Jan. 2, 1879 Sunday, Jan 1 2012 

Historical Events acairfearann 17:29

One day early, I know!

In any event, a letter from Morris Smith to William W. Ellsworth and Helen (Smith) Ellsworth written Jan. 2, 1879.  Morris was in New Orleans, while Helen and WWE were living in New York City, having been married the previous year, their daughter, Lucy Morris Ellsworth (Creevey) would have been seventh months old at the time of the letter.  Lucy had married Fred Davis in the fall of 1878.  Lucy and Fred were setting up a household in New Orleans.  The fourth daughter, Fannie, was teaching piano in Rochester, NY. 

“Our good people- Mama (Julie), Carlotta and Lucy arrived today in splendid health though fatigued by three nights travel. They were fully installed in their new quarters by noon- but will not make a public appearance until their baggage arrives- which is now the subject matter of Correspondence with Chicago- I think they will receive it day after tomorrow- in the mean time they are bewailing their experiences and threaten when they return to go by sea.”

Things don’t change!  I do like the capitalized ‘C’ of Correspondence though.

 

Dec. 23, 1877 Friday, Dec 23 2011 

Historical Events acairfearann 15:17

From a three page (printed)  letter by Julie to Morris, Julie was spending the winter in Hartford, Morris was in New Orleans overseeing his business, which had not recovered from the depression of the 1870’s.

“I have just come in from church, a good broad sermon from Mr. Burton. Almost everybody is to be saved- perhaps everybody, ‘not a stingy elect squeezed into heaven, making Christ’s redemption a magnificent failure in the eyes of hell’s vast unnumbered population.’ Pretty good doctrine that for a calvinist preacher. These ministers are stirring up eternal punishment a good deal just now, and Mr. Burton takes occasion to speak up his views- and very proper views they are.

Nelly (Helen) is not to act in the great tableaux after all. Mr Ellsworth developed a strong feeling on the subject of his fiancee’s ankles being seen by a promiscuous crowd. They being in a manner his ankles after this. Marie could not be dressed in long petticoats, therefore I retired from the whole thing and wrote a refusal to Mrs. Colt…I laugh internally a good deal, but he is nice- and he is over good true, right-minded boy, and we will have comfort in him.”…

…We have had dinner and Mr. Ellsworth is here. I hear his chuckling laugh, as lighthearted as if there was no care or responsiblity in the world. I wonder how he will meet life?”…

Mr. Ellsworth, was of course William Webster Ellsworth, better known to the family as WWE. Lest one think he was a marionette, the letter has a note appended by his grand-daughter: “Grandfather, WWE, had indeed the most infectious chuckle. His amusement at his own and other foibles was delightful. It continued through his lifetime. I remember his vast amusement, when he was about eighty, at one of his great-grand-children recieving in a report from he nursery school, ‘A for sandpile, and C for skipping with both feet.’ He thought it was perfectly ridiculous.”  He was, at the time of the letter, 22.

Julie’s comment here on religion is fascinating, despite reading through her letters I have not come to a satisfactory decision as to what religion she practiced.  She and her daughters both went to church fairly often, but they did not belong to any one denomination, references to Congregational, Episcopalian, and Catholic practices are all mixed.  Clearly, however, she had little appreciation for the fire and brimstone Protestant branches.

*if you were wondering, Mrs. Colt was the wife of one Mr Colt…best known for a certain firearm…

 

Dec. 7-16, 1856 Monday, Dec 12 2011 

Historical Events acairfearann 11:05

We shall jump a bit in historical excerpts, with over a yard of shelf devoted to the printed copies of letters, it isn’t hard!  My rule is simply that the month/day must be a close match to when I post this. 

At any rate, the excerpt below is from December, 1856, from a letter of about three printed pages.  It was written by Julie, who was then at her stepfather’s house, Red Cottage, in Brockport, NY, to Morris who was in New Orleans for the winter, overseeing his business.  They had three daughters by then: Fanny Morris, born in 1851 in Brockport, Carlotta Norton, born in 1853 in New Orleans, and Helen Yale (whom we last heard of in Europe in 1873) born in 1855 in Hartford.  Morris and Julie had married in 1850, throughout their marriage Morris spent the fall and winter months in New Orleans, while Julie established their home in Hartford, where Morris’ business had its head office.    

“We have just finished making silver cake and pound cake as a preparatory measure to more company of which I will relate to you the event in due time. The weather is clear and cold and the sleigh bells sound merrily on the frosty air- there goes a load of tremendous hogs to market- winter reigns.

…While you stand on reclaimed swamp-land, and I walk over these snow-crusted streets- a little wanting in J’ne sais what- divided in all things. My Boy I love you above all- beyond all- in all- ‘Thou are my soul’s bright shining star.’ Dear Lottie (Carlotta) comes in just here with a kiss and says ‘Mama I love you- tell Papa I was a good girl last night and had some ice cream’. Fanny says ‘tell him I have got Lottie’s doll dressed and I want a nice book with colored pictures in it andthat I send my Love and tell Papa that I want to know if he is lonely without me.’ I am writing in the dining room and both children are climbing on the sofa behind me- and pulling and twisting the cloth in all directions- all which proceedings are highly conducive to finished epistolary style- fine penmanship- as behold!”

 

Dec. 2, 1873 Saturday, Dec 3 2011 

Historical Events acairfearann 16:50

From Helen Yale Smith (later Ellsworth) to her father Morris; written in Darmstadt, Germany.  Helen was in Europe from 1873 to 1875 both going to school and on a Grand Tour of sorts.  Mrs. Bean was a chaperone for Helen and her friend Mattie.

“Dearest Papa,

I am almost wild with joy. I am at last going to Italy and in the right way too….Italy, Italy, Italy, the golden land. The land of dreams, oh! Isn’t Mrs. Bean delightful? I think she is an angel! And what is better than anything- Mattie is going too. Oh, I am so glad and happy over it, and I have the greatest difficulty in sticking to my studies over it and to be proper, sober and sedate. So, we, Mattie and I, will have such a jolly Christmas in Rome- where the air is thick with shadows of the past and every stone has its story.

…. (discussion of Mattie’s mother’s and sister’s illness and arrangements)

I asked about the Vienna trip- how you liked it but I have not yet received the letter containing the notes of your approval but I hope it is all right- and oh, I am going to Italy. I had given it up as lost and now it comes again ten times brighter than before- for Mattie is going now. Think of me, dear people, as carousing around in Rome, perhaps dancing at the grand ball at the banker’s Christmas Eve.

And your Christmas? It will be so broken up, won’t it? I hope you will have as happy a one as I anticipate….How good every body is to me! How can I ever be thankful enough? Now, Papa, I will try hard not to be extravagant, but the temptation is fearfully strong sometimes. It is very late and I must wind up my studies. So goodnight, dear Papa. A merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you.  Your own, Nelly”

 

Melvin Hathaway Hapgood Thursday, Nov 17 2011 

Esperanza and Historical Events acairfearann 12:39

The architect who designed the North Ell of Esperanza in 1893.  I found a rather decent short bio of him here: http://www.iwwwp.com/sghrl/images/Winter2008-09.pdf

One serious typo in it though: Julie was dead.  Hapgood designed the North Ell for WWE!  But the rest is fairly accurate.  Though it is somewhat uncertain as to whether all of those people visited Esperanza, WWE definitely knew them and was friends with them.  Family lore has it that Hapgood built the big fireplace himself, as the bricklayers had refused to try such a low, long arch.  He was right, it is perfectly stable.

 

Historical Excerpt Monday, Nov 14 2011 

Historical Events acairfearann 13:58

An historical excerpt from before the creation of Esperanza (though the center of the house would have been about fifty years old at this time!), from a letter written by Julie to her parents.  At this time she had just moved to New York City, age 27, from Brockport, New York.  From a long letter written between Nov 10th and Nov 17th, 1845, describing the evening of Nov 14th, 1845.

“went with Mr L. to the Battery (on the Hudson) to see the Sunset, and most glorious it was- that gorgeous mingling of colors and those dazzling reflections in the deep blue waters- and then the refreshing sea air. Mr L is an enthusiast and a dreamer just the one to walk and romance with on still sunset times. He looked with artistical eyes into the still depths of the blue water and talked smooth things. He has very fine eyes by the way and knows how to use them. I watched with unmingled pleasure the vessels in the distance and the little sailboats- gliding along so calmly- nearer were little skiffs with ‘gallant sailors’ ‘merrily rowing’ and then the little busy ferry boat hurried along with its full complement of passengers, luggage and never stopping to breathe though it panted and puffed ever so much.’

Despite the description of Mr. L (Lazerous)’s eyes, it is clear from the rest of the letter that Julie was already spending much of her free time with Morris, her eventual husband.

 

Eeek! Friday, Oct 21 2011 

Historical Events acairfearann 22:50

From the guestbook, 1903, a clipping from a newspaper: “an amusing feature of the automobile question in town happened last Thursday afternoon when two gentlemen driving a pair of spirited horses met an auto on Main street. The carriage, horses, and drivers took an unexpected trip around the vacant lot between the houses of T.S. Hart and C.W. Gilman, while the machine continued noisily on its way.”

Presumably, someone pasted it in the guestbook because they were involved and presumably it was in town.  I think the someone was driving the horses, as a car doesn’t show up in a photo here before about 1910, but I shall have to check.

 

On historical importance Thursday, Oct 6 2011 

Historical Events and Projects acairfearann 10:27

One of the peculiar aspects of this house’s history is its disconnectedness.  If you go down to the local historical society or even farther afield, you will not find anything of real substance.  There are a few copies of Lucy’s book floating about, a few newspaper clippings related to the National Register Nomination…and nothing else.  That, of course, is much much more than most houses have, but in relation to the length of time it as existed as an entity and the amount of history in the house it is jarring.  Or perhaps usefully humbling, or reminder that one’s center of the universe isn’t, in fact, any one else’s.  (and how awful, in the old sense of the word, to be at the centre!)  History is often said to be written by the victors, perhaps more correctly it is written by those who write it.  Rather a tautology that.  But the thing is that ‘famous’ is really a synonym for ‘well known’ when it comes to history and the general public; there is a critical mass aspect: a person is written about or leaves a coherent body of work behind them, so they are easier to study, so they are written about some more, so they are…and pretty soon the individual becomes an important figure in that time period…or more correctly, an important figure in our preception of that time period.  One of the jobs of the historian is to explore the lesser known areas to find the unknown but historically significant people or events that explain history. 

In an example of the above, I have volunteered myself to give a short presentation on Julie sometime this winter, as part of a lecture series on the famous women of New Hartford.  Is Julie famous? No, she wasn’t on the original list drawn up by the society; but is she historically important as an example of women’s history and history in general? Yes, if you happen to have chanced across the information.

 

Trace Sign Friday, Sep 30 2011 

Historical Events and Yellow Mountain acairfearann 11:18

I don’t know if anyone else has ever encountered those TV shows on ‘if humans suddenly vanished’; they always assume that everything made by man would vanish very quickly, cities engulfed in a few decades by lurid CGI jungles.  Anyone who has studied any archaeology knows that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  If neolithic fish traps can still be seen on Google Earth (if you know what to look for), it is rather unlikely that a modern city would vanish in a century.  Chernobyl has given us a fascinating case study on just how a modern city that is totally abandoned by man does or does not decay. 

Hard structures take millenia, some will probably take a timescale closer to geological time to vanish.  Yet even minor disturbances leave their traces.  Old abandoned roads in New England are legion, New Hartford alone has four major ones and an entire settlement.  These are easy to find, the stone walls, the parallel form of the depression, often enhanced by becoming a water course, the different types of vegetation willing to grow on compacted soil, old cellar holes, unusually massive trees or tree stumps, and so forth.  But even single use logging roads can be found decades later: unusually straight, wide paths in the forest, distinctive scars on trees. 

Sometimes, inadvertently, a single event remains recorded. Up on Yellow Mountain the other day with a state forester, we came across a beech tree that had a distinctive ’14’ cut into it.  Judging by the age of the beech tree and the style of the mark, that ’14’ was made by a CCC crew back in the 1930’s when they came through clearing gypsy moth infestations and removing gooseberry bushes (an attempt to stop the life cycle of a blister rust that damages white pine).  The ’14’ would have been a mark by the crew, presumably no. 14, that they had finished that quadrant to which they were assigned.   Nearly eighty years ago some one, probably a young man who is now elderly if not dead, made a quick mark on the tree. Eventually, that beech will fall; but for the time you can almost see the crew working what increasingly feels like a truly different century (it is, technically, I know!), and yet that tree is a physical connection across decades.

 

September 1910 Tuesday, Sep 6 2011 

Historical Events acairfearann 11:44

From a newspaper clipping found in one of the guestbooks:

“A delightful musical and tea were given by Mrs Wm W. Ellsworth at Esperanza in the afternoon. On arrival, the guests, some fifty in number, were invited to the studio which was arranged for the occasion as a concert room where Miss Beebe pianist, of New York presided at the grand piano, accompanying (this is underlined with a notation: Not much she didn’t!!) Mr Dethiere (this has the last e crossed out with the comment: Two E’s are enough, even for him!), the celebrated Belgian violinist in a number of choice and varied musical selections rendered with wonderful technique and expression.

The delight of the audience in the playing of these accomplished artists was evinced by enthusiastic applause. After the concert coffee and refreshments were served in the dining and living room and the guests were introduced to the performers whose playing had given so much pleasure. Mrs Ellsworth was assisted in recieving by her daughters, Mrs van Loben Sels and Miss Ellizabeth Ellsworth and by her sister, Miss Carlotta N. Smith.”

The studio was across the lane, at the dairy farm, and is long gone.  However, the piano was the Steinway upright grand piano built in the late 1800s, currently still quite playable, if a bit sticky when humid.

The pieces played were: Handel, Sonata in D major; Schumman, Sonata in D minor; Grieg, Sonata in C minor.  Edouard Dehier was a teacher at Juilliard as well as a soloist with New York Philharmonic, New York Symphony and the Montreal Symphony, in addition to extensive touring.

Mr. Dehier was stayed for the entire month of September; Carolyn Beebe was a guest from July through October, while Helen E. van Loben Sels, and two of her children, HAE and Lucy Lois, stayed from July through September. A crowded house!

 

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