* The Auto: 1917 Dodge Touring Car

Cost of living in 1917 That Dodge would have cost $780 in 1917 

(courtesy, RR)

* 1911-1934 Cultivating Miss Elizabeth (b.1905):Tutorial; Piano Lessons; Hospital Stay; French Lessons; Photograph (?) [Who is Katherine?]

                                                               

WHO IS KATHERINE?

* Southern Pines, N.C., JWB's Fair Weather Retreat (for health reasons?)

* The Pocket Diaries: 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 --- "Heart Attack" and non-Black Thursday

Note Wednesday April 24th "E. heart attack in PM" 

By May 18  "E. to New York A.M."

Note: December 21 "Supper at Church -Hall [Church-Wall?] to celebrate E. Birthday"

BLACK THURSDAY: The Stock Market Crash

Note "Radio at night" on Sunday, Nov. 8 (two weeks after Black Thursday)

Even the final days of the year  are blissfully oblivious to Wall Street.

NOTE: "Mama" came to live with the JWB's in Mount Carmel.  Here is her death notice, twenty-two years after the wedding tucked neatly into JWB's pocket diary for that date  which has the handwritten note, "Grandma C died 4.40 P.M."




For BASSETT deaths see: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GSsr=161&GScid=103268&
(courtesy, RR)

* Graciously Let Down ? 1899

POSTMARK: MAY 10, 1899

POSTMARK: May 19, 1899
My dear J. Walter: -

        Another tribute of your kindness came this morning –you have ever been doing them and I have appreciated [inserted “them”] all. This cheese knife is lovely  my first, and doubtless last, gift from Tiffany’s, and I thank [sic] very, very much.

       How slow and yet how fast the time has gone since I saw you, and I have been as busy as a [“busy” crossed out] bee [inserted], and as happy. Only a week more and then this terrible function [friction? fustian?] will be over and we can all rest. J. Walter, when you marry seek “the little church round the corner” every time.[my emphasis] The marriage will be just as legal, and you will both live longer.

        I shall never forget you, dear old friend of mine and may “Sweetness” ever live in your memory.  We have had many a pleasant time together, haven’t we?

        Forever your sincere friend,

                                               Grace Genevieve Pierpont

                                         North Haven, Connecticut

                                                May nineteenth, 1899

* Ultimatum and Apology, January, 1902

Postmark
Jan 24 1902  6 PM
North Wilbraham

Mr. J. W. Bassett
93 Crown Street
New Haven, Conn.

My dear,
  Will you please be definite and tell me what you have decided and what I am to do about resigning? I am no better off than before I read your letter and I supposed it would be final. I am almost frantic, not knowing what to do. I do not  want to wait until the eleventh of June for it is sure to be blazing hot, and would prefer the fourth if it can possibly be arranged.[ my emphais] If you have decided to go, at fifty dollars until Sept. why do you not tell him so and have it settled? You did not say anything any more definite  than in the previous letter. Please write a line when you receive this if you possibly can, and tell me what you are going to do. If it ["is" inserted] post-marked" "eleven A.M" I will get it at night. Let me hear if possible or I shall have nervous prostration.[my emphasis] I love you dear. Your Evangeline
Friday, P.M.

Postmark

North Wilbraham Jan 27 1902 11AM

J. Walter Bassett

Mount Carmel

Connecticut

My darling little boy.

I do love you with all my heart and am very happy.  I am happy because I love you so much, and I am just as much more happy because you love me. And I am very happy indeed because our plans seem to be materializing. I am sorry if I made you unhappy but really did not know what to do. Our plans have been uncertain for so long. And I did not know what to do and I got all worked up and anxious over it and then the disappointment finished me, nearly, I guess. I am getting run down as I have a habit of doing every winter when I get anemia, for a few mornings ago I fainted away while I was dressing and mama says I look so cold and white[my emphasis]. So if you will forgive me for being a foolish little girl and love me just the same, I will not be so unreasonable again. Yesterday I wrote to Miss Poland and resigned my school and this week I am going to get some medicine, and the next time you see me, my face will be as red as my waist. [my emphasis] And I wont [sic] be worried or blue any more. It scares me a little to think that in three weeks my income will stop and there are so many things to buy. But I shall have three months in which to get rested and learn to cook. And I shall have to see the dressmaker and our rent [?]. So the time will not seem so long as it looks now. I am anxious to know what you have in mind  about a rent. If it anything that we might want, tell the man that we will be permanent tenants and get him to put it in a good condition for us.

  Your letter Friday night disappointed me for I had thought you would say that you had looked over the work with Mr. Woodruff and told him you would come, and that everything was settled and I expected you would be jubilant but you were not so at all, consequently my reply, for I did not know what to do. Mama knew the state of mind I was in when I wrote and wanted me to wait until morning for she said you would think the Old Harry was in me, as big as a woodchuck.[my emphasis] But I got your letter at the usual time 1.05, and a very dear letter it was too, and it soothed the wrinkles all out of my disposition and I wrote to Miss Poland at once. I am sorry that my letter in the middle of the week got missent and hope it will not happen again.  You did not tell me what you thought of the work, if it is going to be difficult to get accustomed to. When are you going to tell Mr. Humphreys? Do not lose your interest to the extent that they will be sorry they gave you the raise. It was fortunate that you got the cut glass when you did, or we might not have had it. What will Mr. Andrews do, and can he not work for you when you are away? I really wish we could make it the fourth June and have wondered if Mr. Andrews could not take your place at that time. Will you have any more vacation during the summer. I watched the paper quite anxiously hoping for Dr. Sims [sic] election as a solution to our problem but was disappointed. I am still at sea and we may have the sheriff after all.

I am sure I shall be contented in Mount Carmel and we will be near enough to the city to enjoy its advantages. If we can only get a desirable rent, the rest will take care of itself and we will be very happy in our little house together. You will probably come up in February, and I will come down in March and see the dressmaker and in April I must order the announcements. Then in May will be getting settled and here we are at the first of June.

I can not quite give up the brass bed and bird’s eye maple, even in consideration of the mahogany one, so as we are agreed about it, I guess we will have to have it. I hope you will answer Dr. Swett’s letter soon, and not get out of touch with everyone in the South. There will be no moon the first of June, so a sea trip would be robbed of one of its charms. We might spend a few days in the Berkshires instead or at Norfolk. What do you think? We have not considered it before because the season would not have been suitable earlier. Whatever we do, we must be quiet and alone together. I am afraid a trip to Nova Scotia would be too tantalizing, as we could not stay and that has always been one of my Meccas. And when I go I want to spend a little time. Has this letter made up for the last one?

I must write to Alice now, for I owe her about three. I love you, dear, and am very anxious for the happy time when we won’t have to write letters and get tangled up. With all my love, your happy little girl,

                     Evangeline

January, the twenty-sixth.

* The Cravat

Could this be the tie JWB wore at his wedding?

* The Ring (Tiffany & Co., Postmark May 9, 1902)

* Invitations, Announcements, Furnishings, etc.

Could this ribbon be the "it" mentioned in the following letter (what Evangeline worried she might not have "room" to enclose) ?

Postmark May 5, 1902 [ A month before the wedding]

North Wilbraham

My dearest,

There are so many things to write that I hardly know where to begin and will know still less whereto stop. I do not see what has gotten into the mails for it has been oftener than not that I have sent your letters at eleven o’clock and you have received them at four.  Yesterday we went in the city in the morning and went to the new dressmaker whom the other one recommended. She took the measure and we planned the gown, and mama is to go in on Wednesday to have the linings fitted. So we are just where we were six weeks ago, and before this dress comes home we must do lots of odd things, for when the dress does come all other things must be done as there will be no time after it. I shall be very busy this week, so you must not think I am neglecting my little boy if I do not write three times. I must sew in the daytime, and in the evenings I have lots of letters to write and receipts to copy and music to sort over, and a million things to do. I shall be so glad when I do not have to make every minute count. I seem to have gotten off the track. When we left the dressmaker’s we went to Baris, there to look at dinner sets in the remaining [?] store. We found one in violets for forty-two. Which was the prettiest we have seen anywhere for that price and another for fifty-nine something, which was tiny pink roses and lovely7, and which was also the prettiest by far of anything near the price anywhere, and I shall probably have one of them. Then we went to Meekin’s and selected the brass bed. It is plain and very handsome and I am tickled to pieces, and what do you think? After ordering the bed, mama also ordered a hair mattress of the finest grade which also cost a pretty penny. How is that? I will tell you about the spring bed later, as it is too long for this letter. Now I will give you the list of things which I selected, subject to correction. The dining table is round and fifty-two (or four) inch, claw and ball feet and thirty-five dollars. The chairs I did not select until you come. One set you saw, and another set equally pretty but three dollars less for the six, is the other choice.  The sideboard you have seen. The bookcase is wax finish, double doors of leaded glass for twenty-one dollars. One similar, but smaller, and with one door, is fifteen, but I think the books we would have would fill it and as it is the only one we will ever have, I want some room left for future use. The parlor table is the round spider legged one for sixteen, if it is firm enough. The little table for a window is very pretty and mahogany for four and a half. The bureau in maple is thirty one fifty and a beauty and two maple chairs one a rocker for three and a quarter and four and a quarter.  That completes the list, and I left out music [?] chair and cabinet for we can get along without them  and can select them later if we wish. My selections came to one hundred fifteen and fifty cents without dining chairs which will be at least fifty more. Then there are two floor coverings, and we cannot get a nice parlor carpet such as you want for less than fifty dollars. I think you must be mistaken about your present parlor carpet for this tapestry one cost thirty-two.  Our parlor draperies will cost at least five dollars a pair and the set at least eighty. So there you have two hundred to add to one hundred fifteen. Then there will be a spring for the brass bed, a mattress for the guest room, a covering for the dining room floor, a chair for the the den ( for we have only two) a stove and a refrigerator.  So it seems we had better omit the music cabinet and chair until we see what money we have given us. Now about having the new furniture. What you say is true, but I do not like the idea of moving that nice furniture after it has been unpacked and by someone not accustomed to doing it.  If things are scratched we can’t help ourselves, and if they are unpacked and set up they will be fixed up if marred in any way, and it seems so much better to have them set up where they will stay. Then they will have to be paid for if delivered now, and you will be able to leave half the amount in the bank if they are not. Of course it would be nice to have them but I think we would enjoy them more to have them new when we go to the other house which I hope will  be before cold weather, for we never could keep warm there on account of the stairs if for no other reason. Has anything more been said about rent/ I should not be willing to pay twelve dollars in cold weather, for the house would be too inconvenient with a detached kitchen and well and all that space overhead in the old kitchen. Get your ides in order so you could speak of it if the opportunity is given. My suit has come and looks very nice, but the skirt binding is about three inches too large and cannot be made small enough without spoiling the back of the skirt. How in the world is all that “truck” to grow in that small space? [my emphasis] Did you cover the sweet peas again? I wonder if anything  has been done in our garden. If the wedding ring is all right I would like it engraved where I had mine measured and where I got your chain and locket. I am quite sure the mover included his team, at least I understand it. Do tell me if the architect came and the result. I don’t [sic] know what to say about the boxes for my gowns. I dislike to have them folded so small. She will only just get them done so why not you write her how you will get them on Friday the sixteenth?

I have not looked at refrigerators at all. This letter is mostly business, but I love you as much as if I had told you lots of nice things. It is so long I cannot read it, but hope I have made myself plain. I love you and two weeks more and you will be here. With all my love

                                                            Your Evangeline.

__________________________________________
Postmark, June 1902 (no day on postmark)

North Wilbraham, Mass

Mr. J. Walter Bassett

Mount Carmel

Connecticut

Dearest,
     After dinner I went over to spend a little while with Miss Phillips and select something from among Eunice's trinkets. When I came home Emma was here and has just gone, so it is getting near time to go to church, and I must go tonight, for I have been very bad lately. I guess I wrote last Thursday night, so I will begin there. Friday morning was the usual housework and in the afternoon I wrote the invitations to the wedding, and it took all the afternoon. In the evening I did my mending, and yesterday I spent in he city [Springfield?] and had a hard day. I make my bank book squeal, for I got a check for Mrs. Welden, and money for other things which are big. I got a hat for traveling and for general wear, which I thought stylish and serviceable, but mama does not like it, as it does not look nice enough, she thinks. Then I got two pair of shoes, one a high black pair, and the other a low yellow pair. The latter are lighter than I like, but will will grow dark. I got an appointment Thursday to have my broken tooth built up, and hope to buy my nice hat then. My announcements and cards came yesterday and now we can't back out. The card plates were each three dollars so he gave me the extras and letter and the one hundred cards were one dollar. When I have answered all your questions I fear there will not be room left to enclose something else to amuse you, and please do not show it, because you know I am funny.[my emphasis] I saw Mr. Davis about the carpet and he said he would put a plain color outside the border to make the three inches. He also said they would lay the carpet, but there might be some trouble, as I was getting the carpet at almost wholesale price. So for that reason I would like if possible to get our dining room carpet there, and they would send a man more willingly. I got my ring, and it was engraved nicely, the six initials, and I paid the enormous and exorbitant sum of twelve cents for it.
Last evening I read, for the first time. Tomorrow they are going to begin to paint the house, in spite of all we can say, and Mrs. Gates tried to help us, but the painter has finally got to it [my emphasis], so Mr. Gates feels he must have him. So he agreed to go over one coat, and then estimate how long it will take to finish, and I am about as uncomfortable as is possible to be. Tomorrow I must write the invitations to the reception, and Tuesday I will go to the city, and Wednesday I must begin to address my announcements. So my dearest even though I love you so much, I cannot write three times, for the hours are so precious, and so many little things still left to do. I want to get my announcements done before Steve comes, for she will want to do them, and I am afraid she will not get the inside envelope right, for I understand, and she doesn't. I shall miss the third letter too, but it's only seventeen more days, so we can be patient. Now put this where you won't lose it. Dr. Squire told me to get one (Z) of bromide of soda and put it into four (Z) of water and take one teaspoonful after each meal and before going to bed for a week before going on the water and we wouldn't be sea-sick. So you want to try it, too.  Emma has a lovely big cape and she offered to loan it to me,  when she heard me say I hoped my money would hold out to buy one. So I shall accept the loan,and be comfortable. When you have the leisure, would it not be well to measure the dining room floor and make a diagram, and then put it in your new pocket and we will have it, if we want it. It would be better to have it and not want it, than to want it and not have it. I will send the tickets to Mr.Herrick, as I shall wish to write again. I shall try to engage the mover next Tuesday for early Wednesday morning. Since we have two tables for the parlor, it seems a little unwise to have another , unless we know just the place for it. A chair for my desk would be very acceptable, as we need one, or [& ?] so would silver. Mr. and Mrs. Terry have given me a pair of silver spoons, solid of course. I hope the architects [sic] visit was satisfactory. I think I would like my wedding gift from you  the night that you come. What is it? Mama is coughing badly, and had to come out of church this morning, but does not appear sick. The Buffalo Bill's Wild West was the effort of the Jones boy, and I found it in my desk the other day. I suppose when we give our ages, we had better tell the truth and shame the Devil [my emphasis]. There is a new barber here, but as I have heard nothing about him, I cannot recommend him. There is more trouble at Mr. Bell's for  two weeks ago Mrs. Bell had a nervous collapse and has been in a state of melancholia ever since and yesterday they took her to a sanitarium. She has been through enough mental strain and done enough hard work to drive the woman insane. Miss Phillips leave us tomorrow and Mrs. Thomson in a few days.
With my best love to my heart's dearest,

                                      Your own,
                                                    Evangeline.

_________________________________________________
Postmark June, 1902 North Wilbraham

Mr. J. Walter Bassett
Mount Carmel
Conn

 Dearest,

      Just a line to reply to your note. You are correct in your price of the chairs , 3.25 and 4.25. Since they have put the bed and mattress in the bill, it  seems to me the simpliest [sic] and least confusing way would be for you to pay half the bill as it is, and mama will settle with you. Tell me just how much the bill is, how much you sent them, and how much more you have left. Also how much you think you will have when the wedding expenses are paid.  [It sounds like there is no 'papa' to underwrite the wedding]  Annie has been down all the afternoon, and asked me if I preferred a present which they purchase or ten dollars. I said I preferred the money, then I could buy what I needed. Do you not think  that a generous gift? We are going up there to supper and it is after six, so must stop. One week from tomorrow and  I will have you again.
                                                 With my dearest love,
                                                                Evangeline

NOTE: "Mama" came to live with the JWB's in Mount Carmel.  Here is her death notice, twenty-two years after the wedding. JWB's pocket diary for that date has the handwritten note, "Grandma C died 4.40 P.M."

For BASSETT deaths see: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GSsr=161&GScid=103268&

(courtesy, RR)

* The Original Wedding Date (June 4?) and Unanswered Questions

 

The newlyweds' rent payment.

* Questions , Courtesy of Researcher RR

James Walter Bassett

This info is from the 1880 census in Hamden. Are these his parents and sibs?

Household:

Name	Relation	Marital Status	Gender	Race	Age	Birthplace	Occupation	Father's Birthplace	Mother's Birthplace
Leyman BASSETT	Self	M	Male	W	27	CT	Bookkeeper	CT	CT
Ella BASSETT	Wife	M	Female	W	27	NY	Housekeeping	NY	CT
Ella E. BASSETT	Dau	S	Female	W	6	CT	At School	CT	NY
Grace N. BASSETT	Dau	S	Female	W	4	CT		CT	NY
James W. BASSETT	Son	S	Male	W	2	CT		CT	NY
Blandie L. BASSETT	Dau	S	Female	W	2M	CT		CT	NY
Maggie KELLEY	Other						Servant

I found records showing a James Walter Bassett marrying one Emily Evangeline Cunningham on 18 June 1902 in Wilbraham, Mass.  [Evangeline argued for the 4th rather than the 11th of June and settled for the 18th (?)--perhaps because the house was being painted.  PK]

Also a birth record for Emily Evangeline Cunningham for 22 December 1870 and 1871 which makes her 7 or 8 years older than James.

A draft record for James (born 1878) for 1942 which would make him 64. A little old for regular service.

A ships record for James arriving in the US from Bermuda 27 November 1913. (Business trip?) Birth date check out.

And a Elizabeth C. Bassett (known also as Betty Bassett) born 24 may 1905 (so much for the forced marriage unless Betty has an older sibling)  died 22 July 1998 (93) in Hamden

But no mention yet of another child.

--
Ron

Emily Evangeline Cunningham Bassett's grave

By the way I think the play that Charlie is referring to is "the Cardinal by ? can't remember who but the actor she's referring to is E S Willard the renown British actor of the victorian age.

Ron

* CONTENTS

* JWB's "Mama", Postmarked Mount Carmel, Conn. Ap...
* "Charlie," Washington, D.C. (The 1902 letters: A...
* Evangeline, The Final (and shortest?)Letter, Pos...
* Evangeline, "...now we can't back out." June, 19...
* The Ring (Tiffany and Co.) May 14, 1902
* Heroin ? !
* The Original Date of the Wedding (June 4?) and Other Questions
* Broadway Theatre program, April 30, 1900 (JWB r...
* Evangeline, Postmark May 5, 1902 (one month befo...

* Evangeline's Ultimatum and Apology ("Old Harry i...
* New Haven Gas Light Company, October 3, 1901
* Geo. Ricardo, Manufacturer of Lawnmower Parts Ju...
* Formal Introduction : February 23, 1900, Mrs. S...
* Is this Evangeline?
* Cheshire Academy , 1901
* The Sleeping Giant Association, Postmark 97 (189...
* J. N. Powell, Postmark July 16, 1901
* JWB (Documents post-1910)
* Grace Genevieve Pierpont, Postmark May 19, 1899
* Charlie, Postmark December 11, 1899
* JWB; Yale College Registrar Letters; Assorted Do.
* Courtesy of researcher RR
* Evangeline, Postmark Jan. 23, 1900
* Evangeline, Postmark Jan. 27, 1902