The McLaws Family

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The McLaws Family

Lafayette McLaws was born on January 15, 1821 in Augusta, Georgia. James and Elizabeth Huguenin McLaws named their third child after Marie Joseph Motier Marquis de Lafayette, the famed American Revolutionary hero from France. McLaws did not like his name, pronounced 'LaFet' in Georgia. He preferred *'Peter'* because the name was "one not so calculated to annoy the sensitive child." ⁽¹⁾
McLaws met Emily Allison Taylor during a tour at Jefferson Barracks in 1848. Emily, a niece of U.S. President Zachary Taylor, was the daughter of John Gibson and Elizabeth Lee Taylor of Louisville, Kentucky. The Reverend Robert M. Chapman, an Episcopal priest, married the couple on August 9, 1849. McLaws was able to spend only four days with his new bride before leaving on his next military assignment in the Department of New Mexico. ⁽²⁾
Lafayette and Emily McLaws raised seven children. McLaws penned advice and thoughts on family issues in each letter. Emily moved the family several times during the War which prompted discussions about their inability to create a permanent home. The letters McLaws wrote his sons Willie and Johnnie illustrate the difficulty in raising children when the father is not home. McLaws asked about the boys' kite flying and sent new grammar books in the midst of his court-martial. The general held a special place in his heart for his first daughter Laura. I suspect young Lieutenant Ephraim A. Tweedy learned a lesson on promptness in December, 1861. Tweedy failed to deliver a letter and Larua's daguerreotype in a timely manner. McLaws wrote, "It may happen that Lieut T may come into my way and he will very probably learn the necessity of promptness. I feel very much like twisting his neck for him." ⁽³⁾
The family pages introduce you to Lafayette and Emily McLaws's immediate and extended family. In many ways, their story is similar to ones we read and hear about today.
(1) LM to ETM, December 8, 1861, ASG, 117. (2) Entries for LM and ETM for August 7, 9, 1849, Jefferson County Marriage Registers, Licenses, and Bonds, Louisville, Kentucky. (3) LM to ETM, December 23, 1861, ASG, 120.