Lexington, KY - When Joan Grever Lexington History Museum Trustee, lead volunteer and local historian died in March 2009, she left behind an extensive body of research. Her file on the Morgan and Breckinridge statues that stand near the former Fayette County Courthouse (now the Lexington History Museum) were the basis for the August 2011 column in this magazine regarding the centennial of the Gen. John Hunt Morgan statue, and the Nov. 2009 article that examined both the Morgan statue and that of John Cabell Breckinridge.
In June 2011, Madelyn Millard, Belle Brezing aficionado and interpreter, collaborated on an article detailing the remnants of Lexington's architectural scene that Belle Brezing would have known during her lifetime (1860-1940).
How could these two subjects possibly be related? How does a Civil War Rebel hero who died (shot in the back by a Federal soldier) in August 1864 intersect with Lexington's most famous madam who was barely four years old at the time?
Madelyn's research for "Belle Brezing's Lexington" recounted young Belle's growing up in the western suburb along Main Street in a house just a few doors west of Jefferson Street. Across the street stands the building which was the site of her first school, Harrison School (No. 2), today the location of an interior design studio.
Loved or hated, respected or derided, Madelyn emphasizes that the young Belle just wanted to be accepted by a society that had no room for what was then called "poor white trash." When she tried to make friends at school, her classmates told her their mothers would whip them if found out. She soon learned that the boys would accept her sexual favors, kissing and petting, offered on the grounds of the nearby Lexington Cemetery. Of course, that path would inevitably lead in only one direction.
Enter one Dionesio Mucci. Born in Tuscany, Italy, near Florence, Mucci had trained as an artist before immigrating to the United States, living for a time in either Iowa or Ohio, or both (more on that later), before moving to Lexington, where he and a brother purchased a lot on the northwest corner of Main and Georgetown streets, to live and operate variously a tanning yard, scrap yard and metal works.
It is not completely certain how Dionesio, then 36, and Belle took up with one another, but he "ruined" the child in her 12th year (then the age of consent in Kentucky). Their relationship continued until Belle was at least 14, the year Dionesio presented her with a scrapbook on Valentine's Day. By age 15, Belle was pregnant, the father uncertain. By 16, the young mother was orphaned and homeless. At 19, Belle made her decision to join Jenny Hill's house (the Mary Todd Lincoln Home), and never looked back.
"Life kept throwing lemons at Belle," observes Madelyn, "until she figured out how to make lemonade. She voluntarily retired from her chosen profession, and lived off her investments - supporting her institutionalized daughter - until her death in 1940. That says something about her business sense."
The connection with Morgan comes thanks to Joan's tenacious research. She was the sort to take on a subject, then dig and dig, finding no fact too trivial to record. Such was the case when Joan took on researching the Morgan statue. She was not content merely to record the events of Oct. 19, 1911, the day the statue was dedicated. She wanted to look at the genesis of honoring "The Thunderbolt of the Confederacy" and Lexington's most famous military hero.
Digging back through miles of microfilm at the Lexington Public Library's Kentucky Room, Joan came upon an article in the Nov. 10, 1893, Lexington Morning Transcript with the headline in the style of the day:
MUCCI, THE ARTIST.
A Well-Known Lexington Man
Accomplishes Great Work.
HE LABORS FOR TEN LONG YEARS
The article details how one D. Mucci, described as "a middle-aged man," had on Nov. 8, unveiled a bronze bust of Gen. John Hunt Morgan he had sculpted. The event took place at the North Broadway home of Charlton Morgan, John's brother. According to the article, Mucci was living in Lexington during the War Between the States and came to admire Morgan during his raids through central Kentucky.
More significantly, the article provides telling details regarding Mucci. After moving to Lexington, he took up the "occupation of buying and selling old iron, rags, hides, fallow, furs, etc. By careful attention to business ... about 10 years ago he concluded to again take up his art studies."
D. Mucci. Dionesio Mucci. Could these be one and the same?
The article concludes with the statement: "Last night Mr. Mucci entertained a number of his Italian friends in honor of completion of the work at his home on the corner of Georgetown and Main streets." Checking the closest city directory (1890) in the Lexington History Museum archives, we find Dennis Mucci residing at 193 W. Main St. with his business, D&Z Mucci Bros. (the Z for Dionesio's brother Zachariah), located around the corner at 8 Georgetown St. "Dennis" is the anglicized version of the Italian "Dionesio." At age 57, D. Mucci certainly would be described as "middle-aged."
The only discrepancy in the facts is that the Transcript article states Mucci first lived in Burlington, Iowa, before moving to Lexington. Buddy Thompson, in his "Madam Belle Brezing," cites Mucci genealogy that places him in Ohio at some point. But that may be just one of history's little mysteries that make this profession such fun.
At any rate, were it not for Joan's detailed research of the Morgan statue and Madelyn's abiding desire to understand the person who was Belle Brezing, this is a tale that may never have been told.