I figure that I probably ought to quickly sketch the family line for Esperanza.  Through the accident of biology, the family name has changed repeatedly.*  This has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with matriarchies and everything to do with a preponderance of daughters. 

In any event, it is easiest to think of overlapping groups.  Group one is Julie Palmer Smith and Morris Smith, 1870’s-1880’s, and their four daughters: Carlotta, Fannie, Helen, and Lucy. Julie dies in 1883, Morris dies in 1901.

Helen and Lucy marry: William Webster Ellsworth and Fred Davis respectively.  Lucy dies shortly after giving birth to her son Carl, 1881.  While Carl Davis does visit as a child, we have lost track of that branch completely.

Helen and WWE begin to take over Esperanza in the late 1880’s, WWE dies in 1936, Helen in 1945.  Esperanza as we know it is largely their creation.  However, Fanny and Carlotta also lived at Esperanza throughout their lives.

Helen and WWE had: Lucy, Bradford, Helen Adelaide, and Elizabeth.

Lucy married George Creevey in 1901, they would continue the ‘Esperanza’ line.  Bradford married Juliet Inness and had a son, George, from that marriage but we have lost track of that line.  Helen Adelaide married Maurits van Loben Sels in 1905, starting a vibrant family of their own in California.  Elizabeth married Frederick Goucher in 1913, but died childless in 1917; however Frederick Goucher (Shandy) as his second wife, Louise, remained close friends, frequently staying here during the summer.

Lucy and George Creevey overlapped with Helen and WWE for much of their marriage.  George died in the 1940’s, Lucy in the 1960’s.  It was after WWII, under Lucy’s guidance, that the house slowly transitioned from a summer house to a year-round house.  George’s sister, Elizabeth (Beth) Creevey Hamm (married but widowed in WWI), was along with the Gouchers a frequent presence at Esperanza.  Lucy and George had: Carlotta, Kennedy, and Eileen. 

Carlotta married Francis Harrison and had three children, all still living.

Kennedy married Margaret Brundadge and had three children, all still living.

Eileen married Newman Hall and had two children, still living.  Eileen and Newman take over Esperanza in the late 1960’s.  They lived here until c.2003 when it was passed along to the present two generations.

*Starting with Eileen and Newman Hall the last name stops changing, as the title passed to their son, Jamie.