"Mrs. Elsing was younger, a thin frail woman, who had been a beauty, and about her there still clung a faded freshness, a dainty imperious air."
Mrs. Elsing is one of the leading ladies of Atlanta's high society, along with Dolly Merrywether, Pittypat Hamilton and Caroline Meade. She is the mother of Hugh Elsing and Fanny Elsing and the mother-in-law of Tommy Wellburn.
Biography[]
At one point, she married Mr Elsing (who later died), with whom she had two children Hugh (1840) and Frances (1844). In 1861, at the Atlanta Bazaar, she allowed her daughter to donate her seed-pearl hear ornament set in gold, which had been in Mrs. Elsing's family for generations. Later, she supports her daughter in her grief over the death of her fiancé Dallas McLure.
During the war, to make ends meet, Mrs Elsing rents out rooms in her house and makes her son sleep in the attic and her daughter and son-in-law in the parlour. Additionally, Fanny paints "awful-looking" china and Hugh sells firewood before being hired by Scarlett O'Hara.
Mrs Elsing later blaims Scarlett for the death of her son-in-law, who died in a Ku Klux Klan attack on Shantytown with Scarlett's husband after two inhabitants of Shantytown had attacked Scarlett. Fanny does call on her though, out of respect for Rhett Butler, who tried to save Tommy.
Trivia[]
- She is the only one of Atlanta's four leading ladies, who is not named.
- Mrs. Elsing has always hated Scarlett O'Hara for being more popular than Fanny. Her hate grew when Scarlett indirectly caused the death of her son-in-law and also demoted Hugh from his position after he mismanaged her lumber mill.
- She is in the Association for the Beautification of the Graves of Our Glorious Dead and the Sewing Circle for the Widows and Orphans of the Confederacy. Additionally, during the war, Mrs. Elsing ran a hospital and organised the Atlanta Bazaar.