Jane Austen's Inspiration: Beloved Friend Anne Lefroy

Jane Austen's Inspiration: Beloved Friend Anne Lefroy by Judith Stove is a deeply researched look into Jane Austen's dear friend Anne Bridges Lefroy (1747-1804).

Anne was an interesting and intelligent woman, a clergyman's wife and a writer, a mother and a promotor of smallpox vaccination. Anne's husband's nephew was Tom Lefroy, notorious for Jane Austen's mentions of their"profligate and shocking" behavior of "dancing and sitting down together." Their flirtation came to an end with Jane writing, "My tears flow as I write."

We don't really know what occurred between Tom and Jane, but Ben Lefroy's wife Anna Austen wrote that Tom's mother Anne disliked him for "he had behaved so ill to Jane Austen." Was Jane's heart wounded? Were the pair separated by Anne Lefroy, as in the story of Persuasion? Yet at her death, Jane wrote a heartfelt poem for Anne Lefroy.

Stover combs through first sources for clues to their relationship--including Austen's letters and Anne Lefroy's letters--in the first chapter, The Austen Connection. In part two, Anne Before Jane, she covers Anne's family history. Part three, Through a Glass Darkly, considers Anne's life and family and the events and society of her time. Your Angel Mother tells of Anne's death, Jane's memorial poem, and concludes the stories of her children. The book includes illustrations.

I do not recommend this book for the casual Austen reader. This is not a narrow focus on the relationship between two women. The scholarship is detailed and broad, offering an understanding of Anne's heritage and times.

I received access to a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

from the publisher:In the first biography of Anne Lefroy, Judith Stove investigates the life of a writer who had was a key influence on the life and works of Jane Austen.
As a female writer of both prose and verse, Anne was a source of inspiration to Jane as she developed her own talents. Jane was closer in age to Anne’s children, yet despite their age difference, they developed a mutual respect and admiration for each other over many years.
Judith Stove brings a wealth of insight to this illuminating history of a literary friendship. She has uncovered a rich background of information relating to Anne Lefroy’s circle, and her book addresses developments across a period of great social and political change. Setting Lefroy’s life in context, she looks at the war against Napoleon and illustrates evolutions in healthcare as well as changes in religious beliefs and practices that impacted upon the lives of Lefroy and her circle.

Jane Austen's Inspiration: Beloved Friend Anne Lefroy
by Judith Stove
Pen & Sword
Pub Date 31 Jul 2019 
EDITION: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781526734204
PRICE: £25.00 (GBP)

Helen Korngold Diary August 11-14, 1919

Helen Korngold, Dec. 1919, New York City

This year I am sharing the 1919 diary of Helen Korngold of St. Louis, MO.

After graduating from Washington University and taking a trip to Colorado, Helen is enjoying a more relaxed summer. Soon she will begin her teaching career!

August
Monday 11
Tired

Tuesday 12
Fashion Show

Wednesday 13
Nothing exciting

Thursday 14
Started housecleaning

Friday 15
Worked

Saturday 16
Rested

Sunday 17
Spiro’s party. Good time.

NOTES:

Aug 17

Spiro is likely Bonnie Young's cousin, Bernard Spiro, mentioned in the diary on April 18 and June 18 when they went driving.

The Fashion Show was big news in St. Louis. It featured clothing made in the city.

August 4, 1919, St. Louis Star and Times article

August 5, 1919, St. Louis Post-Dispatch article

August 5, 1919 article in the St. Louis Star and Times was concerned with the 'lack' of skirts--"the tighter the better". Jazz Age apparel was beginning...

August 9, 1919, St. Louis Star and Times

August 10, 1919, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Ad

August 12, 1919, ad in St. Louis Post-Dispatch

August 13, 1919 article in St. Louis Star and Times informs that the day Helen went to the Fashion Show they needed extra seats placed to handle the crowd!

August 18, 1919, St. Louis Star and Times article about a motor coat of calf and kid valued at $950. Adjusted for inflation, that coat was over $14,000!

August 19, 1919, St. Louis Post-Dispatch article

The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Mcneal

The Crystal Palace was built to house the first International trade fair. Championed by Prince Albert, the exhibition hall was a showcase of the Industrial Age's newest inventions. The art displays impacted Victorian taste and inspired an interest in Japanese and Moorish art. Objects included the rare, like the Kooh-N-Nor diamond, and the commonplace, like three Kentucky-made bed quilts. Then there were the curiosities of which the Victorians were so enamored. Fourteen taxidermists had displays like stuffed kittens sitting at a table having tea.

The Crystal Palace is at the center of Elizabeth Macneal's novel The Doll Factory.

It is Dickensian in its sweep of characters.

There are the enterprising street urchins Albie and his sister, children who take up any work to provide for themselves--including prostitution and providing dead animals to the taxidermist Silas Reed.

Silas, damaged, unloved and unloveable, is one of the most interesting and chilling villains, more complicated than Bill Sykes and less self-aware than Uriah Heap. Silas is most drawn to curiosities, things both grotesque and lovely.

Silas is fixated on the girl Iris, whose collar bone was broken at birth, leaving her with a marred beauty.

Iris works painting porcelain doll faces with her sister Rose. Iris longs to escape the drudgery of her work, secretly painting with dreams of being an artist. Rose's gorgeous beauty was ruined by smallpox, leaving her bitter. Albie earns a bit by sewing simple skirts for the dolls.

And into this mix we have Louis Frost, a bohemian artist in the new renegade school of art called the Pre-Raphelite Brotherhood.

Louis needs a model for his painting. Iris longs to escape the drudgery of doll faces, secretly painting with dreams of being an artist. A pact is made: Iris will model for Louis and he will teach her to paint.

Iris blossoms under Louis's tutelage. But a jealous Silas fantasizes she really loves him. We are taken into a horrifying descent into Silas's sick world, with a Gothic plot twist, and a climactic ending.

I loved this journey! As a devotee of Victorian Age literature and art, and for the page-turning thriller ending, it was perfect.

I was given access to a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Doll Factory
by Elizabeth Mcneal
Atria Books
Publication August 13, 2019
$27 hardcover
ISBN13: 9781982106768

ISBN

The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell

Few people outside of Michigan know anything about our Upper Penninsula (UP). As a matter of fact, a recent Mt. Dew ad featuring a map of America drew Michigander's ire when the UP was colored to be part of Wisconsin!

The UP has its own peninsula jutting into the deep inland ocean of Lake Superior, the Kewanee Penninsula. And a short distance from the top of that arm is Calumet, Michigan. Today it is a village of about 800 people. But in the late 19th c when the UP was a center of copper mining there were 40,000 souls there.

The copper was mined for 120 years. It was break-backing, dangerous work. Waves of immigrants found their way to Michigan's lumber and mining industries. The UP was particularly attractive to immigrants from Finland but drew from across Europe. These unskilled laborers were put to use with a sledgehammer and shovel, and cheaper than mules, used to push the loaded cars.

Mary Doria Russell's new novel The Women of the Cooper Country recreates Calumet in 1913 in rich detail, drawing on actual people and events.

Women and children of Calumet, MI

Called the Paris of the North, Calumet had grown into a modern town, built by the wealth from the Calumet & Hecla copper mine. But profit-driven capitalism meant management rejected workers demands for a shorter workday, a living wage, and safe work conditions. A new drill allowed a miner to work alone instead of in pairs. It was cost-saving but put the men at higher risk.

Miner with a single-man drill, cost savings that came
with increased danger to the miners.

The workers debated unionizing. An unusual labor leader arose, Annie Clements, a miner's wife born in Calumet to Slovakian immigrants. She had seen too many families with maimed men and boys, too many funerals.

What is the price of copper? It was men's limbs and lives. It was men too tired to live, self-medicating with drink. It was widows and orphaned children. If the men would not organize, the women would lead the way.

Journalists made Annie the Joan of Arc of America.

Annie

Annie is helped by Eva, who over the nine months of the strike grows from a dreamy girl to a woman. Nationally known union organizers come to help, including 'the miner's angel' Mother Jones and the Socialist labor organizer Ella Bloor.

The mine is under the management of John McNaughton, and Russell's portrait of him as a cold-hearted capitalist fixated on the bottom line is chilling. McNaughton is a xenophobe whose anti-immigrant slant hardens his heart even more. In his view, Europe is gleefully exporting its 'wretched refuse' to America, and Washington has done nothing to stop the continual labor strikes across the nation. It won't happen here, he vows.

The novel had a slow start for me but picked up later. At times, I felt some distance from the events. A critical scene is off-screen when the emotional impact would have been greater through Annie's eyes. The story builds to a horrendous tragedy, describing a real event, with great emotional impact.

The changing role of women and their broadening choices is shown through the characters.  And there is romance, from infatuation and unhappy marriages to illicit affairs and true love.

It was interesting to learn more about this slice of Michigan history and the history of unionizing in Michigan.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Women of the Copper Country
by Mary Doria Russell
Atria Books
Pub Date 06 Aug 2019
ISBN 9781982109585
PRICE $27.00 (USD)

The Quincy Mine 

Helen Korngold Diary: August 4-10, 1919

Helen Korngold, December 1919, New York City

Continuing to share Helen Korngold's 1919 diary, early August found Helen back home after her Colorado vacation.

August
Monday 4
Hung up clothes. Went to Darlene Young’s in evening. Clarence Hirsch went. Had a nice time. Tired.

Tuesday 5
All tired. Ironed until 3. Played at Aunt B[Beryl Fry] with kids. Home. Flora Siegfried came over in the evening. Talked a lot. Went to bed.

Wednesday 6
Lazy.

Thursday 7
Quite the same

Friday 8
Cleaned up. Temple. Met some nice people.

Saturday 9
Fooled around. Went over to Grandma’s – Driving in the evening.

Sunday 10
All-day picnic at [illegible, Pickers?] with Choral Club- had a wonderful time.

Helen's diary pages

NOTES:

Aug 5

Flora Siegfried (1890) on the 1900 St. Louis Census was at school, daughter of clothing merchant Joseph Siegfried (Austria/German-born in 1860) and his wife Fanny. Other siblings were Minnie, Jennie, and Celia. They had a servant Mary. By 1910 Flora was a bookkeeper. In 1920 Flora was still a bookkeeper and her sisters were stenographers, all employed in clothing manufacturing. By 1930 Joseph had passed and Flora was a stenographer still living at home.

*****

In the news:

August 10, 1919, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Dr. M. M. Madden, a "negro attorney" of Oklahoma City, OK, was a delegate to a conference at the Free Will Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Louis, MO, which proposed the creation of a "negro state" as a way to end race problems.


Page one article in August 10, 1919, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Solution of Negro Question




Perhaps less controversial was the battle of the cursives.

Baker Family WWI Memorabilia

My friend Bev Olson has a crate filled with family mementos. Treasures include handkerchiefs and Sweetheart Pillow tops and a flag and photographs from WWI.

Bev's grandfather Ross Baker, the man sitting in the chair in the photograph below, served in WWI.

He brought home a handkerchief and photos from France. You can see the photographs are not postcards, but are on thin photography paper that is curling on the sides.

On the back of the photos is a description written in pencil.

 Armistice Day

The ruins of Rheims Cathedral.

 Side view of the cathedral at Rheims.

 The Church at Corcy.

 Soisson Cathedral.

 Place de la Concord, Paris, Armistice Day.

 General Pershing's car, Dec. 14, 1918.

 President Wilson's arrival in Paris. Dec. 14, 1918

 President's arrival in Paris.

 'Chow Time' postcard.

Ross Baker's son Donald Ross Baker, Bev's father, served in WWII. Donald's WWII Draft Registration card of 12/20/1945 shows he lived in Royal Oak, MI with his mother Tillie A. Baker. Donald was 24 years old, was 5' 11" and 145 pounds with blue eyes, brown hair, and light skin.

The photo below shows his unit.

He sent home Sweetheart Pillow cases.

 Bev even has one her father's U. S. Army Field Ration Dinners!

Of course, I had to do genealogy research on the Baker family.

I found the marriage record for Ross W. Baker and Tillie Doebler. They married November 23, 1920, in Royal Oak, MI.  Ross worked at an oil station and Tillie was an operator. It was the first marriage for both. The officient was Walter, F. Hetzel, and Hawley W. Hopp and Mrs. Hawley Hopp of Redford, MI were the witnesses.

The marriage record shows that Ross's parents were Herman Baker and Josephine Remley. 

The 1920 Census shows Herman Baker, 56 years old, was born in Canada to German parents. He immigrated to American in 1867 and was naturalized in 1889. Herman was a general carpenter. Josephine, 60 years old, was born in Michigan to German-born parents. Their son Ross W., age 32, was born in Michigan and worked as a carpenter.

I found a family tree on Ancestry.com showing Herman Baker b. 1862 in Canada and died 1934 in Royal Oak, MI, with wife Josephine F. Remley (1857-1931) and children Pearl (b. 1887), Minnie (b. 1893) and Roswell (b. 1888.) They had linked the 1910 Census showing Roswell Baker, age 20, working as a farm laborer, living with parents Herman and Josephine and above-named siblings. The tree shows Josephine's father Henry was born in Prussia and her mother Fredericka Ritter born in Mecklenburg, Germany.

Tillie's parents were William Doebler and Sophia Schrambeck or Schwanbeck, both born in Germany. An Ancestry.com family tree shows they also had children Charles (b. 1884), Winifred (b. 1887), and Frederick H. (b. 1891) along with Tillie Anna (1890-1970).

The 1930 Census shows Ross (40 years old), Tillie (40 years old), and Donald R. (8 years old) living in Royal Oak, MI. Ross was a WWI Veteran working as a truck driver. Their home was valued at $3,000. Ross and Tillie were both first-generation Americans; Ross's father was Canada English and his mother was born in Germany. Tillie's parents were born in Germany.

The 1940 Census shows Tillie, age 50, a housewife, and Donald, age 18, working as a clerk with a salary of $650.

Donald married Lavina Mintz on November 13, 1944, in Santa Anna, Orange Co, California. Lavina was born 1928 in Fredonia, North Dakota to Arndt Edwin Mints and Caroline Whittmeyer, and she died in 1983 in Royal Oak, MI. 

Her great-great-grandfather Ferdinand Mintz (Munz) family came from Bessarabia, Russia in 1890. Before that, the Munz family lived in West Prussia and another generation back in Rheinland-Pfalz. So, the family were Palatine Germans driven from their homeland, first into Poland/Prussia and then into Russia--like my husband's Bekofske ancestors. 

Donald passed in June 1986, in Clawson, MI.

Here is the Baker family tree:

First generation:

Herman Baker married Josephene Remley, daughter of Henry Remley

Second generation:

Herman and Josephene had child Ross W. Baker

Ross Baker married Tillie Doebler, daughter of William and Sophia Schrambeck

Third generation:

Ross and Tillie had son Donald Ross Baker

Donald Ross Baker married Lavina Minty, daughter of Arndt Edwin Mintz and Caroline Whittmeyer and great-grandaughter of Ferdinant Muntz.

Fourth generation:

Don and Lavina had daughter Beverly