More about Cornelia

My cousin Ward sent me a copy of a letter today, written by my great-aunt Bodae Hagan Saxe to a cousin some time in the 1970s, in which she recounts some of her family memories and stories.  Here’s what she had to say about Cornelia, my great-great-great grandmother’s personal servant:
I am sure your mother must have told you little tales her Dad (John Davis Hagan, my great-great grandfather) must have related to her of his boyhood days, just as mine did. Some of them have a sort of “Gone With the Wind” atmosphere about them like the one I remember pertaining to the beloved Mammy (Cornelia). Poor Bodae (Elizabeth Oliver Hagan, my great-great-great grandmother) had a bit of a rough time trying to cope with four wild young boys and on one occasion picked up a hairbrush and my Dad (Oliver Hagan) as well and started to apply it vigorously where it would do the most good. At this point, hearing his yells, in rushed Mammy to the rescue and grabbing Dad from his Mother’s clutches, she cried, “Miss Betsy, don’t you hit that boy another lick!” And Dad said nobody but Mammy could speak to his proud mother that way and get away with it. He said they all adored Mammy and today she is buried in the cemetery beside his mother.