After supper he gave Barbara a beautiful china bowl, which he was carrying to Mount Vernon in his traveling bag. Nothing that she possessed in after life did she prize so highly as this precious gift.
The beginning of the one romance of her life happened in an unusually strange manner. When she was fourteen years old, Barbara accompanied her mother to a quilting party, where all sorts of things and events of that period were discussed, from parson to pig butchering, petticoats, pumpkin pies, sickness, deaths and births. One old maiden lady coyly announced that Mr. and Mrs. Casper Frietchie had that day been presented with a fine baby boy. None present ventured the prediction that some day little Barbara would become the bride of this little John Casper Frietchie, but nevertheless, twenty-six years later, May 6, 1806, that is just what happened.
Despite the somewhat unusual difference in their ages, they lived happily throughout their married life. It is claimed their home was one of the most popular in Frederick.
Young Frietchie was the proud[proud] proprietor of a prosperous glove factory and he enjoyed a fair income.
Besides taking much pride in her housekeeping Barbara Frietchie was a great reader and kept herself well informed upon subjects of that period.
The Frietchies had no children of their own, but adopted Catharine Stover, a niece of Mrs. Frietchie, who lived with them until she was married in 1825.
Mr. Frietchie died after a very short illness in 1849. Mrs. Frietchie continued to reside in their old home, where she devoted her time to her flowers, garden and the entertainment of her young relatives.
At the breaking out of the Civil War, Barbara Frietchie was one of Abraham Lincoln’s most loyal supporters.
The story of the flag-waving incident which resulted in Whittier’s poem is heard in different ways, but it is a fact that the geographical location of Frederick caused it to figure conspicuously in the movements of both armies.
Sentiment was naturally divided, there being a strong feeling both for and against the Union. It was a trying time, but the real bitterness of the war came toward the close of the summer of 1862.