Elinor Mead Howells (May 1, 1837 – May 6, 1910) was an American artist, architect and aristocrat. She was married to author

William Dean Howells William Dean Howells ( ; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American Realism (arts), realist novelist, literary critic, playwright, and diplomat, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ...

and designed the William Dean Howells House in Cambridge.

Early life and family

Elinor Gertrude Mead was born on May 1, 1837, in

Chesterfield, New Hampshire Chesterfield is a New England town, town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,552 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It includes the villages of Spofford, New Hampshir ...

, to Mary Jane Noyes and Larkin Goldsmith Mead. Her family was part of the intellectual and social aristocracy of New England. Her brothers were sculptor

Larkin Goldsmith Mead Larkin Goldsmith Mead, Jr. (January 3, 1835 – October 15, 1910) was an American sculpture, sculptor who worked in a Neoclassicism, neoclassical style. Career He was born at Chesterfield, New Hampshire, the son of a prominent lawyer. A coloss ...

(born 1835) and architect

William Rutherford Mead William Rutherford Mead (August 20, 1846 – June 19, 1928) was an American architect who was the "Center of the Office" of McKim, Mead, and White, a noted Gilded Age architectural firm.Baker, Paul R. ''Stanny'' The firm's other founding pa ...

(born 1846). Future President

Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th president of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. Hayes served as Cincinnati's city solicitor from 1858 to 1861. He was a staunch Abolitionism in the Un ...

was her cousin and

Oneida Community The Oneida Community ( ) was a Christian perfection, perfectionist religious communal society founded by John Humphrey Noyes and his followers in 1848 near Oneida, New York. The community believed that Jesus had Hyper-preterism, already return ...

founder

John Humphrey Noyes John Humphrey Noyes (September 3, 1811 – April 13, 1886) was an American preacher, radical religious philosopher, and Utopian socialism, utopian socialist. He founded the Putney Community, Putney, Oneida Community, Oneida, and Wallingford ...

was her uncle. She graduated from Brattleboro High School in

Brattleboro, Vermont Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a New England town, town in Windham County, Vermont, United States, located about north of the Massachusetts state line at the confluence of Vermont's West River (Vermont), West River and the Connec ...

. During the winter of 1860, Mead travelled to Columbus to stay with Laura Platt, a niece of Hayes'. She met author

there. She went to London with her brother with the intent of marrying William. After learning that a week's residence would be required, the pair traveled to Paris where they married on December 24, 1862. Their children were Winifred (b. 1863), architect John Mead Howells (b. 1868), and Mildred (b. 1872). William Howells held a consulship in Venice from 1861 to 1865 and the couple lived there. The Howells moved to

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, in 1866 and lived in a house a few blocks north of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

William Dean Howells House and travels

Elinor Howells was the architect and interior designer for the William Dean Howells House located at 37 Concord Avenue. Their family moved into the home on July 7, 1873. Howells and her husband agreed it was "the prettiest house in Cambridge" and intended to live there for the rest of their lives.Lynn, Kenneth S. ''William Dean Howells: An American Life''. New York: Harcout Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1970: 193. Following her husband's success as a writer, authors including Samuel Langhorne Clemens,

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...

James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets to r ...

Bret Harte Bret Harte ( , born Francis Brett Hart, August 25, 1836 – May 5, 1902) was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a caree ...

, and

Thomas Bailey Aldrich Thomas Bailey Aldrich ( ; November 11, 1836 – March 19, 1907) was an American writer, poet, critic, and editor. He is notable for his long editorship of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', during which he published writers including Charles W. Chesnutt ...

visited their home, as did President

James Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 1881 until Assassination of James A. Garfield, his death in September that year after being shot two months ea ...

. Elinor Howells' judgments on fiction were respected by her husband and his circle. She saw both Samuel Clemens and Henry James frequently, corresponding often with Clemens as well as Susan Warner, the spouse of essayist

Charles Dudley Warner Charles Dudley Warner (September 12, 1829 – October 20, 1900) was an American essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain, with whom he co-authored the novel '' The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today''. Biography Warner was born of Puritan descen ...

. The Howells family left Cambridge in 1878 and moved to Redtop in

Belmont, Massachusetts Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a western suburb of Boston and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, its population was 27,295, an increase of 10.4% from 2010. H ...

. They travelled to Europe in 1882 and relocated frequently thereafter. By 1900, they had purchased a home near

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...

Death and legacy

Howells had lifelong health problems. In February 1910, she began using

morphine Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...

to treat her worsening

neuritis Neuritis (), from the Greek ), is inflammation of a nerve or the general inflammation of the peripheral nervous system. Inflammation, and frequently concomitant demyelination, cause impaired transmission of neural signals and leads to aberrant ne ...

. She died on May 6, 1910, in New York. Around 200 of Elinor Howells' letters are extant. The 1988 book ''If Not Literature: Letters of Elinor Mead Howells'' includes 130 of her letters.

Notes

References

External links