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Two Little Knights of Kentucky
 The Culbertson boys' characters as
Malcolm and Keith
play a significant role throughout the books of the Little Colonel
series after their debut in1899 in their own book,
The Two Little Knights of
Kentucky. The picture at the right is from a post
card issued by LC Page & Co. in 1906. Kate Matthews
took the original photo.
William
Stuart Culbertson (The Little Knight
"Malcolm", on the left)
was born on August 28, 1887. After the
Little Colonel years, he served in World
War I on a submarine chaser and in naval aviation. He trained at
the Boston School of Technology. Still later in life he became
Vice President of the Louisville Packard Motor Company. He also lived in Los Angeles,
where he died prematurely and unexpectedly at age 47 of pneumonia in
1935, a few days before the world premiere in Louisville of The
Little Colonel on the silver screen.
William had been married at least twice. His first wife died young. He had
no children by either marriage.
Craig (Alexander
Craig Culbertson, the Little
Knight "Keith",
on the right) was born April 18,
1890. As an adult,
Craig was believed to have been the second person from
Louisville to enlist in World War I.
He spent World War I in the
balloon service headquartered in California. One of his friends,
Douglass Fairbanks, Sr. once accompanied him up in a balloon and they
both parachuted down together. Around that
time. Craig was offered $1000
a week by a movie producer to play in films. He declined.
During the early 1920s. Craig was Kentucky
Boxing Commissioner and on the State Athletic Board of Control, and at
the same time founded the Quick Tire Service in Louisville (fitting,
since his father was president of Churchill Downs, that the building now
houses the headquarters of the Kentucky Derby Festival Organization.)
Later, Craig became president of the Louisville Packard Motor Company,
and wrote for the Louisville Courier-Journal. and Louisville
Post. In the mid 1920s, he moved to New York to be a partner in the
brokerage firms of Eastman-Dillon and later Redmond & Co. He
returned to Louisville by the late 1930s or so, and lived the remained
of his life there. He
lived until 1973 (Age 83)
Craig was also married twice and had three children, two sons and a
daughter.
Tragically, if life were not so hard
and unfair, there may have been Three Little Knights of Kentucky.
Another brother, Louis, was born between William and Craig.
Unfortunately he passed away at a very young age.
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William Culbertson, age 11
"Malcolm McIntyre" of
"Two Little Knights of Kentucky"
and the "Little Colonel Series"
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Craig Culbertson, age 8
"Keith McIntyre" of
"Two Little Knights of Kentucky"
and the "Little Colonel Series"
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Annie Fellows Johnston may not have
been far off in the types of exploits she portrayed for these boys. Remember when they
brought the circus bear indoors,
when they
dropped the Little Colonel into a hay bin in lieu of a
dungeon
and the escapade with the railroad handcart...
not to
mention tying
up Ginger in the woods by the spring and then forgetting about her
while playing Indian. These were just a few of the many
antics ascribed to them in Two Little Knights of
Kentucky.
The Craig's old Pewee Valley neighbors at
Woodside, the
Gatchels, also had a real-life story or two about them that
never made it into the Little Colonel books. This one is told to us by Mr.
J. Cleve Gatchel:
 "The
two Culbertson boys were once taken by their
father, "Uncle Sam" to
French Lick. As you might know, French Lick was a fine
spa where many older gentlemen went to take the "Pluto
Water" and get "regular." They would take a long swig of
Pluto Water, take breakfast and then retire to the large
men's room. Well, these two rascals got down to the men's
room early and crawled under each stall and locked them.
Needless to say, there were a number of unfortunate
accidents on the part of the poor gentlemen. Yes, Uncle Sam
was asked to take his kids back to Kentucky and never bring
them with him on any return visits that he would be planning
to make to Orange County, Indiana."
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William Culbertson
(Malcolm) at about age 15 or 16,
the time of Little Colonel's Hero and the Little Colonel at Boarding
School
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Craig Culbertson
(Keith) at about age 15,
from a school picture
Haverford School near Philadelphia,
at about the time of The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation or The
Little Colonel's Maid of Honor
(his absence from the area may explain why he is not frequently
mentioned in the later books.)
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Mr. William Stuart
Culbertson
(1928)
still residing at 1432 S. Third Ave.
from
The Sunday Herald Post
Louisville, Kentucky
December 23, 1928
The 1928 newspaper article was to
reminisce on the Little Colonel stories
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Mr. Alexander Craig
Culbertson
(1928)
from
The Sunday Herald Post
Louisville, Kentucky
December 23, 1928
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William S. Culbertson
Vice President, Packard Motor Company
1935
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Mr. & Mrs. Craig
Culbertson
1935
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Annie Fellows Johnston's dedication notes
to the 2 boys
Read Two
Little Knights of Kentucky on line
Originals of the characters in Mrs. Annie Fellows Johnston's
"Little Colonel" series
This Site:
Home Page
What's New? Biography of Annie Fellows
Johnston,
Books on Line (Complete
Original Little Colonel Book Series)
The Little Colonel (link to U. Penn))
The
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Two Little
Knights of Kentucky
The Little Colonel's
House Party
The Little Colonel's
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The Little Colonel's Hero
The Little Colonel
at Boarding-School
The Little Colonel in
Arizona
The Little
Colonel's Christmas Vacation
The Little Colonel, Maid of
Honor
The Little Colonel's
Knight Comes Riding
Mary Ware, The Little Colonel's
Chum
Mary Ware in Texas
Mary Ware's Promised Land
Check our home page for more titles by AFJ on other sites
The People & Characters:
The Little Colonel, Papa
Jack and Mrs. Sherman, The
Old Colonel, Two Little
Knights of Kentucky,
Two Little Knights of Kentucky(2),
Uncle Sidney & Aunt
Elise, parents of the Two Little Knights of Kentucky,
Grandmother McIntyre,
Aunt Allison, The
Waltons, Rob and Anna
Moore, Betty,
Joyce Ware,
Jack Ware, Mom Beck,
Walker, Katherine Marks,
Gay Melville,
The Lees of Arizona,
Small Parts
Their Final Resting Places
The Places: In Pewee (Lloydsboro) Valley:
Map,
Map 2,
Where it all began, The Locust,
The Beeches
Edgewood,
The Little Colonel's Cottage,
The Railroad Station,
"Lloydsboro Seminary",
Clovercroft, The
Post Office, Churches,
The Haunted House at Hartwell Hollow,
Confederate Home
Rollington,
Minor Places In Old Louisville:
The Culbertson
Mansion, "Home of a Hero"
in Indiana::
The Cuckoo's Nest (Indiana), In Arizona:
Lee's Ranch,
Camelback Mountain &
Hole-in-Rock, In Texas:
San Antonio,
The Little Town of Bauer (Boerne),
Penacres,
The Barnaby Ranch,
In France:
The Gate of the Giant Scissors
Letters from Annie
Fellows Johnston and "Mrs Walton"
Scrapbook
Links
Cooking with The Little Colonel
Guest Book
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