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Stormfield
Stormfield was the mansion built in Redding, Connecticut for author Samuel Clemens, best known as Mark Twain, who lived there from 1908 until his death in 1910. He derived the property's name from the short story "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven". The building was destroyed in a 1923 fire, with a smaller replica built at the same site the following year. Conception, architecture, and construction Clemens met biographer Albert Bigelow Paine in 1906 while living in New York City. He decided to purchase 195 acres of land in Redding where Paine lived, purchasing his first parcel there March 24, 1906 and buying additional acreage in May and September that year. Clemens hired architect John Mead Howells of Howells & Stokes, son of the author William Dean Howells who was a friend and collaborator for 45 years. Clemens stipulated the house should be built in the style of a Tuscan villa, after having lived at Villa Viviani (1891-92) in Settignano and Villa di Quarto (1903-04) in Sesto ...
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Captain Stormfield's Visit To Heaven
"Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" is a short story written by American writer Mark Twain. It first appeared in print in ''Harper's Magazine'' in December 1907 and January 1908, and was published in book form with some revisions in 1909. This was the last story published by Twain during his life.Ketterer, DavidTales of Wonder - Notes p. ix-x (1984) Description and plot outline The story follows Captain Elias Stormfield on his decades long cosmic journey to Heaven; his accidental misplacement after racing a comet; his short-lived interest in singing and playing the harp (generated by his preconceptions of heaven); and the general obsession of souls with the celebrities of Heaven such as Adam, Moses, and Elijah, who according to Twain become as distant to most people in Heaven as living celebrities are on Earth. Twain uses this story to show his view that the common conception of Heaven is ludicrous, and points out the incongruities of such beliefs with his characteristic ad ...
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Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced", and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". His novels include ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and its sequel, ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), the latter of which has often been called the " Great American Novel". Twain also wrote ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' (1889) and '' Pudd'nhead Wilson'' (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner. Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for ''Tom Sawyer'' and ''Huckleberry Finn''. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to the newspaper of his older brother Orion Clemens. He later became a river ...
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John Mead Howells
John Mead Howells, (; August 14, 1868 – September 22, 1959), was an American architect. Early life and education Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of author William Dean Howells, he earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1891 and completed further architectural studies there in 1894 before studying at the École des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, where he earned a diploma in 1897. Career Howells moved to New York City and founded the architectural firm Howells & Stokes with Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, who had also studied at the École. The partnership designed such works as St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University and Stormfield, an Italianate villa commissioned by Samuel Clemens, a longtime friend of his father. Ending the partnership in 1913, Howells would focus his practice on office buildings in the Art Deco style, some of which he completed with Raymond Hood, whom he had met during his time at the École, and whom he had invited to become a partner ...
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Redding, Connecticut
Redding is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,765 at the 2020 census. History Early settlement and establishment At the time colonials began receiving grants for land within the boundaries of present-day Redding, Native American trails crossed through portions of the area, including the Berkshire Path running north–south. In 1639, Roger Ludlow (also referenced as Roger Ludlowe in many accounts) purchased land from local Native Americans to establish Fairfield, and in 1668 Fairfield purchased another tract of land then called Northfield, which comprised land that is now part of Redding. "National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet, Redding Center Historic District," U.S. Department of the Interior, 1992-10-01. Retrieved 2014-04-30. For settlement purposes, Fairfield authorities divided the newly available land into parcels dubbed "long lots" at the time, which north–south measured no more than a third of a mile wide but ...
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Isabel Lyon
Isabel Van Kleek Lyon (December 15, 1863 – December 4, 1958) was Mark Twain's secretary for most of his final years. While in this position, she gained significant influence over Twain's personal and business affairs. Twain fired her in 1909 for reasons that remain in dispute. Mark Twain's secretary Lyon was born in Tarrytown, New York, to a well-off family. Her father's early death plunged the family into poverty, and Lyon became a governess. She became acquainted with Twain in the 1890s and often played whist with him. In 1902, Twain hired Lyon as a secretary because his wife, Olivia, was becoming too ill to handle his correspondence. After Olivia's death in 1904, Lyon moved into Twain's house and assisted him with his autobiography. She also disbursed allowances to Twain's daughters Clara and Jean. Lyon helped to supervise the construction of Stormfield, Twain's estate in Redding, Connecticut, and managed the property afterwards. Twain bought Lyon a house, called The Lo ...
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Saugatuck River
The Saugatuck River is a river in southwestern Connecticut in the United States. It drains part of suburban and rural Fairfield County west of Bridgeport, emptying into Long Island Sound. , a U.S. Navy oiler that saw service in World War II, was named after the river. Description The Saugatuck River issues from Sugar Hollow Pond approximately southwest of downtown Danbury. It flows generally southeast, passing through the Saugatuck Reservoir ( above sea level), then turns south-southwest. In Westport, it broadens into a navigable estuary along its lower and enters Long Island Sound approximately southeast of Norwalk. Interstate 95 crosses the river near its mouth downstream from Westport center. The river is wadeable along much of its course and is a popular seasonal destination for trout fishing, with the state of Connecticut stocking the river annually. In the 17th century the river was the site of a Paugusset settlement. The name of the river means "river that flows ...
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Ayton Castle, Scottish Borders
Ayton Castle is located to the east of Ayton in the Scottish Borders. It is north-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the former county of Berwickshire. Built around a medieval tower house, the present castle dates largely from the 19th century. Ayton Castle is the ''caput'' of the feudal barony of Ayton. The castle is protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant parks and gardens. History The original castle, a peel tower, had once been a stronghold of the Home family. This castle was captured by the English in 1497, and the nearby church was the scene of the subsequent negotiation of the treaty of Ayton, signed on 30 September 1497. The tower was replaced by a classical mansion, which burnt down in 1834. The estate was subsequently purchased by William Mitchell (later Mitchell-Innes) of Parsonsgreen, Edinburgh, who had been born at Belhelvie, Aberde ...
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Ossip Gabrilowitsch
Ossip Salomonovich Gabrilowitsch (Осип Сoломонович Габрилович, ''Osip Solomonovich Gabrilovich''; he used the German transliteration ''Gabrilowitsch'' in the West) (14 September 1936) was a Russian-born American pianist, conductor and composer. Biography Ossip Gabrilowitsch was born into a Jewish family in Saint Petersburg. His parents were Salomon Gabrilowitsch and Rose Segall. He studied the piano and composition at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, with Anton Rubinstein, Anatoly Lyadov, Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Medtner among others. After graduating in 1894, he spent two years studying piano with Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna. In July 1905 he recorded ten pieces for the Welte-Mignon reproducing piano, one of the first pianists to do so. Between 1915 and 1927, he subsequently recorded at least fifteen more reproducing rolls for Duo-Art and at least five reproducing rolls for Ampico. On 6 October 1909, he married Mark Twain's daughter Cla ...
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Dan Beard
Daniel Carter "Uncle Dan" Beard (June 21, 1850 – June 11, 1941) was an American illustrator, author, youth leader, Georgist and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which Beard later merged with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Early life Beard was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, into a family of artists. As a youth in Painesville, he explored the woods and made sketches of nature. His father was the artist James Henry Beard and his mother was Mary Caroline (Carter) Beard. His uncle was the artist William Holbrook Beard. He lived at 322 East Third Street in Covington, Kentucky near the Licking River, where he learned the stories of Kentucky pioneer life. He started an early career as an engineer and surveyor. He attended art school in New York City. He wrote a series of articles for St. Nicholas Magazine that later formed the basis for '' The American Boy's Handy Book''. He was a member of the Student Art League, where he met and befriended Ernest Thom ...
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Jean Clemens
Jane Lampton "Jean" Clemens (July 26, 1880 – December 24, 1909) was the daughter of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (better known by his pen name Mark Twain) and Olivia Langdon Clemens. She drowned in a bathtub at Samuel's home on Christmas Eve 1909, likely due to a seizure. Character and early life Jean Clemens was born in Elmira, New York, the youngest of four children born to author and humorist Mark Twain and Olivia Langdon Clemens. Twain wrote from Elmira to his friend, William Dean Howells, reporting she "arrived perfectly sound but with no more baggage than I had when I was on the river," referring to his '' Life On The Mississippi.'' According to '' Mark Twain's Autobiography'', Jean was kind-hearted and particularly fond of animals, like Olivia. She founded or worked with a number of societies for the protection of animals in the various locations where she lived. Epilepsy Jean had epilepsy from age 15 which Twain attributed to a head injury from when she was age 8 or 9. ...
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Villas In The United States
Villas may refer to: Places * Villas, Florida, United States * Villas, Illinois, United States * Villas, New Jersey, United States * Las Villas, a region of Spain * Las Villas (Cuba), a former Cuban Province * The Villas, a housing estate in Stoke-upon-Trent, England Other uses * Villa, a type of house * ''Villa'' (fly), a genus of insects * The Villas (band), an American rock band * Violetta Villas (1938–2011), Belgian-born Polish singer, actress, and songwriter See also *Las Tres Villas *Cinco Villas (other) *Castillo Siete Villas, a town in Arnuero, Cantabria, Spain *Villasbuenas *Villas Boas *Benalúa de las Villas *Villa (other) *Vila (other) *Vilas (other) Vilas may refer to: People ;Last name * Vilas Nande (fl.2000), musician * Charles Nathaniel Vilas (died 1931), American philanthropist in New Hampshire for whom the Vilas Bridge was named *Dane Vilas (born 1985), South African cricketer *Faith Vil ...
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Marriage Of Clara Clemens And Ossip Gabrilowitsch
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between them and their Affinity (law), in-laws. It is considered a cultural universal, but the definition of marriage varies between cultures and religions, and over time. Typically, it is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually Human sexual activity, sexual, are acknowledged or sanctioned. In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be Premarital sex, compulsory before pursuing any sexual activity. A marriage ceremony is called a wedding. Individuals may marry for several reasons, including legal, social, Libido, libidinal, emotional, financial, Spirituality, spiritual, and religious purposes. Whom they marry may be influenced by gender, Incest taboo, socially determined rules of incest, Alliance theory, prescri ...
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