From the guestbook Sunday, Nov 25 2012 

Historical Events acairfearann 15:17

Until WWII Esperanza, though not the farm cottage, was shut for the winter usually sometime between October and December.  However, as with all older New England houses, there was heat (if no insulation or storm windows): the north end had a coal-fired hot-air system put in when it was built in 1893; the rest of the house relied on the fireplaces until 1930 when the steam system was installed.   Today the steam system runs well, but it would seem that there may have been some glitches at first:

“Thanksgiving, November 26-28, 1930. Celebration: Turkey, lots of Radio, and Grand Failure of the new heater.”

Somehow, such a sparse description is nonetheless quite vivid.   One does wonder exactly what failed and how!

 

Getting the Post Sunday, Nov 18 2012 

Historical Events , acairfearann 16:36

In this day and age of the internet, Skype, apples of the month, and phones, we don’t think much of the post.  However, it was the form of communication in the late 1800’s.  Telegrams were expensive and not always reasonable, if you didn’t know where the person might be.  Letters, however, were addressed so that they could chase the person via ship or company quite nicely.  ‘Care of’ is almost archaic today, very useful then.  In the last letter excerpt this was encountered: a package was entrusted to either a messenger or a station agent, having already passed through another individual’s hands on the way to its final agent.

Here we have Edward Hooker writing to Helen in 1875; both were travelling in Europe at the time.

To: Mademoiselle Helen Y. Smith

Passengere a bord du paquebot “Klopstock”*

partant au Havre pour New York, samedi 26 Juin, 1875

“I have been to the office of the Hamburg Co and so have the name of your ship. Will writes me that he has written you at Havre aboard the ‘Goethe’*- you may possibly get his letter by inquiries at the Post office or the office of the Steamer. From the circulars, I see you will be a whole day or more at Havre….

…Once again adieu. May we soon meet. I hope you won’t drown on the way home, that would be SO disagreeable.”

*The ‘Klopstock’ http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=klops

*The ‘Goethe’ http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=goeth

*William Gillette was then travelling as well, on board the ‘Goethe’; he presumably had left his letter to Helen at the Havre port offices.

 

Letter excerpt Sunday, Nov 11 2012 

Historical Events acairfearann 09:52

The majority of known letters* in the house are primarily between Julie and Morris, or between Julie and her daughters.  However, a few letters written to Helen by her friends during her trip to Europe in 1873-74 exist and are particularly interesting as they are generally of the same age (late teens to early twenties).

This is an excerpt from one by Barrett Wendell,** having just returned from Europe and about to start his studies at Harvard.  His few (too few!) letters are remarkably vivid and engaging, describing his travels, New York City and then Harvard and Boston.

“New York was reached last Wednesday morning. The Custom House officials barked furiously and frightened me dreadfully, but they didn’t bite a bit. The baggage-mashers were unusually considerate and my numerous boxes and bundles reached the paternal mansion in a pleasingly uninjured condition. Your photographs and your packet are unharmed, and as I pop through Hartford in a day or two, I have sent a line to your sister telling her that I will deliver them to any messenger whom she may send to meet the train, or if that should prove inconvenient, I will leave them in charge of the ticket agent to be called for. Personal experience of Express and mails renders me rather chary of intrusting fragile articles to their care.”

The letter continues on to a delightful, several page description of NYC in 1874.  Some other time perhaps.  However, it is clear that some things regarding travel, customs, and the mail don’t change…

*known letters.  I know quite well indeed that there are Boxes of letters sitting in the attic, entirely unedited and untranscribed.  It happens that Julie’s letters, and Helen’s trip, were transcribed in the 1950’s.  It makes them much easier to work with.

**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett_Wendell

“

 

Random letter Tuesday, Oct 23 2012 

Historical Events acairfearann 16:43

When Helen (Yale Smith Ellsworth) was travelling in Europe in 1873, she wrote to and received letters from her friends as well as family.  One of the larger and more entertaining collections, 43 in total, is from Edward B. Hooker*, a close friend. 

Here he describes a dancing lesson:

“I have become a dancing teacher! Who would have thought! In the first place who would have imagined I could do such a thing, and in the next place that I would. The members of the noble class of ’74 do not all know how to dance, so we go up to the hall on Friday afternoons and practice. I have the honor to be the instructor, and have begun Polka and Lanciers*….The polka boys are making fine progress and will soon be able to make miserable any girl of ordinary ability, by stepping on her toes and ramming their knees against her…I did not learn the polka of Mr. Reilly* and only know how he teaches it from observation. It created considerable amusement to see those fine boys, with coats off, standing on one foot and hopping.”

*from the Hooker family, prominent at the time on the Connecticut literary/theatre scene.

*a type of quadrille, I think!

*a former instructor judging by the rest of the context.

 

Letters Tuesday, Oct 16 2012 

Historical Events acairfearann 15:51

Julie writing to her daughter Helen (Yale Ellsworth).  Helen was travelling in Europe, Julie was going in between Hartford and Esperanza on a regular basis at the end of this second full summer at the house.  October, 1873:

“The leaves are falling from the Magnolia tree before the window. The two iron chairs stand in the little nook, tomorrow I shall take down the faded greens from the mantle and I am going to hang your picture there with Esperanza leaves all around it where I can see it every time I sit and rock before the fire. Darling, how I love you. You will never know till you have a Nell of your own to torment you and comfort you and occupy your thoughts and time, and fill up all the little nooks in your heart. Ned and Lucy went to a Beethoven concert last night, they quarrel a good deal but I believe are quite good friends after all. Mrs. Hooker has come out with a queer book about women. Your Mama, Julie.

 

Random guest book entry Sunday, Sep 30 2012 

Historical Events , acairfearann 12:08

“‘That though I come

In winter’s guise

The flight of years

Has left me wise

Oh Carey! Choose

The glance of truth,

Ripe age prefer,

To heedless youth!”

This decidedly enigmatic poem was written in the by Annie Elliot Trumbull, from Hartford in 1880.  Enigmatic because of the allusion to ‘Carey’; who is it?

Annie was born in 1857, died 1949, and was the daughter of James Hammond Trumbull, Connecticut’s first State Librarian, noted philologist, and antiquarian.  Annie was an author, writing short stories and taking a definite interest in Hartford/Connecticut history.  That she knew Julie and WWE comes as no surprise.

 

Of weddings Sunday, Sep 23 2012 

Esperanza and Historical Events and Landscapes acairfearann 12:02

Esperanza has seen several family weddings, though none in living generations.  It has also seen its share of funerals.  Equal measure.

From September 1906, a newspaper clipping describing the wedding of Lucy Morris Ellsworth and George Mason Creevey:

“One of the most elaborate out-of-door weddings to take place in this State that has taken place for some time…Lucy Morris Ellsworth, daughter of William Webster Ellsworth of the Century Company of New York, was married to Dr. George Mason Creevey of New York. The wedding took place under the trees fronting the house on Esperanza Farm, Mr. Ellsworth’s summer home….. (genealogy)…(guest list)…the wedding was perfect in every detail. The house was draped with greens, with here and there decorations of goldenrod.  The trees were hung with gaily coloured ribbons of many different hues. An orchestra occupied a retired spot on a side veranda and furnished the music. The ceremony took place in a small wooded bower, twenty bridesmaids lining the pathway from the house….

so forth through a description of the dress, list of bridesmaids, gifts etc.

The bower is still there in part.  Of the two massive Norway spruces that made the front frame, only the south one survives at 109 feet in height.  Beyond though is a veritable cathedral grouping of several more Norway spruces and pines, all at well over 80 feet in height.  Now if only I could get rid of the road…

 

 

Concerning daguerreotypes Thursday, Sep 13 2012 

Historic Photos and Historical Events , , acairfearann 12:34

In today’s digital world, photographs of people are as ephemeral as the time of their taking.  Images are so common that the majority have little intrinsic meaning or value.  For Julie and Morris, images of the people they loved had a very different value.  They were rare, and given as tokens of affection and remembrance.  Ownership of the image was shared, the person might take it back if the relationship soured.  Because of the physical distance between Julie and Morris, images play an important role right from the beginning. 

In the course of their letters, they discuss miniatures painted on ivory and the daguerreotype, which had entered the stage in 1839.  It was still a very uncertain process, however, and rare.

In 1848, Morris writes: “Speaking of pictures puts me in mind of my daguerreotype. I have had four taken in my life time besides the two you have, and of those four, not one remains perfect. By some chance they have all come back to me and every one has been spoiled and discoloured by the air. I hope that those you have have not suffered a like fate. Yours is as when first taken. I wish that some more experienced artist would visit Rochester and make it his abode, that we might procure more perfect ones.”

I have not examined our collection of daguerreotype, but it is possible that those early ones still exist.  If ever there were miniatures on ivory, they have vanished, however.  I do find the Rochester reference an amusing foreshadowing.

 

On love letters Tuesday, Aug 28 2012 

Historical Events and Uncategorized acairfearann 13:42

In an interesting difference from today’s tendencies; it was only after Julie and Morris were engaged in April 1848 that strong passion becomes as much a part of their letters as literary discourses or recounting of activities and the letters are openly labelled as love letters.   They remain very conscious of the medium of letters and the possible misunderstandings inherent to letters; both ask the other to tell them if a letter seems overly emotional or overly reserved.

Almost immediately after they were engaged, Morris headed out on various travels: Cleveland, back to NYC, and then to New Orleans where he began to establish his business. Julie remained in Brockport, caring for her parents and teaching.  They had no clear idea as to how or where they would eventually live together, only that they would.  It would be nearly two more years before they would marry, in the meantime they would see each other only once.

Julie’s confidence in the future is beautifully expressed here in a letter from 1848:

“Another day rest with those before the flood. Its cares, labors, and pleasures are numbered with things that were, but not its hopes. They float on brightly into the future. They lightened yesterday’s burden, still pointed onward today, and are nearer fruition now that the sun hath set again. Tomorrow will bring them more clearly in view, if we have tomorrow. God keep those in His care tonight, dear Morris, “Sleep on, and dream of me!” did ever you hear that pretty song? When we meet again, we will sing it together. And that won’t be very long. When we have counted a few more sunsets, we will sit together, and happier than we were before.”

 

Travelling Tuesday, Aug 21 2012 

Historical Events , acairfearann 12:32

I commented to someone recently that the beauty of old letters is their ordinary nature: people were and are motivated by the same concerns, whether this century or the last; they may be foreign but they are not alien.  But once in a while a letter will illuminate how things have changed.  I just drove down from Montreal, about seven hours rolling time*, by myself in a comfortable car.  Not, in this present time and country, an unusual trip.

Here is a description from a letter by Morris of a section of a stage-coach trip in New Hampshire in 1846: “We started from Plymouth (heading to Franconia Notch) with a stage filled with an incredible number of passengers- that is incredible for the accommodations of a stage- Twenty-Two, only nine inside, thirteen outside.  It was very warm and the horses pulled their heavy load slowly. In the evening the clouds obscured all light from above and we on top the vehicle using all our efforts to prevent being thrown off, striking our heads against the boughs of the trees, and the tops of bridges, earnestly entreated the driver to stop for the night.  He drove up at a small seven by nine tavern situated somewhere in the outskirts of Grafton. It was not a fit place to stop in, but necessity obliged us as it was now after midnight. With difficulty we found cribs where we could stow ourselves till daylight, and we all tried to sleep till five o’clock in the morn, when there was no use in trying anymore, for our driver with a loud voice told us the stage would start in five minutes.”

 

*that is not counting the near 2 hours at customs or the hour stuck in construction here and there…

 

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