Bessie Alexander Ficklen

Her great-grandfather, a graduate of University of Edinburgh, emigrated from Scotland to the United States in Colonial days.

Ficklen's father, General Edward Porter Alexander, was educated at West Point, and, after completing the course of study there, entered the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

On the breaking out of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Confederate States Army, and served with distinction as James Longstreet's chief of artillery.

[3] On December 28, 1886, she married John Rose Ficklen (1858–1907),[4] professor of history in Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana.

On the opening of the art school in H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, in New Orleans, Ficklen became a student there, showing special excellence in the direction of drawing and modeling.