becomes the centerpiece of the book and readers may quickly tire of reading about it.

Ultimately "Kentucky Clay" is really less about the Clay family and instead fits more into the milieu of gender studies, womens history, genealogy, or oral history than it does straight history. The aforementioned "Slaves in the Family" set a very high bar for family histories as catharsis and sadly "Kentucky Clay" falls a bit short in that regard as it's more of a personal voyage than Ball's interfamily therapy. That's not to say that "Kentucky Clay" is not worth the read, as clearly it is, especially for those interested in oral history and family history. By the end of "Slaves in the Family" readers should be profoundly moved or inspired. By the end of "Kentucky Clay" readers are more likely to feel enlightened and informed, as well as being more likely to approach family lore with a more skeptical eye. Bateman wants us to think more critically about the family stories we hear and to question biases, shifts in perspective, and reasons for including and excluding narratives, rather than accepting them as gospel.

Undoubtedly many will buy this book thinking it will be about the inside truths of this prominent Southern family. In a sense it does, but if you read more carefully you'll gain deeper insights into oral history and you'll sharpen your critical eye. In that respect Bateman and her publishers may have missed a more interested and larger market.

Henry Clay is merely the most famous member of a historically important family. Given the significance of the Clay family, this history covering several centuries of their story was something I found intrinsically appealing. What is different about this particular history is that it was written by a family member and that it is more of a family reminiscence than a straight-forward historical tome. What we get are anecdotal personal histories - an exercise in family genealogy - rather than a heavy, footnote-laden academic work. Thus one might consider this book to be a somewhat light-weight look at the Clay family. Although I found Kentucky Clay to be interesting, I did feel that it could have been a slightly deeper and more informative history. If you are interested in a volume that is lighter in tone than the usual American history text this book will please you. If your tastes run to the more academically inclined narrative then Kentucky Clay will probably leave you unsatisfied. Interesting but limited, Kentucky Clay is an entertaining family tale.

I was impressed by Kentucky Clay for several reasons. For one, it details the story of eleven generations of the family that spawned Cassius Clay, infamous from the history of Lincoln. For another, my favorite aspects of history are the little-told stories, those tales of family members who lived average lives rather than the great magnates, presidents, etc. They are innumerably interesting to me for some reason. Kentucky Clay paints a vivid and poignant portrait of early settler history in the american south and east coast. I admit to not knowing much about the history of the South. This piqued my interest for that reason.

The book is also a delight to hold and read from a more physical appeal. A large family tree fold-out is included and is masterfully done. The paper is high quality and nice against the fingertips. It reminded me of the simple joys inherent in reading books versus electronic versions, in a world where so many books are also mass-produced and cheap feeling. History books seem one of the last bastions of this art, alas.

If you're greatly interested in early American history, and would enjoy learning more, this is a tremendous resource. Kentucky Clay is a reminder of how interconnected everything is, and of just how much one family can change history, and leave their own fingerprints there, lasting forever, much as a potter leaves theirs in real clay.