Pauline Acklen

1859-1931

About:

Pauline was born at Belmont on October 10, 1859 and received her early education by home tutors. She later attended Ward’s Seminary [a girl’s prep school] in downtown Nashville and Censas Institute in New Orleans.

In 1877 Pauline goes to France to study for a year and during the summer of 1878 tours Europe. She moves in 1885 with her mother and two of her brothers to Washington, D. C. Following Adelicia’s death in 1887 Pauline inherits the house that Adelicia was building at 1776 Massachusetts Avenue.

On July 9, 1888 Pauline marries James William Lockett of Macon, Georgia. Following a European honeymoon the couple returns and lives in her house in Washington. They had two children, Robert, who only lived for two years, and a daughter, Pauline. Mr. Lockett had one daughter, Fannie, who also lived with them. Pauline followed in her mother’s path as an astute business-woman. Among her holdings was Bibb Textile of which she was a major stockholder. Bibb, headquartered in Macon, GA but by 1916 Bibb owned ten factories in Georgia as well as a Chattahoochee River dam site that powered the largest cotton mill in the country at that time in Columbus, Georgia. At the time of her death during the Great Depression her estate was valued at approximately $500,000. [Between $16.4 and $41.5 million in 2012 dollars] For the last several years of her life Pauline was bedridden with a degenerative spinal disease. On July 12, 1931, Pauline died at her residence on Massachusetts Avenue.