Tuesday, March 22, 2005

John Lathrop

Huntington #21
  • Born: December 7, 1645, Boston, Colonial Massachusetts
  • Died: August 25, 1688, Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut
Father: Samuel Lothrop (H7)born: February-March 1622/3 England; married: (1) November 28, 1644 Elizabeth Scudder (2) ???, 1690 Abigail Doane; died: February 29, 1699/1700 Norwich Colonial Connecticut

Mother: Elizabeth Scudder born: ???; married: ???; died: ???

Spouse 2: Ruth Royce born: ???
Married: ??? ; Location: ?? Married: (2) February 12, 1689 Abraham Dolittle Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut

Children:

  1. Samuel Lathrop (H86) born: Norwich, Colonial Connecticut, married: (1) Ruth ??? (died: 6/8/1738) (2) Lydia child: Ruth Lathrop, died: Feb 26, 1744, Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut
  2. Ruth Lathrop (H87) born: ???, Norwich; married: March 17, 1697-8, Samuel Post (born: 3/8/1668, died: 4/25/1735); died: August 10, 1750, Norwich, Colonial Connecticut
  3. Elizabeth Lathrop (H88) born: April 15, 1678, Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut; married:??? died: ???
  4. John Lathrop (H89) born: May 19, 1680,Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut; married: (1) before 1710 Abiah ???(2) February 14, 1721, Norwich, Colonial Connecticut Lydia Palmeter; died: August 4, 1753, Norwich, Colonial Connecticut
  5. Bethia Lathrop (H90) born: December 27, 1682, Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut; married:??? died: December 8, 1716, Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut
  6. Barnabas Lathrop (H91) born: June 14, 1684, Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut; married: ??? died:???
  7. Hannah Lathrop (H92) born: January 30, 1686, Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut; married: ??? died: ???


Biography:

Sources:
Genealogical research of E. B. Huntington

Notes:

Monday, March 21, 2005

John Lothropp Rev.

Huntington #1
  • Born: December 20, 1584 Etton, England
  • Died: November 8, 1653 Barnstable Colonial Massachusetts
Father: Thomas Lowthrop born: June 19, 1536 Cherry Burton, England; married: (1) Elizabeth Clark (2) September 2, 1575 Mary Howell (3) November 11, 1588 Jane Carter; died: October 9, 1606 Etton, England

Mother: Mary Howell born: ???; married: September 2, 1575; died: June 26, 1588

Spouse 1: Hannah Howse born: ??? died: February 16,1633 London, England
Married: October 10, 1610 Eastwell, Kent, England
daughter of John Howse Rev. and Alice Howse

Children:

  1. Thomas Lothrop (H6) born: February 21, 1612-3 Eastwell, England; married: December 11, 1639 Sarah (Larned) Ewer; died: 1707
  2. Jane Lothrop (H2) born: September 29, 1614 Egerton, England; married: April 8 1635 Samuel Fuller; died: 1658-1683 probably Barnstable, MA
  3. Anne Lothrop (H3) born: May 12, 1616 Egerton, England; married: ??? died: April 30, 1617 Egerton, England
  4. John Lothrop (H4) born: February 22, 1617-8 Egerton, England; married: January 18, 1637-8 Mary Heily, All Saints, Wandsworth, Surrey, England; died: after 1653
  5. Barbara Lothrop (H5) born: October 31, 1619 Egerton, England; married: July 19, 1638 John Emerson Duxbury, MA; died: ???
  6. Samuel Lothrop (H7) born: February/March 1622-3; married: (1) November 28, 1644 Elizabeth Scudder (2) 1690 Abigail Doane; died: February 29, 1699-1700
  7. Joseph Lothrop (H8) born: April 11, 1624; married: December 11, 1650 Mary Anselldied: October 9, 1700- April 9, 1702
  8. Benjamin Lothrop (H9) born: December 24, 1626; married: Martha ??? died: ???
Spouse 1: Ann ??? born: ??? died: February 25, 1687-8 Barnstable, Colonial Massachusetts
Married: before June 14, 1635 Barnstable, Colonial Massachusetts

Children:

  1. Barnabas Lothrop (H10) born: June 6, 1636; married: (1) December 1, 1658 Susanna Clark (2) Abigail Dodson; died: October 26, 1715
  2. daughter (H11) born: ??? Scituate, MA; died: july 30, 1638 Scituate, MA
  3. Abigail Lothrop (H12) born: November 2, 1639; married: October 7, 1657 James Clark; died: ???
  4. Bathshua Lothrop (H13) born: February 27, 1641; married: 1668 Benjamin Bale; died: January 8, 1722-23
  5. John Lothrop (H14) born: February 9, 1644; married: (1) January 3, 1671-2 Mary Cobb (2) December 9, 1695 Hannah (??) Fuller died: September 18/27, 1727
  6. son (H15) born: January 25, 1649-50 Barnstable, MA; died: January 25, 1649-50 Barnstable, MA


Biography:
Emmigrated from England to Scituate Massachusettes in 1634. Co-founder of the Congregationalist Church.

E.B. Huntington biography

Sources:
Genealogical research of E. B. Huntington and Richard Price

Notes:

Samuel Lothrop

Huntington #7
  • Born: February/March 1622/3, England
  • Died: February 29, 1699/1700, Norwich, Colonial Connecticut
Father: John Lothropp Rev.(H1)born: December 20, 1584 Etton England; married: (1) October 10, 1610 Hannah Howse Eastwell Kent (2) before June 14, 1635 Ann ???; died: November 8, 1653 Barnstable MA

Mother: Hannah Howse born: ???; married: October 10, 1610; died: February 16, 1633 London, England

Spouse 1: Elizabeth Scudder born: ??? died: ???
Married: November 28, 1644; Barnstable, Colonial Massachusetts
daughter of Thomas Scudder and Elizabeth Scudder

Children:

  1. John Lathrop (H21) born: December 7, 1645, Boston MA; married: December 15, 1669 Ruth Royce; died: August 26, 1688 New London, Colonial Connecticut
  2. Elizabeth Lothrop (H22) born: March 1648; married: (1) December 15, 1669 Isaac Royce New London, CT (2) Joseph Thompson (Wallingford); died: 1690
  3. Samuel Lothrop (H23) born: March 1650; married: (1) November 1675 Hannah Adgate (2) December 30, 1697 Mary (Reynolds) Edgerton Norwich, Colonial Connecticut died: December 9, 1732
  4. Sarah Lothrop (H24) born: October 1655; married: April 21, 1681 Nathaniel Royce; died: November 11, 1706 Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut
  5. Martha Lothrop (H25) born: January 1657; married: December 12, 1676 John Moss; died: September 21, 1719
  6. Israel Lathrop (H26) born: October 1659; married: April 8, 1686, Rebecca Bliss Norwich Colonial Connecticut died: March 28, 1733 Norwich Colonial Connecticut
  7. Joseph Lothrop (H27) born: October 1661; married: (1) April 8, 1686 Mary {Mercy} Scudder Norwich, CT (2) February 2, 1696/7 Elizabeth Waterhouse (3) November 22 1727 Martha (Morgan) Perkins died: July 5, 1740
  8. Abigail Lothrop (H28) born: May 1665; married: December 9, 1686 John Huntington died: ???
  9. Anne Lothrop (H29) born: August 1667; married: ??? William Hough died: November 19, 1745
Spouse 2: Abigail Doane born: ??? died: January 23, 1734/35 Norwich, Colonial Connecticut
Married: 1690; Plymouth, Colonial Massachusetts
daughter of Deacon John Doane

Biography:

Sources:
Genealogical research of E. B. Huntington and Richard Price

Notes:

John Lathrop

Huntington #89
  • Born: May 19, 1680,Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut
  • Died: August 4, 1753, Norwich, Colonial Connecticut
Father: John Lathrop (H21)born: December 7, 1645, Boston; married: December 15, 1669, Boston; died: August 25, 1688, Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut

Mother: Ruth Royce born: ???; married: December 15, 1669, Boston; died: ???

Spouse 1: Abiah born: ???
Married: ???; Location: ??

Spouse 2: Lydia Palmeter born: ???
Married: ??? ; Location: ??

Children:

  1. Abiah Lathrop (H190) born: May 10, 1710, Windsor, Colonial Connecticut; married: ??? died: ???
  2. Battuyah {Bethia}Lathrop (H191) born: February 17, 1723, Norwich, Colonial Connecticut; married: ??? died: ???
  3. Barnabas Lathrop(H192) born: March 27, 1727, Norwich; married: (1) October 26, 1748, Elizabeth Roath (died: 12/7/1749), Norwich, Colonial Connecticut (2) May 10, 1750, Hannah Bellows (3) April 29, 1752, Dorcas Andrews;died: before December 11, 1753, Norwich, Colonial Connecticut
  4. John Lathrop (H193) born: February 17, 1728-9; married: July 15,1752 Sarah Peck died: ???


Biography:

Sources:
Genealogical research of E. B. Huntington

Notes:

John Lathrop

Huntington #193
  • Born: February 17, 1728-9, Norwich, ,Colonial Connecticut
  • Died: ???
Father: John Lathrop (H89)born: May 19, 1680,Wallingford, Colonial Connecticut; married: (1) before 1710 Abiah ??? (2) February 14, 1721, Lydia Palmeter died: August 4, 1753, Norwich, Colonial Connecticut

Mother: Lydia Palmeter born:??? ; married: February 14, 1721; died: ???

Spouse 1: Sarah Peck born: October 24,1735 died: ???
Married: July 15, 1752; Location: ??

Children:

  1. John Lathrop (H399) born: 1761 married: ??? lived in Bethel, Colonial Vermont died: ???
  2. Sarah Lathrop (H400) born: ??? married: (1) Hickson (2) Wolcott died: ???
  3. Bethiah Lathrop (H401) born: ??? married:Moses Smith (brother of Elijah and Lucy) died: ???
  4. Lois Lathrop (H402) born: ??? married: Elijah Smith (brother of Moses and Lucy) died: ???
  5. Lucy Lathrop (H403) born: ???married: Joshua Putnam died: ??? child: Lois Putnam
  6. Daniel Lathrop (H404) born: March 3,1768, married: Lucy Smith, Bethel, Colonial Vermont (b.1773, d. November 14,1859,Watertown,CT.), died: March 3,1841, Dover Maryland (Moved from Bethel to Windsor, VT., to Granby MA.,1811 to Dover ME.)
  7. Asa Lathrop (H408) born: 1768-1770; married: ???, Rachel Newell;died: 1841-1850?; Dorset, Vermont
  8. Simon Lathrop (H405) born: ??? married: Polly Backman died: ???
  9. Annis Lathrop (H406) born: ??? married: ??? died: ???
  10. Moses Lathrop (H407) born: ??? married: ??? died: ???


Biography:

Sources:
Genealogical research of E. B. Huntington

Notes:

Asa Lathrop

Huntington #408
  • Born: 1768-1770 Bethel Vermont
  • Died: after 1840, Dorset VT.
Father: John Lathrop (H193) born: February 17, 1728/29 ; married: July 15,1752 ; died: ???

Mother: Sarah Peck born: October 24, 1735 ; married:July 15, 1752 ; died: ???

Spouse 1: Rachel Newell born: 1770-1780; buried: February 22, 1856 Dorset VT.
Married: ???; Location: ??
Father: Jonas Newell Mother: Huldah Newell

Children:

  1. Howland Lathrop born: 1789 /90 Bethel, VT; married: ? Nancy Curtis (b: about 1785; buried: 29, 1869 dorset VT.); died: December 1886 Dorset VT.
  2. Asa John Lathrop born: 1800 Bethel, VT; married: before 1827, Abigail Marston; died: 1880 Menominee, WI
  3. Jonas Austin Lathrop born: March 12, 1810 Stockbridge, VT; married: (1)December 24, 1829 Margaret Ann Carr (2)September 30, 1880 Mary E. Tanner (3) (1884-1888) Emeline M. Lathrop; died: September 1, 1888
  4. daughter born: ???; married: ???; died: ???


Biography:
Timeline
1768-1770: Born possibly in Bethel Vermont.
1820 Jan 20: Asa of Stockbridge VT. buys 70 acres in Rupert VT from Increase Sheldon for $400.
1833 Nov 20: Asa sells (an undivided half) of 70 acres in Rupert VT. to Jonas Lathrop for $400.
1833 Nov 20: Asa along with Jonas Lathrop sells 70 acres in Rupert Vt. to Increase Sheldon for $129.39.
1834 Sep 9: Asa and Jonas sell 70 acres in Rupert VT. to Bernice Raymond for $400
1834 Nov 10: Asa and wife Rachel lease 19 acres in Dorset VT. from Nathan Lillie for $108

Land Deeds
Rupert VT. Town Clerk Office book 10 page 377-78
Deed

Rupert VT. Town Clerk Office book 12 page 420-1
Deed Mort
Increase Sheldon from Jonas and Asa Lathrop

Know all men by these presents that we Jonas Lathrop and Asa Lathrop of Rupert in the county of Bennington and State of Vermont for the consideration of one hundred and twenty nine dollars and thirty nine cents, received to our full satisfaction of Increase Sheldon of Rupert in the county of Bennington and State of Vermont, do give, grant, bargain, sell and confirm unto the said Increase Sheldon his heirs and assigns; the following described pine or parcel of land lying and being in Rupert aforesaid and bounded as follows, ... : West on the high way; north on Ephrirm Harvey's land, which he bought of Benjamin Harmon Jr. East on the Denio farm, now owned by Joseph and Joseph B. Harwood; South on lands owned by Bernie Raymond supposed to contain about seventy acres ... the same more or less.
To have and to hold the above granted and bargained premises with the app..... therof, unto him the said Increase Sheldon , his heirs and assigns forever, to his and their own proper use, benefit and behoof. And also we the said Jonas Lathrop and Asa Lathrop, for ourselves our heirs, executers and administrators, covenant with the said Increase Sheldon, his heirs and assigns, that at and until the ensealing of these presents, we are well served of the premises as a good and indef...sible estate in fee simple and have good right to bargain and sell the same in manner and form , as above written; and that the same is free of all in.... whatsoever. And furthermore we the said Jonas Lathrop and Asa Lathrop so by these presents find ourselves and our heirs to warrant and re... the above granted and bargained premises to the said Increase Sheldon, his heirs and assigns, against all claims and demands whatsoever.

Provided ....... that if the said Jonas Lathrop and Asa Lathrop, their heirs, executers and administraters, pay to the said Increase Sheldon, his heirs, executers, administraters and assigns the sum of one hundred and twenty five dollars and thirty nine cents, contained in two certain notes of ..., given by the said Jonas and Asa to the said Increase, until Nov. 20, 1833_ one for the sum of $63.39 payable on the 1st day of Oct. 1835 _ the other for the sum of $62.00 payable on the 1st day of Oct. 1835_ the other for the sum of $62.00, payable on the 1st day of Oct. 1836_ both payable to the said Increase or bearer with annual interest for .... ......, according to the tenor of said notes, then this deed, as also said two certain notes, bearing even date with these presents, given by the said Jonas and Asa to the said increase, conditioned to pay the sum at the time aforesaid, shall be void, otherwise shall remain in full force.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this 20th day of November AD 1833.
Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of
Henry Sheldon Jonas Lathrop (L.S.)
Elizabeth G. Sheldon Asa Lathrop (L.S.)

State of Vermont Rupert, Nov. 20. 1833
Bennington County Personally appeared Jonas Lathrop and Asa Lathrop signers and sealers of the above written instrument and acknowledged the same to be their .... ... and ........ before me.
Henry Sheldon, Justice of Peace

Received Nov 20. 1833
this deed for record and Attest Henry Sheldon, Town Clerk
the same recorded by me.

Rupert VT. Town Clerk Office book 12 page 475
Lease
Asa Lathrop & Wife
from
Nathan Lillie

This indententure made and entered into between Nathaen Lillie of Dorset on the one part and Asa Lathrop and Rachel Lathrop his wife of Dorset of the other part. Witnesseth that the said Nathan Lillie for the consideration of one hundred and eight dollars received to my full satisfaction of them the said Asa and Rachel both demised, granted and to form let unto the said Asa and Rachel and hath by these presents herby remise, grant and to form let unto the said Asa and Rachel one equal undivided half of a certain pine of land with all the priviledges and ..... therto belonging lying partly in Dorset and partly in Rupert in the county of Bennington and described as follows: Begining at the Northwest corner of Alfred Field's land on the East line of the highway leading from Rupert to Manchester, thence on the line of the highway to Ira Harmon's land at the Sowthwest corner, then on the said Ira Harmon's line eastwardly to the west line of the new road leading from Rupert to Manchester, then on said road South to A. Fields land, then on said Field's line to the first mentioned bounds- containing about 19 acres, be the same more or less.
To have and to hold the above demised premises with the priviledges and ..... thereto belonging unto the said Asa and Rachel for and during the natural lives of them the said Asa and Rachel or either or both of them and that they the said Asa and Rachel shall always hold and have the q... enjoyment and possession of the said remised and leased premises during their natural lives as aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 10th day of November A.D. 1834
Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of Nathan Lillie (L.S.)
Darvis Moore
Calvin Moore

Bennington County Personally appeared Nathan Lillie signer and sealer of the above written instrument and ackowledged the same to be his free art and deed before me
Darvis Moore Justice of Peace
Received Nov 13, 1834
this deed for reward and the Attest, Henry Sheldon Town Clerk
same rewarded by me

Sources:
Genealogical research of E. B. Huntington. Census and deed information provided by John Lathrop, analysis by Robert Lathrop.

Notes:
Asa has been a mystery for my branch for along time. It had been thought that he was the father of Jonas for several decades. The closest proof of relation has been the mutal property held by Asa and Jonas as revealed by the land deeds. The deeds confirm the identity of Asa's wife, Rachel and Rachels parents and also confirm moved to the same towns where his name appears in that towns census. The only mention of Asa in "Huntington" is his name listed as one of several children of John of Bethel VT.

Census Research:
1800 CENSUS Bethel, Winsor County, Vermont:
Asa Lathrop page 159
2 males 1-10 (born 1790-1800) Howland 10 yr., Asa jr. 1 yr.
1 male 26-45 (born 1755-1774) Asa
1 female 1-10 (born 1790-1800) ? [1800]
1 female 26-45 (born 1755-1774) Rachel

1810 CENSUS Stockbridge, Windsor County, Vermont:
Asa Lathrop
1 male 1-10 (born 1800-1810) Jonas 1810 1 yr.
1 male 10-16 (born 1794-1800) Asa jr. 1800 10 yr.
1 male 16-25 (born 1785-1794) Howland [1790-1794] 1789/90, 20/21 yr.
1 male 26-45 (born 1765-1785) Asa [1765-1774]
2 females 1-10 (born 1800-1810) ?[1800],?[1801-1810]
1 female 26 -45 (born 1765-1785) Rachel

1820 CENSUS Rupert, Bennington County, Vermont:
Asa Lathrop
2 males 1-10 (born 1810-1820) ?, Jonas 1810
1 male 16-25 (born 1795-1804) Asa jr.
1 male 45+ (born before-1775) Asa
1 female 10-15 (born 1805-1810) ?
1 female 45+(born before-1775)

1830 CENSUS Rupert, Bennington County, Vermont:
Asa Lathrop 1 male 60-70 (born 1760-1770), 1 female 20-30 (born 1800-1810) daughter 3 or 4, 1 female 50-60(born 1770-1780).

1840 CENSUS Dorset, Bennington County, Vermont:
Asa Lathrop 1 male 70-80 (born 1760-1770), 1 female 60-70 (born 1770-1780) not daughter, 1 female 70-80(born 1760-1770).

census mystery children of Asa: born 1768-1770
son 1 born 1790-1793 (Howland 1789/90) discovered by John Lathrop
son 2 born 1794-1800 (Asa John 1800) provided by Jean Williams
son 3 born 1810 (Jonas Austin 1810) known
son 4 born 1811-1820
daughter 1 born 1790-1800 or 1800
daughter 2 born 1800-1810
daughter 3 born 1805-1810
daughter 4 ???

Jonas Austin Lathrop

  • Born: March 12, 1810 Stockbridge, Vermont ?
  • Died: September 1, 1888 Chautauqua, NY; Buried: Sherman Cemetary, Sherman NY.
Father: Asa Lathrop (H408) born: 1765-1770?; married: ???, died: 1841-1850?; Dorset, Vermont

Mother: Rachel Newell born: 1770?, married: ???, buried: February 22, 1856; Dorset, Vermont

Spouse 1: Margaret Ann Carr born: August 29,1810; died: February 20,1880 Buried: Sherman Cemetary, Sherman NY.
Married: December 24, 1829; Location: ??

Children:

  1. Myron Lathrop born: December 22,1831; married: (1)December 19,1858 Margarette Elizabeth Carroll; (2)December 22, 1913 Emma Jane Sadler; died: June 2,1924
  2. Rachel Ann Lathrop born: October 26,1833, married: (1)February 1,1855 Horace Swetland; (2) ??, 1898 Byram Lewis Swetland; died: February 24, 1918
  3. Jonas Austin Lathrop Jr.born: December 30,1839; married: (1)December 24,1861 Margaret Elizabeth Kiescecker; (2)July 23, 1912 Laura Wilhelmine Petersen; died: January 29, 1930
  4. Levi Winfield Lathrop born: April 9,1852; married: April 14, 1873 Melissa Prudence Sadler; died: November 23, 1928


Spouse 2: Mary E. Tanner born: September 30, 1826; died: March 25, 1884; Buried: Sherman Cemetary, Sherman NY.
Married: September 30, 1880

Spouse 3: Emeline M. Lathrop born: ???; died: ???
Married: after 1884???

Biography:

Last Will and Testament written June 18, 1888 certified March 22, 1889

In the name of God Amen:
I Jonas Lathrop of the town and county of Chautauqua and state of New York being of sound mind and memory and considering the uncertainty of this frail and transitory life do therefore make, ordain publish and declare this to be my last Will and Testament that is to say:
First after all my lawful debts are paid and discharged I give and bequeath to my wife Ellen M Lathrop all the land deed to me by Silas Sweatland (deed dated on or about March 2nd 1863) for and during her natural life but no longer. I also give to my said wife one horse now owned by me and commonly named and known as "Dick" and one half of all my furniture.
Second I give and bequeath to my grand childrenwho may be living at the time of my decease the said land herein before referred to, to be theirs absolutely and forever from and after the decease of my said wife.
Third I give and devise to my two grandchildren Henry S Lathrop and Jonas Lathrop 2 sons of Levi W. Lathrop all land deeded to me by Rosetta Phelps (by deed dated on or about March 17th 1887) to be theirs absolutely and forever.
Fourth I give and devise to my grand daughter Emma J. Lathrop the land deeded to me by Clor Slater by deed dated on or about March 19, 1869 to be theirs absolutely and forever.
Fifth I give and devise to my son Myron my ebony cane with gold head or handle and marked with the letters "JL"
Sixth I give and devise to my daughter Rachel Ann Sweatland the land deeded to me by Anson H Godard by deed dated on or about Aug 9 1858, excepting and reserving seven and one half acres of land lying between the land devised to Levi W. Lathrop and the Sonnon road.
Seventh I give and bequeath to my son Levi W. Lathrop all land deeded to me by Palta Sweatland (deed dated on or about January 3rd 1853) Also all of the seven and one half acres herein before mentioned and also I give and bequeath to him all land deeded to me by John H. Tefft (deed dated on or about Feb 4, 1886) to be his forever.
Eighth I also give and bequeath to my son Levi W. Lathrop all of the rest and residue of my property of every name or nature absolutely and forever.
Ninth I direct that in the case my said wife Ellen M. shall accept the property herein before bequeathed to her, it shall be received and accepted by her in lieu of her dower right and all other right to all property owned by me at the time of my decease of every name or nature but in case she shall not accept the same in lieu of her dower right in to my property and estate then I give and bequeath the property afore said and referred to in the first provisions of this Will to my son Levi W. Lathrop.
Tenth I further authorize and direct my Executor herein after named to sell the land herein before bequeathed to my grandchildren herein before named and referred to and invest and reinvest the same in good inerest bearing securities for their use and benefit until they shall each become of the age of twenty one years or pay the same over to their duly appointed guardians authorized to receive the same whenever he shall deem it for their interest so to do.
Likewise I make, constitute and appoint Levi W. Lathrop my son to be sole Executor of this my last Will and Testament hereby revoking all former bills by me made. In witness whereof I have here unto subscribed my name and of fixed my seal the eighteenth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty- eight
Jonas Lathrop LS

The above written instrument was subscribed by the said Jonas Lathrop in our prescence and acknowledged by him to each of us and he at the same time declared the above instrument so subscribed to be his last Will and Testament and we at his request have signed our names as witnesses hereto in our presence and in the presence of each and written opposite our names our respective places of residence.
John Coves Mayville Chautauqua County N.Y.
John Seblink Mayville Chautauqua County N.Y.
William H Tennant Mayville N.Y.

Certification:

State of New York Surrogate Court
Chautauqua County
I Daniel Sherman, Surrogate of the county of Chautauqua New York do hereby certify that the last Will and Testament of Jonas Lathrop late of the town of Chautaqua in said county deceased (being the annexed written instrument) has upon due proof been admitted to probate in the Surrogate Court of said county as a Will valid to pass real and personal estate. In witness thereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office this 22 day of March 1889
LS Will D. Parker Clerk of Surrogate Court
Chautauqua County Recorded May 22, 1891 at 11 oclock a.m. signature clerk

Land Holdings:
As stated in Jonas's will he accuired land from Palta Sweatland in 1853, marked as X on the map below. In 1858 he received land from A.H. Godard, marked as X 3. In 1863 Silas Sweatland deeded land to him, marked as X 1. Clor Slater sold him land in 1869 marked as X 2. John Tefft who bought his land from Mr. Whitney sold his land in 1886 marked as X 4. I have been unable to determine where Rosetta Phelps land was. Also, transfer of deed between 1887-1891 (possibly Phelps transfer). See: Volume 9 (1887-1891) Page 310 Chautauqua County Office of the Clerk.(deed 1)

Sources:
Genealogy poster made for the Henry Irving Lathrop family sometime after 1963.
Genealogical research of Muchell Vahl. and Jean Williams
1. Buriel site of Jonas and wives: Copied from Town Records in Sherman Library, 1999 by Dee Davidson. List available at: Chautauqua County USGenWeb Site
Last Will and Testament of Jonas A. Lathrop 1888: supplied by Jean Williams
Deed 1: Volume 9 (1887-1891) Page 310 Chautauqua County Office of the Clerk
Notes:
Genealogical information updated by Muchell Vahl: marriage dates for children; names, vital dates for second and third wives; correct middle name for Levi Lathrop formerly Winchester.

Levi Winfield Lathrop

  • Born: April 9, 1852; Location: ??
  • Died: November 23, 1928; Buried: Chautauqua Cemetary, Chautauqua, NY
Father: Jonas Austin Lathrop born: March 12, 1810; married: December 24, 1829; died: September 1, 1888

Mother: Margaret Ann Carr born: August 29, 1810; married: December 24, 1829; died: February 20, 1880

Spouse 1: Melissa Prudence Sadler born: June 4, 1858; died: November 9, 1943; Buried: Chautauqua Cemetary, Chautauqua, NY
Married: April 14, 1873; Location: ??

Children:

  1. Henry Sadler Lathropborn: December 12, 1874; married: January 5, 1898 Eva Cuyler Decker; died: January 13, 1934
  2. Emma Jane Lathrop born: March 28, 1877; married: April 14, 1897 William Henry Green;died: March 17, 1947
  3. Jonas Levi Lathropborn: October 15, 1879; married: April 2, 1900 Sadie Marie Youngblood; died: July 22, 1952
  4. Melissa Rachel Lathropborn: September 29, 1896; married: September 30, 1914 Earl Stephen Gibbs; died: May 27, 1988


Biography:

Sources:
Genealogical research of Muchell Vahl.
1. Levi and Melissa P. buriel site: Gravestone Inscriptions of Chautauqua Cemetery, Chautauqua, NY, compiled and edited by Minnie Cohen 1932
Notes:
Muchell Vahl claims that the records show that Levi's middle name was Winfield not Winchester as prevously thought.

Henry Sadler Lathrop

  • Born: December 12, 1874; Location: ??
  • Died: January 13, 1934; Location: ??
Father: Levi Winfield Lathrop born: April 9, 1852; married: April 14, 1873; died: November 23, 1928

Mother: Melissa Prudence Sadler born: June 4, 1858; married: April 14, 1873; died: November 9, 1943

Spouse 1: Eva Culyer Decker born: January 4, 1881; died: September 27, 1961
Married: January 5, 1898; Location: ??

Children:

  1. Henry Irving Lathrop born: November 27, 1899; married: (1) December 31, 1920 Thelma Mayo (2) June 16, 1926 Thelma Genevieve Tayler; died: July 23, 1991
  2. Richard Decker Lathropborn: October 28, 1907; married: March 21, 1931 Helen Alice Morehouse; died: August 8, 1989
Biography:

Sources:
Genealogical research of Muchell Vahl

Notes:

John Anthony Bales

  • Born: 1967, Charleston, SC.
Father: John Albert Bales born: ; married: ;

Mother: Alwynne Reese born: ; married: ;

Spouse 1: Susila Dorai-Raj born: 1967
Married: 1997 Auburn, AL.

Children:

  1. Anna Ruth Bales born: 2000
  2. Audrey Rose Bales born: 2002
  3. John Samuel Bales born: 2004
Sources:
Genealogical research of Robert Lathrop

Notes:

Douglas Arthur Doyle

  • Born: 1966
Father: born: James Doyle; married: ; died:

Mother: born: Barbara ?; married: ; died:

Spouse 1: Shawn Marie Bales born: 1966, Charleston, SC.
Married: 1965, Novi, MI. Father: John Albert Bales

Children:

  1. Kathleen Marie Doyle born: 1997, Grand Rapids, MI.
  2. Kelli Elizabeth Doyle born: 1999, Grand Rapids, MI.
  3. James Albert Doyle born: February 9, 2000 Grand Rapids, MI.; died: February 9, 2000 Grand Rapids, MI.
  4. Mary Grace Doyle born: 2001, Grand Rapids, MI.
  5. Thomas John Doyle born: 2002, Grand Rapids, MI.
  6. Daniel James Doyle born: 2004, Grand Rapids, MI.

Biography:

Sources:
Genealogical research of Robert Lathrop

Notes:

John Albert Bales

  • Born: 1939, Detroit, MI.
Father: born: John O Bales; married: ; died:

Mother: born: Rosemary Cullen; married: ; died:

Spouse 1: Alwynne Marie Reese born: 1941, Grosse Pointe, MI.
Married: 1965 ; St. Clair Shores, MI

Children:

  1. Shawn Marie Bales born: 1966 Charleston, SC.; married: 1990, Novi, MI. Douglas Arthur Doyle
  2. John Anthony Bales born: 1967 Charleston, SC.; married: 1997 Auburn, AL. Susila Dorai-Raj
  3. Amy Suzanne Bales born: 1970 Grosse Pointe, MI.; married: May 12, 2001 Novi, MI. Robert Bruce Lathrop
Sources:
Genealogical research of Robert Lathrop

Notes:

Amy Suzanne Bales

  • Born: , 1970, Grosse Pointe, MI

Father
: John Albert Balesborn: 1939 ; married: 1965

Mother: Alwynne Marie Reese born: 1941; married: 1965

Spouse 1: Robert Bruce Lathrop born: 1968
Married: 2001; Novi, MI.

Biography:

Sources:
Genealogical research of Robert Lathrop

Notes:

Robert Bruce Lathrop



  • Born: 1968; Location: Royal Oak, MI
Father: Richard Bruce Lathropborn: 1932, ; married: 1955;

Mother: Mary Georgenia Lyon born: 1930 ; married: 1955;

Spouse 1: Amy Suzanne Balesborn: 1970
Married: May 12, 2001; Location: Novi MI.

Biography:

Sources:
Genealogical research of Robert Lathrop

Notes:

Richard Bruce Lathrop

  • Born: 1932; Location: Detroit, MI
Father: Richard Decker Lathrop born: October 28, 1907; married: March 21, 1931; died: August 8, 1989

Mother: Helen Alice Morehouse born: March 21, 1910; married: March 21, 1931; died: February 11, 1988

Spouse 1: Mary Georgenia Lyon born: 1930, Pontiac, MI
Married: 1955; Location: Detroit, MI

Children:

  1. Nancy Jane Lathrop born: 1964; married: 1987 Royal Oak, MI David John Hanson
  2. Robert Bruce Lathrop born: 1968; married: May 12, 2001 Novi, MI Amy Suzanne Bales


Biography:

Sources:
Genealogical research of Robert Lathrop.

Notes:

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Richard Decker Lathrop (1907-1989)



  • Born: October 28, 1907; Chautauqua, New York
  • Died: August 8, 1989; Royal Oak, MI
Father: Henry Sadler Lathrop born: December 12, 1874; married: January 5, 1898; died: January 13, 1934

Mother: Eva Culyer Decker born: January 4, 1881; married: January 5, 1898; died: September 27, 1961

Spouse 1: Helen Alice Morehouse born: March 21, 1910; died: February 11, 1988
Married: April 21, 1931; Toledo, OH

Children:

  1. Richard Bruce Lathrop born: 1932; married: 1955;
Biography:
Served in the United States Marine Corps, January 16, 1926 to April 3, 1926; Honorably discharged (medical) as a Private from Parris Island, South Carolina.
Served in the United States Army, Inducted November 19, 1943, Active from December 10, 1943 to December 4, 1944. Honorably discharged as a Corporal (Technician Fifth Grade) H/S Company, 265th Engineers, Camp Shelby Missisippi.

Sources
:
Genealogical research of R. B. Lathrop

Thursday, March 17, 2005

DP Lathrop biography by William Clarkin

Dorothy Pulis Lathrop

by William C. Clarkin, Ph.D.

Born of an old American family whose ancestors immigrated to this country in the early colonial period (1634), Dorothy and her sister Gertrude were the daughters of Cyrus Clark Lathrop, an Albany businessman and founder of the Albany Boy's Club, and Ida Pulis Lathrop, a prominent painter in her own right. Gertrude wrote of her mother's influence on them both:

"It was our mother's enthusiasm and reverence for all things beautiful that gave us the eyes to see, and gave to my sister the wish to surround the fairies and animals in her books with an ... endless variety of plants and flowers... Our mother encouraged us to draw all through all our school days... father was a practical man who mistrusted art as a means of earning a living. It was he who insisted that any art

training... should lead to a teacher's diploma."

Three years at Teachers College, Columbia, where she majored in art, gave her such a diploma. After Teachers College, where she studied under Arthur Wesley Dow, Dorothy went to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She joined a most distinguished company, indeed. Those who studied there (or taught there) were among America's most eminent artists: Thomas Eakins, Robert Henri, Joseph

Pennell, Mary Cassatt, Charles Demuth, William Merritt Chase. The Academy is America's oldest art school. Dorothy Lathrop's name would give more luster to the venerable school.

Dorothy did teach art for a couple of years but never cared for teaching. It was while teaching, however, that her determination to devote her life to art crystallized. One day, she and a fellow teacher were glancing through the pages of an illustrated book. Dorothy remarked that she wished she could draw like that. “You wouldn't be here if you could." was the reply of the other teacher. Dorothy's

reaction was typical: "I may not be a Howard Pyle, but what am I doing here teaching high school when I want to illustrate?"

Her first work was Japanese Prints for the Four Winds Company of Boston. Alas, the company went bankrupt, with Dorothy being unpaid. But then came Alfred Knopf in 1919 with the famous and beloved The Three Mulla-Mulgars. And she was off on her career! Of all the illustrations Dorothy did, those for Walter de la Marc moved her the most deeply. She loved the English fantasist's work, illustrating also

Down-Adown Derry (1922), and Dutch Cheese (I 93 I). Of The Three Mulla-Mulgars (1919), Llewellyn Jones in The Chicago Tribune, declared that her work for this book ",..placed her, at a bound, in the first rank of American imaginative illustrators." She herself realized what good fortune had come to her and was ever grateful to Alfred Knopf for giving her the Mulla-Mulgar book........ incredible luck for so young

and inexperienced an illustrator-this was my book. ... What a book to fall into the lap of a young illustrator."

As in so many of these tales, there is a quest, whether for a lost homeland or for the Holy Grail. There is always a lost one who must make a long journey to find his way-whether to Emerald City (The Wizard of Oz), the Antique Shop (Hitty) or to the beautiful Valley of Tishnar. The three Mulgars are monkeys without tails. Their father, a monkey prince named Seelem, has three monkey sons-Thimble, Thumb

and Nod, the latter being the hero of the tale. After the death of their father, they set out to find their uncle, Prince Assammon, the ruler of the Valleys of Tishnar. The three have many adventures and go through terrible perils-pigs, elephants, coccadrilloes, etc. beset them. They journey through the mountains of Arakkaboa, where icy trails and fighting eagles await them. Nod and his Wonderstone

bring them safely through all dangers. Nod meets the Water Maiden, who, though icy cold to the touch, is exceedingly lovely. Finally, the three discover the long-sought Paradise, the Valleys of Tishnar.


This was the story Dorothy was given to illustrate. She knew how much she owed Alfred Knopf. "...it is a long time since we have met, but I have not forgotten that it was you who first had faith in me." (November 21, 1935) But, it was Aniniak of the Bible which gave her the Caldecott Prize (she was the first person ever to win that noble award.). It was while accepting this award that she made a rather quixotic speech, telling her audience: "I can't help wishing that just now all of you were animals. Of course, technically you are, but only if I could look down into a sea of furry faces, I would know better

what to say. If only your ears were the movable kind that cock forward or prick to attention, I would know what kind of sounds to make-soothing murmurs ... little thumping noises..."

Dorothy was enormously fond of animals. In her speech, she quoted from William Blake:

A Robin Redbreast in a cage Puts all heaven in a rage

She closed her speech with the prophecy of Isaiah: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together." A beautiful but unnatural eventuality, and impossible (unless the kid shall be inside the leopard!) However, how much one may close one's eyes to the cruelty of the world, it is always there. Isaiah not withstanding,

how would the world go on if the shark did not devour other fish? What also would the boa constrictor do to fill its belly? Eat rocks? Eat and be eaten is the basis on which early life is based, sad though that may be to the Dorothys of this world.

However, it was the natural world, whether of animals or plants which gave Dorothy her great spiritual strength. "No one is more convinced of the unity of all life than the artist, who sits before its different phases so long and silently, seeing them in a great intimacy. He not only beholds the flower, but he feels the life that, even while he draws, unfolds the petals, senses the force that pushes new leaves

from the ground."

Many of the animals, birds, and insects drawn by Dorothy were from the locality-certainly the mice, also the squirrels, young chipmunks injured by a cat, turtles rescued from the highway-all came from the neighborhood. Dorothy herself wrote, "I catch my mice in live traps and release them in the woods and fields in which Nature intended them to live, but I kept two white-footed mice with great eyes and a

whisker-spread of at least three inches. I am making a woodcut of them. The chipmunks were most obliging and the porcupine wanted to sit on my lap and the tame gray squirrel rolled over and played a bit like a kitten..."

One of her old friends, interviewed for this article, spoke of her animals, "Dorothy did several books about raccoons. I think she had a couple in the Allen Street studio and I know they were at the Connecticut dwelling a sort of indoor-outdoor cage-a runway. Their outdoor quarters were not in the house proper. Flying squirrels were always a part of their ménage." This from Lucinda Johnson who

also explained away a mystery: Why did they sell their Newburgh house? "For a few years they had a place in the Catskills which they were planning to make a year-round home, when the artists' colony was run over by Hippies, or was it

"Beats" then?" Well, which opens a further question: Why did they move to the Newburgh area? Did they want to be near New York City? Nowhere in the letters or papers which survive and which this writer examined is there a reason given for the move to the Catskills. Certainly, they wanted to sell the Albany home. Their father died in 1931, and their mother in 1937. The old home was far too large for

them, especially since they had, when they returned from Europe in 1923, built their own studio among the apple trees behind the house. This was a large two-room structure, which they hoped would resemble an Italian cloister, but which they admitted had rather the appearance of a barn. In the early 1950's, they were desperate to sell the old house. They spent a great deal of time and money painting, papering -and generally working to a cosmetic effect to put the house in shape for a potential customer.


After many disappointments, they eventually did manage to sell the place. It had become a white elephant, since they were also buying a home in Under Mountain Road in Canaan, Connecticut the "Winter's" place.

As Lucinda phrased it:

“The road was like any farm road, all ruts and rocks… they installed a walk-in refrigerator [land] canned vegetables from the flourishing garden and fruits from their "Winter" orchard. [The "Winter" refers to Ezra Winter, the sculptor, who owned the place before the Lathrops and had nothing to do with the

season.] The house was not all on one floor but sort of a split level, being built to fit rather bumpy terrain... the studio on one end was enormous, about the size of a stable for sixty head of cattle... Winter's designer and completed an immense equestrian statue in it.”

Dorothy described her last, their final home, Winter's house on Under Mountain Road, in her last letter to Dr. Harper:

We are trying to sell our big, old family house here in Albany, having bought a smaller place in the country just below Canaan, Connecticut. Perhaps you know that lovely, mountainous region. Grouse come almost to our door, and we find deer tracks all around the pond and under our apple tree. Occasionally, we see them bounding over the fields at dusk. We love the wildness of it all. If only we

can train the hunters to leave the wild creatures and us alone! We have enormous cedar on the place. I wish you could have seen one little cedar tree as full of cedar waxwings as a Christmas tree of balls!

Despite their joy in their new home, it took rather a great deal of work to put it into shape. They reported to Doris Patee: "We came here several weeks ago and Gertrude is still laboring in the springhouse trying to stop the leak. For the first ten days we lived out of buckets for our water supply,

dragging the water directly from the spring, which is farther away. Unless you have tried it, you don't know how much water even a family of two plus a few little dogs, can use in a day!"

Her most successful book? It was probably Hitty-Her First Hundred Years. This was a book of considerable size, a children's book but a novel which would be enjoyed by adults as well, if only they would allow themselves to be entertained. Hitty was a doll, carved from Irish mountain ash, who lived in the state of Maine with the Preble family. Carved by the Old Peddler over a hundred years ago, she

had more adventures than Little Orphan Annie and more ups and downs than Richard Nixon. On board a whaling ship, the ship burned and Hitty floated to shore-became an idol in a heathen temple-was carried off to India. Lost in a Bombay gutter, she served in a snake charmer's act, was rescued by

missionaries and was finally brought to Philadelphia where she lived with Quakers. She had met the poet Greenleaf Whittier among the Quakers, and in New York City she fell at the feet of Charles Dickens who was giving his successful tour. After a train ride, she was lost in a hay barn to be comforted by mice and swallows. Ultimately, she adventured to New Orleans, dressed as a bride for

the Cotton Exposition. Stolen (again!); lost in the Post Office and finally (!) auctioned off for $51 to land in an antique shop in New York City (where Dorothy and Rachel Field found her).

It was, Dorothy maintained, her idea. Rachel was to write the text, with Dorothy illustrating it. Dorothy made the doll clothing while Rachel had a cabinet maker built a doll house. When the book was published, Hitty traveled from bookshop to bookshop, from library to library. The book was enormously

successful; the story being a fascinating series of adventures, covering as it did a doll whose life of a hundred years lasted from the days of whaling to the days of the airplane. However successful it was, it was also the cause of a certain coldness between Dorothy and Rachel. It was proposed to make a movie of the novel and Rachel, of course, claimed the lioness's share of the royalties. After all, the text

was written by her (the major part of the book). Dorothy Pulis Lathrop fought back vigorously, claiming correctly that the illustrations had made the book at least as much as the text. What Solomonic judgment could possibly have decided as fair split of the profits?


Dear Rachel, I had not realized that you thought my share in the work so negligible, and my share of the proceeds more than it should be. ... The idea… was originally mine… it seems only fair that I should have some share of the proceeds. You say that I will profit by the increased sales of the book. Yes, we both will I am afraid, no matter what sum you receive, you will always feel that I am taking the money out of your pocket.

Despite this conflict, Hitty made a considerable sum of money for Dorothy and for Rachel too. The book won the Newberry Medal in 1930 as the best children's book.

Dorothy, for all her fantasy, was a good business woman. Shrewd and down to earth, she could speak out forcefully when she felt the need to defend herself (and her pocketbook). She sparred as vigorously as she could with her main publisher, Macmillan. In a fight between a rowboat and a battleship, there is little doubt about the outcome. She was hardly in a position to fight a powerful firm like Macmillan. Again and again, Macmillan pushed down her recompense: "... to reprint and even keep a price of $2.75 which is very high ... for a book without color, we ... have to ask you for a cash received royalty. This

means 18 cents a copy which ... is only 2 cents less than you had when the book was published at $2.00. 1 can't promise ... that we will ... go ahead ... even on this basis..." (February 6, 1953). This reduction was for the book, Hide and Go Seek.

Even before this, some two years earlier, they had pushed down her royalties: "If we raise the price to $2.50 we are going to be just as badly off ... I hope you will be willing to hold the 10% royalty. The time is coming when we can not make any more contracts with rising royalties..." This from Doris Patee, Children's Book editor for Macmillan in the case of The Colt from Moon Mountain. And again, in 1954,

for the books Skittle Skattle Monkey and Puppies for Keeps: "Even if we make five years' supply of these books (which is against the rules) and raise the price ... we still can't pay you the royalty that your contract agreed to so long ago. We will ... have to let the books go out of print."

Dorothy, of course, was an individual bargainer in an age of collective bargaining. She watched helplessly in the Fifties as the unions fought with management for higher wages and fringe benefits, knowing that individuals had no such power as the unions. She could not go out on strike! The story had been different years before when in the Thirties she dealt with Macmillan: "... I don't see how I could

possibly make twenty-one drawings for $350. ... This is a much lower fee than I received for any book ... For the Little Library books each time I receive $500... For Stars Tonight, I received $800... I know these are bad times and all that, but the depression has brought me so many added financial obligations, some of them toward relatives in not of my immediate family, that I simply can't afford to tie up too much time for too little money." This to Macmillan, her main publisher (September 17, 1934).

In the previous decade, when she was not nearly so well established, she had flatly told her editor at Macmillan, "I don't ... see how I can undertake The Princess and the Goblin for $ 500. I am unwilling to cut down on the number of illustrations in order to fit into the sum you offer in whatever series the book was listed, I should have to have a good sum for the illustrations... This is the second book at this price

so I don't feel that I could cut that in half. since what you offer is the figure at which I began illustrating a number of years ago. Do please find a lot more money...... This to Louise Seaman (June 1, 1925).

Strong-minded Dorothy certainly was. Or, to put it another way, she was stubborn. Certain things were very important to her, especially her illustrations. She did not hesitate to take on even so important a person as Sara Teasdale. Again writing to Louise Seaman (September 1, 1930), "I hope Sara Teasdale had written allowing us to use the two drawings intended for full page as such. It seems to me that she

is exercising more power than is generally conceded to an author if she can override not only the illustrator but her publisher in the matter of illustrations. Do convey to her that I shall be far from pleased if she changes the size of my drawings." But in the same letter, not only the author but the

engraver has come under Dorothy's displeasure: "... look at the proof of the drawing for Summer Evening-the girl with the birds-and see that the engraver has sliced off the end of the girl's nose and so completely changed her nationality!" Louise at once wrote to say that Sara Teasdale had withdrawn her suggestion about the small pictures.


She was just as spunky some thirty years later, on February 22, 1953: "You would not have to ask me to take such a cut in royalties from 30 cents to 18 cents! This is too much to ask ... I hope you can refigure the costs to include a fair profit for the book's creator; illustrators and writers as well as publishers have serious money troubles." On April 4, 1953, she again wanted a larger royalty: 15% not

12 1/2%.

Now she was resolute in her other arrangements. She crossed out parts of her contract with Macmillan because that company wanted to retain ownership of the original drawings. After all, they were eminently saleable. Her drawings, colored or black and white, always fetched a good sum and she

wanted them for herself. Dorothy noted (letter May 15, 1930 to Stephen Fritchman) that the New York Public Library bought the Hitty frontispiece with money supplied by a friend of the library. The Albany Public Library also had one of her drawings (included in the exhibition) with money given by a benefactor. She received $ 1 00 to $150 for her water color illustrations and $35 to $75 for her black and whites. (This in the middle of the Depression!) She would donate to a public collection, cutting the

price in half if there was any donor available.

Again, writing to Marie Gaudette on December 25, 1935, she would sell the drawings for Who Goes There at the studio price of $50 each, while at various exhibits, they would be $7 5. These prices, for the Thirties was remarkable. And she did sell them! In a letter to Doris Patee dated December 29,

1935: "... I'm feeling so comparatively rich ... Why a week ago, I sold three color drawings!"

In the midst of her busy life, Dorothy as well as her sister had the normal and far from normal cares of the family. In January, she had written to Doris Patee that they had been having such difficulties the bills from the hospital were frightful and they kept rolling up! They had a ninety-one year old cousin in the hospital for ten and a half months with a broken hip, which they discovered was simply not healing.

They believed they would have to bring her home to care for her. That would be a burden! They also had another relative, an aunt, far gone in senility. She had to have a day and night nurses. Yet, she got out of bed and broke her hip. To bring her home would be just too much of a strain on their mother, who wasn't at all well. By February, Dorothy reported to Doris that the one whose mind was still alive had been taken by pneumonia into the next world. Ever practical, Dorothy opined: "The other one whose mind is very weak, and whom we would much rather have lost, has been reported dying for a month... ."

As a shrewd businesswoman, she even designed Christmas cards, but never for commercial Christmas card houses. For several years, she had such cards in various stores in New York City and Boston but in the middle Thirties, busy with her illustrations, she tried to give them up altogether. "I have always preferred to keep my hand on the paper and printing, even if it meant limiting my sales."

It was in the middle of the great depression that she painted one of her few murals, this for a Jack Johnstone of the Lord and Thomas firm. He was enchanted with her illustrations and proposed an animal painting for his newly built house in Connecticut. At first, he proposed an oil of young lions, tigers, etc., but this grew to a project in what was to be called "the nest" in the Lathrop Room. The

painting was executed on an arch on canvas mounted on a Masonite presswood panel. Nor was it tinythe width was 6 1/2' and the height about 3 1/2'. It had to be large since it eventually held a scene of a Hansel and Gretel rooftop, with a red chimney. A nest was held close to the chimney with a mother stork guarding a clutch of baby lions, baby tigers and leopard cubs. Also included were a baby deer, a

little hippo and (suggested) even a baby bear's head. In the distance Poppa stork is to fly in with a baby elephant.

Dorothy was to do the job for $700 (which again was a lot of money for 1936-casily the price of a Ford car!). Johnstone was, as much as Dorothy, in love with animals-he had wrought iron fixtures with geese swooping down after fish, mother robin feeding gaping young redbreasts, gulls diving into the ocean after herring. Even the newel posts in the hall were carved oak heraldic boars, unicorns, and griffins.

Other artists had paintings in the house as well, so Dorothy wasn't the only artist to have her work there. The owner told Dorothy, "...with many people, your painting is the most fascinating thing in the house... ninety percent of the folks who visit the house are more enamored of your painting that of any of the


others..." The project was proposed in early December 1936 and was finished in record time by early July 1937.

Animals, as we have seen, were central to Dorothy's life. This was true of Gertrude also-in fact, her friends alluded to her lambs, chipmunks, squirrels, monkeys, Pekinese, etc., as her "children." No doubt, they took the place of children in the lives of these unmarried women. One is forced to wonder: did they ever have suitors? Their father sadly noted in a letter to his cousin on May 12, 1927, "I have

not been accorded the pleasure and distinction of becoming a grandfather, a state of bliss I have envied in my other friends. Both Dorothy and Gertrude are wedded to art...

It was her father, practical in all things, who had insisted Dorothy train as a teacher. Dorothy had no love for that particular profession. Indeed, to those who do not love pedagogy, the profession can be a dreary and tiresome task. Dorothy had taught in 1917 in the Albany School of Fine Arts, where she taught design three days a week. The school was small, located at 52 South Swan Street. The

principal in charge pointed out the discipline problems and the keeping of marks was negligible. The following year she taught at the Albany High School, again part time-Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Evidently, her experience was not an especially happy one, as a letter to Louise Seaman tells us (May 5, 1926): "If you don't want to see me abandon ... illustration for the teaching of art to the

very young, tell me, if ... I am to count on you for a book next fall. ... I admit I am not all keen to teach and that all that interests me ... is the certain ... salary involved."

Evidently Louise Seaman answered "Yes" since we have a gushing letter of December 17: "I am not at all sure that you are not the nicest editor in New York City . ... It was ever so good of you ... listen to this, 0 Editor, and give me all the nice books you can think of...." Her happiness was completed by the sale of a painting. "Do you remember the flower painting I showed you one day in your office? It has been

hanging in the Academy and yesterday I had word that it had been sold. You could have knocked me over with a hummingbird feather, for it is the first thing I have ever sold in a regular art exhibition... I didn't work over a week on it and it sold for $250...... Never again would Dorothy resort to the tiresome business of teaching.

Dorothy certainly did not live in povertyville. She was, in fact, a very successful artist. By 1923 she had illustrated seven books (most of which are in the exhibition). The sale of her prints continued to swell the Dorothy Lathrop purse when the Brick Row Book Shop in New Haven sold her prints for the tune of

$754-not a small sum for that time. It was in 1923 that Dorothy and Gertrude went abroad-a trip which took them to England where they met (among others) Dorothy's hero, Walter de la Mare (of whom she made a drawing). Then they traveled to Italy and to Greece, saying, "we should like to have stayed for months."

It cannot be denied that Dorothy and her sister were vigorously opinionated beings, as people who are solitary frequently are. They practiced their art in solitude (some artists tolerated spectators, idle or otherwise standing about and gossiping in the studios-John Singer Sargent, for example). Dorothy, in her advice to a young would-be artist, asked: "Are you a gregarious person, one who likes constantly to

be with other people? ... Remember that art is a solitary profession." And, she warned, "People don't have to have art. ...see how many buy paintings, sculpture or even prints ... people think they must have radios, television, fur coats ... ask them why they don't buy a painting and they will stare at you as if you were mad.

Dorothy, strong-minded, gave her opinion freely, as Lucinda Johnson witnessed: "I used to meet both Dorothy and Gertrude at board meetings [of the Print Club of Albany]. They usually brought a large black poodle wearing a becoming hair ribbon and behaving beautifully. Lathrops were the somewhat dictatorial type of board members, but I think we all respected their attainments and connections

enough to agree with anything they suggested." As one who knows well the artistic type and has sat through many board meetings, this writer knows well how it was, even though he never (sadly) met either of these two dominant women.


It may be impossible to put together a complete pastiche of the life and works of Dorothy Lathrop. However, many of her papers survive and it is from these that one constructs various aspects of her life. As we have noted, Dorothy herself declared the artist's life to be a solitary one. Yet, from time to time she did indulge in a social life. From letter, dated November 28, 1930 she writes, "Mrs. [Franklin D.]

Roosevelt was here the other day for a little luncheon, and she spoke to me about seeing what you have done. She said something about not being able to get in touch with you for a little while, but is very eager to do it as soon as possible. You might call her secretary Of course, this was at a time when her father was very ill and would soon die. Reluctant as Dorothy must have been to break up her worktime (even for the Govemor's wife), she did, on occasion, go to a party. She was not immune to the enjoyment of other people. An undated letter to Helen Fish shows Dorothy at her gossipy best:

About the Macmillan… Louise was there ... sitting in a wheelchair Mrs. Hirschman was the perfect hostess,...triumphantly introducing everybody, and I certainly was never left stranded. Lynd Ward was there and I had quite a chat with his pretty little wife. Lynd, I had seen recently when we were on an art

jury together Padraic Colum was there, small and wizened, looking as if he should have been wearing a green coat and a peaked hat, an appearance enhanced by a tuft of hair on the very end of his nose. ... The Haders, but Elmer was in bed with a cold

After all, you see, not many persons of my vintage there. And I kept thinking of those others who should have been there-Rachel Field,. Elizabeth MacKinstry, Anne Carroll Moore, who so loved parties. ... It was a very conservative crowd. Only one hippie hair-do and beard- a poet someone said-and one pair of violent violet stockings on a very pretty young girl who sat on the edge of a table and swung her

pretty legs. ...Wish I could tell you more, but it is now only a pleasant blur of voices and faces, and was then.

All through the letters (especially those to her publisher), is the concern she voiced about the reproduction of her work. She was especially anxious over the new process (lithographic in nature). To Doris Patee, on December 3, 1935:

"I ... hope that the new printing goes through all right and that the printer isn't too confused by our talk so that he try to do anything radical.

... After talking with Artzybasheff and Elizabeth MacKinstry, both of whom had a book reproduced by this process ... I realize that there are limitations... that I didn't dream of. ... But anyway, the general effect is very good, and ... carries a softness and fur texture that no pen and ink drawing can hope for…”

A soothing letter came back the following week from Doris Patee: (Children's Book Editor, Macmillan Company)

"...I was not really upset about your talking to Elizabeth MacKinstry but I felt that she of all the artists I know, was the most difficult to satisfy with a lithographic process and that it was a bit untimely that you should see her in your state of mind. Of course we do all understand her and I have the greatest respect in the world for her opinions of anything."

(Elizabeth MacKinstry was an artist living in Lenox, Massachusetts. She had studied sculpture with Gutzun Borglum as did Gertrude, but after an accidental fall from a horse, was unable to perform the strenuous work required by sculpture. She turned to book illustration and calligraphy, instead. In these fields, she became a very fine artist.

One of the greatest services Dorothy performed was as President of the Print Club of Albany. She ruled the Club during the ferociously difficult wartime, keeping it alive. A few stalwarts helped her, especially the constant friend of the Club, John Taylor Arms. Her letters to him and his to her make for


fine reading. A mutual admiration society, these two splendid artists loved each other's work. It was, after all, Arms who, as President of the National Academy of Design, invited Dorothy to show her work at the 1937 Paris International Exposition. It was Arms who congratulated her on receiving the Eyre Medal (for Pixie-A Flying Squirrel) from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. Dorothy's reply gives us

an insight into the wheels within wheels which turn and turn and turn ... .

"Dear Mr. Arms. ...You must know how delightful ... it was to receive the Eyre Medal and I do thank you and the committee for the honor. I have the greatest admiration for your work to have you on the jury which made the award The directors of the Print Club are to meet soon and we all hope to find a way ... to ask you this early to ... time to make a plate for us... ." (October 16, 1941, Albany). Arms replied that

it was impossible for him literal impossibility ... that organization of the Print Club] is especially dear to me... ."

Arms was one of the movers and shakers in the American print world, a man of vast influence in the world of American art. He was the President of the Society of American Etchers and as such invited Dorothy to become an Associate Member. He was, furthermore, the President of the American National Committee of Engraving. This committee set up exhibitions and enlisted speakers which was important for Dorothy's scheduling of events for the Print Club. But Arms regarded himself as a personal friend

and sent greetings to her not only from himself but also from

"Wilibald Perkheimer, my inseparable companion... a long, low dach who sent Dorothy a cordial tail wag and hand like. ... He is a gentleman of discriminating and distinguished taste!" To which Dorothy replied that the " ... pups appreciated the greeting from Wilibald Perkheimer ... the Bechtel's dachshunds, the first I every really knew to speak to, taught me to like the astonishing breed." Arms declaring in return

(February 12, 1944), "... while the Lathrop sisters have their fingers in the art pie of Albany, the city will always be distinguished in this regard."

In relation to the drawing of animals, Dorothy had her own philosophy. Writing to Harriet Hatch (February 20, 1935), she explained,

“... I am afraid that you and I think of animals in a different way. He likes to put human thoughts and motives and emotions in their minds and human words in their mouths. You like to dress them in clothes such a [sic] humans wear. I can only think of them as animals and, being animals, something quite wonderful as if they could talk and act as we do. I never make them talk. I never make them act

in any way that wouldn't be possible to them as animals. I infinitely prefer a turtle's shell with its beautifully intricate pattering, to pink talaton, and then cunningly graduated scales of his feet, to slippers, even silver ones.”

Again, Dorothy preferred to draw living things: (January 20, 1930) to Louise Seaman:

I have read the poems ... and I can't see a great deal to make drawings of. Poets can talk very convincingly of night and stars, and such things make very lovely poems, but when it comes to drawing night and stars and birds and flowers so that they make interesting drawings, that is a different matter. ... Some other things I feet much more confidence in my ability to draw. I'm having a grand time with a

full color sketch which has fairies and field mice and snails and toadstools and fireflies!

Dorothy was an excellent lecturer, and had many engagements to speak. One of the most important was arranged by Macmillan in November 1938. She left Thursday, November 3, on the Lake Shore Ltd., arriving in Chicago to call at the book department of Marshall Fields; then to Kansas City and on to Los Angeles arriving November 9 (Wednesday). Then began the fun! Her first public appearance in

California was at San Diego, where the Public Library was paying all her expenses, with a speech in the library, then a tea and then dinner. At the Long Beach Public Library with a dinner for school and public librarians, highlighted by Lathrop's speech. Then there was an autograph party at the Butlocks-Wilshire (the best book department in Los Angeles); then a school librarian's dinner and a talk. From then on it was one long whirl of teas, autograph parties, appearances at bookstores and libraries. Finally the tour


came to an end on November 22, with Dorothy taking off on the train for the East via the Grand Canyon and Santa Fe. The highest of high spots was the tour of the Walt Disney studios, where she was shown around by Walt Disney himself! What more could an illustrator ask for? Although Dorothy had to speak many times, it apparently wasn't as difficult as it appears since she could and did reuse the talk for the

Caldecott Medal. Also, she had the added support of Gertrude who traveled with her on this journey.

In all her prints, she tried to feature some animal in fact, the first woodcut she ever did was of her Pekinese. She did a drawing of the tiny dog, transferred it to a block and "holding my breath, cut it ... at no time have I had any instruction in ... that medium." To illustrate Walter de la Mare's Mr. Bumps and His Monkey , she bought a monkey since the nearest zoo was 150 miles away. "What a realist you

are!" wrote her editor when she told him she had bought the monkey. "I am glad I didn't send you a story about a lion!"

Despite the fact that, as she said, she had no instruction in woodcut, she won prizes for her work in that medium. In 1944, she was asked to make the Print Club print-a wood engraving. This turned out to be one of her most successful pieces-her famous Gold Fish. Her sister wrote of her wood engraving: "Between the making of books, she has turned to wood engraving and has already won four prizes for her prints. She enjoys the cutting of the blocks ... pulling the print ... under her own hand... the fantail

goldfish ... I remember thinking that this print would never be finished, for dozens of proofs were pulled and correction after correction made before she was satisfied ... with the laborious task of making each print of edition of 150 by hand." One of her finest pieces, Kou Hsiung, was the member print for The Woodcut Society.

Her difficulty was in selecting what to draw. In a letter to Helen Dean Fish, her editor from Frederick A. Stokes and Company (May 13, 1937):

“Well, here is the list. I have cut out the ones we agreed on and inserted the leviathan, the behemoth, and the scapegoat, I found a perfectly grand description of leviathan, Job, of course, all of chapter 41. ... I'll never be able to draw up to it! Talk about the sailor's tales of sea serpents! Job put it all over any of them. ... As for the eagle, I really don't know whether I like the Psalms or the Isaiah passages best. ...

As for the nativity, I lean very strongly to that with the animals rather than the Wise Men and the camels. After all, we've got Rebeka's camels. We have to use the Luke version, since that is the only one that mentions the manger. ... The Matthew version of the Palm Sunday ass, is much the nicest as for Peter's cock, you will have to decide. ... I lean to either Mark or Matthew.”

Earlier her plans had been explained to Helen (February 15, 1937):

“I hate to do the Prodigal Son and the Pigs because Helen Sewall has done such a ... beautiful picture of that. I'd rather do for pigs the swine into which the devils entered Matthew 8:23-33. ... And the foxes whose tails Samson tied together with burning brand [sic] and loosed them in the standing corn. Judges 15:4,5. ... No wonder Samson came to a bad end! the sheep have more than their share of pictures. I'd like the scapegoat leaping off into the wilderness with a ribbon on his born. Leviticus 16:10, 21, 22. If

it's bears you want, I have a great affection for Elisha's bears that punished the children for mocking him.2 Kings 2:23,24.”

Bertha Mahony Miller in the Horn Book, July, 1938, described her visit with Dorothy's mother some two years earlier.

“Then Dorothy and Gertrude were away closing their camp in the woods. [Taconic Lake, Petersburg, New York]. The house was filled with the fragrance of grapes, for Mrs. Lathrop was making grape jelly. A remarkably lovely person to see and know, she remains a clear memory. She was small, with short, crisp, curly white hair, remarkable eyes, quick movements, friendly and direct in manner. She took us

down through the orchard garden to the pink stucco studio with the sculptor's austere room high enough for a horse to pose in; and into the illustrator's room, filled warmly with books, paintings, drawings”


As Dorothy herself went about with us on our last view, we talked about the drawings for Animals-all the research necessary for a book like this, and the physical labor involved in making thirty pictures with a lithographic pencil. The Persian gazelle hound is just one instance of the study required. What kind of dogs were common in Palestine when Christ lived? Study revealed that the Persian gazelle hound was mentioned in contemporary records. Miss Lathrop decided to use this type, but the next step was to find her a living model. She soon found one that could be borrowed. So this dog lived for a time with the Lathrops, was modeled by Gertrude and drawn by Dorothy.

By 1938, Dorothy had illustrated some twenty-nine books, and of these some twenty-four have been directly concerned with the fairy world. But always, always, always, there was her consuming love for animals. In a letter to Dr. Harper about his book, The Barren Ground Caribou of Keewatin, Dorothy argued to one already converted:

Perhaps its astonishing migrations are no more amazing that [sic) those of the seal and many of the birds, but it seems strange that so large and [sic] animal should have been born in a climate which makes migration necessary. Your statistics on the needless slaughter of so gentle and trusting an animal makes my heart heavy. Where did man get the idea that all other creatures were created solely for his cruel use and pleasure? Certainly he seems to be doing his best to blow the world to bits. ... There are only a few of us, I am afraid, who find all creatures fascinating and feel that they belong in the world as much as we do.

Having such strong beliefs, Dorothy did not hesitate to write to Secretary of Agriculture in Eisenhower's administration, Ezra Benson (March 13, 1956):

:It is bad enough that animals must die to feed human beings, but that these creatures who have always looked to man for care and protection should not be killed as quickly and painlessly as possible instead of brutally and with long drawn out suffering is unthinkable. I urge you to change your mind in this matter, for to pass the problem on to the individual states for local jurisdiction is to delay indefinitely any nationwide reform in the slaughtering of livestock. And during this delay millions of animals will die ...

slow and agonizing deaths.”

Her anger was equally strong against the Metcalf-Hatch Animal Seizure Act (New York State). The same day she wrote to Benson, she also wrote James McQuiness of the New York State Legislature: "... support the repeat of the ... Act. That animals lost, frightened and homeless ... are being turned over to laboratories for experimentation and resultant torture, is unthinkable...."

Looking back a century from this year, it is hard to believe that South Allen Street was then rather a country place-as Gertrude describes their location: "Before civilization crowded in from every side, the windows overlooked field after field rolling back toward the distant Helderbergs and Catskills." It was really country, and gave scope for wild things -and tame ones too. They kept raccoons there, as well as

pet lambs, mice, dogs, monkeys, and all the things they drew. The book for which she received the Caldecott Prize, Animals of the Bible, must truly have been a joy for Dorothy, with her love for animals, to do.

The two sisters made their final home in Falls Village, Connecticut, surrounded by their numerous dogs and animal friends, living their complete rural life. They continued their art work; painting, modeling, drawing, as ever. Dorothy died in 1980.

The Print Club of Albany has fortunately obtained the papers of Dorothy Lathrop. These, together with the evidence of her work, show that Dorothy Pulis Lathrop was one of America's foremost artists; an artist of whom Albany can be proud.