Warren Lothrop

August 25, 1851

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Monday Aug 25  Did not wash this morning on account 

of having so much company  Warren left in the stage

cousin Jerry went to Mr Thesis with Oakes Angier

and Frank on their way fishing.  Alson dined here.

We Ladies all called at Mr Torreys & on Elisha

at the Boot shop.  Mr & Mrs & Miss Kinsley & Miss

Billings from Canton were here to tea – came

about 6 Oclock went to the shop with them

Another Monday and for the second time that summer, washing day got deferred.  Tidying up from “having so much company” took precedence over routine. The young relatives, Jerry and Warren Lothrop, left in the morning.  Another visitor, Pauline Dean, remained.

Oakes Angier and Frank Morton Ames left to go fishing, a trip they had deferred from last week. They had waited then for the imminent death of Dewitt “Clinton” Lothrop, which hadn’t happened.  Clinton, though deathly ill with typhus, was hanging on. The boys decided to wait no further, and departed.

Evelina and “We Ladies” – which could only mean Pauline and probably niece Lavinia – went to see Col. John Torrey in the village and called on Elisha Andrews at the boot factory. Elisha, who was 27 years old and single, had started up the factory with Augustus Gilmore and Oakes Angier Ames. In recounting the visit to the boot shop in her diary, Evelina underlined Elisha’s name. Why? The visit was significant in some way; perhaps one of the women – Lavinia? – was romantically interested in Elisha.

More socializing continued late in the day when the Kinsley family visited.  Lyman Kinsley, his wife Louisa, daughter Lucy Adelaide and a Miss Billings (a niece of Louisa, most likely) came for tea. Mr. Kinsley ran an iron and machine shop in Canton, an enterprise that the Ameses would eventually own. After tea, they all walked over to the factory.

* Currier and Ives, “Starting Out,” print, ca. 1852

August 24, 1851

Road

Sunday 24th Aug  We turned out to church pretty well for us

to day 9 from here 7 from the other part of the 

house 5 from Olivers.  Mr Whitwell preached

Cousin Jerry, Warren, Orinthia Lavinia & Rachel

came at noon  Alson & wife Edwin & Lavinia came

after meeting.  Lavinia will spend the night.

This evening Cousin J & W went with me to call at Willards

Twenty-one people attended church today from the Ames family compound.  Immediate and extended family members and their guests rode down Centre Street to the Unitarian meeting house to listen to Reverend William Whitwell preach. How many carriages rolled down the road?  Did any of them walk, or did they all ride? Did they all fit into the family pews?  Some returned home after the first service.

Adding to the crowd after church, Evelina’s brother Alson, sister-in-law Henrietta, and two of their offspring, Edwin Williams Gilmore and his sister Lavinia, came to the house as well. The gathering spoke to the warmth and closeness of the extended family.  It also spoke to the relative ease of travel at this time of year. Traveling between the homes of friends and family had been marked this month, with everyone taking advantage of the good weather – and good roads – before winter.

The visiting continued in the evening when Evelina took Jerry and Warren Lothrop to visit Willard Lothrop, a local spiritualist, shovel shop worker, and likely relative.

 

August 22, 1851

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Friday Aug 22nd Aug  This morning stormy and Pauline sat with me

sewing made the button holes in Susans pink apron

This afternoon went with Pauline to mothers to

tea.  Called at Col Whites & at Orinthias school.

Mr Pratt & White and several ladies at the examination

On our return home found Cousin Jerry &

Warren Lothrop here  Pauline & Warren were very sociable with each other

Morning sewing and afternoon socializing were the order of the day, with houseguest Pauline Dean demonstrating a marked preference for the latter. The weather in the morning was “stormy”; Old Oliver reported a tornado in Cambridge. But the afternoon was calm, so Evelina and Pauline went out. When they returned, Pauline zeroed in on a visiting Lothrop cousin named Warren, and the two flirted.

Meanwhile, Orinthia Foss’s performance as a teacher was reviewed by the local school superintending committee. Amos Pratt, a fellow teacher, and Col. Guilford White, a shoe manufacturer who eventually became a lawyer in Boston, evidently led the examination.  They were accompanied by several unnamed ladies.

On this very same day, across the pond and around the Isle of Wight, a new yacht, “America,” that had been commissioned by members of the New York Yacht Club raced against 15 other boats in the Royal Yacht Squadron’s annual regatta.  “America” won, and from that victory sprang a competition known as the America’s Cup that now boasts the world’s oldest international sporting trophy. Doubtless, the race was reported in the papers; perhaps Oakes and Evelina read about it.

 

* Fitz Henry Lane, “The Yacht ‘America’ Winning the International Race,” 1851