#Alice's daughter comes to visit her Uncle Edward

[mariana-oconnor]

The Copper Beeches pt 3

I hope you are anxious to hear the conclusion of the case of ‘The Copper Beeches’.

Yes. Yes I am. Because while it's now pretty certain that the Rucastles are not part of a sex-trafficking ring, they're still really fucking creepy and now I also have to worry about the poor dog who is also being abused.

Family of serial killers, I swear.

"Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Yes, the wine-cellar."

...

😈😈😈😈

"You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not think you a quite exceptional woman."

Leeeeeeettle bit condescending there, Holmes. Although I feel like I am just more sensitive to that because modern perspective and experience. However, I do think think this section needs noting, if only because of all the people who are determined that Irene Adler is the only woman Holmes ever saw worthy of a compliment. Nothing against Irene, she's great, but Violet Hunter deserves better. She's been doing all the legwork herself this case, and she's made a pretty decent detective.

"If you could send her into the cellar on some errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate matters immensely."

...

heh

heheheh

...

"Of course there is only one feasible explanation."

I still want to know what the other six possibilities were, Holmes. I want to know.

"Miss Alice Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of course, yours had to be sacrificed also."

Miss Alice Rucastle is having the worst year. First she's sick so badly she has to cut her hair off. Then her father imprisons her in her own home. And on top of all of that her stepbrother is a serial killer in training. Worst. Year. Ever.

"The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the child."

Really? That's the most serious point? Like, I agree it's not good. He's clearly showing signs of anti-social behaviour, aggression, and a worrying taste of having the power of life and death over other living beings, but I'm not sure I'd say that was the most urgent thing right now. I think getting Alice out is the most important thing. You can get him some serious therapy later.

"This child's disposition is abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their power."

Ah, okay, you're saying that it's serious because it indicates the level of danger involved. Sure, yeah, okay.

Can't disagree on this point. It's certainly not a good sign.

ALSO, one other thing that has been bugging me since part 2. Does the kid know where his half-sister is? Is he aware she's locked up? He can't be, right? Because there's no way he wouldn't have let something slip. But at the same time, he's just unaware of a whole ass person being imprisoned in his home? It's weird. He's weird.

Dear Little Edward the murderer in training is either oblivious or very good at keeping creepy secrets.

I'm not sure about the stepmother. On the one hand, the crying and the quiet indicate that she's also being abused. But on the other hand she was the one to catch Violet with the mirror and then use it to further the scheme. Although she didn't say 'she has a mirror', which would have made Mr Rucastle angry. That whole bit is weird. Was she trying to stop Violet from getting into more trouble, was she trying to save their scheme? I don't know. But then, if she's living with Rucastle and her darling son all day every day, she's probably been ground down pretty far.

A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Mrs Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring on the kitchen rug."

Suddenly there came a clanging As of someone wildly banging, banging at the cellar door.

And Mr Toller didn't even make it to bed? He's just passed out on the kitchen floor? He's lucky there's a rug in there and it's not just flagstones.

Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence Holmes's face clouded over.

Not a particularly good sign...

"Now, Watson, put your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our way in." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty.

Breaking down doors! Love a bit of action with my mystery.

"Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did it." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not there when the Rucastles went away." "He has come back and done it."

But why would he climb up a ladder when he could just open the door?

I mean we know of the existence of at least one other person who would want Alice Rucastle out of that house and who wouldn't have a key to her room.

I'm just saying, Holmes.

"He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "I have my revolver," said I.

Oh no... poor doggo.

Please don't kill the dog, Watson. Please.

We had hardly reached the hall when we heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out at a side door. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!"

Two days?! Two fucking days? Seriously.

But it kind of sounds like the doggo is getting revenge. Good boy. Good boy! You eat the bad man.

There was the huge famished brute, its black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great creases of his neck.

Holy fuck this action escalated quickly. That is graphic and also... poor dog. I mean... I doubt it could have been rehabilitated at this point, but still. Poor thing never had a chance.

I do not remember this story being this brutal. Holy shit that guy's throat was ripped out.

Can't say I'm sorry. Glad the dog got its revenge before it died.

"Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains were wasted."

I mean, you didn't exactly give her reason to trust you? Why on earth would she? This is the most ridiculous 'you should have talked to me' ever.

"If there's police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend too."

I mean, were you? Were you? Alice's friend, sure. But were you Violet's friend in all this?

"He knew he was safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use her money."

It's Mary Sutherland all over again, just with more violence. Hey, Holmes. Holmes! You remember how you sent Mary Sutherland back into that life and didn't warn her about it? Huh? You remember that? Maybe thinking that wasn't such a good idea now? Huh? Are you?

I've had it with these men and their refusal to let their daughters have their own goddamn money.

"When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door."

I know this is like a common Victorian cause of illness and all that, but I'd be real suspicious about that brain fever, because it feels like poison is a real possibility rn.

"...that didn't make no change in her young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be."

Good for him. Basic minimum achieved. I mean, also he's been trying to get her out of this house, so he's also gone above and beyond. I'm glad he and Alice got away in the end.

"But Mr Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your interests were the same as his." "Mr Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said Mrs Toller serenely.

Oh, she did it for the money. Not such a good samaritan. But then if she were, she would have just smuggled the girl out.

Mr Rucastle survived, but was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it difficult to part from them.

I will admit I am sad the guy survived that. I'm not sure how he survived it. He had a mastiff's teeth 'buried in his throat'. He's insanely lucky his carotid wasn't torn open. But I suspect he doesn't do a lot of laughing anymore. So sad.

You couldn't have waited a little longer before shooting the poor dog, Watson? Let it get its revenge?

Also, that household sounds utterly terrible to live in still. Just a lot of horrible people being horrible to each other because they literally can't get away. And what about the child? What about dear little Edward? Is he still in there with them? I can't imagine that this made him less of a serial killer.

And the man doesn't get arrested for imprisoning his daughter?

Justice has not been served this day.

And that kid is going to grow up and kill a lot of people. I'm just saying. This isn't so much an ending as a 'to be continued'.

As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success.

Good for her.

Also, Watson, leave Holmes alone. He doesn't need a wife. He's fine. It is amusing to see that commentary, though. Like... there were 0 vibes of Holmes being into her. He complimented her a couple of times and was concerned for her safety. But he kept comparing her to a sister and there was no hint of romance in the whole thing. Watson is a bit delusional sometimes.

[lukeskywaker4ever]

King Pedro V and the British Royal Family

D. Pedro V, who reigned in Portugal between 1853 and 1861, remained in the history of Portugal as "the Hopeful" and the "well-loved". Son of D. Fernando de Saxe-Coburgo-Gota, he had very close family ties both with Queen Victoria and with her husband, Albert, Prince-consort of the United Kingdom, since his father was the son of Fernando de Saxe- Coburg, brother of Queen Victoria's mother and Prince Albert's father.

Even before Pedro was born, shortly after his marriage to D. Fernando, his mother, Queen D. Maria II 

exchanged correspondence with Queen Victoria, mostly about their domestic lives and, more rarely, about the political situation their countries. When D. Pedro was born, D. Maria II kept her cousin up to date on her son's developments. Queen Victoria, however, was not as convinced as the cousin of the advantages of having children, as the following passage from Maria Filomena Mónica's book "D. Pedro V" reveals:

D. Maria II thought that the benefits of having children outweighed the costs. In one of the letters she sent to England she stated (...) “'when the cousin has children she will understand better what I say and see how sweet it is to treat children, hoping with all my heart that this will happen to you soon'”. But Queen Victoria did not share these feelings. When she told D. Maria that she was not only afraid of childbirth, but was suspicious of the pleasure of having children, she was so surprised that she admonished: “'I think that when you love your husband, you want and love having children.' “For Queen Victoria, the fact that she loved her husband did not mean that she had to accept, with delight, successive pregnancies. (...) On November 22, 1840, when Queen Victoria asked her about whether she wished to have more children, D. Maria II replied: "I consider that when a woman marries, it is to have children and therefore, it is natural that we wish them and, besides, I love children extraordinarily ".

D. Maria II made the traditional distinction between the pleasure of having a son or a daughter. When Vicky, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, was born, the Portuguese monarch told her cousin that it was a pity that she had not been a boy before, something, moreover, that would soon take place, with the birth of Prince Albert Edward, whom Bertie's petit-nom would be put. D. Maria then prevented her cousin from the possibility of Vicky becoming jealous of her brother, something she had noticed in D. Pedro, when Lipipi was born, the diminutive that the family started to use to designate D. Luís.

D. Maria II ended up dying very young, on November 15, 1853, when she gave birth to her eleventh and last child who died shortly afterwards. D. Pedro V was only sixteen years old and, since he was still a minor, a regency led by his father, King D. Fernando II, was formed.

Before officially ascending the throne, on May 28, 1854, D. Pedro V set out on an educational trip through Europe and the first destination was England. In her biography of D. Pedro V, Maria Filomena Mónica describes this trip, also using excerpts from the diary that D. Pedro wrote at the time:

"On the 2nd of June, the [boat] Mindelo was going to Southampton. It was 11 pm when D. Pedro received, on board, the visit of the Portuguese ambassador, Lavradio, as well as several personalities, including Colonel Wylde (assistant of Prince Albert), who knew Portugal well, because he was here for a few months in the service of the British crown. The next day, the princes went by train to a station near London, where they were awaited by Prince Albert , having proceeded to Buckingham Palace, where Queen Victoria was waiting for them. (...)

Here is how the reception is registered upon arrival at the royal palace: "It was noon when we entered Buckingham Palace. The Queen and Duchess of Kent were waiting for us on the stairs and, shortly after, Princesses Victoria, Alice, Helena and Luísa and princes Albert and Alfred." He continued: "We saw the garden, which is beautiful for its disposition rather than for its intrinsic qualities." Upon returning from the walk, a servant appeared, announcing the arrival of the Duke of Wellington, the son of the general who had fought against the French in Portugal. Then, with some of the English princes present, they went to lunch."

D. Pedro started a relationship - with Uncle Albert - that would prove to be extraordinarily important. On that first day, Queen Victoria's husband showed him his library, drawing attention to Gauer's work on the Natural History of Birds in Australia, which the two leafed through with pleasure. In the afternoon, D. Pedro went to visit the Duchess of Gloucester [Augusta de Hesse-Cassel, daughter-in-law of King George III], the Duchess of Cambridge [Mary of the United Kingdom, daughter of King George III], and the Duchess of Kent [mother of Queen Victoria], after which Colonel Wylde showed him some pictures belonging to the British crown."

In the following days, D. Pedro went to visit other places in the country.

"After this foray, he returned to London, where the Count of Lavradio was waiting for him at the station. On the 1st of July he went for a horse ride with his uncle in Hyde Park and, at night, to the English theater, where he watched a play which didn’t go down in history, after which he said goodbye to members of the royal family and to the Portuguese residing in London. It was 6:00 am on July 3 when Mindelo left Woolwich on his way to Belgium. England, the country would come to occupy the top of his preferences."

[panlight]

What do you think the Cullens and the Pack (specifically Jake and Leah) would be up to this (2018) Christmas IF the series had ended as you have outlined before? No Nessie, Bella has killed, Bella had to leave her entire human life behind, etc.

With Renesmee not existing, Jacob never imprints on anyone. Eventually he decides he can’t put his life on hold waiting for something that might never happen, and fell in love and got married and now has three kids–son Will and twin daughters Sarah and Izzy. Billy died a few years ago and Jake’s sisters aren’t in La Push anymore, but he has an open invite to spend the holidays with the Clearwater-Swan family. Jacob stopped phasing when Billy died. Charlie and Sue have been married for awhile. They hit a rough patch when Billy died, because on his deathbed Billy told Charlie everything. Charlie was obviously upset with Sue for keeping it all from him, but they eventually worked it out and got back together. They have no way of contacting the Cullens, though, and with Seth and Jacob so intertwined with Charlie’s life, Alice can’t see him very well. Still, Charlie takes some small comfort in the idea that Bella is out there, somewhere. 

Leah’s living in Seattle and travels a lot. For a long time, like Jacob, she was afraid to get close to anyone because she worried she might imprint on someone else and accidentally do to someone what Sam did to her, but eventually she just said “fuck it” and started dating. She stopped phasing soon after leaving Forks and is aging again. She is bringing home her partner this Christmas for the first time in a long time. She never introduces her significant others to her family until she’s pretty sure this is a long-term thing. There are too many family (and supernatural) secrets to risk exposing just a casual romance to. She almost refused to go out with her current girlfriend because her name is Samantha. Leah’s the only one who calls her ‘Sammy’ instead of Sam. Maybe “Leah and Sam” was meant to be, after all–it was just the wrong Sam before. Seth is working as a nurse and loves his work so much he hasn’t settled down with anyone yet. He’s still phasing, too–he’s sort of the leader of the pack now that most of the older members have stopped phasing to grow old with their imprints and/or spouses. Between the two ‘jobs’ he just hasn’t had time to start a family of his own, but loves being “Uncle Seth” to Jake’s kids. Sam and Emily have been married for awhile, but it turns out they are unable to have biological children. Everyone is shocked–isn’t that the point of imprinting? They end up adopting, and Sam institutes some reforms on the way ‘the secret’ is handled, with likely candidates for becoming wolves being told ahead of time, so what happened to him won’t happen to anyone else. The other Cullens are doing what they’ve been doing for 100 years or so. Making the most out of an existence none of them chose. Edward is happier now with Bella but still worries that she will come to regret her choice. Carlisle is still doctoring. Emmett finally decided to complete a degree–in accounting, of all things–to everyone’s amazement. He does the complicated family taxes now. Alice and Rosalie have renewed their friendship, and it’s Rose that Alice now designs and buys clothes for, much to Bella’s relief. Jasper’s control is somewhat better, Esme substitute teaches on occasion but finds that she likes her renovation and architectural work more. Bella hasn’t slipped up in 10 years but is still careful and cautious and has realized that vampirism isn’t a fairytale, but it was still the right choice for her. Bella visits Forks every few years, just to check and make sure Charlie and Jake are doing okay. No one ever sees her, of course–she’s just watching from a distance. But when she visits Christmas 2018, Edward (who always comes with her) overhears Charlie’s thoughts about how he misses Bella. Charlie’s thought are always somewhat muffled to Edward, but he clearly heard that he wishes he could see her one more time “even if she is a vampire.” He turns to Bella with an angelic smile, “He knows, love. Billy told him when he passed away 3 years ago. He knows you are still alive–well, sort of. He knows what we are, and wants to see you.” Bella’s look of panic melts into one of quiet determination. She and Edward walk hand-in-hand to the front door of Charlie’s house. She takes a deep breath and knocks. 

[packedwithpackards]

Bob Mills's quest to learn more about his family lineage

As I was going through some papers  yesterday, I came across letters between my grandfather, Bob Mills and his uncle Theodore "Tom" Packard in 1970. Unfortunately, the letters I have are incomplete so I cannot tell the full story, but I'll do the best I can.

On September 6th, 1970, Tom Packard, living on Summit Street in Plainfield, MA wrote Bob Mills with familiarity, glad that Bob had written him as he had misplaced Bob's letter. He said he remembered Bob's father, Robert "Bert" Byron Mills II, whom had come to visit Tom's father, Cyrus W. Packard at the farm. He even recalled that Bert and another one of his friends drove the first "Interstate" car he had ever seen and remembered that Bert had "lost some fingers  in an ensilage cutter." Tom even mentioned Bert's foster father, Robert "Uncle Rob" Byron Mills I, whom was in Heath with Charles Packard before he died, even coming to Plainfield to stay with Tom and his family. It was here that Bob would get a photo of Charles, Bob, Hattie, and others together, along with photos of John and Margaret Bibby, although the latter two were not within future family history Bob would write, The Packard-Mills Family History.

Likely the photo of John, Charles, and RBM II that Bob referred to.

Colorized photo of Margaret Bibby, the wife of John Mills, courtesy of my sister blog, Milling 'round Ireland. This could be one of the photos Tom sent to Bob.

Photograph of John Mills, courtesy of my sister blog, Milling 'round Ireland. This could be one of the photos Tom sent to Bob.

Photograph of RBM I and Stanley, courtesy of my sister blog, Milling 'round Ireland. This could be one of the photos Tom sent to Bob.

There are varied other pictures of RBM and Hattie, so I'm not sure exactly to which ones Tom is referring to, but he clearly was more than willing to share information.

As his letter goes on, he says that his father, Cyrus, married three times, first to Nellie Mason who "died in childbirth in 1789 [sic, should be 1889] of german measles," noting that with Dora Mills he had various children, which included: John Henry (born Oct 15, 1882, died Oct 28, 1950), Margaret Alice (born Jan. 27, 1884) whom was still living by Sept 1970 and had married Kenneth Brown of Melrose, Massachusetts on September 2, 1913, having 1 daughter and 2 sons, with Kenneth  dying on April 7, 1947, and Joseph Winfield (born June 17, 1885) whom was said to be "killed on railroad in Nebraska Mar. 9 1910" and was buried in Sioux City, Nebraska (a place that does not exist!). Other children of Dora and  Cyrus were, he recounted, Charles Edward (born May 6, 1887 and died on Nov 4, 1960) whom married Bertha Churchill in 1919 and lived at a farm in Heath, where he and her were buried, and Marian Estelle (born Feb. 13, 1889, died June 13, 1965) whom married Edward Dean on March 23, 1908 with both living in Bridgeport, Connecticut until his death in 1954, after which she married John Nocker and was buried in West Hill cemetery.

He goes onto name a number of other children of Dora and Cyrus: Robert Byron (born Jan. 9, 1891) whom was "adopted by Uncle Robert Mills" and married Miriam Hirst on June 5, 1921, correctly noting he had Bob as his son but incorrectly said Stanley was his son (he was actually the son of Rob and Hattie), and Mable Hattie (born July 19, 1892) who married Giles Whitley (whom died in 1920) and had 2 sons and 2 daughters, later marrying Joseph Landstrom (whom died in May 1962)  with whom she had five daughters, dying on December 1, 1961. He also notes that Charles married a second time after Bertha's death to Pearl Gleason in Heath, a woman whom died on  Feb 1, 1956, and they had one  son named Douglas E. whom lived in Shelburne Falls and they  had 2 daughters, one of whom was married. For Margaret, he noted that she, at the time of the letter's writing, living with her son at 2113 Pepper Street in Burbank, California. Apart from noting that  Mable Hattie, John, and Marian are buried in West Hill Cemetery, he notes there  is a "stone for Joseph who was buried in Nebraska."

In the last part of his letter, he  talks about the  five children Cyrus, his father, had with Clementina Cheney. These are: Olive Martha (Oct. 23, 1896-Jan. 20, 1969), Herbert Miles (Oct 6, 1898-Aug. 30,  1966), Rachel May (Apr 13, 1900-Sept.22,1933), himself on May 2, 1902, and Harold Cyrus (Aug 24, 1907). The letter  ends with him noting that his father died  on April 2, 1924, his brother on June 27, 1923, saying he would be willing to provide  further information, giving a quick sketch of the line of descent which can be visualized as: Cyrus-William Henry-Barnabas  III-Barnabas II-Barnabas I-John-Zaccheus-Samuel, then saying that the Packards are "supposed to be from the Norman Family in France of Picard" and came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. After hoping Bob would visit and write in the meantime, he ends,after his signature, by saying "I can supply adresses [sic] of other branches of the Packard Family if you wish."

On September 17th, Bob wrote back Tom with delight, saying that "both I and everyone in the family were delighted to re-establish contact with the Packards," with information Tom  provided  used  to construct a chart of family history and fills in a lot of gaps,  although he hoped any errors could be corrected.

This is the family chart Bob created. Current names and information about living individuals have been redacted

Bob's biggest question was the early life of his father, Robert "Bert" Mills (originally Packard) with his birth father, Cyrus, and mother, Dora, saying he only had vague recollections. He said that his father was apparently named after Dora's sister, Robert, and says he has "a picture of Dora and Cyrus Winfield Packard, as well as two pictures of the farm at Plainfield and these are in a family album." I don't think pictures of that farm in Plainfield and am not sure if the photos of Dora and Cyrus he references have fully survived to the present. After this he highlights how his father died on April 11, 1956 in his sleep as a victim of a stroke, had been a Fire Chief of Cheviot for almost 30 years (1926-1956?), with his mother as Miriam Esther Hirst (born on June 4, 1899), further noting that the "Hirst family were early settlers in the U.S. from England, and this family goes way back in English history." He even says that his aunt, Marjorie Hirst (Frame) was inspired by his family chart on the Packards, then setting about "trying to  reconstruct a similar history of  the Hirst family."

Bob continues in his letter by talking about his mother and other matters. On his mother, he notes that she died on June 18, 1961, dying from an illness of years which was "complicated by diabetes and  cancer," noting that she, like RBM II, Hattie, and Stanley  were all buried in Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery. Interestingly, he notes that Stanley, the "only natural son of Uncle Rob and Hattie, did in 1934 at the age of 33 years from causes which have never been clear to anybody," suspecting the death from drugs, and that he never married at all.  He goes onto note the three children of his parents, including himself, who was born on June 5, 1924, marrying Florence Louise "F.L." Schaefer (born August 17, 1926), meeting at Antioch College, with F.L.'s family coming from Nutley, New Jersey. He also notes his own two children of his own, which he was proud of, but I will not name them at this time as both are currently living. After this, he outlines the two other children of his mother and father, his siblings. One is Helen Eileen Mills (born August 5, 1929) who married Alex Efthim (born November 29 1916), the latter being a "large Albanian family from St. Louis," with Alex being a professor of Social Work at Detroit's Wayne State University, with them having one child. He then goes to list his sister, Carol Ruth Mills (born August 19, 1930), noting that she married Paul Edward Sieck in 1951, whom he describes as the "Vice-President of a local manufacturing concern," and have four children, two of which were adopted.

He ends his letter by writing that he and his sister Carol had been discussing possibly visiting Plainfield within the next year, possibly while skiing at nearby Berkshires. He then asks to tell more about Douglas Packard and his respective family in Shelburne Falls, along with Tom's brother, Harold Cyrus. The letter ends with "Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness."

On September 27th, Tom Packard sent a response to Bob. He doesn't have much to say about the death of Dora, saying she "did before my day" and only knows family lore, recommending that Bob write to Margaret Packard (Brown) in Burbank, California since sh was "about 11 years old when her mother died [and] she had a good memory of those matters." He adds, about Dora, that she married his father, Cyrus, in Glens Falls, New York, and that she "did here of consumption on Feb. 5, 1895." His letter goes onto note that there  are various areas in the Berkshires Hills for skiiing, and adds that he owns the old farm (which "burned out in 1946") which was owned by his father, along with adjoining land. As he describes it, "the old plave [sic] still had many pleasant memories, and all the brothers and sisters always enjoyed getting  back for a visit."

He concludes his letter by hoping to see Bob and his family the coming winter, and thinks they should write to Margaret. He also enclosed a photo of his father "taken a few months before he died," which he notes was from a brain tumor, and that he "was  in much pain for a few weeks before he sank into a merciful comer [coma?]" while his mother "died of heart  trouble the year before."

The image on the far right is from the one that Tom sent, with the others I found from other records. The full image is reprinted in The Packard Mills Family History.

Photograph of Cyrus Packard in the Packard-Mills Family History

There are many questions from this exchange of letters? Did Carol and Bob visit Plainfield and meet with Tom? That is never known, as the next letters pick up in 1976. Further discussion of some of this topics will resume on my sister blog, Milling 'round Ireland, while others will be on this blog. Until next time!

Sources of information for this post:

Typescript letter of Tom T. Packard to Bob Mills, Sept, 6, 1970, within Family Records folder and black binder for family records. Typescript letter of Bob Mills to Tom T. Packard, Sept.  17, 1970, within Family Records folder and black binder for family records. Typescript letter of Tom T. Packard to Bob Mills, Sept. 27, 1970, within Family Records folder and black binder for family records.

Note: This was originally posted on Apr. 14, 2019 on the main Packed with Packards WordPress blog (it can also be found on the Wayback Machine here). My research is still ongoing, so some conclusions in this piece may change in the future.

© 2019-2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[caddyxjellyby]

Alcott Readathon 2018: Jo’s Boys (1886)

"Miss Alcott's books are all delightful, and Jo's Boys is one of the best of them." - Boston Evening Transcript

"Thousands of readers will approach this later book with keen curiosity. They will find it lacking in some of the spontaneity of its predecessors, yet still an interesting volume[.]" - Unknown

"Its romance has a singular strain of youthfulness about it, which hardly enables one to feel in it the dignity of real love, courtship, and marriage." - The Critic

"The fault of the story is that there is too much of it. One is bewildered by the numerous boys and girls, and finds it hard to keep the run of 'who is who.' " - The Providence Sunday Journal

"A trifle labored and tedious." - The Graphic

In 1882 LMA helped start Concord's temperance society, destroyed most of her mother's diaries, raised her niece Lulu, and mourned her hero Emerson. In October she started Jo's Boys, originally intended a St. Nicholas serial. That same month Bronson had a stroke. In February 1884 she described the book's future as uncertain.  In December 1884 she started again, writing two hours for three days, which made her ill with vertigo for a week. In April 1886 she mentions working on it for one hour a day, a limit ordered by her doctor. In June she moved from Boston to Concord and was able to finish 15 chapters. July she turned in the manuscript and it was published in England in September and America in October.

1: Ten Years Later

Mr. Laurence is dead and left his fortune to found Laurence College. Marmee is also gone. Hannah is not mentioned. Mr. March is the school chaplain.

Franz is in Germany with his merchant uncle. Emil was sent on a long voyage in the hopes that he would give up on sailing, but the opposite happened. Dolly, George, and Ned study law. Nan and Tom study medicine. It's not mentioned where Nan went, but LMA's friend Dr. Rhoda Lawrence went to Boston University School of Medicine.

Jack is in business in Chicago. Nat attends the Conservatory. Dick and Billy are dead, the narrator claiming "life would never be happy" for them which is both disgusting and an odd contradiction of statements made in Jack and Jill. Rob is gentle and quiet but manly inside. Ted is loud and mischievous. Demi disappointed Meg by becoming a reporter, as LMA's elder nephew Frederick Pratt did. Daisy is "her mother's comfort and companion." Josie, 14, amuses them with her love of theater. Bess, 15, is tall and beautiful. Dan went to South American for a geological expedition, then Australia for sheep farming and is now in California.

Nan and Tom walk to Plumfield. He's in love with her and she brushes him off. He got a blue anchor on his arm to match hers. Josie runs after Ted, who stole her copy of The Lady of Lyons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

The four meet Jo, Meg, and Daisy for tea. Demi arrives with the news that Emil will return soon and Franz is engaged to Ludmilla.

2: Parnassus

Amy and Laurie's house. Laurie critiques Bess's clay baby. "You can't see beauty in anything but music," she answers. Amy made marble busts of Beth and John.

Nat's about to leave for Leipzig. He loves Daisy, but Meg disapproves because they don't know his family and music is a hard living.

Josie and Ted ask their grandfather to weigh in on their debate.

'Why, we were pegging away at the Iliad and came to where Zeus tells Juno not to inquire into his plans or he'll whip her, and Jo was disgusted because Juno meekly hushed up. I said it was all right, and agreed with the old fellow that women didn't know much and ought to obey men,' explained Ted, to the great amusement of his hearers. 'Goddesses may do as they like, but those Greek and Trojan women were poor-spirited things if they minded men who couldn't fight their own battles and had to be hustled off by Pallas, and Venus, and Juno, when they were going to get beaten. The idea of two armies stopping and sitting down while a pair of heroes flung stones at one another! I don't think much of your old Homer. Give me Napoleon or Grant for my hero.' Josie's scorn was as funny as if a humming-bird scolded at an ostrich, and everyone laughed as she sniffed at the immortal poet and criticized the gods. 'Napoleon's Juno had a nice time; didn't she? That's just the way girls argue—first one way and then the other,' jeered Ted. 'Like Johnson's young lady, who was “not categorical, but all wiggle-waggle”,' added Uncle Laurie, enjoying the battle immensely. 'I was only speaking of them as soldiers. But if you come to the woman side of it, wasn't Grant a kind husband and Mrs Grant a happy woman? He didn't threaten to whip her if she asked a natural question; and if Napoleon did do wrong about Josephine, he could fight, and didn't want any Minerva to come fussing over him. They were a stupid set, from dandified Paris to Achilles sulking in his ships, and I won't change my opinion for all the Hectors and Agamemnons in Greece,' said Josie, still unconquered. 'You can fight like a Trojan, that's evident; and we will be the two obedient armies looking on while you and Ted have it out,' began Uncle Laurie, assuming the attitude of a warrior leaning on his spear.

They're interrupted by Emil, Josie's favorite cousin, who has presents for everyone. Nan's earrings are skulls, but Josie says she won't wear them.

3: Jo's Last Scrape

Several years before, when Plumfield was in bad shape, Jo "hastily scribbled a little story" about herself and her sisters. To her astonishment it became a bestseller. Rumors exaggerate her fortune, which makes me wonder about the rumors because in 1887 LMA gave John and Frederick Pratt $25,000 each. In then dollars.

Rob reads her fanmail over breakfast - people seeking autographs, advice, donations; a love poem; and a little boy who thinks her books are first-rate.

Ted tells a reporter who visits that, "She is about sixty, born in Nova Zembla, married just forty years ago today, and has eleven daughters." (Forgive me the mixed quotation marks.) A woman and her three daughters come, Fritz with a bunch of his students, and a woman collecting a grasshopper and a shawl to put in a rug.

Jo retreats to her room, determined to finish 30 pages, but there's a man who won't leave. It's Dan. "I've been longing to see you for a year," she says.

4: Dan

He tells her about California and the money he got from investing in mines. He doesn't recognize Bess - "I thought it was a spirit." "Two years have changed you entirely," she replies.

Everyone starts making plans to head West. Dan thinks he might settle on a farm or return to the Montana Indians. They're dying of starvation, "a damned shame."

I don't think I understood before that "she never grudged her Jack a glass" referred to alcohol.

Jo calls the girls and the seven boys "the flower of our flock" and mentions for the first time Alice Heath, a Laurence College student.

Dan brought Ted a mustang, Josie a dress to play Namioka in Metamora, and a buffalo head for Bess.

'Thought it would do her good to model something strong and natural. She'll never amount to anything if she keeps on making namby-pamby gods and pet kittens,' answered irreverent Dan, remembering that when he was last here Bess was vibrating distractedly between a head of Apollo and her Persian cat as models. 'Thank you; I'll try it, and if I fail we can put the buffalo up in the hall to remind us of you,' said Bess, indignant at the insult offered the gods of her idolatry, but too well bred to show it except in her voice, which was as sweet and as cold as ice-cream. 'I suppose you won't come out to see our new settlement when the rest do? Too rough for you?' asked Dan, trying to assume the deferential air all the boys used when addressing their Princess. 'I am going to Rome to study for years. All the beauty and art of the world is there, and a lifetime isn't long enough to enjoy it,' answered Bess. 'Rome is a mouldy old tomb compared to the “Garden of the gods” and my magnificent Rockies. I don't care a hang for art; nature is as much as I can stand, and I guess I could show you things that would knock your old masters higher than kites. Better come, and while Josie rides the horses you can model 'em. If a drove of a hundred or so of wild ones can't show you beauty, I'll give up,' cried Dan, waxing enthusiastic over the wild grace and vigour which he could enjoy but had no power to describe. 'I'll come some day with papa, and see if they are better than the horses of St Mark and those on Capitol Hill. Please don't abuse my gods, and I will try to like yours,' said Bess, beginning to think the West might be worth seeing, though no Raphael or Angelo had yet appeared there. 'That's a bargain! I do think people ought to see their own country before they go scooting off to foreign parts, as if the new world wasn't worth discovering,' began Dan, ready to bury the hatchet. 'It has some advantages, but not all. The women of England can vote, and we can't. I'm ashamed of America that she isn't ahead in all good things,' cried Nan, who held advanced views on all reforms, and was anxious about her rights, having had to fight for some of them. 'Oh, please don't begin on that. People always quarrel over that question, and call names, and never agree. Do let us be quiet and happy tonight,' pleaded Daisy, who hated discussion as much as Nan loved it.

Jo, Meg, and Amy all vote for the school board; Demi says he'll escort Nan and Daisy next year.

5: Vacation

Funny how in books like this and The Secret Garden, exercise makes you grow less thin because working up an appetite makes you eat more.

Demi takes photos, particularly of Bess. Nat and Daisy hang out all they can.

At the good-bye dance Laurie takes Jo on a tour. Emil sits on the roof serenading girls with Mary's Dream and tossing them roses.

The second window framed a very picturesque group of three. Mr March in an arm-chair, with Bess on a cushion at his feet, was listening to Dan, who, leaning against a pillar, was talking with unusual animation. The old man was in shadow, but little Desdemona was looking up with the moonlight full upon her into young Othello's face, quite absorbed in the story he was telling so well. The gay drapery over Dan's shoulder, his dark colouring, and the gesture of his arm made the picture very striking, and both spectators enjoyed it with silent pleasure, till Mrs Jo said in a quick whisper: 'I'm glad he's going away. He's too picturesque to have here among so many romantic girls. Afraid his “grand, gloomy, and peculiar” style will be too much for our simple maids.' 'No danger; Dan is in the rough as yet, and always will be, I fancy; though he is improving in many ways. How well Queenie looks in that soft light!' 'Dear little Goldilocks looks well everywhere.' And with a backward glance full of pride and fondness, Mrs Jo went on. But that scene returned to her long afterward and her own prophetic words also.

Nan takes a splinter out of Tom's hand; he says it's the only time she was kind to him and too bad he didn't lose his arm. "I wish you'd lost your head," she says because his hair pomade stinks.

Ted poses on a stool as Josie and others give commentary. Jo explains they're planning for the upcoming play.

George and eat while complaining about the unladylike amount the girls eat. It proves that studying is bad for them.

A girl says to another that the dress she thought was elegant at home looks countrified here. Second girl tells her to ask Mrs. Brooke for advice.

Nan and Alice interrogate the young men over whether they believe in Women's Suffrage (yes, yes, and yes). You know what I really like? When people recognize that voting isn't the be-all end-all of women's legal right. When people recognize that legal rights aren't social rights and the former existing doesn't magic the latter into existence.

6: Last Words

Meg, weren't you married at 20? Isn't Daisy 20? I'm just saying.

"Girls, have you got nice pocket handkerchiefs?" jokes Jo as her sisters leave for church.

Jo talks to Nat about himself and about Daisy, claiming it's better to have no promises made until his return. "No one will be quicker to see and admire the brave work than my sister Meg. She does not despise your poverty or your past; but mothers are very tender over their daughters, and we Marches, though we have been poor, are, I confess, a little proud of our good family. We don't care for money; but a long line of virtuous ancestors is something to desire and to be proud of."

On the roof she lectures Emil on his new duties as second mate. "Jack ashore is a very different craft from what he is with blue water under his keel," he says. The narrator hints he'll remember this later.

Dan confesses that in San Francisco he gambled a little. Jo cautions him against it and he reassures her. He knows his biggest fault is not gambling but his temper, and he's afraid he'll kill someone one day. She gives him Undine and Sintram to borrow.

7: The Lion and the Lamb

With their parents at the mountains and the Laurences at the shore, Rob and Teddy have the run of the house.  Dan's dog Don won't eat or play. Ted suggests he's sicks; Rob says he's just pining for Dan and goes back to writing Latin verses. Ted switches Don, Don gets angry, Rob jumps in front of Ted and Don bites his leg. Nan decides it must be burnt with a poker. Rob takes it like a trooper but Ted faints.

Jo and Fritz note that Rob's even more serious and Ted's a little less wild. Ted claims it's his brother's influence but Jo coaxes the truth out of them.

8: Josie Play Mermaid

Josie's idol Miss Cameron is also at the shore, but she has a private beach and it's hard to see her. One day she loses her bracelet and Josie dives down to fetch it. Miss Cameron invites her over and Josie gives Ophelia's mad scene and a bit from a farce and Portia's speech.

"You've a good voice and natural grace," says the actress and advises her to finish her education and start training when she's older. They blah blah about purifying the stage. Josie starts hitting the books and piano to the delight of her family.

9: The Worm Turns

Tom appears at Jo's with an awful scrape: he's engaged. Oh no Nan didn't! says Jo, but it's not Nan, it's Dora West. Nan mentioned her in Chapter 1.

Down at Quitno he was rowing and the boat capsized but she wasn't mad about it. Later she was riding on the back of his bicycle and a donkey kicked it and they fell. She cracked up and said "Let us go on again" and he replied about going on forever. Jo thinks it's hilarious and a good match. Dora's ability to take things in stride will serve her well if their hypothetical future child is anything like young Tom.

Tom hints that Demi flirted with Alice. "A great dead of courting goes on in those [tennis] courts."

Nan is pleased and resolves to buy Dora a medicine chest for a wedding present. He gives up medicine and goes into business with Bangs Sr.

10: Demi Settles

Demi tells Meg he quit reporting and she's very glad. He got a place at Jo's publisher as Frederick and the real John did.

They talk about Josie and the upcoming plays and Demi promises he'll protect her if she treads the boards.

Josie teases him, via a reference to The Old Curiosity Shop, about spooning with Alice and he tells her not to be silly.

11: Emil's Thanksgiving

My favorite chapter! The Brenda, Englishman Captain Hardy commanding and his wife and daughter Mary aboard, is en route to China when there is a FIRE IN THE HOLD. ABANDON SHIP. Captain Hardy is pushed overboard by a falling mast and knocked out.

They float for three days and then start to worry. During the fourth night two sailors steal the brandy bottle and fall overboard.

A sail appears, but it's too far away to notice the little boat. Emil despairs during the night until Mary singing a hymn he knows from Plumfield brings to mind Jo's talk.

Then it starts to rain and a ship comes to rescue them. What day is it? Emil asks. Thanksgiving!

12: Dan's Christmas

Dan, traveling west, befriends a younger boy, Blair, who reminds him of Ted. Some guys cheat at cards with Blair, Dan calls them out, one draws a pistol, and Dan punches him. The guy hits his head on a stove and dies. Dan gets sentence to a year in prison.

A real life incident appears. LMA and Bronson visited a prison in 1879 and she told the occupants a hospital story. The Sunday before Thanksgiving, the same thing happens to Dan, and it inspires him to not participate in the revolt the other men are planning.

He sends Jo a note at Christmas.

13: Nat's New Year

In Leipzig, Nat brags a little too much about his connections, so people assume he's upper-class and invite him to balls and plays and beer-gardens. He spends a little too much money and plays the gallant with Minna, whose mother confronts him about his intentions. When the bills and a letter from Plumfield arrive at New Year's he resolves to stop being a socialite.  His landlady gets him a job teaching English. It must be nice to have connections.

14: Plays at Plumfield

"As it is as impossible for the humble historian of the March family to write a story without theatricals in it as for our dear Miss Yonge to get on with less than twelve or fourteen children in her interesting tales, we will accept the fact, and at once cheer ourselves after the last afflicting events, by proceeding to the Christmas plays at Plumfield; for they influence the fate of several of our characters, and cannot well be skipped."

Everyone is excited by Miss Cameron's attendance. First a farce with Alice as Marquise, Demi as the Baron, and Josie as a soubrette. An accident with the scenery leads to Nan plastering up Demi's injury, but the look on Alice's face makes it worth it to him.

Meg stars as a country widow with Demi and Josie as her kids.

Up until now I thought Owlsdark Marbles was a real play, but turns out it isn't. Laurie is a professor who introduces the audience to his statues: Ted as Mercury, Josie as Hebe, Nan as Minerva, Demi as Apollo, Jo and Fritz as Juno and Jove, someone (Tom?) as Bacchus, and Bess as Diana.

Dan's letter arrives but he gave Jo no address.

15: Waiting

Word reaches Plumfield of the shipwreck and they all mourn Emil. Jack writes and Ned actually visits. Josie takes it very hard until Miss Cameron tells her to take her tragedy like her fictional heroines do. They learns he's not dead and Ted expresses it: "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious by these sons of Bhaer!"

Nat studies hard, gets a visit from Franz and Emil (a good potential fanfic scene), and is chosen to play in a London concert.

Dan counts the days til he's released in August. He can't bear Ted and Jo knowing his shame so he decides to head back to Montana.

16: In the Tennis Courts

Josie and Dolly play tennis and drag each other's schools. Bess chimes in that the cousins are accustomed to sensible conversation, not gossip. Dolly asks why she wears Harvard's color if it sucks so much and she tells him her hat is scarlet, not crimson.

The cousins leave and Jo brings finds Dolly and George. "I knew the boys would be killing themselves with ice-water; so I strolled down with some of my good, wholesome [root] beer. They drank like fishes. But Silas was with me; so my cruse still holds out. Have some?"

She lectures them about overeating, alcohol, and having sex with girls from the Opera Bouffe.

17: Among the Maids

Jo, Meg, and Amy host a sewing circle for the young women.

Here Mrs Meg was in her glory, and stood wielding her big shears like a queen as she cut out white work, fitted dresses, and directed Daisy, her special aide, about the trimming of hats, and completing the lace and ribbon trifles which add grace to the simplest costume and save poor or busy girls so much money and time. Mrs Amy contributed taste, and decided the great question of colours and complexions; for few women, even the most learned, are without that desire to look well which makes many a plain face comely, as well as many a pretty one ugly for want of skill and knowledge of the fitness of things. She also took her turn to provide books for the readings, and as art was her forte she gave them selections from Ruskin, Hamerton, and Mrs Jameson, who is never old. Bess read these aloud as her contribution, and Josie took her turn at the romances, poetry, and plays her uncles recommended. Mrs Jo gave little lectures on health, religion, politics, and the various questions in which all should be interested, with copious extracts from Miss Cobbe's Duties of Women, Miss Brackett's Education of American Girls, Mrs Duffy's No Sex in Education, Mrs Woolson's Dress Reform, and many of the other excellent books wise women write for their sisters, now that they are waking up and asking: 'What shall we do?'

One girl would like to be George Eliot and Jo likes her but not as much as Charlotte Bronte. I haven't read Eliot and I love Jane Eyre the character but not so much the book.

Amy's friend Lady Ambercrombie visits them.

18: Class Day

I used to think Class Day was a Victorian thing, but I found that Harvard and Yale still use it. Harvard's website has

a piece on its history from the year JB was published.

Ted dandies up, leading Jo to call him "the ghost of a waiter" and Josie a "long, black clothespin." For part of the day he wears a false mustache which leaves some visitors thinking there are three Bhaer sons.

Alice gives the best speech of the day.

While everyone's chilling and singing a carriage rolls up. Out step Franz, Ludmilla, and Emil with Mary. "Uncle, Aunt Jo, here's another daughter! Have you room for my wife too?" Wouldn't you love to see this scene on film? I so would. Why not tell us? asks Jo. Because you thought it was hilarious when Uncle Laurie did it, says Emil.

19: White Roses

Demi wants to tell Alice; Josie suggests he copy a Maria Edgeworth story and send her three roses - bud, half-blown, and full-blown. Josie delivers them and Alice ponders the questions. Her parents are ill and need her at home. Is it fair to ask him to wait? She overhears Meg and Daisy praising her and John.

They meet at the party and good old Tom interrupts them. "Music? just the thing." Alice starts to play Bide a Wee, which describes her situation so well she can't even sing the middle verse. It was one of the first things I ever researched on the internet.

20: Life for Life

Dan chances upon a mining friend who hires him as overseer. The mine caves in and Dan leads the rescue of the miners. He gets injured but they all survive. The family learns about it from a newspaper. Ted runs away to see Dan and Laurie chases after him.

When he's better they bring him to Plumfield. He confesses to Jo about prison.

21: Aslauga's Knight

Everyone fusses over Dan; Josie reads to him; Bess molds her buffalo head in his room. He asks Bess to read him Aslauga's Knight. She and Jo are surprised he likes that story. Jo realizes he's in love with Bess. Dan confirms it and tells how he used to dream of Bess in prison.

22: Positively Last Appearance

Laurie's connections get Dan a post as a Native American agent. He startles Bess by kissing her good-bye.

After Dan leaves, Nat returns. It's a bit strange that barely interact in this book. Daisy cries and hugs him. He plays the same song he did at the beginning of LM.

Epilogue time. All the marriages turn out well. Nan, Josie, and Bess have successful careers and the younger two find "worthy mates." I love how mates doesn't mean husbands. "Dan never married, but lived, bravely and usefully, among his chosen people till he was shot defending them, and at last lay quietly asleep in the green wilderness he loved so well, with a lock of golden hair upon his breast, and a smile on his face which seemed to say that Aslauga's Knight had fought his last fight and was at peace." George is an alderman and dies of apoplexy. I don't think LMA likes him. Dolly finds himself in a tailor's employ. Rob is a professor and Ted follows in his grandfather's footsteps as a minister "to the great delight of his astonished mother. And now, having endeavoured to suit everyone by many weddings, few deaths, and as much prosperity as the eternal fitness of things will permit, let the music stop, the lights die out, and the curtain fall for ever on the March family."

The final line gets brought up a lot. IMO it reflects LMA's state of mind and her struggles with her health. She died less than two years later.

[yanceyrenee-blog]

Chapter 99 Housecall Twilight fanfic

When she awakes the next morning her eyes are sore and red but her mind is clear. She heads towards the bathroom to wash her eyes out.

" Okay Bella Black," she tells herself," you have decided. Now just have to figure out when and how to tell Edward." She sighs and walks out to start her and her boys day.

She is surprised a few hours later by a visit from Carlisle.

" Hi Carlisle. Come on in. What brings you by?"She leads him into the living room. The boys what been sitting quietly playing. They get loud when they see their Uncle Carlisle.

" Well hello there boys." He greets them with a smile. They crawl over and pull themselves up using his legs. He looks to Bella.

" Yes," She laughs," They just started doing that."

He bends down and sweeps a child up in each of his arms.

" You guys will be walking in a month or so."

" Werewolf genes. I am not looking forward to them walking. It is hard enough to keep up with them crawling.

Carlisle takes a seat still holding the boys.

" The why Bella would you want to have another?"

" Alice."

" Yes. She wanted me to know so we could try to figure out how to prepare Edward."

" Oh. I am so sorry."

" You need not be Bella. You are happy. You have a right to live a life that makes.you happy."

" I just wish there was a way to not hurt Edward while doing it."

" Me too. But truly Bella, why would you want another child now?"

" Well it is not now. It will be after they are a year old. We want.them close together in age. So they will be good friends. Besides, why we are enveloped in diapers, we figure why not stay there."

" Makes sense Bella."

" Is that why you came by? To ask me why?"

" One reason. And also, as your doctor, I want to ask you to please come in for a check up, a complete physical a month or so before starting to try. I want to make sure everything is okay."

'" Thanks Carlisle. I wasn't sure you would want to take care of me, considering."

" Bella, how many times do I have to tell you, you are like a daughter to me. That will never change."

" I...well I don't know what to say. Thanks." The boys start fussing in Carlisle's arms." They are hungry."

He hands them to her. She gets them nursing.

" That is another thing Bella. If you get pregnant, it will change your milk and they may self-wean. I wanted to warn you."

" And if they don't? Should I wean them?" So it doesn't hurt the pregnancy."

" Not necassarily. I will want to monitor you closely and will increase the amount of the pre-natal vitamins. But, it is no problem to nurse throughout."

" Good."

" I will go now Bella. Everything will work out. Try not to worry."

" Thank you. I will try."

[mycrawfordcountyancestors]

Week 13  The Old Homestead

After a couple of weeks off (the prompts didn’t inspire me, but I may revisit them if I come up with some ideas), I’m back at it. This week’s prompt for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is The Old Homestead.

This photo shows my great-great grandparents, Edward L. and Euphemia (Tracy) Wiseman, and their children outside their home in Crawford County, Illinois. The children from left to right are: Tura, Rollie, Elsie, and Harry. I don’t know an exact date for the photo, but I’d estimate it was taken between 1895 and 1898, based on the age of my great-grandfather, Rollie.

I’ve communicated with my dad and his older brother (my Uncle Larry) this week regarding the photo. This is a beloved family photo and it is usually brought to our annual family reunion for display. We think the home stood on an 18¼-acre parcel located a couple of miles north of Stoy in Section 22 of Township 7N, Range 13W. There’s a possibility, though, that this house was on a 40-acre parcel north and west of Oblong on Section 17 near Kibbie, but the note on the back of the photo says, “near Stoy,” so I’m inclined to think that this was on the land (18 acres) closer to Stoy.

Dad and I spent a bit of time looking at Google Earth this week, and we were able to locate this property, bordered on the west by Onion Creek. On a 1930 plat map online, I found an 18-acre parcel of land with the initials, E.L.W.—Edward Livingston Wiseman, corroborating Dad’s memories. According to the will of Edward’s mother Sarah Wiseman, this 18 ¼-acre parcel was to be divided three ways after her 1894 death—Albert was to inherit 6 1/8 acres on the southern part of this property, James the northern 6 1/8, and Edward was to inherit the middle 6 acres. This is part of the southwest ¼ of the northeast ¼ of Section 22, and the transcribed will names the southeast ¼ of the northeast ¼. I’m assuming this is a transcription error on the part of the clerk.

The 40 acres owned by Sarah was a couple of miles west and approximately one mile north of the 18 acres: SE ¼ of NE ¼ of section 17, Township 7, Range 13W. In Sarah Wiseman’s will, signed on 10 January 1883, she indicates that she was currently living on this parcel of land. She desired for this land to be divided three ways as well, with each son getting 26 and two-thirds rods—Edward, the western third, Albert, the middle third, and James the easternmost third.

I have a suspicion that there was some land swapping going on between the brothers. I looked at an 1898 plat map and noticed that the 40 acres in Section 17 is not divided into three sections, but two. Jas. Wiseman has 20 acres and A. Wiseman has 20 acres. The land parcel in section 22 isn’t divided at all. It has the intitals ELW, and the number 20 (18 acres, rounded up, I presume). It seems that Edward exchanged his third of the 40 acres for his brothers’ shares of the 18 acres—and created the homestead that my dad and uncle remember with mostly fond memories. The 40 acres was owned by an A. M. Wilken in 1930.

An $1100 land sale from W. N. Wilkin to Sarah Wiseman was made on 31 December 1872. The land sale wasn’t recorded until 30 September 1878, in book 29, page 104. In the Description column of the land sale index is the word “described.” I have not had the opportunity to look at the land deed books. Uncle Larry thinks that both the 40-acre parcel and the 18-acre parcel were purchased at the same time.

I’ll now share some of my dad’s and uncle’s memories of the place my dad calls “The Farm.” A flat area east side of Onion Creek and west of the house was tillable. My dad remembered in the 1940s walking alongside a wagon and hand-picking corn here with his dad (Ray Wiseman) and grandpa (Rollie Wiseman). Behind the house, the creek curved, and the land fell off into the swampy bottomland of Big Creek. More tillable land was to the north. Dad remembers following his grandpa and a plow in this field and picking up newly-turned potatoes and putting them in a basket. A nice stand of oak and shagbark hickory stood to the north as well. Dad remembered camping there with his brother Larry, and later, with high school buddies. Between The Farm and the Big Henry Woods to the east was a fence line. Dad remembers a couple of half-buried car bodies there. How did they get there? Were they the family’s old cars? Dad and Uncle Larry remember hunting squirrels and rabbits in this area. Dad remembers his grandpa Rollie taking him back into a swampy area and showing him two large bald cypress trees and telling him that bald cypress trees weren’t too common in that part of Illinois.

Both my dad and uncle remember visiting the house a few times in the early-mid 1940s, when their great-uncle Harry lived there. The house stood on a hill on the south end of the property. It had a dirt floor as you entered but the rest of the home was floored. There was a well in front of the house that had a wooden cover. In later years one had to be very careful to locate the well because the cover was obscured by tall grass. It would’ve been easy to fall through the cover. In my dad’s teenage years, after Uncle Harry moved out of the house, my dad would buy a box of rifle shells for 50 cents and go to The Farm to shoot bottles. The property was littered with old medicine bottles, as Uncle Harry and Aunt Mae were herbalists, and helped many local people improve their health. Uncle Larry thinks that the house was gone by the mid-1950s. After the death of Rollie in 1963, the 18 acres was deeded to his widow (my great-grandmother Martha (Cramer) Wiseman. Shortly afterwards, it was deeded to my great-uncle Donald. After his death, it was sold to a non-family member as timberland.

My dad took me to the remnants of The Farm about fifteen years ago and I remember there was no access road to the property. We parked alongside the road and walked maybe a quarter of a mile through a field, across a small stream, and into some woods.  No buildings stood on the property at that time.  Fortunately, we didn’t encounter the well.

The older gentleman in the photo, my great-great grandfather Edward L. Wiseman, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on 22 January 1839. After his father’s death in 1857, his mother Sarah (Mankey) Wiseman moved with her six living children to Jackson County, Texas. Edward stayed on the Texas ranch during the Civil War to help his widowed mother. He ultimately lost two brothers to the war—one dying in battle and the second after years of imprisonment as a prisoner-of-war. The Texas ‘experiment’ ended in 1867, when the family, reportedly worth nearly $700,000 (in today’s dollars) in the 1860 census, met with financial difficulties and returned to the Midwest.

In 1870 Edward, his mother, and brothers James and Albert lived in Turman township in Sullivan County, Indiana, presumably having moved there to be near Sarah’s sister Lydia A. Secrist. The family’s real estate and personal property value in 1870 was reported as today’s equivalent of $25,000—quite a change from ten years before. Edward had attended medical college in Cincinnati before moving to Texas and was enumerated as a physician in the census. The family also has record of him later practicing medicine in Crawford County as well.

Euphemia Tracy was born in Crawford County on 6 March 1851, the youngest daughter of Loyd and Jane (Kirk) Tracy. Loyd and Jane, along with Loyd’s brother Elijah Tracy and his family, moved from Licking County, Ohio to Crawford County in 1846. In 1850 and 1851, Loyd purchased 160 acres in western Robinson township and eastern Oblong township, northeast of Robinson, from the U.S. government land office located in Palestine. Sadly, Loyd died when Euphemia was about 18 months old.

On 6 October 1878, Edward and Euphemia married in Crawford County. Shortly afterwards, they moved to Richland township, Labette County, Kansas. In the 1880 census, Edward was enumerated there as a farmer. Brother James was farming in adjacent Neosho township in Cherokee County. By 1883, Edward and Euphemia added two children to their family. Daughter Elsie was born on 7 November 1879 and son Harry was born on 8 January 1881. Based on birthplaces and birthdates for children, Edward and James were back in Illinois by the mid-1880s-James in Jasper County and Edward in Crawford County.

Elsie Lee Wiseman and Harry Lamar Kirk Wiseman were born in Labette County, Kansas. Elsie married William Reynolds in 1918, and died in Paris, Edgar County, Illinois in 1945. Older son Harry Lamar Kirk Wiseman was born in 1881. He married Mae Servison in 1909 and died in Crawford County in 1964. Tura Alice Wiseman was born in 1883 in Illinois. She married Henry Tracy in 1906 and died in 1945. My great-grandfather Rollie Mankey Wiseman was born in 1886 in Crawford County. He married Martha Washington Cramer in 1909 and died in 1963 in Stoy. All are buried in Prairie Cemetery in Oblong Township.

As always, I would love to hear from any descendants of Edward L. and Euphemia (Tracy) Wiseman.

[tipsycad147]

Warboys Witches

Warboys Witches : The story of the Throckmorton (also Throgmorton) children in Huntington, Essex, England, in 1589, is the first well-known case of allegedly possessed young people and the successful destruction of witches based on the evidence of minors (see possession).

Squire Robert Throckmorton of Warboys and his wife had five daughters: Joan, Elizabeth, Mary, Grace and Jane. As a wealthy landowner, Throckmorton supported many of his poorer neighbours, among them the Samuels. Alice Samuel and her daughter Agnes frequently visited the Throckmorton household and were well known to the girls.

In 1589 the youngest, Jane, began having sneezing fits and convulsions and fell into a trance. Her frightened parents consulted a Cambridge physician, Dr. Barrow, and a Dr. Butler. Looking only at Jane’s urIne, both doctors diagnosed bewitchment. When the 76-year-old Alice Samuel came to offer her sympathies, Jane cried out against her, accusing the old woman of witchcraft. Within two months, all the other sisters were suffering hysterical fits, and the eldest, Joan, predicted that there would eventually be 12 Demoniacs in the house. Sure enough, the maidservants fell victim to the spells; if any left Squire Throckmorton’s employ, their successors also became possessed. All pointed to Mrs. Samuel as the source of their torments.

Like other Demoniacs, the girls shrieked and contorted if the person attempted prayer or read from the Bible, especially the beginning of the Gospel of St. John. Such actions are generally accepted as the signs of true possession but may also have been a convenient way for the girls to avoid pious exercises. In the only account of the Throckmorton possession, probably written by the girls’ uncle, Gilbert Pickering, Elizabeth would throw fits to avoid religious lessons, only to come out of a tantrum if someone played cards with her, and to clench her teeth unless she ate outdoors at a particularly pretty pond.

Squire and Mrs. Throckmorton doubted the girls’ possession, since they had only lived in the area a short time and no one had any motive for bewitching the family. They ignored the girls’ accusations and tauntings of Mrs. Samuel.

In September 1590 the Throckmortons were visited by Lady Cromwell and her daughter-in-law. Lady Cromwell was the wife of Sir Henry Cromwell (grandfather of Sir Oliver Cromwell), the richest commoner in England. When she saw Mrs. Samuel, who was one of the Cromwell’s tenants, Lady Cromwell angrily ripped the old woman’s bonnet from her head, denounced her as a witch and ordered her hair burned. Horrified, Mrs. Samuel beseeched Lady Cromwell, “madame, why do you use me thus? I never did you any harm, as yet.”

Back home, Lady Cromwell experienced a terrible nightmare, in which she dreamed that Mrs. Samuel had sent her cat to rip the flesh from her body. Lady Cromwell never fully recovered; her health gradually declined, and she died a lingering death 15 months later, in July 1592.

By this time, the girls were afflicted, only when Mrs. Samuel was absent, not present. mrs. Samuel then was forced to live with the Throckmortons for several weeks in order to determine her effect on the children. Mrs. Samuel, her daughter Agnes and another suspected witch also were scratched by the girls, a custom similar to Pricking. The girls constantly exhorted Alice to confess her dealings with the Devil and delivered pious speeches that moved onlookers to tears. Giving in to the constant pressure, Alice confessed just before Christmas 1592.

Not too long after Christmas, however, Mr. Samuel and Agnes convinced Mrs. Samuel to recant, and she again claimed her innocence, only to reconfess before the bishop of Lincoln and a justice of the peace in Huntington on December 29. All three Samuels were jailed, although Agnes was released on bail to allow the girls to extract incriminating evidence from her through more scratchings. Mrs. Samuels confessed to having familiars, devils who were far inferior to the princes Beelzebub or Lucifer. She identified them as Pluck, Catch and White and the three cousins Smackes. The Demons often appeared as chickens.

The Samuels were not connected to the death of Lady Cromwell until the Throckmorton children accused Mrs. Samuel of bewitching her to death, thus placing her in jeopardy of capital punishment as a murderer under the Witchcraft Act of 1563.

The Samuels were tried on April 5, 1593, on charges of murdering Lady Cromwell by witchcraft. The court accepted the testimony of the Throckmorton girls, as well as several other persons who claimed that the Samuels had bewitched their livestock to death over the years. The jury took only five hours to convict all three.

Mrs. Samuel, Agnes and Mr. Samuel were hanged, and afterwards the Throckmorton girls returned to perfect health. Since Lady Cromwell had allegedly died due to the black offices of Alice Samuel, her husband, Sir Henry Cromwell, received all of the Samuels’ goods. He used the money to establish an annual sermon at Queens’ College, Cambridge, to “preache and invaye against the detestable practice, synne, and offence of witchcraft, inchantment, charm, and sorcereye.” The sermons lasted until 1812.

The Warboys case had a significant impact on public belief in witchcraft and the Evil Eye. The case was widely publicised, in part due to the impressionable judge, Edward Fenner, who, in collaboration with several others, produced a broadsheet, The Most Strange and Admirable Discoverie of the Three Witches of Warboys, published in 1593. The case also left an impact on the governing class. The Cromwells served in the Parliament of James I, who gained the throne in 1603. In response to public pressure for more stringent actions against witches, the Parliament passed a new Witchcraft Act in 1604, which stiffened punishment for some witchcraft offences.

FURTHER READING :

Robbins, Rossell Hope. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft & Demonology. 1959. reprint, New York: Bonanza Books, 1981.

Summers, Montague. The Geography of Witchcraft. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Truner & Co. Ltd., 1927.

Taken from : The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca – written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley – Copyright © 1989, 1999, 2008 by Visionary Living, Inc.

http://occult-world.com/witch-trials-witch-hunts/warboys-witches/

Picture http://www.miltoncontact-blog.com

[takenews-blog1]

How King Edward VIII's Explosive Affair With Wallis Simpson Changed the Course of History

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/how-king-edward-viiis-explosive-affair-with-wallis-simpson-changed-the-course-of-history/

How King Edward VIII's Explosive Affair With Wallis Simpson Changed the Course of History

King Edward VIII‘s reign started on Jan. 20, 1936.

Lower than 12 months later, England had a brand new king.

No matter how fascinated folks would turn into by Princess Diana a long time later or how heated royal child fever can get to today, it was Edward’s choice to surrender his throne for love 81 years in the past that completely altered the course of the monarchy. Many may surprise why he could not do as he darn nicely happy, contemplating he was the literal King of England. Fairly presumably, if an analogous state of affairs introduced itself now, maybe it could go a unique approach.

However again then, the UK’s sovereign monarch marrying a twice-divorced American girl simply would not do in any respect. Not to mention a girl who truly wasn’t even divorced from her second husband but when the king fell in love along with her.

Bessiewallis Warfield was born June 19, 1896, on the Monterey Inn, the most important lodge in Blue Ridge Summit, Pa., and a well-liked summer season trip spot for folk from close by Baltimore, the place the household lived. Her father, Teackle Wallis Warfield, son of a flour service provider who was generally known as “one of the crucial widespread residents of Baltimore, died that November of tuberculosis, after which the kid and her mom, Alice Montague, moved in with a widowed aunt.

Montague married her second husband, John Freeman Rasin, in 1908—and sooner or later in her youth, Wallis dropped the “Bessie.”

Solomon Warfield, an uncle on her father’s aspect, financed Wallis’ training at Oldfields, a Maryland ending college, however—in line with Anne Sebba’s That Lady: The Lifetime of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor—his refusal to pay for a coming-out ball for his niece despatched her scurrying to Florida to go to a cousin.

It was in Pensacola, Fla., that she met Navy pilot Earl Winfield Spencer Jr. (identified familiarly as Win Spencer) in April 1916. He would turn into her husband on Nov. eight, 1916, however his army obligation ensured that they spent a number of time aside. Wallis, who was by no means thought-about an excellent magnificence however who by all accounts had appeal to spare, hypnotic eyes and a fiery magnetism that proved irresistible to males from all walks of life, reportedly stored busy whereas her husband was away.

“Mrs. Spencer was notorious for arousing bouts of ardour amongst adoring males,” a buddy, Diana Angulo, mentioned about Wallis, in line with Sebba. “Via the years I believe males discovered her witty, and that particular capacity of giving them her full consideration, fairly an artwork! I believe males have been extra beneficiant and complimentary than girls.”

Amongst her rumored extramarital paramours have been Argentine diplomat Felipe de Espil and Rely Galeazzo Ciano, an Italian aristocrat seven years her junior, whom she met in China whereas her husband was stationed there. (Ciano would go on to marry Mussolini’s daughter, Edda, and he was executed by an anti-fascist firing squad in 1944.) Edda would later deny it, however the huge rumor of the day was that Ciano bought Wallis pregnant and a botched abortion left her infertile.

What folks do know was that Wallis bought sick in 1925 whereas on a transpacific ocean liner touring from Japan to Seattle. Upon arrival in Seattle, she underwent an undisclosed operation that later was wildly purported to be something from the abortion in query to a complication from being born with male intercourse organs. Whereas nonetheless recovering from the surgical procedure, she boarded a practice to take her again to Washington, D.C. Spencer met her in Chicago and dropped her off along with her mom, by then married to her third husband, in D.C.

Wallis and Spencer divorced in 1927, however whereas she was ready for that to be finalized, she discovered her uncle Sol Warfield had died—and, upset that she was getting divorced, had left her solely $15,000. A paltry sum, in comparison with the $5 million she thought she was going to inherit.

Whereas determining her subsequent transfer, she surfed her mates’ visitor quarters in New York and Pennsylvania, at one level even contemplating a profession in metal scaffolding gross sales. Whereas staying with an old-fashioned chum in New York, she met Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Simpson, who had been married since 1923 and had one daughter. In some unspecified time in the future over pleasant bridge video games and journeys to artwork galleries and museums, Simpson, who was one yr youthful, fell for Wallis and requested if he may marry her as quickly as they have been each formally divorced.

They married on July 21, 1928.

Simpson had been born in New York to British mother and father, and he and Wallis quickly moved to England. They’d high-society mates (Simpson’s sister had married a distinguished politician) and lived in a trendy flat the place Mrs. Simpson preferred to entertain.

In the meantime, Wallis had determined—final aim unknown—that she would meet the Prince of Wales, aka Prince Edward, son of King George V and Queen Mary and subsequent in line to the British throne.

Wallis did meet the prince in 1931 via her buddy Thelma Furness, who occurred to be one among Edward’s girlfriends on the time.

Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David wasn’t thought-about a lot of an mental, nor, at 5’7″, did he minimize a robust determine, however he was mentioned to be quick-witted and free-spirited (a distant, antagonistic relationship together with his father might have contributed to that). He was additionally fairly the libertine, although girlfriends have been mentioned to check with him a “the little man.” He was very fair-faced and solely required a shave as soon as per week. He was additionally, in line with sure analyses of his correspondence and reported habits, anyplace from loopy or deeply disturbed to on the autism spectrum.

At 20 years outdated he joined the British Military’s Guards when World Warfare I broke out, in 1914. In 1918 he launched into an affair with 28-year-old Freda Dudley Ward and, regardless of her being married, she turned Edward’s major squeeze for the subsequent 16 years. He had different squeezes, as did she, however Freda was his major one.

“Every day I lengthy increasingly to chuck this job and be out of it and free for you, Sweetie,” Edward wrote to Freda in 1920 throughout a seven-month tour of Australia and New Zealand, “this job” apparently being his royal duties. “The extra I consider all of it, the extra sure I’m that basically the day for kings and princes is previous, monarchies are outdated, although I do know it’s a rotten factor for me to say…”

And once more, he had no bother attracting girls. Wallis Simpson biographer Hugo Vickers instructed NPR in 2011 that he was of the opinion that, although she married Prince Albert in 1923, Queen Elizabeth II’s mom was truly in love with Edward, and that‘s why she resented Simpson (she was mentioned to have blamed the throne being thrust upon her husband for his early dying at 56 in 1952).

“My concept is that the Queen Mom was actually fairly in love with the Duke of Windsor and doubtless would have fairly preferred to have married him,” Vickers mentioned. “It should have handed via her thoughts. And I believe it suited her very nicely to current the Duchess of Windsor as the lady who stole the king. And folks fairly swallowed that line.”

Weirdly sufficient, Edward was in Kenya in 1928 when he was knowledgeable that his father, the king, was near dying. (Edward’s brother Albert, ultimately King George VI, would die whereas his daughter, the longer term Queen Elizabeth II, was in Kenya.) However when Edward bought the communique to return residence immediately, his father was sick, he dismissed it as some political ploy cooked up by the prime minister. Alan “Tommy” Lascelles, his assistant personal secretary, was so outraged by the prince’s habits, he resigned after they did return to England.

Biographer Hector Bolitho wrote of Edward that he “was virtually cussed in his behavior of turning his again upon the conventions of well mannered society.” As a substitute, the prince loved all issues fashionable and American, telling Freda that “Princing” was simpler overseas.

Whereas he was nonetheless seeing Freda, he met Thelma Furness (whose twin sister was Gloria Morgan, mom of Gloria Vanderbilt and grandmother of Anderson Cooper) at a cattle present. Furness was on her second marriage, to a a lot older man, and he or she turned the prince’s second mistress.

Edward had no actual tasks, so far as he may see, and two girls who doted on him.

Wallis Simpson met Thelma Furness via her friendship with Thelma’s sister Consuelo, and in January 1931 Consuelo invited Wallis and Ernest Simpson to the Furnesses’ residence for a fox-hunting weekend. Prince Edward was additionally on the visitor record.

In response to Sebba’s e-book, Edward struck up a dialog about central heating in British nation houses and a few remembered Wallis principally calling him out for being boring. “She all the time had a difficult line for the prince,” Wallis’ buddy Mary Kirk wrote in a diary entry.

Wallis did write to her aunt after the weekend that it had been a deal with to fulfill the prince in that casual setting. She would not see him once more till Could, when Thelma threw Edward a welcome-home social gathering after he took a visit to South America. Wallis having rigorously orchestrated a swift rise via the ranks, the Simpsons first had a celebration that included the prince to dinner at their residence in early 1932.

And the remaining actually is historical past.

Ernest needed to begin touring extra for work and Wallis took a solo journey to the U.S.—largely, Sebba wrote, to show to herself that, approaching 40 in that When Harry Met Sally, “I’ll be 40—sometime!” method, she was nonetheless fascinating to males. Her mission proved profitable. Again in England, in the meantime, Edward—who nonetheless was preserving firm with Thelma Furness—was turning into increasingly smitten along with her. He threw her a 37th party in June 1933. She had an American Independence Day-themed social gathering for him at her residence on July four.

The prince, the Furnesses and the Simpsons all spent New 12 months’s Eve collectively, after which Thelma sailed to the USA. It was then that Edward turned his full consideration to Wallis. He began shopping for her garments and jewellery, simply as she and Ernest have been beginning to have bother paying for their very own lavish life-style. Ernest amiably went alongside, although it is unclear if he knew the extent of his spouse’s romantic involvement, even wrangling an invite to hitch the unique Freemasons through his reference to the prince.

By Could 1934, Wallis was Prince Edward’s solely girlfriend.

Wallis had met Edward’s youthful brother Prince George (to not be confused together with his different brother Prince Albert, who would turn into King George VI) on weekend outings to his residence, however the prince needed her to lastly meet his mother and father at a celebration celebrating George’s marriage to Princess Marina of Greece that November.

King George V crossed Wallis and Ernest Simpson’s names (they have been nonetheless married, in any case) off the visitor record, however Edward in some way managed to get them invited anyway. She exchanged “meaningless pleasantries” with the king and queen, Wallis later mentioned, however George V demanded that the Simpsons not be invited to any upcoming Silver Jubilee ceremonies marking his 25th yr on the throne within the coming yr.

Prince Edward was undeterred. After Christmas he took Wallis snowboarding in Austria and purchased her a reported 60,000 pounds-worth of jewels for New 12 months’s. In response to That Lady, Edward was beginning to go overboard, with Wallis expressing concern that his undivided consideration was irreparably damaging, not solely her marriage, however what was left of her social standing as nicely.

The prince’s treasurer instructed the king in July 1935 that Edward was offering a 6,000-pound-a-year revenue for his girlfriend. By all accounts, she had Prince Edward wrapped round her little finger, and the royal did not give a rattling that half of well mannered society discovered her to be a preposterous match for him. Furthermore, he continued to insist to his father that Mrs. Simpson wasn’t his mistress, which made it simpler for him to get her invited to huge occasions, reminiscent of that yr’s Courtroom Ball.

In the meantime, after his third son, Prince Henry, bought married, King George V wrote in his diary on Nov. 6, 1935, that he hoped Edward (whom he familiarly known as David) would by no means marry and subsequently not have any heirs, which might imply the road of succession would shift to Edward’s youthful brother Albert, and his daughter Lilibet (Princess Elizabeth) would succeed him on the throne.

George V would midway get his want. The monarch died on Jan. 20, 1936, on the age of 70, and his ne’er-do-well son David turned King Edward VIII. He was not married, however he needed to marry Wallis Simpson.

Nobody however your complete authorities and the Church of England—which forbade divorce (not to mention two divorces) and remarrying if one’s former partner was nonetheless alive—stood in the way in which.

With Hitler in energy in Germany and Britain staring down the barrel of the prospect of yet one more world struggle, it could not have been a worse time for a king’s devotion to the crown to be in query.

And we simply imply due to his love life, however there have been deeper considerations afoot. It could turn into clear that Edward VIII did not initially have a look at Hitler because the mortal menace to the world that he was.

As seen within the just-premiered second season of The Crown, upon her uncle’s return to England from France, the place he and Wallis had been dwelling in relative exile, Queen Elizabeth II would discover paperwork indicating that the Duke of Windsor, if not precisely collaborated with the Nazis, then was on the verge of being re-installed on the throne by the Germans in 1940. When telegrams entertaining that plot (and suggesting that Wallis was amenable to the thought) have been intercepted by the British in actual time within the 1940s, Winston Churchill suspected they have been fabricated by the Germans as propaganda, to create extra turmoil for the enemy. U.S. intelligence concurred.

However again in 1936, Edward was the king, and a stressed one. On Nov. 16 he invited Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace and knowledgeable him that he needed to marry Simpson. Baldwin mentioned that the British folks would by no means settle for “that girl” as their queen. Plus, as the top of the Church of England, Edward was anticipated to uphold its tenets. (Though, sarcastically, King Henry VIII began the Church of England within the 1500s as a result of the Catholic church would not permit him to divorce his first spouse.)

In some unspecified time in the future, Baldwin is claimed to have suggested the king simply to maintain Simpson as his mistress, however not marry her. It was the general public face of issues that mattered.

However together with his need to be free to marry Wallis Simpson intact, King Edward VIII signed his personal abdication papers on Dec. 10, 1936.

“I’ve discovered it unimaginable to hold the heavy burden of accountability and to discharge my duties as king as I’d want to do with out the assistance and help of the lady I really like,” he mentioned in his official announcement.

The subsequent day he was again to being a prince and his next-youngest brother Albert turned King George VI. On Dec. 12, George VI introduced he would make his older brother the Duke of Windsor. There was some dispute over whether or not the now ex-king also needs to be a Royal Highness, as the brand new king supposed. His HRH could be allowed, however Simpson could be denied the Royal Highness assignation.

There have been nonetheless some hoops to leap via. After securing her divorce from Ernest Simpson (who would go on to marry Wallis’ outdated buddy Mary Kirk), she modified her title again to Wallis Warfield.

On June three, 1937, she turned the Duchess of Windsor when she married the Duke of Windsor on the Château de Candé in France. The date would have been George V’s 72nd birthday. The bride wore a blue gown by American designer Mainbocher, the shade quickly to be generally known as “Wallis blue.” Not one of the groom’s household attended.

The newlyweds settled in Paris, however when struggle broke out in 1939 they decamped to Spain, after which the Bahamas, the place the Duke of Windsor turned governor in 1940. When World Warfare II ended with the Allied victory, they returned to France and retired from public life. They might return to England sometimes.

On The Crown, the duke, as performed by Alex Jennings, tells the duchess, performed by Lia Williams, “I by no means thought I would discover myself saying it, however a lifetime of pleasure actually has its limits.”

They remained married till Edward’s dying in 1972. The Duchess of Windsor lived until she was 89, and after she died in 1986 she was laid to relaxation subsequent to her husband within the Royal Burial Floor close to Windsor Fortress. In contrast to her wedding ceremony, her funeral at St. George’s Chapel was attended by a variety of members of the royal household, together with Prince Charles (the Prince of Wales, as Edward had as soon as been), Princess Diana, Prince Philip and the queen.

[english-royal-history-1455-1603]

The death of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset

Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset (22 June 1477 – 10 October 1530) was an English peer, courtier, soldier and landowner.

Early life Grey was the third son and eventual heir of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset (c. 1456–1501), at that time England’s only marquess, and his wife, Cecily Bonville, the daughter and heiress of William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington of Aldingham. His mother was suo jure 7th Baroness Harington of Aldingham and 2nd Baroness Bonville, and the richest heiress in England. The first marquess was the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, so a stepson of King Edward IV and a half-brother of Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward V.

According to some reports, the young Grey attended Magdalen College School, Oxford, and he is uncertainly said to have been taught (either at the school or else privately tutored) by the future Cardinal Wolsey.

Grey’s father was opposed to King Richard III, and after the older Thomas joined Buckingham’s failed rebellion of 1483, father and son fled to Brittany, joining Henry Tudor. Five months after Richard lost the crown to Henry at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, the new king married the first Dorset’s half-sister Elizabeth of York, but Henry VII was also suspicious of Dorset, who was imprisoned during Lambert Simnel’s rebellion of 1487. In 1492, Dorset was required to give guarantees of loyalty to the crown and to make the young Thomas Grey a ward of the king.

Courtier Amongst the Queen of England’s closest relations, Grey and his younger brothers Leonard and Edward were welcome at court and became courtiers and later soldiers. In 1494, Grey was made a knight of the Bath and in 1501 a knight of the Garter. Also in 1501, his father died and the younger Thomas inherited his titles and some of his estates. However, much of the first marquess’s land went to his widow and not to his son, who did not come into his full inheritance until the death of his mother in 1529, shortly before his own death.

Later in 1501, he was ‘chief answerer’ at the marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales and Catherine of Aragon and was presented with a diamond and ruby Tudor rose at a court tournament. But in 1508 he was sent to the Tower of London, and later a gaol in Calais, under suspicion of conspiracy against Henry VII. Although he was saved from execution in 1509 by the accession of King Henry VIII, Grey was attainted and lost his titles. However, later in 1509 he was pardoned and returned to court, and was summoned to parliament as Baron Ferrers of Groby. In 1511, he was summoned as Marquess of Dorset.

From 1509, Dorset was again an active courtier and took part with great distinction in many court tournaments, on one occasion in March 1524 nearly killing the king.

In 1511, Dorset sold land near Althorp, Northamptonshire, to John Spencer. The sale included the villages of Little Brington and Great Brington, as well their parish church of St Mary the Virgin.

In 1514, with Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, Dorset escorted Henry VII’s daughter Princess Mary to France for her wedding to King Louis XII.

Dorset owned land in sixteen English counties and was a justice of the peace for several of them. In 1516, during a rivalry in Leicestershire with George, Baron Hastings, and Sir Richard Sacheverell, Dorset unlawfully increased his retinue at court and was brought before the Star Chamber and the Court of King’s Bench. He was bound over for good behaviour. As part of this rivalry, he greatly enlarged his ancestral home at Bradgate, Leicestershire.

In 1520, at the Field of Cloth of Gold, Dorset carried the sword of state. In 1521, he met the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at Gravelines on the coast of France and escorted him on a visit to England. He helped with the entertainment of the court by maintaining a company of actors.

In 1521, Dorset sat in judgment on the Duke of Buckingham, despite being related to him by marriage. After his father’s death, Dorset’s mother had married a brother of the Duke. Henry VIII rewarded Dorset with three of Buckingham’s manors.

From 17 June 1523 until his death in 1530, Dorset was Justice in Eyre south of Trent. As such, he presided at the triennial Court of justice-seat, which dealt with matters of forest law.

In 1524, Dorset’s Leicestershire feud with Lord Hastings turned into a fight between hundreds of men, and Cardinal Wolsey took action. Both rivals had to put up a bond for good behaviour of one thousand pounds, and Dorset was sent to Wales as Lord Master of Princess Mary’s Council.

In 1528, Dorset became constable of Warwick Castle, and in 1529 of Kenilworth Castle.

In 1529, recalling his role as 'chief answerer’ at the marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales, Dorset was a critical witness in favour of Henry VIII’s divorce of Catherine of Aragon. He strongly supported the King’s contention that Arthur and Catherine’s marriage had been consummated.

In 1530, in the final months of his life, he assisted the King in the condemnation of Cardinal Wolsey.

Soldier In 1512, Dorset led an unsuccessful English military expedition to France to reconquer Aquitaine, which England had lost during the Hundred Years’ War. Unhappily, Ferdinand of Aragon gave none of the support he had promised. While Ferdinand delayed and tried to persuade Dorset to help him to attack Navarre instead of Aquitaine, the English army’s food, beer, and pay ran out, many took to wine and became ill, and the army mutinied. Back in England, Dorset had to face a trial.

In 1513, he fought at the siege of Tournai and the Battle of Guinegate (also known as the Battle of the Spurs), and fought again in 1523 in the Scottish borders. These all gave him chances to make amends for the debacle of Aquitaine. To help Dorset in dealing with the Scots, he was appointed Lord Warden of the Marches, restored to the Privy Council, and became a gentleman of the chamber.

Family Grey was the son and heir of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset (c. 1456–1501), and his wife, Cecily Bonville, daughter and heiress of William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington of Aldingham and of Lady Katherine Neville (1442–1503) and granddaughter of Alice Neville, 5th Countess of Salisbury (1407–1462). Cecily Bonville’s maternal uncles included Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (called 'Warwick the Kingmaker’), John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu and George Neville, Archbishop of York and Chancellor of England, while her aunts had married Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick, William FitzAlan, 16th Earl of Arundel, Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, and John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford. Cecily Bonville succeeded her father as Baroness Harington in 1460, and two months later succeeded her great-grandfather William Bonville as Baron Bonville. After the death of her first husband, Cecily Bonville married her late husband’s first cousin Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, the younger son of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and of Catherine Woodville, Dorset’s aunt.

The younger Thomas Grey’s paternal grandparents were Queen Elizabeth Woodville (c. 1437–1492) and her first husband Sir John Grey of Groby (c. 1432-1461), son and heir of Elizabeth Ferrers, Lady Ferrers of Groby, so his father the first marquess was a stepson of King Edward IV and a half-brother of King Edward V. His grandfather Sir John Grey was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans (1461), fighting on the Lancastrian side. His grandmother Elizabeth Woodville was the eldest daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, widow of John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford. Following his grandmother’s marriage to Edward IV, members of her family gained advantages and made prosperous marriages. Elizabeth’s brother John Woodville, at the age of twenty, married Catherine Neville, dowager Duchess of Norfolk, then in her late sixties.

Through Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Dorset was descended from Eleanor of England (1215–1275), the daughter of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, and from several other European royal families.

Marriages and descendants Thomas Grey was contracted in 1483 to marry Anne St Leger (1476–1526), the daughter of Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter and her second husband Sir Thomas St Leger. Remarkably, Anne St Leger had been declared the heiress to the Exeter estates, but the marriage did not take place.

In the event, the young Thomas Grey’s first marriage was to Eleanor St John, a daughter of Oliver St John of Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire and of his wife Elizabeth Scrope, daughter of Henry le Scrope, 4th Lord Scrope of Bolton (1418–1459). Grey’s father-in-law Oliver St John (also known as Oliver of Ewell) was the son of Margaret Beauchamp (c. 1411-1482), the great-great-granddaughter of Roger Beauchamp, 1st Lord Beauchamp of Bletso, Keeper of Devizes Castle, and heiress to the Beauchamp estates. After the death of her first husband, another Oliver St John (died 1437), she married John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset (1404–1444), producing Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond. Eleanor St John was therefore the first cousin of Henry VII.

In 1509, Thomas Grey (now known as Lord Ferrers of Groby) married secondly Margaret Wotton (1487–1541), daughter of Sir Robert Wotton (c.1463–1524) of Boughton Malherbe, Kent, and the widow of William Medley. She had two notable brothers, Sir Edward Wotton (1489–1551), Treasurer of Calais, and Nicholas Wotton (c. 1497–1567), a diplomat who in 1539 arranged the marriage between Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves. With Margaret, the younger Thomas Grey had four sons and four daughters, including Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1517–1554). Their daughter Elizabeth married Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden and was the grandmother of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk. His second wife survived him and died in or after 1535.

His younger brother Leonard Grey, 1st Viscount Grane (c. 1479 - 1541) served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1536 to 1540.

Dorset’s son Henry succeeded him as Marquess of Dorset, married Lady Frances Brandon, a granddaughter of King Henry VII, and in 1551 (on the death of his brother-in-law Charles Brandon, 3rd Duke of Suffolk) become Duke of Suffolk, by way of a new creation. Dorset’s granddaughter Lady Jane Grey was the designated successor of King Edward VI by his will, and for nine days in July 1553 briefly sat on the throne of England. In 1554, together with Dorset’s other surviving sons, Lord John Grey and Lord Thomas Grey, Suffolk took part in Wyatt’s rebellion against Mary I’s marriage to Philip of Spain and in support of Lady Jane Grey. When this rebellion failed, all three were arrested, and Suffolk and his brother Thomas were executed, as were Lady Jane herself and her husband Lord Guilford Dudley. Lord John Grey survived, and in July 1603 his youngest son, Henry Grey, was restored to the House of Lords by King James I as Baron Grey of Groby.

Death Dorset died on 10 October 1530, and was buried in the collegiate church at Astley in Warwickshire. When he died he held estates in London and in sixteen counties, amounting to over one hundred manors, and was one of the richest men in England. His grave was opened in the early seventeenth century and measurement of his skeleton suggested a height of 5 feet 8 inches.

[trekkiewatt]

Rutherford Roundup - The Reverend Samuel Rutherford

Remarks At “THE RUTHERFORD ROUNDUP” Held in Toronto on November 3, 1973 On which occasion Brigadier W. S. Rutherford unveiled a portrait. of the Reverend Samuel Rutherford, 1600 — 1661. In attendance were 48 descendants, including spouses, of the illustrious Scottish divine. The founder of our branch of the family was the late William Rutherford, who as a boy of eighteen, came with his family to Canada in 1833. The family landed at Quebec, having taken seven weeks, to cross the Ocean in a sailing vessel. William Rutherford was the second son of the late Ebanezer Rutherford and was one of a family of seven children. He was born in 1815 in the County of Monaghan, Ireland. It has always been a tradition in the Rutherford family that among our ancestors was the Rev. Samuel Rutherford who, among his many distinctions, was in 1647 the Principal of St. Mary’s College at St. Andrews University. St. Andrews was then the ecclesiastical centre of Scotland but to quote from ~ book on St. Andrews: “In a certain way, the history of St. Andrews is un­deniably disappointing. It was the scene of great events; we know that the events occurred but, as a rule, we do not, until after the Reformation, find any vivifying details — Wallace was here, and Bruce, and Edward ‘I and the Black Douglas. We know this and there our knowledge stops; the history of St. Andrews, for more than half of its..period, is destitute of colour and personal facts’ Some day I hope that if you have not already visited St. Andrews you will do so and see the ruins of the magnificent ... 2 —2— Cathedral built on the rise overlooking the East Coast of the North Sea. There you will see the large Memorial Plaque to the memory to the Rev. Samuel Rutherford. His actual burial place, however, is at Anwoth, where for many years he was the greatly beloved Pastor. At St. Andrews you will see in the dining room of St. Mary’s College the portrait of the Rev. Samuel. On the outside of the College carved in stone are the Rutherford Arms. In the library you will find some of his manuscripts in fine hand—writing and the College is still doing research on his theological teachings. His is a name greatly to be revered as I shall try to point out in this brief sketch of some of the outstanding events of his life. First let me pause to ask the senior member of our Rutherford Clan, Brigadier Dill, to unveil a full—size copy of the portrait I mentioned. The Rev.Samuel Rutherford was born about 1600 in the Village of Nisbet, Roxburgshire, and entered Edinburgh College in 1617, earned his M.A. in 1621 and two years after, elected Professor of Humanity. In 1627, he was appointed Minister at Anwoth, Kirkcudbrightshire took a leading place among the clergy of Galloway. In 1636 his first book, “Exercitationes Apologeticae —3— Pro Divina Gratia” — an elaborate treatise. Against Arminianism — appeared at Amsterdam. Its severe Calvinism led to a prosecution by the Bishop. Rutherford was deposed from his pastoral office and sentenced to confinement in Aberdeen during the King’s pleasure. He was as proficient in Greek and Latin as in English. It was here that he wrote his famous “Letters” which have gone through many editions. The copy in my hand belonged to Robert Burns and bears Robbie’s signature. Rutherford was present at the signing of the Covenant at Edinburgh in 1638 and at the Glasgow Assembly he was restored to his Parish. In 1639 he was appointed Professor of Divinity at St. Mary’s College. In 1643 he was one of eight Commissioners sent from Scotland to the Westminster Assembly. More books followed including “Lex Rex” — a Dispute for the Just Prerogative of King and People. This treatise established Rutherford as one of the early writers on Constitutional Law. There followed “Divine Right of Church Government and Excommunication”(1646) and “Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience “ ... 4 —4— (1648) described as “perhaps the most elaborate defense of persecution which has ever appeared in a Christian country”. Further books followed and in 1648 — 1651 he declined successive invitations to theological chairs at Harderwijk and Utrecht. After the Restoration in 1660, his “Lex Rex” was ordered to be burned by the Stuarts. He was deprived of all his offices and on a charge of high treason was cited to appear before the ensuing Parliament. He died on the 23rd of the following March. At St. Andrews you may see the gate in the wall from which he delivered his polemic against rule by Divine Right in the presence of Charles II. He was a man of great intellect, of great humanitarian qualities and a defender unto death of those principles in which he believed. Thirteen generations is a long time to trace a family tree, even with two marriages. It is difficult to trace any of the Rev. Samuel’s family. Allowing three children per generation and three and a half centuries, there should . . . 5 —5— be about 200,000 of us! The tradition has always been passed on by word -of- mouth. My Mother used to say that until her generation, there had always been a Presbyterian Minister in the family by the name of Samuel. In any case, tradition is often stronger than reality and there can be no possible, probable doubt that we are all Rutherfords! We have good reason to be proud of our Rutherford ancestry. There used to be a couple of Rutherford peerages but on checking “Burkes”, I found none. We do know, however, that it was the scientist, Lard Rutherford, one time professor at McGill, who made a notable contribution toward the splitting of the atom. Also, I think there used to be a title in abeyance for want of heirs and I thought how nice it would be to have Brigadier Bill receive it. The British “Who’s Who” lists five Rutherfords who are Knights. We trust they are worthy of some connection with our family. As to our immediate ancestry. William Rutherford married twice — to sisters. By his first wife, he was the father of Uncles Eben and Boyd and Aunt Grace Morton. At the age of 50 Uncle Eben and .a Major MulhoUan4t from Toronto started an orange grove on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba. The city developed, Uncle Eben became a “developer” was the first President of the Country Club, and died leaving over half a million, a consider— —6— able sum in those days, even when it was divided among nine brothers and sisters. By his second marriage, our grandfather or great-­grandfather Rutherford, as the case may be, had seven children: Eliza, Mary, Will, Sara, Sam, Alice and Hattie. As I recall, Grandmother Rutherford lived to he 96, my mother Sara 95, Aunt Alice 97 and Aunt Hattie 100. Aunt Hattie was a missionary in China and on the table is a medal which she received at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. As I mentioned I cannot find that we are “related to a peer” but in these changing times it may be of comfort to relate that according to the “Mornington Times”, our grandfather cleared three farms, and this before the days of tractors, etc., finally settling in a beautiful location at Millbank, Ontario, near Stratford. There he not only had a fine farm, but was the Postmaster, owned the general store, the saw mill and a tannery as well. If the worst comes to the worst, with an inheritance of such a work ethic we. should be able to survive and look forward to another “Rutherford Roundup’ three and a half centuries down the line with happiness and prosperity again clearly depicted on the faces of each and every one of us. November, 1973. S ~ ~ 7 —7— ADDENDA: * From a biography of the Reverend Samuel Rutherford: “He was known as Joshua Redivivus” and one chapter is entitled: “Samuel Rutherford and some of his Extremes”. A further quotation is as follows: “For no man of his age in broad Scotland stood higher as a scholar, a theologian, a controversialist, a preacher and a very saint than Samuel Rutherford ... He could write in Latin better than either in Scotch or English.” He is also quoted as saying, “I am made of extremes From the tombstone at Anwoth: “What tongue or pen or skill of men Can famous Rutherford commend His learning greatly raised his fame True godliness adorned his name He did converse with things above Acquainted with Emmanuel’s love Most orthodox he was and sound And many errors did confound For Zion Kingdom and Zion’s cause And Scotland’s covenanted laws Most constantly he aid commend Until his time was at an end Then he went to the full fruition Of that which he had seen in vision”. 1. WILLIAM RUTHERFORD (b. 1815 County of Monaghan, Ireland d. 1886 at Millbank, Perth County, Ontario) William Rutherford, the second son of the late Ebenezer Rutherford and Maria Sofia Campbell, was one of a family of seven children, born in the year 1815 in the County of Monaghan, Ireland. Maria Sofia Campbell was the daughter of William Charles Campbell, a solicitor of Belfast, Ireland. It is believed that Ebenezer Rutherford and his wife had a farm in Markham Township in York County, Ontario. Maria Campbell Rutherford’s sister and her husband may have had the adjoining farm. With the family he came to Canada in 1833, landing at Quebec, having taken seven weeks to cross the ocean in a sailing vessel. He proceeded west to Ontario and settled near Peterborough in the Township of Cavan where he cleared a farm. He was known as one of the Cavan Blazers, having enlisted to put down the rebellion of 1837. However, the lure of the Queen’s Bush attracted him and we find him travelling west again, passing through Muddy York (Now Toronto) and Hamilton and on over the primitive roads by oxcart until he came to the Township of Wellesley where he decided to settle and there started clearing another farm from the bush lands. Here he married Mary, daughter of James Freeborn, of Donegal, Ireland, but after a few years his beloved wife passed away, leaving two sons and one daughter. Ambitious to advance still farther into the bush, Mr. —2— Rutherford sold his farm and with his brother—in-law, John Freeborn, went west a further ten miles where they located on the banks of a small river and cleared land enough to build a log home. In a short time Mr. Rutherford built a grist and saw mill and this was the nucleus of a settlement which they called the Village of Millbank. Here he married Eleanor Freeborn, a sister of his deceased wife, and to them were born two Sons and five daughters. The grist mill was the first industry established in the Village but in the years following, Mr. Rutherford built a tannery, a flax mill and a woolen mill and also established a general store which served the newly settled district for many miles around and eventually grew to quite large proportions. These industries all prospered but his chief interests were the management of the store and looking after two farms, both of which were grants from the Crown and consisting, one of one hundred and fifty acres adjoining the village and the other of one hundred acres on part of which the village was surveyed and from one corner of his farm he donated to the village lands for a public cemetery, and a further portion to the Episcopal church for the erection of a church building and manse. —For many years Mr. Rutherford was actively interested in the buying and shipping of live stock to the United States, his principal markets being Buffalo, Albany and New York, and to these places he shipped many hundreds of carloads. In these earlier days the nearest railway point was Moorefield Station, about sixteen miles away, and it was necessary to drive the stock this distance for shipment, but later when the railway was built through the —3— Township of Mornington, he had a shipping base close at hand. Mr. Rutherford was widely known and very highly respected throughout North Perth and North Waterloo and was the first Postmaster for the Village of Millbank, receiving his appointment in 1850 and which office he retained during the remainder of his life. He was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church at Millbank and was a firm believer in salvation through Jesus Christ, his last testimony being a confession of faith in which he quoted the words of the Scripture, “Look unto Me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved. He died on February 10, 1886, at the age of seventy—one -years and was buried in Rushs Cemetery, near Wellesley Village. His family left Millbank in 1888. His first wife, Nary Freeborn, died March 10, 1853. His second wife, Eleanor Freeborn, died in Los Angeles, California around 1928 at the age of 96. WILLIAM RUTHERFORD (1815 — 1886) • Mornington and Its Pioneers by Malcolm McBeth, published by the Milverton Sun, Milverton, Ontario, 1933. This part was already quoted and removed. Eben Rutherford, the eldest son of William Rutherford and Mary Freeborn, was probably born in 1846 in Wellesley Township, Waterloo County, Ontario. After the age of 50, and probably after the Spanish American War (1900), Eben Rutherford, together with a Major Mulholland from Toronto, started an orange grove on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba. As the City developed, Eben became a property developer. Correspondence with his brother—in—law (Henry B. Jackman) dated 1912, refers to his real estate speculations and his promotion of land companies in which he wanted his relatives to invest. He refers to the necessary bribes to the “car line” and its manager to “put the line our way”. He was promoting a company which would be capatilized at $250,000 in 6% nineteen year bonds with 125,000 shares attached. An additional 350,000 shares were given as a bonus to the promoter. He refers to being able to sell 100 acres for $1,070,000 to net a profit of $490,000. Eben Rutherford was President of the Country Club in Havana. He died around 1917 without a wife or children. His estate of approximately $500,000 was divided equally between his nine brothers and sisters. This was a considerable sum in those days and the significance of this inheritance to his relatives should not be underestimated. 1. JAMES FREEBORN of County Donegal, Ireland. Born 1768, died 1848. He may have come to Canada in 1840 with at least three of his children. His wife Mary Reid died February 20, 1884 at age 98. (a) JOHN FREEBORN (born Donegal, Ireland, 1820) Formal history and standard biography play an important part in fostering a national spirit. Canada has an ample supply of such works; but the history of the beginners of the nation, the men and women who carved out homes for themselves in the dense forests, on the wide, lonely prairies and in the stern mountain valleys, their story can be gleaned only from almost inaccessible nooks, where lies “a veritable storehouse of information” on pioneer days. Just as it was the unknown soldier that won the Great World War so was it the unknown pioneers that with suffering, heroism and dogged determination laid broad and deep the foundations of Canada. In the middle forties there opened up the “Queen’s Bush” for settlement, about the last available territory for settlement in Western Ontario. In this territory was the unsurveyed Township of Mornington and many people “squatted” on what turned out to be excellent farms. The first of these came in 1843 and took up land in the vicinity of Musselburg and Poole and within three or four years the whole township was populated. Among the very first settlers of Millbank was William Rutherford and John Freeborn, the subject of this sketch, who arrived in 1847. The village plot was laid out by these two gentlemen. It received its name some years later in the following manner. Mr. Freeborn had built a mill on the west side of the creek which was flanked by a bank of considerable height; and one day when passing the place in company with a surveyor named Maxwell, he asked Maxwell to suggest a name for the village and that gentleman, taking inspiration from his surroundings, suggested the circumstances of the “mill and the “bank”, a combination of which resulted in the name of Millbank, by which the village was thence— forward known. John Freeborn was born in County Donegal, Ireland in 1820 and in 1840 embarked for America, resolved to try his fortune in the New World. He arrived at St. John, N.B., and remained there one year working at ship carpentering which trade he learned in Ireland, removing at the end of that time to Boston, Mass., where he pursued the same avocation with credit and profit till induced by friends living in Peterborough County, Canada West, to visit them in 1842. Mr. Freeborn’s friends persuaded him to remain in Canada and during the next three years he was connected with the Government works on the Ontonabee and Trent Rivers, where large timber slides and kindred works were being constructed, but being compelled by ill—health to leave that locality he came west and settled in Stratford when the only building it contained was a tavern and a store. Here he worked at his trade until 1847 when he came to Millbank and in the same year commenced the erection on the pioneer mill in Mornington operated by a waterwheel which drove a muley, or up and down saw. After being in operation for four years it was destroyed by fire when he rebuilt an improved scale. He continued the operation of it for several years when he embarked in the mercantile business from which he retired a number of years later after having acquired a competence by a long career of energetic perseverance, enterprise and strict integrity. 2. (a) MARY JANE FREEBORN (born 1811) who married William Rutherford around ? She died March 10, 1853 bearing her last child. (a) ELEANOR FREEBORN (born 1832?) who married William Rutherford after her sister died. She died in Los Angeles around 1928 at the age of 96. JAMES FREEBORN (1820 —?) Mornington and its Pioneers by Malcolm McBeth, Published by the Milverton Sun, Milverton, Ontario, 1933.

[faithful-grigori]

“#Dear Little Edward probably ends up in an Agatha Christie, #He’ll probably murder his parents first, #I suspect Mrs Toller will make a point to stay in his good graces, Really the sequel writes itself, So after Mr Rucastle has died of 'natural causes’, #Alice's daughter comes to visit her Uncle Edward, #who these days is doing a far better job of hiding his murderous desires, And it all goes from there, #as Miss Marple looks on and worries”

The Copper Beeches pt 3

I hope you are anxious to hear the conclusion of the case of ‘The Copper Beeches’.

Yes. Yes I am. Because while it's now pretty certain that the Rucastles are not part of a sex-trafficking ring, they're still really fucking creepy and now I also have to worry about the poor dog who is also being abused.

Family of serial killers, I swear.

"Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Yes, the wine-cellar."

...

😈😈😈😈

"You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not think you a quite exceptional woman."

Leeeeeeettle bit condescending there, Holmes. Although I feel like I am just more sensitive to that because modern perspective and experience. However, I do think think this section needs noting, if only because of all the people who are determined that Irene Adler is the only woman Holmes ever saw worthy of a compliment. Nothing against Irene, she's great, but Violet Hunter deserves better. She's been doing all the legwork herself this case, and she's made a pretty decent detective.

"If you could send her into the cellar on some errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate matters immensely."

...

heh

heheheh

...

"Of course there is only one feasible explanation."

I still want to know what the other six possibilities were, Holmes. I want to know.

"Miss Alice Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of course, yours had to be sacrificed also."

Miss Alice Rucastle is having the worst year. First she's sick so badly she has to cut her hair off. Then her father imprisons her in her own home. And on top of all of that her stepbrother is a serial killer in training. Worst. Year. Ever.

"The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the child."

Really? That's the most serious point? Like, I agree it's not good. He's clearly showing signs of anti-social behaviour, aggression, and a worrying taste of having the power of life and death over other living beings, but I'm not sure I'd say that was the most urgent thing right now. I think getting Alice out is the most important thing. You can get him some serious therapy later.

"This child's disposition is abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their power."

Ah, okay, you're saying that it's serious because it indicates the level of danger involved. Sure, yeah, okay.

Can't disagree on this point. It's certainly not a good sign.

ALSO, one other thing that has been bugging me since part 2. Does the kid know where his half-sister is? Is he aware she's locked up? He can't be, right? Because there's no way he wouldn't have let something slip. But at the same time, he's just unaware of a whole ass person being imprisoned in his home? It's weird. He's weird.

Dear Little Edward the murderer in training is either oblivious or very good at keeping creepy secrets.

I'm not sure about the stepmother. On the one hand, the crying and the quiet indicate that she's also being abused. But on the other hand she was the one to catch Violet with the mirror and then use it to further the scheme. Although she didn't say 'she has a mirror', which would have made Mr Rucastle angry. That whole bit is weird. Was she trying to stop Violet from getting into more trouble, was she trying to save their scheme? I don't know. But then, if she's living with Rucastle and her darling son all day every day, she's probably been ground down pretty far.

A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Mrs Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring on the kitchen rug."

Suddenly there came a clanging As of someone wildly banging, banging at the cellar door.

And Mr Toller didn't even make it to bed? He's just passed out on the kitchen floor? He's lucky there's a rug in there and it's not just flagstones.

Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence Holmes's face clouded over.

Not a particularly good sign...

"Now, Watson, put your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our way in." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty.

Breaking down doors! Love a bit of action with my mystery.

"Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did it." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not there when the Rucastles went away." "He has come back and done it."

But why would he climb up a ladder when he could just open the door?

I mean we know of the existence of at least one other person who would want Alice Rucastle out of that house and who wouldn't have a key to her room.

I'm just saying, Holmes.

"He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "I have my revolver," said I.

Oh no... poor doggo.

Please don't kill the dog, Watson. Please.

We had hardly reached the hall when we heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out at a side door. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!"

Two days?! Two fucking days? Seriously.

But it kind of sounds like the doggo is getting revenge. Good boy. Good boy! You eat the bad man.

There was the huge famished brute, its black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great creases of his neck.

Holy fuck this action escalated quickly. That is graphic and also... poor dog. I mean... I doubt it could have been rehabilitated at this point, but still. Poor thing never had a chance.

I do not remember this story being this brutal. Holy shit that guy's throat was ripped out.

Can't say I'm sorry. Glad the dog got its revenge before it died.

"Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains were wasted."

I mean, you didn't exactly give her reason to trust you? Why on earth would she? This is the most ridiculous 'you should have talked to me' ever.

"If there's police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend too."

I mean, were you? Were you? Alice's friend, sure. But were you Violet's friend in all this?

"He knew he was safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use her money."

It's Mary Sutherland all over again, just with more violence. Hey, Holmes. Holmes! You remember how you sent Mary Sutherland back into that life and didn't warn her about it? Huh? You remember that? Maybe thinking that wasn't such a good idea now? Huh? Are you?

I've had it with these men and their refusal to let their daughters have their own goddamn money.

"When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door."

I know this is like a common Victorian cause of illness and all that, but I'd be real suspicious about that brain fever, because it feels like poison is a real possibility rn.

"...that didn't make no change in her young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be."

Good for him. Basic minimum achieved. I mean, also he's been trying to get her out of this house, so he's also gone above and beyond. I'm glad he and Alice got away in the end.

"But Mr Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your interests were the same as his." "Mr Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said Mrs Toller serenely.

Oh, she did it for the money. Not such a good samaritan. But then if she were, she would have just smuggled the girl out.

Mr Rucastle survived, but was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it difficult to part from them.

I will admit I am sad the guy survived that. I'm not sure how he survived it. He had a mastiff's teeth 'buried in his throat'. He's insanely lucky his carotid wasn't torn open. But I suspect he doesn't do a lot of laughing anymore. So sad.

You couldn't have waited a little longer before shooting the poor dog, Watson? Let it get its revenge?

Also, that household sounds utterly terrible to live in still. Just a lot of horrible people being horrible to each other because they literally can't get away. And what about the child? What about dear little Edward? Is he still in there with them? I can't imagine that this made him less of a serial killer.

And the man doesn't get arrested for imprisoning his daughter?

Justice has not been served this day.

And that kid is going to grow up and kill a lot of people. I'm just saying. This isn't so much an ending as a 'to be continued'.

As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success.

Good for her.

Also, Watson, leave Holmes alone. He doesn't need a wife. He's fine. It is amusing to see that commentary, though. Like... there were 0 vibes of Holmes being into her. He complimented her a couple of times and was concerned for her safety. But he kept comparing her to a sister and there was no hint of romance in the whole thing. Watson is a bit delusional sometimes.

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How King Edward VIII's Explosive Affair With Wallis Simpson Changed the Course of History

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How King Edward VIII's Explosive Affair With Wallis Simpson Changed the Course of History

King Edward VIII‘s reign started on Jan. 20, 1936.

Lower than 12 months later, England had a brand new king.

No matter how fascinated folks would turn into by Princess Diana a long time later or how heated royal child fever can get to today, it was Edward’s choice to surrender his throne for love 81 years in the past that completely altered the course of the monarchy. Many may surprise why he could not do as he darn nicely happy, contemplating he was the literal King of England. Fairly presumably, if an analogous state of affairs introduced itself now, maybe it could go a unique approach.

However again then, the UK’s sovereign monarch marrying a twice-divorced American girl simply would not do in any respect. Not to mention a girl who truly wasn’t even divorced from her second husband but when the king fell in love along with her.

Bessiewallis Warfield was born June 19, 1896, on the Monterey Inn, the most important lodge in Blue Ridge Summit, Pa., and a well-liked summer season trip spot for folk from close by Baltimore, the place the household lived. Her father, Teackle Wallis Warfield, son of a flour service provider who was generally known as “one of the crucial widespread residents of Baltimore, died that November of tuberculosis, after which the kid and her mom, Alice Montague, moved in with a widowed aunt.

Montague married her second husband, John Freeman Rasin, in 1908—and sooner or later in her youth, Wallis dropped the “Bessie.”

Solomon Warfield, an uncle on her father’s aspect, financed Wallis’ training at Oldfields, a Maryland ending college, however—in line with Anne Sebba’s That Lady: The Lifetime of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor—his refusal to pay for a coming-out ball for his niece despatched her scurrying to Florida to go to a cousin.

It was in Pensacola, Fla., that she met Navy pilot Earl Winfield Spencer Jr. (identified familiarly as Win Spencer) in April 1916. He would turn into her husband on Nov. eight, 1916, however his army obligation ensured that they spent a number of time aside. Wallis, who was by no means thought-about an excellent magnificence however who by all accounts had appeal to spare, hypnotic eyes and a fiery magnetism that proved irresistible to males from all walks of life, reportedly stored busy whereas her husband was away.

“Mrs. Spencer was notorious for arousing bouts of ardour amongst adoring males,” a buddy, Diana Angulo, mentioned about Wallis, in line with Sebba. “Via the years I believe males discovered her witty, and that particular capacity of giving them her full consideration, fairly an artwork! I believe males have been extra beneficiant and complimentary than girls.”

Amongst her rumored extramarital paramours have been Argentine diplomat Felipe de Espil and Rely Galeazzo Ciano, an Italian aristocrat seven years her junior, whom she met in China whereas her husband was stationed there. (Ciano would go on to marry Mussolini’s daughter, Edda, and he was executed by an anti-fascist firing squad in 1944.) Edda would later deny it, however the huge rumor of the day was that Ciano bought Wallis pregnant and a botched abortion left her infertile.

What folks do know was that Wallis bought sick in 1925 whereas on a transpacific ocean liner touring from Japan to Seattle. Upon arrival in Seattle, she underwent an undisclosed operation that later was wildly purported to be something from the abortion in query to a complication from being born with male intercourse organs. Whereas nonetheless recovering from the surgical procedure, she boarded a practice to take her again to Washington, D.C. Spencer met her in Chicago and dropped her off along with her mom, by then married to her third husband, in D.C.

Wallis and Spencer divorced in 1927, however whereas she was ready for that to be finalized, she discovered her uncle Sol Warfield had died—and, upset that she was getting divorced, had left her solely $15,000. A paltry sum, in comparison with the $5 million she thought she was going to inherit.

Whereas determining her subsequent transfer, she surfed her mates’ visitor quarters in New York and Pennsylvania, at one level even contemplating a profession in metal scaffolding gross sales. Whereas staying with an old-fashioned chum in New York, she met Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Simpson, who had been married since 1923 and had one daughter. In some unspecified time in the future over pleasant bridge video games and journeys to artwork galleries and museums, Simpson, who was one yr youthful, fell for Wallis and requested if he may marry her as quickly as they have been each formally divorced.

They married on July 21, 1928.

Simpson had been born in New York to British mother and father, and he and Wallis quickly moved to England. They’d high-society mates (Simpson’s sister had married a distinguished politician) and lived in a trendy flat the place Mrs. Simpson preferred to entertain.

In the meantime, Wallis had determined—final aim unknown—that she would meet the Prince of Wales, aka Prince Edward, son of King George V and Queen Mary and subsequent in line to the British throne.

Wallis did meet the prince in 1931 via her buddy Thelma Furness, who occurred to be one among Edward’s girlfriends on the time.

Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David wasn’t thought-about a lot of an mental, nor, at 5’7″, did he minimize a robust determine, however he was mentioned to be quick-witted and free-spirited (a distant, antagonistic relationship together with his father might have contributed to that). He was additionally fairly the libertine, although girlfriends have been mentioned to check with him a “the little man.” He was very fair-faced and solely required a shave as soon as per week. He was additionally, in line with sure analyses of his correspondence and reported habits, anyplace from loopy or deeply disturbed to on the autism spectrum.

At 20 years outdated he joined the British Military’s Guards when World Warfare I broke out, in 1914. In 1918 he launched into an affair with 28-year-old Freda Dudley Ward and, regardless of her being married, she turned Edward’s major squeeze for the subsequent 16 years. He had different squeezes, as did she, however Freda was his major one.

“Every day I lengthy increasingly to chuck this job and be out of it and free for you, Sweetie,” Edward wrote to Freda in 1920 throughout a seven-month tour of Australia and New Zealand, “this job” apparently being his royal duties. “The extra I consider all of it, the extra sure I’m that basically the day for kings and princes is previous, monarchies are outdated, although I do know it’s a rotten factor for me to say…”

And once more, he had no bother attracting girls. Wallis Simpson biographer Hugo Vickers instructed NPR in 2011 that he was of the opinion that, although she married Prince Albert in 1923, Queen Elizabeth II’s mom was truly in love with Edward, and that‘s why she resented Simpson (she was mentioned to have blamed the throne being thrust upon her husband for his early dying at 56 in 1952).

“My concept is that the Queen Mom was actually fairly in love with the Duke of Windsor and doubtless would have fairly preferred to have married him,” Vickers mentioned. “It should have handed via her thoughts. And I believe it suited her very nicely to current the Duchess of Windsor as the lady who stole the king. And folks fairly swallowed that line.”

Weirdly sufficient, Edward was in Kenya in 1928 when he was knowledgeable that his father, the king, was near dying. (Edward’s brother Albert, ultimately King George VI, would die whereas his daughter, the longer term Queen Elizabeth II, was in Kenya.) However when Edward bought the communique to return residence immediately, his father was sick, he dismissed it as some political ploy cooked up by the prime minister. Alan “Tommy” Lascelles, his assistant personal secretary, was so outraged by the prince’s habits, he resigned after they did return to England.

Biographer Hector Bolitho wrote of Edward that he “was virtually cussed in his behavior of turning his again upon the conventions of well mannered society.” As a substitute, the prince loved all issues fashionable and American, telling Freda that “Princing” was simpler overseas.

Whereas he was nonetheless seeing Freda, he met Thelma Furness (whose twin sister was Gloria Morgan, mom of Gloria Vanderbilt and grandmother of Anderson Cooper) at a cattle present. Furness was on her second marriage, to a a lot older man, and he or she turned the prince’s second mistress.

Edward had no actual tasks, so far as he may see, and two girls who doted on him.

Wallis Simpson met Thelma Furness via her friendship with Thelma’s sister Consuelo, and in January 1931 Consuelo invited Wallis and Ernest Simpson to the Furnesses’ residence for a fox-hunting weekend. Prince Edward was additionally on the visitor record.

In response to Sebba’s e-book, Edward struck up a dialog about central heating in British nation houses and a few remembered Wallis principally calling him out for being boring. “She all the time had a difficult line for the prince,” Wallis’ buddy Mary Kirk wrote in a diary entry.

Wallis did write to her aunt after the weekend that it had been a deal with to fulfill the prince in that casual setting. She would not see him once more till Could, when Thelma threw Edward a welcome-home social gathering after he took a visit to South America. Wallis having rigorously orchestrated a swift rise via the ranks, the Simpsons first had a celebration that included the prince to dinner at their residence in early 1932.

And the remaining actually is historical past.

Ernest needed to begin touring extra for work and Wallis took a solo journey to the U.S.—largely, Sebba wrote, to show to herself that, approaching 40 in that When Harry Met Sally, “I’ll be 40—sometime!” method, she was nonetheless fascinating to males. Her mission proved profitable. Again in England, in the meantime, Edward—who nonetheless was preserving firm with Thelma Furness—was turning into increasingly smitten along with her. He threw her a 37th party in June 1933. She had an American Independence Day-themed social gathering for him at her residence on July four.

The prince, the Furnesses and the Simpsons all spent New 12 months’s Eve collectively, after which Thelma sailed to the USA. It was then that Edward turned his full consideration to Wallis. He began shopping for her garments and jewellery, simply as she and Ernest have been beginning to have bother paying for their very own lavish life-style. Ernest amiably went alongside, although it is unclear if he knew the extent of his spouse’s romantic involvement, even wrangling an invite to hitch the unique Freemasons through his reference to the prince.

By Could 1934, Wallis was Prince Edward’s solely girlfriend.

Wallis had met Edward’s youthful brother Prince George (to not be confused together with his different brother Prince Albert, who would turn into King George VI) on weekend outings to his residence, however the prince needed her to lastly meet his mother and father at a celebration celebrating George’s marriage to Princess Marina of Greece that November.

King George V crossed Wallis and Ernest Simpson’s names (they have been nonetheless married, in any case) off the visitor record, however Edward in some way managed to get them invited anyway. She exchanged “meaningless pleasantries” with the king and queen, Wallis later mentioned, however George V demanded that the Simpsons not be invited to any upcoming Silver Jubilee ceremonies marking his 25th yr on the throne within the coming yr.

Prince Edward was undeterred. After Christmas he took Wallis snowboarding in Austria and purchased her a reported 60,000 pounds-worth of jewels for New 12 months’s. In response to That Lady, Edward was beginning to go overboard, with Wallis expressing concern that his undivided consideration was irreparably damaging, not solely her marriage, however what was left of her social standing as nicely.

The prince’s treasurer instructed the king in July 1935 that Edward was offering a 6,000-pound-a-year revenue for his girlfriend. By all accounts, she had Prince Edward wrapped round her little finger, and the royal did not give a rattling that half of well mannered society discovered her to be a preposterous match for him. Furthermore, he continued to insist to his father that Mrs. Simpson wasn’t his mistress, which made it simpler for him to get her invited to huge occasions, reminiscent of that yr’s Courtroom Ball.

In the meantime, after his third son, Prince Henry, bought married, King George V wrote in his diary on Nov. 6, 1935, that he hoped Edward (whom he familiarly known as David) would by no means marry and subsequently not have any heirs, which might imply the road of succession would shift to Edward’s youthful brother Albert, and his daughter Lilibet (Princess Elizabeth) would succeed him on the throne.

George V would midway get his want. The monarch died on Jan. 20, 1936, on the age of 70, and his ne’er-do-well son David turned King Edward VIII. He was not married, however he needed to marry Wallis Simpson.

Nobody however your complete authorities and the Church of England—which forbade divorce (not to mention two divorces) and remarrying if one’s former partner was nonetheless alive—stood in the way in which.

With Hitler in energy in Germany and Britain staring down the barrel of the prospect of yet one more world struggle, it could not have been a worse time for a king’s devotion to the crown to be in query.

And we simply imply due to his love life, however there have been deeper considerations afoot. It could turn into clear that Edward VIII did not initially have a look at Hitler because the mortal menace to the world that he was.

As seen within the just-premiered second season of The Crown, upon her uncle’s return to England from France, the place he and Wallis had been dwelling in relative exile, Queen Elizabeth II would discover paperwork indicating that the Duke of Windsor, if not precisely collaborated with the Nazis, then was on the verge of being re-installed on the throne by the Germans in 1940. When telegrams entertaining that plot (and suggesting that Wallis was amenable to the thought) have been intercepted by the British in actual time within the 1940s, Winston Churchill suspected they have been fabricated by the Germans as propaganda, to create extra turmoil for the enemy. U.S. intelligence concurred.

However again in 1936, Edward was the king, and a stressed one. On Nov. 16 he invited Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace and knowledgeable him that he needed to marry Simpson. Baldwin mentioned that the British folks would by no means settle for “that girl” as their queen. Plus, as the top of the Church of England, Edward was anticipated to uphold its tenets. (Though, sarcastically, King Henry VIII began the Church of England within the 1500s as a result of the Catholic church would not permit him to divorce his first spouse.)

In some unspecified time in the future, Baldwin is claimed to have suggested the king simply to maintain Simpson as his mistress, however not marry her. It was the general public face of issues that mattered.

However together with his need to be free to marry Wallis Simpson intact, King Edward VIII signed his personal abdication papers on Dec. 10, 1936.

“I’ve discovered it unimaginable to hold the heavy burden of accountability and to discharge my duties as king as I’d want to do with out the assistance and help of the lady I really like,” he mentioned in his official announcement.

The subsequent day he was again to being a prince and his next-youngest brother Albert turned King George VI. On Dec. 12, George VI introduced he would make his older brother the Duke of Windsor. There was some dispute over whether or not the now ex-king also needs to be a Royal Highness, as the brand new king supposed. His HRH could be allowed, however Simpson could be denied the Royal Highness assignation.

There have been nonetheless some hoops to leap via. After securing her divorce from Ernest Simpson (who would go on to marry Wallis’ outdated buddy Mary Kirk), she modified her title again to Wallis Warfield.

On June three, 1937, she turned the Duchess of Windsor when she married the Duke of Windsor on the Château de Candé in France. The date would have been George V’s 72nd birthday. The bride wore a blue gown by American designer Mainbocher, the shade quickly to be generally known as “Wallis blue.” Not one of the groom’s household attended.

The newlyweds settled in Paris, however when struggle broke out in 1939 they decamped to Spain, after which the Bahamas, the place the Duke of Windsor turned governor in 1940. When World Warfare II ended with the Allied victory, they returned to France and retired from public life. They might return to England sometimes.

On The Crown, the duke, as performed by Alex Jennings, tells the duchess, performed by Lia Williams, “I by no means thought I would discover myself saying it, however a lifetime of pleasure actually has its limits.”

They remained married till Edward’s dying in 1972. The Duchess of Windsor lived until she was 89, and after she died in 1986 she was laid to relaxation subsequent to her husband within the Royal Burial Floor close to Windsor Fortress. In contrast to her wedding ceremony, her funeral at St. George’s Chapel was attended by a variety of members of the royal household, together with Prince Charles (the Prince of Wales, as Edward had as soon as been), Princess Diana, Prince Philip and the queen.