July, 1876
Note the modification to the bird signature on this one, with the hat and the little bird.
Nellie is Helen Yale Smith Ellsworth, Julie’s daughter and William Webster Ellsworth’s wife.
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Happy (Belated) 142 Birthday! Wednesday, Jan 29 2014
Esperanza and Historical Events history 11:42
Julie purchased the Kellogg house in 1871, just to the south of Esperanza. That house burned that fall, probably due to the spontaneous combustion of oil-soaked paint rags. A house was later built on the site to serve as a farm cottage; it was sold off in the 1960’s. Rather than go to the trouble of rebuilding, Julie and Morris decided to purchase the neighboring Lyman property. There were probably two reasons for this: first, it meant they could move in that summer; secondly, the house prices for hilltop farms were sufficiently depressed that it was actually cheaper. (the majority of southern New England farmers had given it up as a bad job, the immediate area had close to a dozen abandoned farms at that time)
So, in January 1872, with the sales of her books going well, Julie purchased what would become Esperanza.
“hundreds of nights on the white road have I passed it by, in my lonely walk, and stopped and listened to it, standing there in its lights, like a kind of low singing in the trees; and when I have come home later, on the white road, and the lights were all put out, I still feel it speaking there, faint against heaven, with all its sleep, its young and old sleep, its memories and hopes of birth and death, lifting itself in the night, a prayer of generations.”
Gerald Stanley Lee, writing of Esperanza in his book ‘The Lost Art of Reading’ published 1902.
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World War One logistics Friday, Jan 10 2014
Historical Events history, letters, World War One 11:55
Finishing up a transcription here, from a letter by Capt. Bradford Ellsworth (306th Inf, 77th Division) to his sister Helen van Loben Sels, written in January 1919. While those in the military are acutely aware of the headache that getting a force from one side of the globe to the other entails; those of us who are civilians tend to overlook it. The almighty traffic jam after WWI is hinted at in this paragraph:
“Not much of interest happens now that Jerry has quit and even the threatened revolution doesn’t seem to come off and the only excitement has been the rumors which were many and interesting until last night when our preliminary order for going home came in. We leave this area (ed. note: unspecified area of Northern France) before 14th February and go to the delousing – pretty word- station at Le Mons and from there to the ports as the boats become available. We ought to sail about 15th March and be in New York 1st April, where a quarantine of 2 weeks will make us all sore. About 15th May we ought to be out of uniform and sitting around and telling ‘what a helluva a fellow I was’ and other stories. Everyone has cheered up immensely and we’ve forgotten to knock even the Y.M.C.A. which has always been a favorite indoor sport with the A.E.F. We say ‘the military police of Paris Won the war, the Marines got the glory, and the Y.M.C.A. got the money, where does the doughboy come in?’
His comment on the revolution, refers of course to the upheaval in Germany, and that rather nasty affair in Russia…in which a few American forces did end being involved in. The rumors probably had been quite wild.
His estimated timing for demobilization wasn’t too far off, only about two weeks too optimistic, the advantage of being the I.O.
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Dec. 15, 1858 Sunday, Dec 15 2013
Historical Events letters 16:47
Morris in New Orleans to Julie in Hartford:
“Your boy has nothing of consequence of news or gossip to report. This morning I was detained in Court some four hours getting a poor fellow clear of assault and battery. He was from the country and consigned to us (i.e. working for Morris’ business) and under provocation struck a man. Got him clear but saw great sights. It was in the Police Court, they had about sixty men and women, the rag tag and bob tail of all creation, the proceeds of last night’s haul to sentence, before our friend’s case came up.
…
You can think of me at the old desk, writing to delinquent customers and to lawyers. Nothing to interrupt this dreary existence, same old song of good and bad customers, and the confusion of tongues in our Babel store is the same as of old…Still I can get along in the daytime for we have plenty of business, but at night it is awful to think of going to my lonely room. Perhaps Dick (his partner) is the same way, for we smoke one cigar after another, till the small hours of the morning,and only fly to bed from sheer weariness.
I hope that our nest of young ones live happy, and that they enjoy themselves, and more than that I hope you are well. I am becoming strangely nervous of late, for in absence of letters I conjure up many uneasy fancies. Now good bye, and don’t forget, Morris.”
Morris was in New Orleans from November through May 1858-59, as was usual. He would have had reason to be worried while writing that letter, when he had left Julie had just given birth to their fourth daughter, Lucy, and had been quite ill afterwards. He had not received a letter from Julie in over three weeks, an unusually long break in the correspondence, and would have had no way of knowing that all was, in fact, well.
Letter Excerpt, Dec. 30th 1918 Saturday, Dec 7 2013
Esperanza and Historical Events history, letters, World War One 20:41
Also known as: ‘And we think we have problems with the mail, and waiting more than five minutes for a reply? Horrors!’
“Dec. 30, 1918
My dear Dad,
Your letter of Dec. 9th and mailed on Dec. 12th just received so mail is going to be better perhaps. It usually has taken much longer you see. By Dec. 9th you should have heard from me, but Lord only knows what becomes of mail from this end. No! I’m not a Major but have had the pleasure of running three of them as operations officer thru the fighting and am back at my old job as Reg. I.O. and quite content as I’ve written before. When anything is fresh in my mind, it seems as if I could sit down and write reams of interesting stuff, but the old war is stale already and tonight no incidents pop into my head to come out on paper – when the things you wanted to know about happened old boy Censor was on the job, (he still is by the way on certain matters – casualties for one) and opportunities to sit down and write those reams were few and far between. What we want most is to sit down and talk about it and as the soldier was never accused of being any kin to the violet we will do some talking one of these days – even in talking amongst ourselves the stories that were originally concerned with patrols are now all about attacks – from some of the clippings you have sent, New York is already suffering. Wait ‘til we all descend on you!
New Year’s Eve is almost here and our mess is much troubled over the outlook – shopping for food hereabouts is difficult but today I managed to find some wild boar meat and know where the champagne tree grows – it still flourishes here – so we won’t fare badly at all. Our Xmas was a great success – did I write to thank you for the cigarettes? They helped a lot – at that time none had received a Xmas 9 x 4 brick and we All appreciated this one.”
From a letter by Capt. Bradford Ellsworth, A.E.F. 306th Infantry, 77th Division; to his father, William Webster Ellsworth, back home at Esperanza. (although by the time he received the letter, they would have closed the house for the winter and would have been in NYC, delaying its arrival even more!)
Yes, still working on that transcription project.
Gambling Man Saturday, Nov 30 2013
Historical Events history, letters 14:31
From a letter by Morris to Julie, 1856 (she was in Brockport, NY; he was in New Orleans) He was thirty (I think), managing the New Orleans branch of the business, in what was a boom town. Julie was 38, managing three children (another on the way), and elderly parents in upstate New York. The letters are a testament to a rock-solid marriage…
“For preface you must understand that Dick made a bet with John P. Fowler and Geo W. Helm on his account, in connection with Shepard and myself. As the odds were 1,000,000,000 to 1 in our favor, of course Shep and I went in. The bet was this. If Fowler got married the ensuing summer and Helm did not, Helm was to pay a dinner costing $100 – and if Helm was married and Fowler not – Fowler was to pay. If neither were married the bet was off. If both were married – Dick, Shep, and I were to pay. The extreme improbability of our losing was great odds in our favor. I had forgotten all about it – and was surprised when called on for the payment of the bet.”
The company (it ended up being a dinner for 13) involved got their money’s worth…. “Among the curiosities that were shown me next day was the following wine bill: 1 Bottle of Hock, 4 Bottles of Claret, 6 Bottles of Sherry, 12 Bottles of Champagne, 1 Bowl of Whiskey Punch.”
I am hoping that either the Champagne was actually glasses, or the bottles were small, or something. If not….
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From the Guestbook Friday, Nov 15 2013
Esperanza and Historical Events guestbook, history 19:43
‘Sketch of G.B. Bodwell engaged in playing whist; from the foreground.
July 5, 1879. WWE (William Webster Ellsworth)
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11 a.m. November 11 Monday, Nov 11 2013
Historical Events Argonne, letters, World War One 10:37
23 November 1918
La Neufor (near St. Menehould, France.)
My Dear Dad and All:
It seems strange to start a letter by naming a town, and stranger still this town, for this is where we started the great drive through the Argonne Forest to the Meuse, which we had crossed when the Boche quit.
…Since August 10th this regiment has slept under the open sky, right up until the 11th of November. On August 10th we went in on the Vesle River and scrapped there and to the Aisne. As soon as the Aisne was reached we came here, or rather to Givry in trucks, and started the greatest forest fighting in history.
…We have not had the publicity or the limelight of some others but Gen’l Pershing has said, “there is no better in the army and none that can be banked on to accomplish its task as well as the 77th.” That’s praise enough for us, and history will tell the story someday.
…Sept. 20th at 5 A.M. was the start of the attack with artillery. Lordy! How they did roar. Some days we would nibble off a kilo (kilometer), other days not a foot, but never could the Boche make us give way a foot. The Argonne is as thick a woods as you have ever seen; steep ravines covered with thick underbrush, and it was defended by the 120th division Landwehr troops, who had been in these same woods for eighteen months. They were a first-class division, and made up of woodsmen who knew every path and trick in those damnable woods…
I’ll never go into the woods again or underbrush without my heart in my throat. It was literally impossible to discover a machine gun nest except by the sudden cutting down of yourself or someone else. The manual says that machine gun nests shall be destroyed by ‘flank attacks and by the use of hand and rifle grenades and the 37 mm. gun” Oh Jay! The man or board who wrote that knows nothing. Did he ever try to throw a ball and have his arm caught by brush? Or fire a rifle grenade which would be stopped by woods in ten feet? Or pull the lanyard on a 37mm gun knowing that the shell would explode as soon as it left the muzzle? You can bet something he wasn’t thinking of the Argonne. ‘Use your auxiliary arms” Another joke. The arms you used were your own and twenty-two days of hand to hand fighting was what we got. The regiment got just that and ended up with the brilliant and expensive taking of St. Juvin and Hill 182. That was in the open, wide open, and it was this that carried men forward who were so worn and weary that they would sleep when halted under the heaviest kind of shell fire. It was the relief after being stifled by underbrush and woods that made us take that hill and carried two and part of another battalion against three regiments of Germans – youngsters this time of a Guard Division – and we licked them to a standstill. Two regiments of Hell’s children counter-attacked…and they were literally beaten to death, those that didn’t get by as prisoners.
I’ll never forget the days of October 10th and 14th. It took twelve of my best friends in the regiment that one afternoon of the 14th, but they died the most glorious death in the world and we mourn them not….
Right after St. Juvin we were relieved for fourteen days, staying just behind the lines for replacements and equipment, preparing for the push to the Meuse…and then back for another go at the Hun. We started almost exactly where we had left off…We jumped off Nov. 1st and crossed the Meuse near Stenay-Autrecourt on the night of the 6th and held there under the Boche’s nose until the armistice went into effect.
…As for staying in the army, no. I’ve done enough. I’m tired, so damned tired I’ll never get rested it seems to me…Personally, the war has brought me knowledge of men and things, what they think even without their speaking. It has brought me a greater love for my country, it has brought me the satisfaction of doing my job well.…and Dad, I’m through.
Will see you soon
Your affectionate son,
Bradford.
(Captain Bradford Ellsworth, Intelligence Officer, 306th Regiment, 77th Infantry Division)
Bradford was the son of William Webster Ellsworth and Helen Yale Smith Ellsworth.
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Historical Excerpts Sunday, Nov 10 2013
Genealogy and Historical Events excerpts, genealogy, history 13:43
From a set of notes written by Fannie Morris Smith, circa 1915, talking about her Grandmother (Charlotte nee Calkins, m1 Palmer, m2 Norton), the mother of Julie Palmer Smith, born 1804 and died 1874.
“Grandmother, like my mother, was a born nurse. In the frontier community where she lived people in an emergency came from far and near to ask her help. She enjoyed it as a spree, would put on her black silk dress and gold watch, and ride off to preside over life or death as the case might be.
Her life with John Palmer did not last long. His business in Brockport (furniture) went on the rocks and soon after he died. (I have a candle stand with exquisitely turned stem – the top one beautiful maple board – which he made to please his young wife.) Not long after his death she married Henry Pitkin Norton, a young lawyer. They had hard work to make a living at first, and grandmother raised canary birds, which, as she improved their song by whistling and singing to them, so that they had many beautiful notes, found ready sale. Every scrap of kitchen fat was saved and tried out, and in the spring the winter’s store of wood ashes was tried out and the lye boiled down to make a soft soap, which found ready sale, so did her vinegar, made of the odd spoonful of juice left from the preserves on the supper table.
Grandmother’s two leisure arts were quilting counterpanes – she drew her own patterns (one of her quilts is in the Conn. Historical Society collection) – and transferring embroidery on new linen to make fine collars and handkerchiefs exquisitely done. She used to knit red and white woolen stockings for her grandchildren, and make jars of preserves and pickles to send us. Nelley aged eight emerging from a stolen visit to the cellar, and exclaiming, “pickles, I love you!” comes back among my memories.”
*Charlotte married John Palmer at age 14, she had her only child: Julie Palmer Smith at age 15. I think she married Henry when she was perhaps 19 or so.
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Confound this pen! Monday, Oct 21 2013
Historical Events letters, writing 18:33
From a letter by Julie, winter of 1859:
“Dear Morris,
I hate to write today because this abominable old pen makes me nervous, and my head aches on the top of it to split. It rains out of doors and drizzles and drops. The clock ticks loud enough for a drum in a dead march. The children can’t go to school because the slush is a foot deep on the pavement. Altogether, I feel out of sorts, confound this pen! I have a great mind to crunch it on the floor, it spoils my temper.”
One does wonder if the original letter had an ink blot or two due to a difficult fountain pen…. Despite her difficulty with the pen, Julie goes on for a bit over a page (typed) perhaps with a new pen? There are some good things about modern computers!
Acair Fearann 