Transcript Document

Celebrating Twain’s Life in Redding
Stormfield & The Mark Twain Library
June 18, 1908
April 21, 1910
Albert B. Paine
It was through Paine that Twain discovered
Redding. During the last four years of Twain's
life, Paine became a virtual member of the
family. Paine's house was an antique saltbox,
which burned down in February 1972, one
building remains at the base of Diamond Hill.
In the Stormfield Guestbook Sam wrote: “I
bought this farm… 2 years ago, on the
suggestion of Albert Bigelow Paine, who said its
situation and surroundings would content me- a
prophecy which came true…I only came to spend
the summer, but I shan't go away anymore.”
Paine on the porch of Markland, a gift from Sam that Paine
used as his study.
Paine’s Home on Diamond Hill Road
Still standing
March 19, 1906
“Mr. Paine spoke to me about a piece of land with
an old farm house on it in Redding… $2,000.00 is
the price- and when I told Mr. Clemens about it,
he closed in with the idea as a good investment,
and Mr. Paine has sent off the first $100.00 to
bind the bargain.
I didn’t think he would want it, because I
couldn’t think he would want anything that I
want. With an aching heart I reached out for that
farm for I don’t ever want to go back to
Farmington again. “
~Isabel Lyon’s Journal
May 23, 1907
During the ground breaking ceremony, Isabel,
John Howells, Paine, Lounsbury, and several
others pour a bottle of whiskey down the first
hole dug.
Clemens wanted no part in it, he refused even to
discuss the subject of new construction.
“He won’t allow himself to be informed or
consulted; he will pay the bills and that’s all he
will do, but when the house is finished then he
will go to it… He doesn’t want to see it, or hear
anything about it.”
~Isabel’s Journal
Call me when it’s
done and send me
some visitors!!
Isabel Receives Lobster Pot
Just before Sam’s departure to London, in
appreciation for her services, Clemens deeded to
Miss Lyon the Lobster Pot.
On June 13th, Isabel visited her “dear little
home” and found it “Oh…so darling,” and
planned to make it “beautiful” in the near future.
But Stormfield was first priority and when she
discovered it was being built on the wrong spot
she quickly halted construction.
*Clemens was in London to receive an Oxford degree.
The Lobster Pot- Prior to Renovations
The Lobster Pot- After Renovations
Stormfield project almost halted
By mid-July, Clemens returned from London with
second thoughts about living so far away from
the city.
In addition, the site had to be moved for the
second time and building plans were in need of
alteration to accommodate Clara’s wishes.
Architect John Howells advises Twain to continue
the project noting: “Arresting work at Redding at
this time would probably make you liable for
between $10,000 to $15,000.”
Stormfield Project Team
Architect: John Mead Howells
Builders: W. W. Sunderland and his son Philip,
of Danbury, Connecticut
Assistant Builder: Harry Lounsbury
Construction Management & Interior
Decoration: Isabel Lyon
*Albert B. Paine and Clara Clemens played roles as
well.
Isabel Lyon during Construction
Stormfield Under Construction
Isabel’s Managerial Style?
Kept ‘em on their toes
“The workmen were not slow in learning that the
little woman who was likely to appear suddenly
in their midst [on] any day, had knowledge,
sympathy, tact, taste, and executive ability of a
high order. Under her leadership they worked
amazingly.”
Simultaneously, she was supervising Eugene
Adams, who was renovating the Lobster Pot.
No Patio
View from the Rear of the Lobster Pot after Renovation
Lobster Pot’s new back patio
Ashcroft
Coffee
Hammer
Construction drew much interest
“Twain's great house, in the process of being
built, had been a mighty curiosity. Families drove
in from miles around on a Sunday or Saturday
afternoon to look at it... It was the chief topic of
conversation… it was designed…in the style of an
Italian Villa, which, to us, meant palace. There
were no other palaces around.”
“Everyone wondered why the famous old man
wanted to build a great mansion in such a lonely,
isolated place; the land wasn't good for anything
but grazing, and it had hundreds of red cedar
trees to prove it was useless.”
~Coley Taylor
Redding, Connecticut
was a simple farming
community in 1910
“Billiards (pool, to the village loafers) was rather
frowned upon by the solid citizens of Redding.
But one of the biggest rooms in the Twain house
was the billiards room!”
~Coley Taylor
Redding, Connecticut
1900-1910
Population 1900: 1,426
Population 1910: 1,617
+191
180 Visited Twain
in 1908 Alone 
Mark Twain’s Arrival
“On the 18th of June, 1908, at about four in the
afternoon we left New York City by an express train
that was to make its first stop in Redding that day.
With Mr. Clemens were my father, a reporter or two, a
photographer and that most fortunate little girl,
myself, whose boarding school closed that day so that
I, too, was homeward bound to Redding.
Waiting for us at the Redding station was a proud
array of carriages, flower trimmed, and filled with
smiling people who waved warmly. I knew I would
never forget it. Mr. Clemens waved in return, then
stepped into his own carriage and drove toward the
beautiful house that was to be his last home. “
-Louise Paine
Platform where he arrived
West Redding Station & General Store circa 1920
(I used this photo because it included a view of the platform)
This side now enclosed
How West Redding General Store Looked in 1908
Park across the street from the station, likely where
people lined up to view the arrival of Clemens.
Mark Twain’s Arrival
“… as he entered the leafy way [Mark Twain Lane] he
said, “This is just the kind of a lane I like,” thus
completing his acceptance of everything but the house
and the location.
Then came the house—simple and severe in its
architecture—an Italian villa, such as he had known in
Florence, adapted now to American climate and needs.
“How beautiful it all is? I did not think it could be as
beautiful as this.”
How Sam would have seen the house upon his arrival
Horse Carriage
Twain & Lounsbury
“He was taken through the rooms; the great living
room- the splendid, glowing billiard-room. Then to the
floor above, with its spacious apartments and a
continuation of color. When he had seen it all—when he
had completed the round and stood again in the
billiard-room—his especial domain—once more he said,
as a final verdict:
“It is a perfect house—perfect, so far as I can see, in
every detail. It might have been here always.”
Dining Room entrance
Dining Room
Front Hallway
Living Room/Library
Twain’s Bedroom
Bed oddly positioned
so he could look out
the window from
bed.
The most important room in the house
“I was never in this beautiful region until yesterday
evening. Miss Lyon and the architect built and
furnished the house without any help or advice
from me, and the result is entirely to my
satisfaction.
It is charmingly quiet here. The house stands alone,
with nothing in sight but woodsy hills and rolling
country.”
Samuel L. Clemens letter to Dorothy Quick
dated June 19, 1908
Clemens Redding house was reported on (almost daily) by
newspapers and magazines Worldwide.
Stormfield had a 100 light system, below is the only other
building in Redding that had modern lighting.
“Miss Lyon is going to put a couple powerful reflector-lamps in
there for night service- the glare will make the place look like
a light-house…the house already looks like a factory that’s
running overtime to fill rush-orders.”
~Twain letter to Frances Nunnally, Oct. 29, 1908
Two 1,000 Gallon Copper Water Tanks in Attic
Rear view of Stormfield
Clara’s Cage
Views of Redding Center from the back terrace
Twain thanks Construction Workers
from the back terrace
Check out the size of
the cigars!!
The Party Begins!
“There were guests that first evening—a small
home dinner-party—and so perfect were the
appointments and service, that one not
knowing would scarcely have imagined it to
be the first dinner served in that lovely room.
A little later; at the foot of the garden of bay
and cedar, neighbors, inspired by Dan Beard,
who had recently located near by, set off
some fireworks. Clemens stepped out on the
terrace and saw rockets climbing through the
summer sky to announce his arrival.”
The Party Begins!
“That first evening closed
with billiards—boisterous,
triumphant billiards—and
when with midnight the day
ended and the cues were
set in the rack, there was
none to say that Mark
Twain’s first day in his new
home had not been a happy
one.”
The Party Begins!
After that- the visits from his friends & beloved
Angel Fish begin and he could not have been
more pleased as his letters below show:
“Two angel-fishes arrived this afternoon, to stay a
week, and we shall have good times.”
“How Livy would love this place! How her very soul
would steep itself thankfully in this peace, this
tranquility, this deep stillness, this dreamy expanse of
woodsy hill & valley!“
“It is the most satisfactory house I am acquainted
with, & the most satisfactorily situated . . . I have
dismissed my stenographer, & have entered upon a
holiday whose other end is the cemetery.”
The Angel Fish
He had a little group of schoolgirl
friends whom he called his
"Angel Fish." Each one of us was
given a small enamel angel fish pin
from Bermuda, and each was
assigned one of the charming
collection of fish pictures which used
to hang on the walls of his billiard
room. He inscribed each name
carefully on the picture.
Collectively, we were referred to by
him as "Members of the Aquarium."
One of the obligations of the
membership was to write regularly
to the "Curator of the Aquarium."
His replies were prompt, and in
longhand.
~Mark Twain As I Knew Him
by Louise Paine Moore
Good Company was Always a Priority
Letter to Dorothy Quick
August 10, 1908
“…I only have Tammany & her kittens, Miss
Lyon & Mr. Ashcroft. But they are all good
company. Yesterday we played hearts several
hours or at least 3 of us did…Ashcroft plays
the orchestrelle for me a great deal; and he
has improved so much that…if I don’t see him
I think it is Miss Lyon. And he plays good
billiards now.”
Twain and his “entertainers”
Twain the Naturalist
“Half a mile from the house there is a deep little
gorge spanned by an antique stone bridge with a
singe arch under it. I am going to stop up the
arch & make water flow over the bridge & make a
cataract, to be called the Aquarium cataract.”
“Miss Lyon and I walked down (by the way of the
old bridge) to your house day before yesterday &
climbed those cliffs that fence your clearing. It is
to be repeated tomorrow.”
“Yesterday morning after the rainstorm I went
down to the gorge to see the results. You can’t
think what a cataract was raging past the
Brushwood Boy’s seat!”
Stone bridge
Burglars toss some water on the fun
September 18th, 1908
letter to Margaret Blackmer
“…I have had the most pleasant 3 months here,
with delightful guests coming & going, some
staying a day or two & some a week…And as
soon as we can arrange the date, you & your
mother must come.”
Postscript: “Burglars in the house after midnight
this morning. They are on their way to jail this
afternoon. We are buying a couple of bulldogs &
hoping they will call again.”
Danbury Evening News, Friday, September 18th, 1908:
"Crooks carry off Humorist's Silverware. Caught while
fleeing by train. One jumps from car while other uses revolver."
12 midnight Burglary, 7:30am Captured, 9:00am Arraigned, 12 noon Off-to-Jail
That’s swift justice…moral of the story? Don’t mess with Twain!
Library Effort Begins
October 11th, 1908
letter to Margaret Blackmer
“…We are all to help open the Mark Twain Library
about an hour from now. It won’t be a very
formidable ceremony.”
*Clemens gave a large collection of his surplus
books to the Town of Redding to be used as the
nucleus for a public library.
Angelfish attend
Mark Twain Library
dedication in style
The Chapel that was used as the first Mark Twain Library
Mark Twain Library
•Opened to Public in 1908
•Location- Corner of Umpawaug &
Diamond Hill
• Open Wednesdays & Saturdays, 4pm
to 7pm
•First librarian was Twain’s neighbor
William Grumman
The Guests Keep Coming…
“I am keeping a hotel, and no train comes or
goes without bringing me a guest or robbing me
of one.”
“Mr. Howells is coming & he is a love (but you
mustn’t flirt with him) and Colonel Harvey is
coming; if there is a spare bed I hope your
mother will come, too.”
“A week ago I drifted over the 73-year frontier
safely & entered my second childhood in good
shape. It was like passing a milestone in the
dark- I couldn’t notice anything was happening.
We have had a good many guests since the
burglar days.”
The Power of Attorney Document
On November 14, 1908 Clemens appoints
Ashcroft and Lyon his “true and lawful
attorneys…to exercise a general supervision over
all my affairs and to take charge of and manage
all my property both real and personal…”
Later, in 1909 this power would come into
question, yet in the seven months that they had
this power over all Sam owned there is no proof
(to-date) that they exploited it.
Ashcroft did incorporated the Mark Twain
Company on Dec. 22, 1908 with $5,000 capital
stock but that was to Sam’s benefit.
Twain in Oxford Gown December 14, 1908
The Angel Fish Come Through for Christmas
Stormfield, December 26, 1908
Letter to Dorothy Sturgis“All the 12 were heard from yesterday except you and
one other. The missing pair were heard from to-day &
the tale is complete & I am glad.”
Stormfield, January 2, 1909
Letter to Dorothy Quick“We had a pleasant Christmas in spite of Robert
Collier’s Elephant. Miss Lyon and Mr. Ashcroft were
horribly worried…”
Hartford Courant December 28, 1908:
‘Elephant’ for Mark Twain
Redding- Just before Christmas Samuel L. Clemens at his
place here got word from his friend Robert J. Collier of
New York, that the latter would send him an elephant as a
present. This caused much anxiety at the Clemens
household, especially Miss Lyon who contacted Mr. Collier
to explain there was simply no room for an elephant at
Stormfield…Collier replied “oh, just put him in the garage.”
The ‘elephant’ arrived on Christmas morning. It turned out
to be a toy elephant about as large as a good sized calf
and mounted on wheels.
Helen Keller Visits in January 1909
“I have been in Eden three days and I saw a King. I knew he
Was a King the minute I touched him though I had never touched a
King before.” ~ A Daughter of Eve. Helen Keller Jan. 11
February- Isabel falls ill, Ashcroft
is in England, Paine is in the
Mediterranean,
Clara arrives &
applies some
pressure on
Sam to review
the finances.
R.A.
I.L.
Sam’s longs for the “good ‘ol days”
With Ashcroft, Paine and Lyon away, day after
day Clara followed Sam… from his bedroom to
his billiard room, arguing that he needed an
impartial review of his finances and reminding
him of past ‘trusted’ aides that had swindled him.
Paine’s wife wrote to her distant husband that
the “poor old man is being driven crazy by the
accusations and told her until three weeks ago he
thought he was happy and well off, but since
then it has been Hell and that if things did not
get better he would cut his own god damn
throat.”
The Ashcroft-Lyon Scandal
Until early April 1909 Ashcroft & Lyon remain
two of Sam’s favorite people. Below are notes
appearing in letters about them in 1909:
“Major General Sir Ralph Ashcroft, Lord Bishop of
Benares, has gone to England on business for me
& we do miss him so!”
“Miss Lyon has been sick in bed several weeks,
and has gone to Hartford…indeed she needs it.
We have had guests all the time & she has
overworked herself.”
The Ashcroft-Lyon Scandal
Howells visited in March and noted:
“the Ashcrofts watch over him with tender
constancy.”
Recalling the Ashcroft-Lyon wedding, March 18,
1909, Sam stated:
“The Ashcrofts & I were soon very friendly and
sociable again, and I hoped and believed these
conditions would continue,” then he adds “Clara
hoped the opposite.”
Hubris…the root of all downfalls
Ralph Ashcroft made three mistakes.
1.
He challenged Clara. Before he left for
England, Clara suggested to him that an
objective person review her father’s books.
He replied: “Are you sure you want to, since
it will reveal your expenditures?”
2.
He bragged about his power of attorney.
“I can sell his house, over his head, for a
thousand dollars, whenever I want to!”
3.
He lied to Sam. In a move to make Clara look
unreliable he lies about the butler being fired.
The Ashcroft-Lyon Scandal
Ashcroft agreed to turn over the ledgers in April,
1909. Sam turned to Henry Rogers hoping he
might find something less damning than Clara’s
suspicions, a discovery that would relieve Sam of
having to hate two people he had loved only six
weeks before.
In mid-May, Sam went to NYC to meet with
Rogers and discuss his ledgers. At Grand Central
Clara met him with horrible news: Roger was
dead.
“The expression of grief in Father’s face was
pitiful to behold” Clara wrote.
Jean Comes Home
On April 26th Jean wrote
her name in the Stormfield
guestbook. Her Doctor had
finally agreed, full of
apprehension, to allow
Jean to make a one-week
trial visit to Redding.
She would never leave
again.
An adjoining 125 acre farm
became hers complete
with barns and livestock.
Ironically, this property was purchased for Clemens by Ashcroft
in one of his final transactions as business manager.
Jean enjoys Redding, Redding enjoys Jean
“Whenever she saw us, she stopped to talk.
Somewhat later she told us that she had bought
the farm across the road from us, gave us
permission to roam all over it, and asked us to
visit her. In the autumn she asked us to drive off
any hunters we caught there. We exchanged
information, in season, about the best berry
patches or where to find the best hazelnuts,
butternuts, and hickory nuts…she would explain
the mysteries of nature to us: the size of the
earth, the distance of the sun and moon from us,
and how ancient the different colored layers of
stone in the ledges of the glen were. We children
were devoted to her.”
~Coley Taylor
In bed most of the Summer/Fall 1909
“I can answer your question
definitely, now, Francesca
Dear. It is heartdisease…what I have termed“tobacco” heart…it has taken
63 years to build this disease.
I was immune that long
anyway.
…it subjects you to many,
many, many inconveniences…you can make no journeys,
even short ones; you must spend about 20 of the 24 hours
in your room & and mainly in bed; you must smoke only
4 times a day instead of 40; and finally you must do very
little work. If you neglect anyone of these things, the blood
pressure increases and the pains come.”
525 Guests at MTL Benefit Concert
“On September 21, 1909- Detachments and
squads and groups came from everywhere; some
in motor car, some in buggies and carriages, and
a swarm of farmer-young-folk on foot from miles
around.
The artists were received with great welcome
and it woke them up, and I tell you they
performed to the Queen’s taste! The program
was an hour and three-quarters long and the
encores added a half-hour to it. The enthusiasm
in the house was hair-lifting.”
-Twain’s recap of the event
October 6, 1909 Clara & Ossip
exchange vows at Stormfield
Joe Twitchell officiated, Jean was the bridesmaid
and Jervis Langdon was the groomsman.
Sam
Bride and groom leave in style
Jean Dies at Christmas
Clemens returned from Bermooda a few days
before Christmas , where he watched Jean
decorate the house, buy and wrap presents, and
manage household affairs with her usual energy.
On December 23, after a quite evening, they said
good night to one another.
Up early to make the final preparations for
Christmas, she entered the bathroom at 7am and
never returned.
“Christmas Day- A snow-storm is raging. Clara is
in Germany. She lies in her coffin at the other
end of this room, beautiful in death.”
Portrait of Jean
-Susan B. Durkee
Jean Dies at Christmas
Clemens wrote in “The Death of Jean”:
“Possibly I know now what the soldier feels
when a bullet crashes through his heart.”
“I lost Susy thirteen years ago; I lost her mother
five and a half years ago; Clara has gone away to
live in Europe; and now I have lost Jean. How
poor I am, who was once so rich! Seven months
ago Mr. Roger died--one of the best friends I ever
had.. Jean lies yonder… She lies there, and I sit
here--writing, busying myself, to keep my heart
from breaking. How dazzlingly the sunshine is
flooding the hills around! It is like a mockery.”
Twain retreated to Bermuda
from January-April 1910
“The Boys' Life of Mark Twain by Albert Bigelow
Paine Chapter LXIX. The Return to Redding:
"As we turned into the lane that led to Stormfield
he said:
“Can we see where you have built your billiardroom?”
The gable of the new study showed among the
trees, and I pointed it out to him.
“It looks quite imposing,” he said"
On April 21, 1910, Samuel L. Clemens
died in Redding, Connecticut at the age
Of 74.
The New York Times, April 22, 1910
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, "Mark Twain,"
died at 22 minutes after 6 tonight. Beside him
on the bed lay a beloved book - it was Carlyle's
"French Revolution" - and near the book his glasses,
pushed away with a weary sigh a few hours before.
Too weak to speak clearly, "Give me my glasses,"
he had written on a piece of paper. He had received
them, put them down, and sunk into unconsciousness
from which he glided almost imperceptibly into death.
Mark Twain born, Nov. 30, 1835. Last perihelion of Halley's comet,
Nov. 10, 1835. Mark Twain died, April 21, 1910. Perihelion of Halley's
comet, April 20, 1910.
Bouton & Son Funeral Home
West Church Street, Georgetown, CT
April 23, 1910
Mahogany Casket $450.00
Mahogany Box $100.00
Professional Services $50.00
Embalming $50.00
Hearse at Redding $8.00
Hearse at New York
GCD to 37th Street $6.00
Hearse from 37th Street to
D,L,W $7.00
Transferring Box to Hoboken $3.50
Four Porters at $3.50 each $14.00
Coach from 37th Street to
22nd Street $4.00
Conveyor for Flowers $3.50
Corpse Ticket Redding to
New York City $1.20
Corpse Ticket New York City
to Elmira, NY $6.10
Total: $703.30
The reports of my
death have been
greatly exaggerated
Twain’s legacy is alive and well at the Mark Twain
Library in Redding where we do our best to promote
his time here in Redding.
Early view of the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building’s interior.
Stormfield
A personal favorite as it shows Stormfield and the Library
Sold in late 1922, Stormfield burned to the ground July 25, 1923
Margaret E. Givens had purchased Stormfield as a “summer home” …
At least she got to enjoy the 4th of July there.
The “New” Stormfield was rebuilt upon the original
Stormfield foundation in 1925.
This presentation is over for now, I
thank you all for watching!!
Someone please have a whiskey &
a smoke for me.