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BERRIEN KINNARD UPSHAW 1901-1949

First husband of Margaret Mitchell. Reported to be the character model for Rhett Butler. Berrien Kinnard Upshaw was the husband of Margaret Munnerly Mitchell, author of perhaps, the best-selling novel of all time, Gone With the Wind. Little is known of Berrien's background other than the fact he was the oldest of five sons and two daughters of the Upshaw family of Raleigh. His wife, Margaret Mitchell, was born November 8, 1900, in Atlanta to a family with ancestry much like the O'Haras' of her book. Members of her family had fought in the American Revolution, Irish uprisings and rebellions and the Civil War. The imaginative Margaret was fascinated with the Civil War and she would sit for hours listening to tales of the War. Her first love and fiancee, Clifford Henry, was killed in action in France in 1918. By 1922, Margaret Mitchell, known as "Peggy " to her friends, was a headstrong "flapper" of the era, somewhat free-spirited and always rebellious. A year earlier, in true fashion, she had scandalized Atlanta society with a provocative dance she performed at the debutante ball with a male student from Georgia Tech. Margaret was ardently pursued by two men, a student, ex-football player, gambler and sometimes bootlegger, Berrien K. Upshaw of Raleigh, North Carolina and a tall, lanky newspaper man, John R. Marsh, an editor with The Atlanta Journal. Margaret chose Berrien and the two were married in Atlanta, September 2, 1922. Married life began against a background of white flowers, smilax and palms with the bride wearing a white satin flowing gown with long pearl ornaments arranged at either side. A honeymoon followed at Grove Park Inn in Asheville.

The Upshaw marriage was stormy, sometimes violate and short lived. Berrian's rough and tough, street-wise character and Margaret's free-spirited behavior doomed the marriage from the start. The union can best be described as always passionate, sometimes abusive, a "oil and water" concoction, with the two bickering and fighting constantly. Because of money problems created by Berrian's carefree live style, Margaret was forced to seek employment as a writer with The Atlanta Journal Sunday Magazine where ex-suitor Marsh became her mentor. Margaret and Berrian were divorced in October of 1924. Several ‘‘Gone with The Wind' researchers agree that the character of Rhett Butler holds some of the reported personal character traits of Berrian K. Upshaw. Some even go so far as to point out that Rhett Butler, the devilish gunrunner was not to far removed from Berrian the bootlegger. Adding strength to a possible Rhett Butler-Berrien Upshaw connection is; when questioned regarding her characters and their origin, Margaret insisted they were real, not as specific individuals —— she strove mightily to avoid that —— but as types she had known all her life. Therefore, it is safe to state that the character Rhett Butler was unquestionably infused with a few of Berrian Kinnard Upshaw's character traits.

Legend surrounding Berrien's death proliferate. One version has it that while in Galveston Texas, playing and winning at cards, Berrien was ambushed and killed by the losers in an attempt to recapture their losses. Another version has it that Berrien was caught cheating in that same card game and his punishment was swift and permanent. Even another version has him falling or being shoved out a window. What is known and reported by the Upshaw family is that Berrien Kinnard Upshaw, age 47, and a ship's fireman, died in Galveston, Texas on January 12, 1949. Newspaper accounts of his death report that Berrien "plunged from a fifth-floor fire escape of a downtown hotel (research identifies the hotel as the Alvin Hotel) at 20th and Market Streets, breaking two telephone wires (in his fatal fall). Mr. Upshaw was pronounced dead at the United States Marine Hospital by Dr. J. C. Wright." An inquest followed and Berrien's death was ruled a suicide. Mr. Upshaw's body was returned Raleigh for interment at Oakwood Cemetery on January 15, 1949.

It was in February of that year that Berrien's step-mother, Mrs. William C. Upshaw, writing from Raleigh, informed Margaret of Berrien's death. In her return correspondence to Mrs. Upshaw, Margaret stated that the notice of his death was the first she had heard of Berrien for some years. In the same letter Margaret inquired of Berrien's past health, both mental and physical, as well as his martial status. A scant seven months later, on August 12th, Margaret, while crossing at the intersection of Peachtree and 13th Streets in Atlanta, was struck by a speeding automobile driven by 29-year old ,off-duty taxi driver, Hugh D. Gravitt. Gravitt, who had been drinking at the time of the accident was later held for the grand jury and charged with murder after Margaret's death five days later. Margaret Nunnerly Mitchell was buried in Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery with other members of her family.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: Berrien K. Upshaw was married three times, first to Margaret (no children), then to Billie Hitt of Savanah, Tennessee (a son was born to the couple, William Francis Upshaw III), and to Miss Virginia Nolan, a San Francisco newspaper woman (no children).