Marriage To Ella Swain
As the Civil War ended, General Atkins was in charge of the forces occupying the college town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. On April 17, 1865 (Easter Sunday), Atkins paid a visit to the home of David Swain, the president of the University of North Carolina. Both men shared a love of history. While the two were talking, President Swain's daughter Ella brought them a history book. Atkins soon began courting Ella, and the couple were married on August 23, 1865. The marriage was controversial, and Ella's mother would not eat at the same table with Atkins. The couple resided in Freeport. Atkins and Ella had six children, three of whom survived to adulthood. Ella died of influenza at age 38, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina. The story is related in the book Undaunted Heart: The True Story of a Southern Belle & a Yankee General by Suzy Barile, published by Eno Publishers in 2009. Barile is a great-great-granddaughter of Ella Swain and Smith Atkins.
Read more about this topic: Smith D. Atkins
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“Some collaboration has to take place in the mind between the woman and the man before the art of creation can be accomplished. Some marriage of opposites has to be consummated. The whole of the mind must lie wide open if we are to get the sense that the writer is communicating his experience with perfect fullness.”
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