Ella Smith's Cloth Alabama Baby
Ella Smith, the person
Ella Smith, an enterprising art teacher, designed and made the Alabama Indestructible Doll around the turn of the 20th century.
Her dolls, combinations of plaster and stockinette, were pressed in a mold then hand stitched and oil painted. In contrast to the
French dolls of the time, her dolls were designed for active play by active children. She won a blue ribbon for her dolls at the
1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
Born Ella Louise Gauntt in 1868 in Roanoke, Alabama, Ella earned her teacher's certificate from LaGrange College. She taught
art at the Roanoke Normal College. Besides her official duties, Ella was tended neighbors and their animals, gave private
lessons to children, made toys and decorations for town events. She held multiple patents and developed an infant band, a
support program for obese individuals and a washable beach shoe. She was known to lead travel groups around the country
and was an amateur photographer. She developed a reputation in town, striding around with a large parrot on her shoulder.
Her name is sometimes found spelled Gantt. This was due to a clerical error upon her father's participation in the war. When
her father participated in the war, he was unable to read or write. During the enrollment, his name was misspelled as Gantt
instead of Gauntt. Parts of the family adopted the new spelling. Ella's name is often seen as Ella Gantt Smith.
Smiley Statesright (Smidler) Smith arrived in Roanoke with the East Alabama Railway and its ensuing progress in 1888. Mr.
Smith was a carpenter and contractor who was responsible for building most of the homes in the town. A year later Ella and
"Bud", as he was known, married. He built the house, that still stands today, at the corner of Main and Vaughn.
Not blessed with their own children, Ella happened upon a family in 1909 with six children. The mother was holding a six week
old infant. The mother was very ill. The father was with her as they were taking the infant and the other five children to the
orphanage. Ella took the infant and adopted Mary Louise Dixon, changing her name to Macie Louise Smith. Ella was
concerned that the child would learn of her siblings in the nearby orphanage, so hired a nursemaid to oversee her. Cary Gantt,
an infant son of Ella's half brother, was taken in sometime later. She was not allowed to adopt Cary.
As Macie grew. so did Ella's doll business. At one point she had 10-12 ladies doing piecework. Bud built her a two story
"factory" shed on the back of the property. It is reported that in one year, the factory produced 8,000 dolls.
Unfortunately, Macie was jealous of the attention paid to the dolls instead of her. Ella sent dolls to the orphanage at Christmas
time shortly after adopting Macie. She snipped off the ears of one doll and long brown curls were painted on. This doll was
made specifically for Pauline Dixon.
It is unknown when Macie learned of her sister Pauline, but she did. She developed a relationship with her sister. Macie left
the Smith home at 17, running away to marry Hoyt Pinson. By 1932, Ella died after fighting kidney disease. Macie did not keep
any of the dolls. Pauline, however, kept her doll and eventually gave it to Macie's daughter, Betty Pinson Carr. Bud passed
away on 1940. Macie and Carey cleaned out the house, selling what they could and sending the rest to the local dump. Local
boys used the heads they found for target practice. Other heads were salvaged to eventually adorn the lattice work of the
fourplex apartment house created out of the first factory in 1945 by Mrs. Frank Hornsby. Mrs. Hornsby called the building the
doll house in memory of Ella Smith. The heads were removed and a memorial placque was erected in 1975.
A second factory was used as the company expanded. Under the encouragement of W. E. McIntosh, Ella used his empty
factory to make the dolls under the new 1919 patent. In this patent, the ears are formed as part of the head, not separately
added to the head. In 1922, McIntosh and his associate B. O. Driver (the town druggist) went to New York to market the dolls.
Word arrived that they had secured a large order from a major department store. Unfortunately, the train the gentlemen were
returning to Roanoke on de-railed, killing the men and destroying the orders. Mr. McIntosh's widow prevailed in her suit against
the company and Ella Smith's company was all but destroyed.
Ella moved back to the original factory and developed a new body design based upon the popular character dolls. From 1922
to her death in 1932, Ella made the new dolls. Very few of these dolls have been found and identified. Three have been
identified and are in private collections.
Ella was diagnosed with Bright's disease. At the time, the term Bright's disease was used to include a wide variety of
symptoms now classified as acute or chronic nephritis, a kidney disease. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, swelling, fatigue
and decreased urinary output. Bright's disease is a term no longer used.
Ella Smith's Dolls
In the late 19th century, bisque and china head dolls were shipped throughout the world, including Roanoke Alabama. A
neighbor, Verna Pittman, received a bisque doll and stumbled--breaking the doll. She took the doll to her neighbor Ella Smith,
who could fix anything. Ella repeatedly tried to glue the head back together with no success. She took one of the cotton knit
shirts of Sue Amos, a little girl staying with her at the time, and wrapped the head in it. After securing the head with glue, she
poured plaster in the head. Once it was dry, she painted the features. Ella worked with the techniques to develop an
unbreakable doll that a child could actually play with and love. In 1897, Ella began experimenting with the soon to
be"Indestructible Doll" to resolve this problem. This indestructible doll was shown at the World's Fair in St. Louis in1904. On
September 26, 1905. Ella received a patent on her design (#800,333). She also exhibited her dolls at the 1907 Southeastern
Fair in Atlanta, Ga. and again that year at the Jamestown Exposition in Virginia.
For her doll, she used three fabrics: fleece lined knit for the head, mill cloth for the body, and cambric for the limbs. The body
pattern was in four pieces with a curved flap for the bottom of the torso and a fold for the attachment of the legs. The wet knit
cloth was put between the inner and outer forms of the head mold. Once dry, the inner mold is removed and plaster is pressed
into the mold to form the head. Once set, then linter's cotton was stuffed into the cavity. Excess fabric was trimmed and then
the circle of fabric forming the crown of the head was added. Ella called this "crowning". The body was formed and filled with
linter's cotton. A straight willow branch was inserted into the body and up to the shoulder section to support the body and head.
Cording sewed the shoulder head and limbs to the body. A coat of paint (lead based house or wagon paint from Griffin &
Satterwhite's hardware store), later in a flesh tone, was added to the head and limbs. Several additional coats made the doll
"washable". Yellow ochre was applied over the head and brown hair with curls at the neck and sometimes over the ears if they
were painted on. Sometimes wigs were added. Eyes were painted an electric blue similar to the stockings (if they were painted
on) or eyes were painted brown similar to some of the shoes. Approximately half the feet had painted boots while others were
barefoot. Sometimes nails of the toes and fingers were painted pink. If shoes were not painted on, toes were indicated by
stitching similar to the fingers on the hand. Thumbs were separately stitched to appear opposable.
Early on, Ella experimented with body design and painting until she settled on a consistent style. Some variations in the early
dolls include types of fabric used, occasionally wired fingers, attempts to include the ears in the head mold, some eye lines,
lashes were thicker or thinner, and face tones were almost white to a flesh tone. Ella Smith took the new Alabama
Indestructible Doll to the Jamestown Exposition in 1906. She quickly won both ribbons and enthusiastic interest in her new doll.
The style did not change again until late in the production near the 1919 patent (November 11, 1919 #1,321,135) when she
was able to mold the ear to the head and taught a few workers to paint the faces. The new mold made the head much heavier
with the addition of more plaster requiring additional seam support along the shoulderhead. In 1919, Ella also received patent
#1,292,113--the patent for the attachable ear feature of the head that she had been using all along. During this time hairstyles
shifted from the long curls to the popular bobbed style. The hair was often darker brown with little or no yellow ochre.
Ella also received two other patents for dolls. A button type of attachment for the arms and legs was patented on July 8, 1919.
This doll had a dowel run through its body. The head could turn and hands attach separately. No dolls of this type have been
found to date. March 4, 1924 saw the patent # 1,485,638 for a sanitary removable cover for the doll. None of these have been
identified. She also had patents for attaching ears, making the arms difficult to tear off, and one that included a wooden
cylinder to support the shoulders. She also held patents in Germany for doll parts and heads.
Painting of the early dolls was hand done by Ella herself. Much later, Ella taught a few others to paint. Once studied, the later
doll painting is noticeable as well done but concisely copied as opposed to the free style of the original artist. An unique
painting occurred when a local worker approached Ella to make a doll for his child--a black doll. She used another workers
black caracle (a type of South African wild cat) coat for hair--trading the worker bedsheets for the coat. Bodies were unpainted.
One black doll was advertised as a nurse in the 1913 catalog. By the 1919 catalog Ella stated "I will make any race doll on
request" (Shafer p52.) with pictures of three "Black Mammy Dolls" in gingham dresses with bandanas and aprons. These dolls
were seldom of the early crowned type, instead appearing to be from the later patent.
Some dolls were wigged with mohair or human hair while others had painted hair. Some later dolls had both painted hair and
wigs while early dolls with wigs had the wigs tacked on the doll. As with marketing of many dolls today, customization of the
dolls was encouraged. A repair service was available.
From the 1913 catalog, the dolls could be purchased with a chemise (cambric), simple clothes (good lawn) or fancy dress (fine
lawn with lace and ribbons, and extra fancy (fine lawn with lace, ribbon and a bonnet). All but one doll (Pauline - dressed in a
rose romper) studied by Ms Shafer were dressed in white. The black doll was dressed in a grey dress, mop cap and apron with
lace or embroidery trim at the neck and cuffs. Later catalogs show the dolls in calico rompers or in dresses with painted flowers
on colored fabric. None of these outfits have been found yet. However, most dolls clothes at the time were made at home, as
were most of the family as "store bought" was only for very special occasions. Consequently, clothes made at the time with
fabric of the time in the pattern of the time may be "original" though not necessarily from the factory. And not necessarily white.
Ella Smith herself suggested that "If you have little ones who have outgrown clothes, they can be taken in at the neck to fit dolls
#2, #3, #4." (Shafer p.32). Separate, factory made costumes were available though.
Dolls were sized as follows:
00 12 inches (smallest)
0 14 inches
1 18 inches
2 21 inches
3 23 inches
4 26 inches (largest)
After 1922, Ella Smith changed the pattern for the doll head she endeavored to continue making despite her deteriorating
medical condition. Acutely aware of the popularity of the character dolls, she adjusted the body to be chubbier with shorter
legs. The hair was lightly painted reminiscent of a toddler. The head was no longer "capped" but had a seam running
shoulder, over top of head and across to the other shoulder. As the heads with the 1919 patent, the ears were molded into the
head. One known doll of this type has side glancing intaglio eyes. Three are documented in Shafer's text. How many were
actually made is not known.
Chronology of the Development of the Alabama Baby
The dolls were usually stamped MRS. S. S. SMITH/MANUFACTURER OF AND DEALER IN/THE ALABAMA
INDESTRUCTIBLE DOLL/ROANOKE,ALA/PATENTED/ Sept. 36, 1905 on the lower front of the body.
Edwards, Linda. Cloth Dolls from Ancient to Modern. Atglen, Pa. Schiffer Publishing 1997.
Shafer, Jacque. Rare, Special Order Alabama Babies. Doll News Winter 2005. pp44-48.
Shafer, Jacque. Ella Smith and Alabama Dolls Scrapbook. Available from the author: Jacqueshafer@aol.com.
Ella Smith, an enterprising art teacher, designed and made the Alabama Indestructible Doll around the turn of the 20th century.
Her dolls, combinations of plaster and stockinette, were pressed in a mold then hand stitched and oil painted. In contrast to the
French dolls of the time, her dolls were designed for active play by active children. She won a blue ribbon for her dolls at the
1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
Born Ella Louise Gauntt in 1868 in Roanoke, Alabama, Ella earned her teacher's certificate from LaGrange College. She taught
art at the Roanoke Normal College. Besides her official duties, Ella was tended neighbors and their animals, gave private
lessons to children, made toys and decorations for town events. She held multiple patents and developed an infant band, a
support program for obese individuals and a washable beach shoe. She was known to lead travel groups around the country
and was an amateur photographer. She developed a reputation in town, striding around with a large parrot on her shoulder.
Her name is sometimes found spelled Gantt. This was due to a clerical error upon her father's participation in the war. When
her father participated in the war, he was unable to read or write. During the enrollment, his name was misspelled as Gantt
instead of Gauntt. Parts of the family adopted the new spelling. Ella's name is often seen as Ella Gantt Smith.
Smiley Statesright (Smidler) Smith arrived in Roanoke with the East Alabama Railway and its ensuing progress in 1888. Mr.
Smith was a carpenter and contractor who was responsible for building most of the homes in the town. A year later Ella and
"Bud", as he was known, married. He built the house, that still stands today, at the corner of Main and Vaughn.
Not blessed with their own children, Ella happened upon a family in 1909 with six children. The mother was holding a six week
old infant. The mother was very ill. The father was with her as they were taking the infant and the other five children to the
orphanage. Ella took the infant and adopted Mary Louise Dixon, changing her name to Macie Louise Smith. Ella was
concerned that the child would learn of her siblings in the nearby orphanage, so hired a nursemaid to oversee her. Cary Gantt,
an infant son of Ella's half brother, was taken in sometime later. She was not allowed to adopt Cary.
As Macie grew. so did Ella's doll business. At one point she had 10-12 ladies doing piecework. Bud built her a two story
"factory" shed on the back of the property. It is reported that in one year, the factory produced 8,000 dolls.
Unfortunately, Macie was jealous of the attention paid to the dolls instead of her. Ella sent dolls to the orphanage at Christmas
time shortly after adopting Macie. She snipped off the ears of one doll and long brown curls were painted on. This doll was
made specifically for Pauline Dixon.
It is unknown when Macie learned of her sister Pauline, but she did. She developed a relationship with her sister. Macie left
the Smith home at 17, running away to marry Hoyt Pinson. By 1932, Ella died after fighting kidney disease. Macie did not keep
any of the dolls. Pauline, however, kept her doll and eventually gave it to Macie's daughter, Betty Pinson Carr. Bud passed
away on 1940. Macie and Carey cleaned out the house, selling what they could and sending the rest to the local dump. Local
boys used the heads they found for target practice. Other heads were salvaged to eventually adorn the lattice work of the
fourplex apartment house created out of the first factory in 1945 by Mrs. Frank Hornsby. Mrs. Hornsby called the building the
doll house in memory of Ella Smith. The heads were removed and a memorial placque was erected in 1975.
A second factory was used as the company expanded. Under the encouragement of W. E. McIntosh, Ella used his empty
factory to make the dolls under the new 1919 patent. In this patent, the ears are formed as part of the head, not separately
added to the head. In 1922, McIntosh and his associate B. O. Driver (the town druggist) went to New York to market the dolls.
Word arrived that they had secured a large order from a major department store. Unfortunately, the train the gentlemen were
returning to Roanoke on de-railed, killing the men and destroying the orders. Mr. McIntosh's widow prevailed in her suit against
the company and Ella Smith's company was all but destroyed.
Ella moved back to the original factory and developed a new body design based upon the popular character dolls. From 1922
to her death in 1932, Ella made the new dolls. Very few of these dolls have been found and identified. Three have been
identified and are in private collections.
Ella was diagnosed with Bright's disease. At the time, the term Bright's disease was used to include a wide variety of
symptoms now classified as acute or chronic nephritis, a kidney disease. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, swelling, fatigue
and decreased urinary output. Bright's disease is a term no longer used.
Ella Smith's Dolls
In the late 19th century, bisque and china head dolls were shipped throughout the world, including Roanoke Alabama. A
neighbor, Verna Pittman, received a bisque doll and stumbled--breaking the doll. She took the doll to her neighbor Ella Smith,
who could fix anything. Ella repeatedly tried to glue the head back together with no success. She took one of the cotton knit
shirts of Sue Amos, a little girl staying with her at the time, and wrapped the head in it. After securing the head with glue, she
poured plaster in the head. Once it was dry, she painted the features. Ella worked with the techniques to develop an
unbreakable doll that a child could actually play with and love. In 1897, Ella began experimenting with the soon to
be"Indestructible Doll" to resolve this problem. This indestructible doll was shown at the World's Fair in St. Louis in1904. On
September 26, 1905. Ella received a patent on her design (#800,333). She also exhibited her dolls at the 1907 Southeastern
Fair in Atlanta, Ga. and again that year at the Jamestown Exposition in Virginia.
For her doll, she used three fabrics: fleece lined knit for the head, mill cloth for the body, and cambric for the limbs. The body
pattern was in four pieces with a curved flap for the bottom of the torso and a fold for the attachment of the legs. The wet knit
cloth was put between the inner and outer forms of the head mold. Once dry, the inner mold is removed and plaster is pressed
into the mold to form the head. Once set, then linter's cotton was stuffed into the cavity. Excess fabric was trimmed and then
the circle of fabric forming the crown of the head was added. Ella called this "crowning". The body was formed and filled with
linter's cotton. A straight willow branch was inserted into the body and up to the shoulder section to support the body and head.
Cording sewed the shoulder head and limbs to the body. A coat of paint (lead based house or wagon paint from Griffin &
Satterwhite's hardware store), later in a flesh tone, was added to the head and limbs. Several additional coats made the doll
"washable". Yellow ochre was applied over the head and brown hair with curls at the neck and sometimes over the ears if they
were painted on. Sometimes wigs were added. Eyes were painted an electric blue similar to the stockings (if they were painted
on) or eyes were painted brown similar to some of the shoes. Approximately half the feet had painted boots while others were
barefoot. Sometimes nails of the toes and fingers were painted pink. If shoes were not painted on, toes were indicated by
stitching similar to the fingers on the hand. Thumbs were separately stitched to appear opposable.
Early on, Ella experimented with body design and painting until she settled on a consistent style. Some variations in the early
dolls include types of fabric used, occasionally wired fingers, attempts to include the ears in the head mold, some eye lines,
lashes were thicker or thinner, and face tones were almost white to a flesh tone. Ella Smith took the new Alabama
Indestructible Doll to the Jamestown Exposition in 1906. She quickly won both ribbons and enthusiastic interest in her new doll.
The style did not change again until late in the production near the 1919 patent (November 11, 1919 #1,321,135) when she
was able to mold the ear to the head and taught a few workers to paint the faces. The new mold made the head much heavier
with the addition of more plaster requiring additional seam support along the shoulderhead. In 1919, Ella also received patent
#1,292,113--the patent for the attachable ear feature of the head that she had been using all along. During this time hairstyles
shifted from the long curls to the popular bobbed style. The hair was often darker brown with little or no yellow ochre.
Ella also received two other patents for dolls. A button type of attachment for the arms and legs was patented on July 8, 1919.
This doll had a dowel run through its body. The head could turn and hands attach separately. No dolls of this type have been
found to date. March 4, 1924 saw the patent # 1,485,638 for a sanitary removable cover for the doll. None of these have been
identified. She also had patents for attaching ears, making the arms difficult to tear off, and one that included a wooden
cylinder to support the shoulders. She also held patents in Germany for doll parts and heads.
Painting of the early dolls was hand done by Ella herself. Much later, Ella taught a few others to paint. Once studied, the later
doll painting is noticeable as well done but concisely copied as opposed to the free style of the original artist. An unique
painting occurred when a local worker approached Ella to make a doll for his child--a black doll. She used another workers
black caracle (a type of South African wild cat) coat for hair--trading the worker bedsheets for the coat. Bodies were unpainted.
One black doll was advertised as a nurse in the 1913 catalog. By the 1919 catalog Ella stated "I will make any race doll on
request" (Shafer p52.) with pictures of three "Black Mammy Dolls" in gingham dresses with bandanas and aprons. These dolls
were seldom of the early crowned type, instead appearing to be from the later patent.
Some dolls were wigged with mohair or human hair while others had painted hair. Some later dolls had both painted hair and
wigs while early dolls with wigs had the wigs tacked on the doll. As with marketing of many dolls today, customization of the
dolls was encouraged. A repair service was available.
From the 1913 catalog, the dolls could be purchased with a chemise (cambric), simple clothes (good lawn) or fancy dress (fine
lawn with lace and ribbons, and extra fancy (fine lawn with lace, ribbon and a bonnet). All but one doll (Pauline - dressed in a
rose romper) studied by Ms Shafer were dressed in white. The black doll was dressed in a grey dress, mop cap and apron with
lace or embroidery trim at the neck and cuffs. Later catalogs show the dolls in calico rompers or in dresses with painted flowers
on colored fabric. None of these outfits have been found yet. However, most dolls clothes at the time were made at home, as
were most of the family as "store bought" was only for very special occasions. Consequently, clothes made at the time with
fabric of the time in the pattern of the time may be "original" though not necessarily from the factory. And not necessarily white.
Ella Smith herself suggested that "If you have little ones who have outgrown clothes, they can be taken in at the neck to fit dolls
#2, #3, #4." (Shafer p.32). Separate, factory made costumes were available though.
Dolls were sized as follows:
00 12 inches (smallest)
0 14 inches
1 18 inches
2 21 inches
3 23 inches
4 26 inches (largest)
After 1922, Ella Smith changed the pattern for the doll head she endeavored to continue making despite her deteriorating
medical condition. Acutely aware of the popularity of the character dolls, she adjusted the body to be chubbier with shorter
legs. The hair was lightly painted reminiscent of a toddler. The head was no longer "capped" but had a seam running
shoulder, over top of head and across to the other shoulder. As the heads with the 1919 patent, the ears were molded into the
head. One known doll of this type has side glancing intaglio eyes. Three are documented in Shafer's text. How many were
actually made is not known.
Chronology of the Development of the Alabama Baby
The dolls were usually stamped MRS. S. S. SMITH/MANUFACTURER OF AND DEALER IN/THE ALABAMA
INDESTRUCTIBLE DOLL/ROANOKE,ALA/PATENTED/ Sept. 36, 1905 on the lower front of the body.
Edwards, Linda. Cloth Dolls from Ancient to Modern. Atglen, Pa. Schiffer Publishing 1997.
Shafer, Jacque. Rare, Special Order Alabama Babies. Doll News Winter 2005. pp44-48.
Shafer, Jacque. Ella Smith and Alabama Dolls Scrapbook. Available from the author: Jacqueshafer@aol.com.
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Early Alabama face with the "capped" head on the left compared to the last
toddler style face with the seam across the top of the head on the right.
toddler style face with the seam across the top of the head on the right.
Early Alabama Baby hair painting on the left compared with
the toddler style painting of the later doll on the right
the toddler style painting of the later doll on the right
Early style Alabama Baby leg attachment on the left compared with the later body style of the 1922 doll. The
early doll's legs were attached separately. The front of the later doll's legs are cut as part of the front of the
body. The back of the later doll's legs are two pieces of fabric stitched to the body.
early doll's legs were attached separately. The front of the later doll's legs are cut as part of the front of the
body. The back of the later doll's legs are two pieces of fabric stitched to the body.
Body and head modifications under the 1919 patent. The head on the left
shows the ear molded into the head and the seam running from the
shoulder up over the head to the other shoulder
shows the ear molded into the head and the seam running from the
shoulder up over the head to the other shoulder
Courtesy Jacque Schafer
Courtesy Jacque Schafer
Courtesy Jacque Schafer
Courtesy Jacque Schafer
Courtesy Jacque Schafer
Courtesy Jacque Schafer
Courtesy Jacque Schafer
Courtesy Jacque Schafer