his gifts amounting: History of the Connecticut Valley, 2:1020; Bernhard 369; Charles Hammond to SCB, 5-9-1846, SCB Papers 4:93.
“Humble and retiring”: [Alfred Ely], obituary of Betsey Norcross, Springfield Journal, 9-16-1829 (attribution in Joel W. Norcross, “Fay Family” [1887], 395, NEHGS).
“carrier of Dickinson traits”: MTB in Home 4.
footnote 1: Wolff 40; Cody 42; Bernhard; Ackmann.
The Praying Circle was begun: “Journal of the first Female Praying Circle—Monson—From April 1827 to August 1829,” 1–2, Monson Ch; “Evangel” 390–93.
The journal shows how effective: “Journal” 12, 10, 50–51.
At the time: Manual 38–40; Alfred Ely, Two Sermons (Boston: Mudge, 1858) 27.
One of the Circle’s seven: “Journal” 3; Hezekiah Butterworth, The Story of the Hymns (New York: American Tract Society, 1875) 48–50; “Rev. S.R. Brown, D. D.” Missionary Herald 76 (Aug. 1880) 294. Asahel Nettleton, Village Hymns for Social Worship (New York, 1826) 223; Nettleton indicated Brown’s authorship with a “B.” Later hymnals identified her as “Mrs. Brown,” “P.H.B.,” or “Brown”: Thomas Hastings, The Mother’s Hymn Book (New York: Haven, 1835) 75; James H. Linsley and Gustavus F. Davis, Select Hymns (Hartford: Canfield & Robins, 1839) 296–97; [Elias Nason], The Congregational Hymn Book (Boston: Jewett, 1857) 562. An 1892 reference book (John Julian, A Dictionary of Hymnology [New York: Dover, 1957] 185), considered her the best early female American hymnist.
Her lyric was published: Gillett 36–37; SB Let #2 (1-2-[1859]); Let 235. ED was quoting from memory a couplet from Simon Browne’s “Frequent the Day of God Returns”: “Where the assembly ne’er breaks up,/The Sabbath ne’er shall end” (Village Hymns 388).
footnote 2: Discourses 4.
Each of Dickinson’s grandmothers: Bernhard 368; [Ely], obituary of Betsey Norcross. In a statistical retrospect, Ely noted that “the largest number who have died [in Monson], between the ages of sixteen and forty, have been removed by fevers and consumption. The number by consumption has been not a large proportion of the whole” (A Sermon Preached the Sabbath Preceding the Ordination [West Brookfield, Mass.: Mirick, 1843] 11).
“how much care”: LNN to EdD and END, 12-14-1835. On boarders, see LNN to END, 8-29-1823, H.
The earliest trace: “Monson Academy in 1819,” 1902 clipping, M; “Monson Academy History,” SR, 6-12-1904. Erasmus, JN’s youngest brother, did not join Monson’s First Church until 1825 (Manual 37). Student “E. Norcross” was probably not Elvira: born 1801, she was too old for the daughterly parts given END and would have been designated “Miss.” The original 1819 catalog Ackmann cites (45) cannot be found at the Wilbraham-Monson Academy library.
In Monson, as elsewhere, the Second Great Awakening chilled an earlier secular openness. An old “Catalogue of Books proposed for the Monson Social Library” (found in one of JN’s ledgers, Monson Historical Society) lists such popular novels as The Turkish Spy, The Hapless Orphans, The Haunted Priory. The Norcrosses’ few books now at M include The Female Marine (1816), about a woman’s adventures in men’s wear. Signed “A. Norcross,” it was perhaps acquired by Austin before he joined the church in 1819 (Manual 35). An 1820 sermon by the Reverend Ely set forth the orthodox position that “novels, stories, romances . . . are calculated to corrupt the heart and render the imagination and the passions ungovernable” (“On the Second Centennial Anniversary of the Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers” [ts], 1, M).
The next trace: Catalogue of the Trustees, Instructors, and of the Classes of Students Who Have Fitted for College, in Monson Academy (Springfield, Mass.: Taylor, 1851) 8; END’s school report, H; “Records of the Monson Sabbath School Committee,” 13, Monson Ch. A loose page in a Norcross family Bible (M) records END’s 1804 birth as “Emela” Norcross. Torn from another and older Bible (published 1793), the page preserves the family’s first spelling of the name.
But the teacher’s painful: END, sermon notes, H; LNN to END, 8-29-1823, H.
Remarkably, after marrying: Let 45. Mrs. Hunt died in Amherst 9-8-1861. For proof she was Caroline P. Dutch, see “Deaths Registered in the Town of Amherst” (J); Vital Records of Bradford (Topsfield, Mass., 1907) 44; Smith 409. EdD informed END shortly before their wedding that Mrs. Hunt had given birth to a son and was “quite comfortable” (PP 194).
Emily Norcross’s one surviving: END, “On Amusements,” H. The 1827 watercolor Sewall attributes to END (facing 77) cannot be found at the library he credits, H, or for that matter at A, J, M, or the Dickinson Homestead.
All her life Emily Norcross: WON to END, 3-14-, 8-1-1824, LNN to EdD, 10-25-1829, 7-22-1830, H; Leyda 1:31.
The most revealing pieces: END, sermon notes, H. Those in pencil were found in the same folder as END, “On Amusements.”
In 1853, when Austin: Let 257; END to EdD, Sunday eve [1-7-1838], H; “Root” 18; Phyllis McGinley, A Pocketful of Wry (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1940). For a discussion of ED’s sense of humor, see Comic Power.
Emily Norcross’s longest absence: “Catalogue of the Members of Rev. Claudius Herrick’s School for Young Ladies,” terms beginning April 1810, April 1811, 5-8-1820, 9-18-1820, 4-21-1823, 5-15-1826, CT Misc 25:278; Charles Barney Whittelsey, Genealogy of the Whittelsey-Whittlesey Family (Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1898) 56; CT Headstone 82:182; Will of Chauncey Whittlesey, New Haven Probate Dist, #11435, CT State Lib; Olivia Flynt to END, 6-17-1826, H.
Although Emily made “but few”: Olivia Flynt to END, 6-17-1826, LNN to END, 7-22-1830, H.
Like many of Herrick’s pupils: WON to END, 8-1-, 11-1-1824, H. Given END’s work assignments, it seems unfair to charge her with being “harried and self-absorbed” (Pollak 49).
Yet her own letters: Home 25; Olivia Flynt to END, 6-17-1826, H.
“Do you remember”: Let 433.
Chapter 3
Nowhere do we get: EdD used the blank space on END’s first letter for a running account of his visits and letters. Except for this log and one missing letter, the entire correspondence is available in PP.
On February 8: Solomon Warriner, Jr., to EdD, 2-8-1826, H; PP 3–4.
It isn’t known: PP 5.
Northampton Law School: PP 32; Hampshire Gazette 7-2-1823, 7-27-1825, 5-13-1829, 9-6-1886 (p. 15), 2-22-1887.
“could not consistent,” “without any one persons”: PP 12–13.
Because Edward saw the exchange: PP 22, 53–54, 49, 120, 103, 126; SFD to Tilton Eastman, 5-1-1797, Ms. 797301, D.
Four months after Edward: PP 18–20.
footnote 1: PP 18; Let 612, 634.
In some respects: Let 610. EdD breezily asked END to “give my respects to everybody that has any thing to do with you or me. . . . I am as unceremonious as ever” (PP 104). A message by President John Quincy Adams that lacked “the formality of a laboured introduction” struck him as admirably “plain, simple & business-like” (“President’s Message” [ms.], H; NEI 12-15-1826).
During the couple’s two-year: PP 136, 145, 56, 128.
Still, not only was Emily: PP 133, 206, 13 (spelling and punctuation corrected).
Edward’s proposal of marriage: PP 34, 37. Pollak’s claim that “there is no indication” (PP 27) END read the “pamphlets” overrides END’s own statement to the contrary. These were issues of a new monthly, The Casket, later Graham’s Magazine, borrowed by EdD from a student (PP 101, 131); WON, too, referred to them as pamphlets (WON to EdD, 6-5-1827, H). An early contributor sounds like EdD: “Every female should be so educated, that she will make a good wife. . . . The duty of a female does not require that she should address the public, or speak in the halls of legislation” (“Female Education,” Casket 1 [March 1826] 86).
Edward sent his formal: PP 39, 42–43, 44; EdD’s business card, H. SFD had erected the building and owned an interest in it (Hampshire Co. RD 54:76, 58:104).
The result: PP 48–49, 56.
Although the couple was now: WON to EdD, 6-5-1827, H; PP 61, 96.
&
nbsp; Edward had always: LDB to EdD, 1-15-1823, H; MDN to EdD, 1-25-1828, H; Turner 4; CDS to EdD, 5-12-1835, H; CDS to parents and EDC, begun 6-15-1835, ED953 A; CDS to JAS, 10-20-1835, ED954 A.
One of several ironies: Ann Hobart, “Hannah More,” Dictionary of Literary Biography (Detroit: Gale Research, 1992) 116:202–215; [More], Coelebs in Search of a Wife (London: Cadell & Davies, 1809) 1:131–32. The Dickinsons’ copy of the novel (Boston: West et al., 1820), missing, was apparently “inscribed by several persons, including Wm Dickinson” (Alfred Leete Hampson to Professor West, 9-26-1934, H).
footnote 2: William B. Sprague, Letters on Practical Subjects, to a Daughter (Albany: Pease, 1851) 78, EDR 3.5.1.
His forum was Amherst’s: Carp 193; NEI 1-5-1827. Unless stated otherwise, cited issues of NEI are at AAS. Others beside EdD took the pseudonym of Coelebs to state their preferences in female character; see “The Country Maiden,” Litchfield Enquirer 2-2-1832.
Even in 1827: NEI 1-5-1827, 3-13-1828; PP 104–105; EdD, unpublished response to “Tabitha,” 5-11-1827, H; NEI 5-11-1827.
In his third paper: EdD, ms. of Coelebs #3, H.
The ferocity implicit: EdD, unpublished Coelebs #4, H.
Like the reply: EdD’s outline notes for Coelebs #5, H.
After the essay appeared: PP 101, 35, 121.
footnote 3: NEI 4-20-1827.
In fact, Edward repeatedly: PP 10, 55, 86, 16; Let 475. EdD’s Thaddeus, acquired 1827, is at EDR 3.1.25. Pollak assumes these novels were not welcomed by END, who in fact found Hope Leslie “quite interesting” (PP 17, 123).
“How does it affect”: EdD, ms. of Coelebs #4, H; NEI 2-23-1827.
“buys me many Books”: Let 404.
Just east: “Lost Homes” 174 ff; PP 108.
“have a voice in the style”: PP 174.
There was also the question: LDB to END, Tuesday, n.d., H; EdD’s log on END to EdD, 3-1-[1826], H; PP 173; MDN to EdD, 10-13-1829, H. Spending two days in Monson immediately after the 1827 Commencement, Warriner described END as “fatigued” by her Amherst visit (letter to EdD, 8-30-1827, H).
Finally, in January 1828: MDN to EdD, 1-25-1828, H; PP 182.
In the courtship’s final months: PP 162, 177, 168; END to EdD, Sat [1-5-1828], H.
In answering this letter: PP 173, 180, 186.
When Joel Norcross: PP 188; EdD to JN, 3-6-1828, J.
Just as Lavinia was: JN to EdD, 3-28-1828, H; PP 204.
“the house has been cleaned”: PP 209.
Emily made it clear: PP 206; Let 639.
footnote 4: PP 128, 134, 139.
On May 6: NEI 5-8-1828. Monson town records give a spelling of “Emely” and a date of 5-7, probably the day the wedding was recorded (“Intentions of Marriage and Marriages,” book 2).
“thoroughly repaired”: Warriner to EdD, 5-13-1828, H.
Eliza Coleman’s wedding: Leyda 2:29. Years later, in a memorandum added to L762 (Za Dickinson, Y-BRBL), Eudocia Flynt vividly recalled the torrential rains the day of the wedding.
Chapter 4
“Father had failed & mother said”: Let 48–49.
When Emily Norcross left: Town of Amherst, valuations for taxes, 1828, J; Journal of the MA Senate 49 (May 1828 to March 1829) 18, 23, 29, 50, MA State Lib. For some reason, 1827 and 1828 valuations don’t hold SFD, EdD, or anyone else accountable for the Dickinsons’ part of Jemima Montague’s house.
Then, on June 11: Journal of the MA Senate 49:130; NEI 6-26-1828. Dated 6-18-1828, the notice last appeared 9-11. The school was to open 9-1.
That the Squire was officially: NEI 7-17-, 8-28-1828; PP 146–47; Greenfield Gazette and Franklin Herald 11-11-1828. EdD signed the final request for those in debt to the paper to pay up (NEI 11-13-1828, New-York Historical Society).
The inexorable legal: Hampshire Co. RD 58:561. On 10-4-1826 SFD had “sold” the Homestead and the thirty-acre place east of Jemima Montague to Oliver Smith for $500 (Hampshire Co. RD 55:273). Though the conveyance was recorded, Smith didn’t have valid title until SFD made a marginal addition on 11-1-1828—the same day Smith’s sale of the Homestead was recorded in Northampton. In the interim, Amherst’s property valuations continued to hold SFD, not Smith, liable for taxes on the Homestead.
On December 8: EdD to JN, 12-8-1828, J.
Edward’s relations with his: EdD to JN, 3-3-1830, Monson Historical Society. The terms of the agreement aren’t known.
Among the congratulatory notes: Albert and Loring Norcross to END and EdD, 5-17-1828, H.
1,343 Bible verses: “Records of the Monson Sabbath School Committee,” 29-30, Monson Ch.
The second of Lavinia’s: LNN to END, 5-21-[1828], “Thursday eve” [Sept.–Oct. 1828], H. The decline of Candace Packard (d. 12-20-1828) and the end of Prudence Smith’s service with the Frinks help date the “Thursday eve” letter.
What chiefly worried: LNN to END, 8-30-[1828], 10-30-1828, H. LNN may have known END was some three months pregnant.
After the laborious wife: LNN to END, 8-30-1828, “Thursday eve” [Sept.–Oct. 1828], “Thursday noon” [winter 1828–1829], 12-20-[1828], 2-12-[1829], 3-17-1829, H. The “Thursday noon” letter was written during sleighing season and before Betsey Norcross’s death on 9-5-1829.
On Emily’s side: Gillett 5; EdD to END, 9-23-1828, LNN to END, 12-20-[1828], 3-17-1829, EdD to END, 6-7-1829, H. Summer term began 6-3-1829. Henry Morris was a son of Judge Oliver Morris and Caroline Bliss; Richard Bliss, of Caroline’s brother George. Thomas B. Warren, “Springfield Families” (D.A.R. copy), 1:77, Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, Springfield; Charles Wells Chapin, Sketches of the Old Inhabitants . . . of Old Springfield (Springfield 1893) 57–59, 280–81.
The household manual: Carolyn L. Karcher, The First Woman in the Republic: A Cultural Biography of Lydia Maria Child (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1994) 129; [Child], The Frugal Housewife. Dedicated to Those Who Are Not Ashamed of Economy (Boston: Carter, Hendee & Babcock, 1831) v, 3, 8, 11–12, 18. Signs of use in END’s copy (Boston: Carter & Hendee, 1830), EDR 4.2.3, are on 65, 74, 103, 117–18.
This frugality came to look: JL/ED; JN, record of Loring’s debits, 4-1-1827, Monson Historical Society; EdD to END, 1-12-1837 [1838], H.
“Mother would send her love”: Let 377.
On April 16, 1829: EdD to END, 6-7-1829, LNN to EdD, 5-4-1829, LNN to END, 2-22-1830, LNN to EdD, 7-22-1830, H.
The baby was coddled: EdD to END, 6-7-1829, H; PP 185; LNN to END, 7-19-1829, H.
In Amherst’s property: Town of Amherst, valuations for taxes, 1829, J; LNN to END, 12-20-[1828], JN to EdD, 2-26-1829, H.
By mid-July Betsey: LNN to END, 7-19-1829, 7-30-, 8-18-[1829], H.
Remarkably, it was that summer: WON to EdD, “Saturday Morning” [9-5-1829], H. The revival “commenced about the middle of July” (Book 2, “Congregational Church 1806–1864,” 12-6-1829, Monson Ch).
But as of September: WON to END, 9-1-1829, H.
Taking her baby: WON to EdD, 9-5-1829, LNN to EdD, 10-25-1829, H; Nettleton 140–41. MDN’s report of hearing “good news of Lavinia” (MDN to EdD, 10-13-1829, H) is the earliest reference to her conversion. LNN joined the church in December (Manual 39).
For Lavinia, the drama: Examining Committee Records, vol. 1, 11-12-1835, Bowd St Ch.
Hoping to communicate her new: LNN to EdD, 10-25-1829, LNN to END, 4-22-[1829], H.
Lavinia composed a poem: H.
Unlike Edward’s father: Town of Amherst, valuations for taxes, 1827, 1828, J; EdD to END, 6-7-1829, H. For Nathan Dickinson’s later history, see Robert F. Eldredge, Past and Present of Macomb County, Michigan (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1905) 337–38; Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli, A History of the Romeo Community School District 1824–1976 (Romeo, Mich.: Romeo Community Schools’ Board of Education, 1976) 20–22.
As before, Edward turned: EdD to JN, 3-3-1830, Monson Historical Society. Complete text in “Lost Homes” 183–84.
Answering at once: JN to EdD, 3-8-1830, H; preliminary draft at Monson Historical Society.
In the end Edward made: Hampshire Co. RD 63:422–23.
In May Edward took: PP 111; EdD to END, 5-19-1830, H; New York Evening Post 5-19-1830; George C. D. Odell, Annals of the New York Stage (New York: Columbia University Press, 1928) 3:461.
That summer, when Emily: LNN to EdD, 7-22-1830, LNN to END, 8-2-1830, MDN to EdD, 5-3-1835, LNN to END, 8-31-1830, H.
Following the move: EdD to JN, 8-11-1830, J; LNN to END, 8-31-1830, H. According to HSR, the central hallway now has a different configuration. Ordinarily, “the city” designated industrial North Amherst.
That fall it was learned: Leyda 1:117; LNN to END, 12-6-1830, H; Isaac Parsons, Memoir of the Life and Character of Rev. Joseph Vaill (New York: Taylor & Dodd, 1839). See pp. 65–69 for letters to SVN.
To receive such a bride: Unsigned ledger, p. 40, Monson Historical Society (attributed to Charles B. Jones by Grace Makepeace); LNN to END, 11-19-[1830], 12-6-1830, H.
Notwithstanding: Isaac G. Cutler, “List of Women Delivered,” J; END’s Bible. The middle name is definitely spelled with an “s.”
footnote 1: Leyda 1:16; Leyda’s notes, MTB Papers 106:666; obituary of Flora Stebbins Gregory, Amh Rec, 9-12-1946; Hampshire Co. RP, Estate of Lafayette C. Stebbins; Amherst Vital Records, birth of Flora D. Stebbins on 6-14-1871 and death of Lafayette C. Stebbins on 6-19-1872, J; Amherst directory for 1869; 4-8-1867 marriage intention of Lafayette C. Stebbins and Flora E. Lovett, Town Clerk, Wendell Depot, Massachusetts.
From all the signs: END to EdD, postmarked 6-1-[1831], H.
Chapter 5
“would be a very good Boy”: Let 454.
The pleasure grew with age: Let 704; FN 50–53; Let 703.
“blighted childhood”: Sewall 333.
“I never had a mother”: Let 475.
“pity her very much”: “Root” 11.
parents bereft of their children: Desc 206; Smith 510; Charles B. Sumner, A Sermon on the Life and Character of Mrs. Hannah Porter (Northampton: Bridgman & Childs, 1870) 15; Conant 24, 40–41; END to EdD, Tuesday [2-20-1838], EdD to END, 2-22-, 2-25-1838, H; Other Bullards 18; Typed notes on Newman family (1946) 4, Andover Historical Society; Clara C. Pearl to MTB, 11-2-1945, MTB Papers 84:258a (“[I was] told long ago that there were three (3) babies who died in infancy”); EdD to END, 2-11-1835, H.
My Wars Are Laid Away in Books Page 73