I have mentioned before that my searches of Lizzie May Ulmer have taken me down the rabbit hole and around in circles. There are snippets here and there but pulling together the story of an actress who lived well over a hundred years ago is a challenge. One thing is certain, by 1876 when her portrait (above) was painted by the celebrated African American portraitist Nelson A. Primus, Lizzie was a 20-21 year old stage ingenue…and a wife and mother to a three year old boy named George. Named not only for her favorite step-brother but her HUSBAND as well. Yes, Lizzie May married her step-brother George. As he writes in his memoirs:
The unhappy war was over. The soldier boy returned. I arrived home at the little farm, found a royal, loving welcome from my father and brothers, and more than any other, my little step-sister, who never got tired of stories of my experience. She would sit for hours, begging me to tell her more. She was always with me wherever I would go. She was full of admiration for me. I was a hero in her eyes; I could not dispel her fancy, and I didn’t try, for she seemed the sunshine of my life. She plodded with me through all my ups and downs; through the snow and ice of winter, making summer for me the year round, and she is now my little wife. I must stop here, or I may go too far into a history of my life, which I did not intend. I know it would be uninteresting, but will simply add that myself and wife adopted the stage as a profession, and still follow it.
me and lizzie may 