52 Ancestors Week 15

SOLITUDE

Olivia South Carolina Tisdale
1864-1929

     I had already decided to write about Great Aunt Olivia South Carolina Tisdale called "Aunt Lee." On the day I started writing there was a piece in the On This Day in History column that confirmed my decision.

     It said: On April 11, 1898 President McKinley asked Congress for authorization to end fighting in Cuba between rebels and Spanish forces.

     The continuation of that story on history.state.gov/ milestones/1866-1898 spanish-american-war adds that on April 20 Congress passed a joint resolution that acknowledged Cuban independence and authorized McKinley to use whatever military measures deemed necessary to guarantee Cuba's independence.

     Spain rejected the U.S. ultimatum and severed diplomatic relations. McKinley implemented a naval blockade of Cuba on April 22 and issued a call for 125,000 military volunteers the next day. Spain declared war on the U.S. and Congress voted to to to war against Spain on April 25.    

     It wasn't just soldiers that were off to Cuba. Great Aunt Lee was a nurse and she went to Cuba, too, with the American Red Cross.

     Olivia South Carolina Tisdale was born 8 February 1864 in New Orleans, the daughter of Benjamin Franklin Tisdale and Eliza Helen Pratt. She never married and was an independent woman supporting herself as a nurse. I ended up with her red velvet photo album full of photos of family and friends.  One of the photos was of a soldier she met during her time in Cuba.

Cabinet Card Photos of Ira Roberts and Leonard Sisman
in Aunt Lee's album

     Leonard Sisman wrote a touching message on the back of his photo. 

  Like a plank of driftwood tossed o'er the watery main

  another plank encounters, meets touches and parts again

  and so on drifting ever o'er life's tempestuous sea,

  we meet part and [illegible] parting eternally

                                      Very Truly Yours

                                        Leonard Sisman

                                              2 US Vol Inf.

                                                         Cuba

     It wasn't a very long war but it had big consequences. At the behest of the Spanish Government a cease-fire was signed on August 12, 1898 amd the war officially ended four months later when the U.S. and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. Besides guaranteeing the independence of Cuba, the treaty also forced Spain to cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the U.S and agree to sell the Philippines to the U.S. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on February 6, 1899 by a margin of one vote.

Aunt Lee returned to New Orleans and continued her life as a nurse. She often told her niece Belle, also known as Vera, about her experiences in Cuba. Her nephew and my grandfather,Wilton T. Booksh Sr., often visited Cuba where he worked on sugar plantations as a sugar chemist. He even sent back a photo postcard of the 1911 raising of the Battleship Maine which was sunk by a mine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898 and played a role in starting the war. 

Aunt Lee died on 8 February 1929 in New Orleans and is buried in the family plot in the Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge.