Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff ( Shoemaker, later Carr) (July 10, 1888 – December 15, 1967) was an American poet.
Early life
Blanche was born in
Larchmont, New York
Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census. In February 2019, Bloomberg ranked Larc ...
on July 10, 1888 but spent much of her life in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. She was the only daughter of
Henry Francis Shoemaker (1843–1918), a railroad magnate and close confidante of future
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
Charles W. Fairbanks
Charles Warren Fairbanks (May 11, 1852 – June 4, 1918) was an American politician who served as a senator from Indiana from 1897 to 1905 and the 26th vice president of the United States from 1905 to 1909. He was also the Republican vice presid ...
, and Blanche ( Quiggle) Shoemaker (1853–1928). Among her siblings were
Henry Wharton Shoemaker and William Brock Shoemaker, who married Ella Morris De Peyster (a daughter of
Frederic James De Peyster
Frederic James de Peyster (February 5, 1839 – May 10, 1905) was a prominent American soldier, lawyer, and member of New York Society during the Gilded Age.
Early life
Frederic James de Peyster was born on February 5, 1839, in New York City. ...
) in 1905,
but died tragically in an elevator accident a few months after his wedding in 1906.
Her mother was the sole daughter of railroad magnate and diplomat Col. James W. Quiggle of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
and
Lock Haven, Pennsylvania
Lock Haven is the county seat of Clinton County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located near the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek, it is the principal city of the Lock Haven Micropolitan Statistical Area, ...
.
She began writing at age 7, and had sold her first poem, to ''
Town & Country'', by age 16.
In 1905, her portrait was painted by the French artist
Théobald Chartran
Théobald Chartran (20 July 1849 – 16 July 1907) was a classical French academic painter and portrait artist.
Early life
Chartran was born in Besançon, France on 20 July 1849. His father was Councilor at the Court of Appeals and he was the ne ...
. After she made her debut in New York City, she was presented at the
Court of St. James
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordanc ...
and later had a private interview with
Pope Pius.
Career
Blanche served for a time as the associate editor of ''The International'', a magazine founded by her close friend
George Sylvester Viereck
George Sylvester Viereck (December 31, 1884 – March 18, 1962) was a German-American poet, writer, and pro-German propagandist, latterly on behalf of the German Nazi government.
Biography
Early life
Sylvester's father, Louis Viereck, was born ...
, whose sensual, decadent verse mirrored Wagstaff's. She praised his work, although the two had a falling out over Viereck's support of Germany in the first World War, later reconciling in 1924.
Her verse often dealt with sensual and classical themes, and twelve of her poems were anthologized in T. R. Smith's 1921 erotic verse collection ''Poetica Erotica''. Her 1944 book for children, ''The Beloved Son'', was a life of Jesus in verse.
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...
praised Wagstaff's poetic drama ''Alcestis'' for its "constant novelty and ingenuity of epithet", though he thought at times she let "her adjectives run riot".
[H. L. Mencken, ''The Collected Drama of H. L. Mencken: Plays and Criticism'', edited by S. T. Joshi (Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, 2012), p. 217.]
Personal life
In 1907, she married Alfred Wagstaff III (1881–1930), the eldest son of
Alfred Wagstaff Jr. Before their divorce in 1920, they were the parents of:
* Alfred Wagstaff IV (1908–1982), who married Julia A. C. Frederick, a daughter of William P. Frederick and descendant of
Chief Justice John Marshall
John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...
, in 1949.
After their divorce, she married well known real estate broker and amateur golf player Donald Carr on July 30, 1921 at Bide-a-Wee, her country place in
Manchester, Vermont
Manchester is a town in, and one of two shire towns (county seats) of, Bennington County, Vermont. The population was 4,484 at the 2020 census.
Manchester Village, an incorporated village, and Manchester Center are settlement centers within ...
.
During the ceremony, the officiating clergyman read one of her new poems entitled ''Marriage''.
Carr, who owned Cedarcliff in
Riverside, Connecticut
Riverside is a neighborhood/section in the town of Greenwich in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 8,416.
The town of Greenwich is one political and taxing body, but consists of several d ...
, was the son of Henry Shaler Carr and Tamzin ( Shaler) Carr (a daughter of
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
Gen.
Alexander Shaler
Alexander Shaler (March 19, 1827 – December 28, 1911) was a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He received the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Second Battle of Fredericksburg. Af ...
).
In 1934, she sold two business buildings, 24 and 26
East 54th Street, adjoining the southwest corner of
Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...
, in midtown Manhattan for $400,000.
The five-story building at 24 East 54th Street was a wedding gift from her father upon her marriage to Wagstaff. She had acquired the adjoining five-story building at 26 East 54th Street in 1921 and had them renovated for commercial use and leased to single tenants.
Carr died in 1961.
Blanche died on December 15, 1967 in
Virginia Water
Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in northern Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its nam ...
in the
Borough of Runnymede
The Borough of Runnymede is a local government district with borough status in the English county of Surrey. It is a very prosperous part of the London commuter belt, with some of the most expensive housing in the United Kingdom outside centra ...
in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. She was interred at the Shoemaker Mausoleum in
Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.
Published works
*
The Song of Youth' (1905)
*
Woven of Dreams' (1908)
*
Atys, a Grecian Idyl, and Other Poems' (1909)
*
Alcestis: A Poetic Drama' (1911)
*
Colonial Plays for the School-room' (1912)
*
Eris: a Dramatic Allegory' (1914)
*
The Book of Love' (1917)
*
Narcissus and Other Poems' (1918)
*
Quiet Waters' (1921)
*''Bob, the Spaniel: the True Story of a Springer'' (1927)
*''Mortality and Other Poems'' (1930)
*''The Beloved Son'' (1944)
*''After the Flesh'' (1953)
*''Sonnets to Parsifal'' (1960)
References
External links
*
Entry on Wagstaff at the ViereckProject
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagstaff, Blanche Shoemaker
1888 births
1959 deaths
Poets from New York (state)
American women poets
20th-century American poets
20th-century American women writers
Writers from New York City