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Mark Twain in Elmira

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Mark Twain in Elmira Mark Twain in Elmira SECOND EDITION 1 Mark Twain in his Study at Quarry Farm in Elmira, New York, 1880. Photo courtesy Mark Twain Archive, Elmira College, Elmira, NY. 2 Mark Twain in Elmira SECOND EDITION Robert D. Jerome and Herbert A. Wisbey, Jr. WITH REVISIONS AND ADDITIONS BY BARBARA E. SNEDECOR Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies Elmira College One Park Place, Elmira, New York 14901 2013 3 The Second Edition is made possible by generous support from The Friends of the Center The Hardinge Anderson Evans Foundation Lilly Broadcasting The Mark Twain Foundation Second Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies Elmira College Elmira, New York All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America by Cayuga Press of Cortland Cortland, New York ISBN 978-0-578-12626-5 4iv To all whose contributions have enriched the Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies 5 6 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... ix Chapter One Mark Twain in Elmira ................................................1 Mark Twain’s Days in Elmira .................................. 2 Chapter Two The Langdon Family ................................................. 17 Elmira’s Langdon Family ....................................... 19 The Decline and Fall of the Langdon Home ........ 27 Chapter Three Quarry Farm ..............................................................35 From My Father, Mark Twain .................................39 My Uncle, Mark Twain..........................................45 Chapter Four Lectures in Elmira ..................................................... 61 The American Vandal ...........................................64 General Hawley’s Meeting .....................................65 Twain and Cable ...................................................68 Mark Twain’s Last Visit to Elmira .........................70 Chapter Five Monument to Adam ................................................. 74 A Monument to Adam ..........................................75 The Adam Monument Petition ............................. 77 Identification of Petition Signers ..........................79 Chapter Six Friends and Visitors ..................................................84 Charlie Klapproth’s Cafe: Mark Twain Sipped Here .................................85 Katy Leary’s Story ..................................................88 Rudyard Kipling’s Account ...................................93 Mark Twain’s Account of Kipling’s Visit ............ 103 Katy Leary’s Comments ...................................... 105 To Rudyard Kipling, In England ......................... 106 Chapter Seven Park Church and Thomas K. Beecher ................... 107 Mr. Beecher and the Clergy ................................. 108 A New Beecher Church ....................................... 113 Mark Twain’s Elmira ............................................119 vii7 Chapter Eight Woodlawn Cemetery ............................................... 143 Jervis Langdon’s Diary ........................................ 148 Account of the Funeral .......................................150 Langdon-Clemens Plot in Woodlawn Cemetery .................................155 Gabrilowitsch—Buried at Mark Twain’s Feet ...... 165 Chapter Nine Anecdotes ................................................................. 173 Appendix A An Abridged Chronology of Mark Twain in Elmira ............................................ 192 Appendix B Samuel Langhorne Clemens ................................... 197 Appendix C Mark Twain and Elmira .......................................... 221 Appendix D Langdon Family .......................................................225 Chapter Ten Quarry Farm A Country Residence .......................228 How Mark Twain Travelled Between Hartford & Elmira...........................228 Renovations at Quarry Farm ............................... 231 Quarry Farm A Study of the “Picturesque” ........234 Chapter Eleven Mark Twain’s Elmira Circle ...................................262 Theodore Crane ..................................................262 Katie Leary ........................................................... 270 Auntie Cord......................................................... 275 John T. Lewis ....................................................... 281 Ernest Koppe .......................................................288 Cats at Quarry Farm ............................................292 Susan and Theodore Crane ................................ 301 Chapter Twelve Sam and Olivia 1870-1872 .......................................349 Mark Twain’s 115th Wedding Anniversary ........349 The Wedding of Mark Twain ..............................350 The Tragic Story of Emma Nye ...........................352 “He Was So Rarely Beautiful”: Langdon Clemens ..........................................356 8viii Introduction to the First Edition Mark Twain is probably claimed by more places than any other American man of letters. Hannibal and Hartford both consider him their own. Hawaii, San Francisco, Virginia City, Buffalo and many other places both at home and abroad all publicize their association with the famous author and humorist. Perhaps the least recognized of all the plac- es that influenced the life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens was the most important, both in his family life and in providing the environment in which he accomplished some of his best writing. Elmira, New York, was the scene of some of the happiest moments of his life and of some of the saddest. Here he courted and married his beloved Livy, beginning one of the great love stories in American literature. Here were buried the people he loved most: Olivia Langdon Clemens, his wife for thirty-four years; his first-born child and only son; the two beloved daughters who preceded him in death and the only daughter to survive him. Here, at last, he too was laid to rest. Elmira, for Mark Twain, meant many happy summers with his family at Quarry Farm and some of his most productive periods of writ- ing. In the octagonal study on East Hill, built by his sister-in-law to give him privacy, he wrote parts of some of his most famous works, as well as many articles and essays. From his first visit in 1868 until his burial in Woodlawn Cemetery in 1910, Elmira played a central role in Mark Twain’s private and professional life. It is the purpose of this book to present for the first time in one place a collection of the information about Mark Twain’s association with Elmira. The search for references to Elmira has taken the editors to Mark Twain’s own works and letters, to the memoirs of those who knew him, and to many of the numerous books and articles written about him. Our intention, however, was not to reprint material in easily available sources, but to provide a wider audience for less familiar information that previously has had only a limited or local circulation. In this cat- egory are articles from the journal of the Chemung County Historical Society, news stories and notices from the Elmira newspapers, privately printed material, and anecdotes and stories that have circulated orally in the community. The items we have selected have been reprinted verba- tim in most instances. Editorial notes, indicated by brackets, have been given only to correct errors in fact or to update information. We recog- nize that a certain amount of repetition results from the fact that authors of different selections sometimes describe the same event or episode, but ix9 we hope that the value of preserving the integrity of the original mate- rial will outweigh the sacrifice in readability. The illustrations, many of which have not appeared in print before, were selected to show Elmira scenes familiar to Mark Twain and to picture the author and his family in various Elmira locations. Many places in Elmira associated with Mark Twain have disap- peared with the years. The Langdon home in which he was married is now the site of a shopping center. The Rathbun Hotel where he played billiards, and Klapproth’s Saloon where he had a drink or two, fell to downtown development. Doctors Silas O. and Rachel Brooks Gleason’s Elmira Water Cure that Mark Twain passed on his way up East Hill to Quarry Farm disappeared many decades ago. But many sites remain. Quarry Farm itself, has changed through the years with renovations and additions, but still has the same view across the City of Elmira and the Chemung Valley to the hills of Pennsylvania in the distance. The octago- nal study was moved to the campus of Elmira College where it is both better protected and more accessible to visitors. Park Church, across the street from the Langdon home[site], has survived two floods and still plays an active role in the religious life of the community. The location of Mark Twain’s grave and those of the rest of his family in Elmira’s Woodlawn Cemetery is a place of pilgrimages for many visitors each year. The Mark Twain Society of Elmira, sponsor of the early editions of this book, was founded in 1975 to serve as a focal point for local inter- est in Elmira’s most important adopted citizen. Elmira College has a spe- cial collection of books and other materials by and about Mark Twain. The collection includes many first editions, foreign language transla- tions, some letters and manuscripts, and a number of photographs. The Chemung County Historical Society has a special room devoted to Mark Twain material, including some
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