svanderschaaffMay 4, 20212 minThe WestMy great-grandfather Andrew Adair Cummins was born in Cawker City, Kansas on October 20, 1887. Like the other three great-grandparents...
svanderschaaffApr 27, 20212 minHarvard with the RooseveltsA few posts ago I wrote about my great-grandfather Wallace Brockman Porter, the son of a railroad tallyman who won a scholarship at age...
svanderschaaffApr 25, 20212 min...And She Became a WidowI've traced two out of four great-grandfathers so far, identifying where my relatives where in comparison to The Judge's children. I know...
svanderschaaffApr 22, 20211 minMy Own Family: When Opportunity KnockedMy great-grandfather on my mother's side was born in 1892--part of the same generation as The Judge's children. His father worked for the...
svanderschaaffApr 22, 20212 minMy Own Family: A Different StoryIn some ways, the story of The Judge's house is one of criss-crossing family fates. A family resides in the house until their fortunes,...
svanderschaaffApr 19, 20211 minWhat Happened to Polly?On her deathbed, The Judge's daughter begged her parents..... The Judge’s only daughter, Pauline, died in 1912. On her deathbed, she...
svanderschaaffApr 15, 20213 minSurviving The War But Not Spanish FluConnecting the clues at library across the street The library across the street from The Judge’s House is The Louis T. Graves Memorial...
svanderschaaffApr 13, 20212 minLost Painting FoundDoes the brother's painting reveal more about his life? The Judge's brother was an artist. We know that from newspaper articles and a...
svanderschaaffApr 1, 20211 minHis Daughter a StarI invite you to push play on the recording above and imagine life as it might have been in the 1900's. The Judge's oldest child and only...
svanderschaaffMar 31, 20211 minThe Librarians Didn't Like These BooksWhat books do you think might have irked the American Library Association in 1881? Women's fiction, according to an essay by Dee Garrison...
svanderschaaffMar 26, 20211 minStep Into The Gallery--It's 18911.) Pamphlet from the 1891 show including Frank Luques, The Judge's younger brother 2.) Exterior of the Boston Art Club at circa 1892...
svanderschaaffMar 25, 20212 minThe Death of a Brother--The End of his Art"Luques had come to that point in his development where he was about to express in the terms of his art what he had it in him to say."...
svanderschaaffMar 18, 20211 minSearching for the ArtistWhat do I know about the man who painted the murals in The Judge's dining room, Louis D. Norton? After my essay on the murals and the...
svanderschaaffMar 17, 20214 minA Secret History-in Plain SightI've been reading about Victorian Culture to better understand the world The Judge was shaped by. With most of my research, I am...
svanderschaaffMar 16, 20211 minDeath of a DaughterThe Judge's daughter, Pauline Luques, may have worn a costume much like the one below when she starred in the title role of PATIENCE, the...
svanderschaaffMar 2, 20211 minThe Judge and ArtThis stunning painting is by Abbott Fuller Graves. The artist trained in Boston and Paris but would eventually call Kennebunkport home....
svanderschaaffMar 2, 20211 minThe origin of the muralsThe Judge hired Louis D. Norton to paint the walls of the dining room, creating murals that tell a history of the house and the town. I...