Washington was married three times. His first wife, as stated in a previous chapter, was Fannie M. Smith, of Malden, who died in 1884, leaving a daughter, Portia. The second marriage was to Olivia Davidson, who had been a teacher at Tuskegee from its beginning. She had been of wonderful assistance to Washington in the early days of Tuskegee. She was the mother of the two boys, Booker, Jr., and Davidson. His third marriage was to Margaret Murray, of Mississippi, a graduate of Fisk University and for several years a teacher at Tuskegee. This marriage occurred in 1892. Mrs. Washington has had a very useful and distinguished career. No woman of her race has helped her people so much in recent years. She will be remembered not merely as the wife of Booker Washington, but for her own remarkable service to her people. [Illustration: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY ] Washington was a man of unusual personal appearance. From the description that James Creelman gave of him on the occasion of his famous speech in Atlanta, it can readily be seen that he was a man of commanding and striking personality. Wherever he went he attracted attention. He was an untiring worker. He went at tremendous speed all the time. He could do as much, as a rule, as three or four ordinary men. He kept a stenographer with him all the time. As he went about the grounds he would dictate suggestions and ideas for changes and improvements. He would often awaken his stenographer at night to dictate a letter or a speech or a statement for the papers. In this way he never overlooked an important thought or idea that occurred to him, and his ideas were always taken down while fresh and vivid in his mind. He often confounded his faculty by his tremendous energy. He would call them in and lay out enough work for them to keep busy for a week and, then, almost before they could get started, demand results. He could work so fast himself and do so much, he never realized that it took other people longer to finish a task. He had a very active mind. He could think quickly. He was also a good judge of men and knew the worth of a man almost at sight. When any subject was presented to him, he would arrive at conclusions quickly and accurately. As he grew older, he exhibited a certain amount of absentmindedness, due, perhaps, to concentration of mind. He would meet his best friends on the street and not speak to them. He was so preoccupied by his thinking that he simply did not recognize folks when he met them.