page 5: When the Episcopal minister ...: Records of Trinity Episcopal Church in Atchison.
page 5: “I baptize thee ...”:
Book of Common Prayer of 1892, in
use in Atchison in 1897, according to the Rector Max T. Tracy, in letter to author.
page 5: This baby was the first ...: Martin,
Family Tree.
page 5: in the way she entered ...: AOE, baby book, SLRC.
page 6: “But Saturday's bairn ...”: Ibid.
page 6: Maria Grace Harres was born ...: Martin,
Family Tree.
page 6: “He thought Grandmother ...”: Ibid.
page 7: “The religious severity ...”: Frances Trollope,
Domestic Manners of the Americans,
p. 275.
page 7: large three-story house ...: Martin,
Family Tree.
page 7: “a natural born nurse”: Reminiscences of AOE in Martin, Family Tree, p. 4.
page 7: “delicacy and good taste”: Trollope,
Domestic Manners,
p. 261. Mark Twain said of Trollope that she, “alone of them all, dealt what the gamblers call a strictly âsquare game.' She did not gild us; and neither did she whitewash us,” Alfred Knopf edition of Trollope, frontispiece.
page 8: Alfred's forebears, ...:
Otis Family in America,
New England Historic Genealogical Society.
page 8: “taxation without ...”: Barbara Tuchman,
The March of Folly,
p. 131.
page 9: “As to my course ...”: Alfred Otis, letter to George Otis, March 6, 1852, given to author by Nancy Balis Morse.
page 9: “Come on then, gentlemen ...”: Seward quoted in David McCullough,
Truman,
p. 27.
page 10: on the September day ...: Frank Blackman,
Kansas: A Cyclopedia of Kansas History,
vol. 1, p. 109.
page 10: “to kill a baby ... : Leverett Spring,
Kansas: The Prelude to the War for the Union,
p. 124.
page 10: “but for the hotbed plants ...”: Ibid., p. 33.
page 10: “From these facts ...”: Eli Thayer,
A History of the Kansas Crusade,
p. 57.
page 10: his “ideal” settlers: .... Ibid., p. 179.
page 11: We cross the prairies as of old ...: Whittier quoted in Ibid., p. 69.
page 11: southern mob tarred and feathered ...: Spring,
Kansas: The Prelude,
p. 82.
page 12: Even David Rice Atchison ...: Blackman,
Cyclopedia of Kansas History,
vol. 1, p. 113.
page 12: “The grand jury indicted ...”: Alfred Otis, letter to George Otis, Nov. 16, 1856, given to author by Nancy Balis Morse.
page 12: “His capital stock was ...”:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of NorthEastern Kansas,
Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1900, p. 38.
page 12: a photograph of Amelia Otis ...: Martin,
Family Tree,
p. 83.
page 13:
Cold
and
remote ...:
Pat Antich, interview with author. Alfred's physical description, given by Janet Mabie, came from either Amy or Amelia.
page 13: The part of going to church ...: Alfred, letter to George, Oct. 21, 1953. The sect was the Campbellites.
page 13: “It presents a very fine ...”: Burton Williams,
Senator John James Ingalls,
p. 25.
page 14: from gunpowder to coal oil ...: Advertisement,
Freedom's Champion,
NYPL, April 1862.
page 14: “In winter time ...”: White,
Story of a Kansas Parish,
p. 9.
page 14: Atchison passed a law ...:
Freedom's Champion,
NYPL, July 8, 1862.
page 14: the last thirty southern families ...: Mrs. W L. Challiss,
The Story of the First Baptist Church of Atchison, Kansas,
pp. 9-11.
page 15: The early records ...: White,
Story of a Kansas Parish,
pp. 9-11.
page 15: “Glorious vietory ... :
Freedom's Champion,
NYPL, July 18, 1863.
page 15: A short while later ...: Martin,
Family Tree.
page 15: his custom to return ...:
Biographical and Genealogical Records of NorthEastern Kansas,
p. 41.
page 16: One of the first ofAtchison's ...:
Challiss, Story of the First Baptist Church.
page 16: “When we first came .. :”: Flo Menninger,
Days of My Life,
p. 186.
page 17: Mark Twain wrote ...: E.W Howe,
Plain People,
p. 146.
page 18: “were the undisputed leaders ...”: MEM,
CITP,
p. 20.
page 18: “Among the best stories ...”: AE,
FOI,
p. 4.
page 18: diphtheria epidemic ...: MEM,
CITP,
p. 19.
page 19: persuaded her parents ...: JM,
LITHW,
II, p. 21, SLRC.
page 19: “Mymotherhadwanted...”: Nancy Balis Morse, interview with author,
page 19: Amy embroidered ...: Martin,
Family Tree;
Philadelphia city directories for those years.
page 19: She even fibbed about ...: Morse interview.
page 20: Amy's denial mirrors ...: KCP, interview with author. Alfred and Amelia always claimed that Amy's youngest brother, who was obviously slow, had been injured at birth. Yet it was clearly understood within the family, even by the cousins, that Theodore was retarded.
page 20: The ball, “the way she told it,” ...: MEM,
CITP,
p. 23.
page 20: He said: “This is Edwin ...”: Ibid.
page 20: Johann Earhardt, ...: Sue Nunes,
Tree Top Baby,
p. 208. Material is from Pennsylvania Archives.
page 21: The chronicle of his descendants ...: David Earhart,
A Brief History of the Ancestors and Near Kindred of the Author,
unpublished ms., Jan. 1, 1898; SLRC.
page 22: Taking note of his proselytizing nature, ...: Lillian Hickman,
The History of Midland College,
unpublished thesis, Luther Library.
page 22: He picked a disastrous year.: Earhart,
Brief History.
page 22: 27,000 civilian lives ...: Essay by David McCullough; Walter Zinsser, ed.,
Extraordinary Lives,
p. 45.
page 22: “None labored ...”: Hickman,
History of Midland College,
p. 13, Midland Lutheran College, Fremont, Nebraska.
page 22: it was a life of hardship ...: Earhart,
Brief History.
page 23: On a Sunday when Edwin ...: MEM,
CITP,
p. 17.
page 23: having secured a pastorate ...: Earhart,
Brief History.
page 23: Harriet Earhart Monroe ...: Hickman,
History of Midland College.
page 23: Edwin became the first head ...:
Midland College Catalogue 1887-1888,
Luther Library.
page 24: would permanently look down ...: KCP interview. Speaking of the Tonsings, Katch would express it thus: “No style, that family.”
page 24: “Energetic” and “useful,” ...: AG, June 2, 1885.
page 24: three of whom listed themselves ...: listed as roofpainters in the 1888 Atchison city directory, Atchison Public Library.
page 25: This minister's son ...: KCP interview.
page 25: The wedding was held ...: AG, Oct. 17, 1895.
page 26: only twenty feet wide ...: 1887 plat of Ann Street, provided by the Wyandotte County Museum.
page 26: “lifted the lid ...”: AE, FOI, p. 5.
page 26: saw a bear ...: JM,
LITHW,
SLRC.
page 26: “hoped for many a day ...”: AE,
FOI,
p. 5.
Kansas Girl
page 27: “I ... was lent ...”: AE,
FOI,
p. 5.
page 28: orphaned granddaughter ...: Morse interview.
page 28: “Dignified and of aristocratic ...”: Obituary in AG, May 7, 1912.
page 28: a complete mental breakdown ...: Ibid. “and it seemed for a time that he had reached the period of life when the grasshopper becomes a burden ... but eminent physicians who were consulted ... assured the family that such incidents were common to men of about that age ... that nature was tired.” Ibid.
page 28: fully expecting to die ...: Ibid.
page 28: “He realizes fully, ... : Arthur G. Otis, letter to Charles Otis, Apr. 18, 1906; given to author by Nancy Balis Morse.
page 28: “It grieves me to tell you ...”: Alfred Otis, letter to Charles Otis, Dec. 15, 1899.
page 29: Mary Brashay, the Irish cook, ...: KCP interview.
page 29: She finally gave them ...: AE,
FOI,
p. 18.
page 29: the tales of Beatrix Potter, ...: AE,
FOI,
p. 5.
page 29: the hollyhocks, phlox, ...: MEM, CITP, p. 61.
page 29: its huge window ...: Louise Foudray, curator, Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum, Atchison, Kansas.
page 30: two great-great-grandchildren ...: Martin,
Family Tree,
p. 69.
page 30: Amelia's first word ...: Amy Otis,
Queer Doings and Quaint Sayings,
Amy Otis collection, SLRC.
page 30: Amy kept a baby book ...: Amy Otis,
Queer Doings and Quaint Sayings,
Amy Otis collection, SLRC.
page 30: “Don't go near ...”: AG, July 21, 1963; Mrs. Paul Tonsing.
page 31: “Why doesn't he ...”: JM,
LITHW,
II p. 18, SLRC.
page 31: a sign had been put up ...: Frank Baker, interview with author.
page 31: The most exciting ...: Ibid.
page 32: golden wedding anniversary ...: Martin,
Family Tree,
p. 10.
page 32: her second cousin Orpha ...: Ibid., p. 82.
page 32: “Such a kind, thoughtful ...”: KCP interview.
page 32: “getting me up there ...”: Ann Park, interview with author.
page 33: her own Indian pony ...: AOE interview, SLRC.
page 33: “Amelia was much too kind ...”: KCP interview.
page 33: “this horse opened ...”: AE,
FOI,
p. 9.
page 33: putting up “beware” signs ...: Ibid., p. 14.
page 33: “you don't realize ...”: Ibid., p. 11.
page 33: “I think” ...: JM,
LITHW,
II, p. 5, SLRC.
page 34: “Cousin Annie is just...”: JM,
LITHW,
II p. 9, SLRC.
page 34: wanted to hunt snakes ...: JM,
LITHW,
III p. 10, SLRC.
page 34: she decided to build her own roller coaster ...: Muriel has this taking place in Kansas City (MEM,
CITP,
p. 30). But Balie Waggener didn't live there; he lived in Atchison, and in an interview July 21, 1963, in
AG,
he said the roller coaster had been built in the barn of Judge A. G. Otis.
page 35: “We thought being ... : KCP interview.
page 35: “She could get as rough ...”:
AG,
July 21, 1963.
page 35: “Until the eighth ...”: Waggener interview, AE,
20H,
p. 29.
page 35: “our home, creaking ... : GPP,
S W, p.
12.
page 35: AE,
FOI,
p. 4.
page 35: I watch the birds ...: GPP,
SW, p.
169.
page 36: Katch's favorite voyage ...: KCP interview, Oct. 9, 1986.
page 36: “dashing wildly ...”: AE,
American Magazine
(Aug. 1932).
page 36: “We weighed ...”: AE, LF, p. 144.
page 37: “To mine angel cousin ...”: KCP interview.
page 37: But her favorite poem ...: Ibid.
page 38: the private College Preparatory School ...: AE
FOI,
p. 5, Muriel, who
wanted to do everything Amelia did, loved it, too, and wanted to go there but was, to her regret, “never enrolled,” as she admitted to me.
page 39: “Amelia's mind ...”: GPP,
SW, p.
29.
page 39: Macaulay's
Lays ...:
On the flyleaf of the book is inscribed: “To Millie EarhartâFor Writing The Best Theme.” Sarah Walton wrote on the flyleaf, “The joy of achievement was uppermost in Amelia's mind. The prizes at school as the plaudits and awards of the world were secondary to her personal satisfaction in a job well done.” SLRC.
page 40: “We girls would like to play” ...: Baker interview.
page 40: Under Amelia's guidance ...: Park interview; MEM interview.
page 40: heading straight for a junkman's ...: AE,
FOI,
p. 12.
page 40: she played with Ann and Katchie ...: Park interview; MEM interview.
page 41: “Millie was always ...”: Park interview.
page 41: “I just adored ...”: KCP interview.
page 41: Blanche Noyes, friend and ...: Columbia OH
page 42: “Amelia had her
own...”:
MEM, interview with author.
page 42: “I thought that my father ...”: AE,
FOI,
p. 7.
page 42: “We watched, wide-eyed, ... : MEM,
CITP,
p. 26.
page 43: a girl named Lily ...: MEM,
CITP,
p. 53. Muriel puts the Orphan's home in Kansas City, but the Soldier's Orphan's Home was in Atchison, according to NYPL records.
page 43: “This particular elevator ...”: JM,
LITHW,
III, p. 6, SLRC.
page 43: the dress code in Atchison ...: Baker interview.
page 44: “though we felt terribly ... : AE,
FOI,
p. 11.
page 44: “pretty much like a sieve”: MEM,
CITP,
p. 65.
page 44: had hinged backs....: JM,
LITHW,
III p. 12, SLRC.
page 44: she held worm races....: GPP,
SW,
p. 29.
page 44: she also tried to make manna, ...: AE,
FOI,
p. 16.
page 44: “concluded then that overgrown radishes ...”: AE,
FOI,
p. 16.
page 45: created imaginary playmates ...: GPP,
SW,
p. 13.
page 45: “We always waited ...”: Katherine Dolan O'Keefe, AG, July 20, 1976.