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| From Top Left to Right: Emory Clapp, Portrait in Portrait, Robert Slark Day, Theodore Clapp and Pamela Starr Clapp |
Introduction
Before I really get started here, be warned. The history presented here, the actual occupants of the house at 1239 First Street, has its own bizarre twists, turns and connections. In fact, let me be blunt. There are plenty of OSMs and WTH moments.
Not because it's New Orleans. Not because it's Louisiana. Not even because it's "the Deep South". Because as you will see hints of, the world just isn't that big, folks. And people are just not as isolated from one another as it might have once been made to appear.
Don't want to hear that from me? Alrighty, then. I understand there are many who are fascinated with the lineage of the British Royal Family. Well, trace it. Trace it waaaaaaay back. By the time you actually do get as far back as Elizabeth I--and you WILL get as far back as Elizabeth I if you stay the course--you will have begun to see what I mean. Keep going, and you really will see what I mean.
Because some of the events of Tudor England were worked into the tale of Lasher and the Mayfair Witches, let's have a review of the events that made that twist in the tale possible. Let's have a general overview of history and how it can help us to better understand how our genealogy ends up with so many connections that are actually the norm rather than the exception.
Due to recent events, I'd also like to take the time to point out a key fact about the history of the United States. Put simply, the United States was essentially founded by immigrants. We are going to have a look at where those immigrants came from and why. To do that, let's start at a time before the New World and let it take us ultimately to some of the people who called 1239 First Street home.
A History review: Tudor England
Elizabeth I is significant on a site about the Lives of the Mayfair Witches novels. Or, more specifically, her mother. Elizabeth I was England's last Tudor queen. Her reign contained significant events that left their marks on history well beyond England. The colony of Virginia, said to have been named for the Virgin Queen, goes back even further than the Mayflower: the Lost Colony of Roanoke.
Around the same time, 1579, is an event connected to piece of history that even surprised me: Sir Francis Drake and the Golden Hinde. For a little more about that, this page of the Parlor has some information: History and the Mayfair Witches: Saint-Domingue.
Sir Francis Drake would be in command of a different ship in 1588. Drake was the second in command in what would become one of England's most decisive and victorious naval battles in history: the Spanish Armada.
Elizabeth I never married, nor did she have children. When she died, her cousin, James VI of Scotland, also became James I of England. Yes, King James, as in the King James Bible.
To be sure, this was most decidedly NOT what her father, Henry VIII, had in mind. Elizabeth was the only product of her father's marriage to her mother, Anne Boleyn. Anne was the second wife of Henry VIII, and the first of his wives to...lose her head. Henry VIII had broken from Rome, making himself the head of the Church of England so he could divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. That union had produced a daughter, Mary.
After Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn had...ended, he married Jane Seymour, who died giving birth to Henry's only son. Then came Katherine Howard, who met the same fate Anne Boleyn did, then a wife who was smart enough to (and reportedly only too pleased to) give Henry the divorce he wanted. Henry's sixth wife, Katherine Parr, became his widow, but that marriage did not produce any heirs, either.
Unfortunately, the only son Henry VIII did eventually have died while in his teens. The throne of England would pass from Henry VIII to both his son and to his daughter by his first marriage, Mary, before finally passing to Elizabeth in 1558 upon the death of Queen Mary. For the relatively short time Queen Mary reigned, England found itself in a brutal period as Mary tried to force all subjects to return to the Catholic faith.
It was in this bloody period of history that English subjects who came to be called Puritans began to flee England for the Netherlands. Even after Mary died and her younger half-sister became the Protestant Queen of England, Puritans didn't seem inclined to return to England. By 1620, Elizabeth I had died and her cousin, James VI of Scotland, James I of England and the son of Mary Queen of Scots (whose execution Elizabeth herself had ordered), was on the throne.
As for Anne Boleyn, she died in 1536 when her daughter, Elizabeth, was only three years old.
A Doomed Tudor Queen and Lasher
In Lasher, Anne Boleyn's attempt at producing a son and heir for Henry went horribly wrong when the son she did produce was born a "walking baby". The man who fathered this offspring, Douglas of Donnelaith, was waiting somewhere in a hidden spot to collect the child and get him out of England FAST.
As the Earl and the walking baby fled, the baby walking on his own more and more by the mile, Anne Boleyn knew this failure to produce a son and heir had sealed her fate.
This scenario was not just in the AMC series in Season 2. It was indeed in the novel, Lasher.
Anne Boleyn's appearance in Lasher is an excellent example of historical fiction well done. To be able to blend history into the fictional world of characters like the Mayfair Witches demands a level of research and detail into that history to be believable. This is something Anne Rice was exceptionally adept at and it showed in her extraordinary talent as an author. It is in the context of history that perhaps we can understand the twists and turns of our family trees best.
Family Trees Twist and Turn: The Mayflower
For those of you who are feeling especially adventurous, have a look at the passengers of the Mayflower. Not just the part about Plymouth Rock, or even one interesting piece of history, the Mayflower Compact signed November 11, 1620. What I recommend you take a look at is twofold. Meaning, look at the lineage of the Mayflower passengers going both ways.
Most of us find out about our Mayflower lineage by tracing backwards. As we get closer to those Mayflower passengers, we find dips and turns that start to look...familiar. We pick up the historical tidbit about the Mayflower actually having been sailing for this colony of Virginia, but they ended up on what would soon become Massachusetts Bay Colony.
More ships arrived after the Mayflower, ships carrying more and more English passengers. Puritans fleeing England for the New World for the same reason the original Mayflower passengers and their immediate ancestors fled England for the Netherlands in the first place.
Massachusetts Bay Colony was an isolated spot on an enormous land mass we now call North America. That isolation meant the occupants of this new colony were very isolated, even among the Native tribes who soon found themselves displaced (to put it very mildly) by these immigrants with pale skin, funny names and apparently atrocious manners.
They also brought along another bad habit: booting anyone who did not agree with, let alone follow, the rigid rules and customs of the Colony to the letter.
From Salem Village to Rhode Island
From a letter written to Reverend George Burroughs in 1682:
"...Brother is against brother and neighbors against neighbors, all quarreling and smiting one another."
~Jeremiah Watts
Ten years later, the quarreling and smiting that Salem Village resident Jeremiah Watts referred to would lead to the Salem Witch Trials. Reverend George Burroughs himself was one of the victims. Jeremiah Watts was not a victim or an accuser. He died in 1694 in Bristol, Rhode Island (still part of Massachusetts at that time).
Decades earlier, Roger Williams and those who went with him got lucky. Why Salem Village in 1692 could not have done by choice what Roger Williams ultimately had to do in 1636 isn't too much of a mystery when you think about it. Roger Williams, who dared to disagree with certain Puritan rules, was basically exiled to what the Massachusetts Bay Colony thought would function as basically a leper colony. Instead, Roger Williams turned it into Rhode Island.
When one considers the actual reasons that led to the Salem Witch Trials, it likely had little or nothing to do with fear of heathen practices or witchcraft or anything even remotely occult-like. Debates over much more mundane things seem to have been more of a catalyst for that particular horror than anything else.
When you spend your life thinking you have no connection to something like that, but then suddenly find out you most certainly did have close relatives who were victims, that feeling is indescribable.
When you also have ancestors who were among those who helped found a little colony that today, we call Rhode Island, you find yourself wishing those relatives who were made victims in 1692 had followed their lead and moved to Rhode Island by 1691. And all of them had either emigrated to the New World because of the Mayflower, or their forebears did, or they descended from the Mayflower passengers themselves.
Who were these passengers were and where did they come from? Why did the Mayflower set sail for the New World with a bunch of English passengers from a port that was NOT in England?
Because the Puritans fled England in the middle of the 16th century, but they first fled to the Netherlands. Why? Religious persecution.
Who were these passengers were and where did they come from? Why did the Mayflower set sail for the New World with a bunch of English passengers from a port that was NOT in England?
Because the Puritans fled England in the middle of the 16th century, but they first fled to the Netherlands. Why? Religious persecution.
Albert Hamilton Brevard
Yes, it's about time.
The house at 1239 First Street in New Orleans was built, or rather, commissioned by, Albert Hamilton Brevard. The house, built in 1857, has one rather unique feature that allegedly were added because quite simply, Brevard liked them. That feature was the different column styles flanking the front porch of the house. There are three different styles of column: Doric, Ionic and Corinthean.
This section is just beginning, and there is some information here and there about Albert Hamilton Brevard. I'll start with a few interesting factoids I've managed to dig up.
Albert Hamilton Brevard was born in either Iredell or Rowan County, North Carolina. It's a bit confusing as Iredell County was formed from Rowan County right after the Revolutionary War. From what I've been able to learn, Brevard's grandfather, Captain Robert Brevard, was a Revolutionary War veteran. The Brevard ancestors were French Huguenots who fled France for Maryland due to religious persecution. They eventually made their way to North Carolina where, interestingly enough, they became involved in the iron industry there. In fact, one of Brevard's ancestors, Alexander Brevard, owned and operated the Vesuvius Furnace.
Although Albert Hamilton Brevard obviously lived and worked in New Orleans at one point, he seems to have come there from Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. When he died, he was buried there, and you may see his grave on Find a Grave. Other members of the Brevard family, including Juliette Gayle Brevard, his widow, are also buried in the cemetery.
As for Brevard's children, here is where things get rather interesting. He had at least three children. One son, John, died in Natchez, Mississippi in 1892 and is buried there. Those who are somewhat familiar with the history of the First Street house might have come across the detail concerning the sale of the house to Emory Clapp. Accounts often say Clapp bought the house from Brevard's daughter, Elizabeth. And yet, as I've been digging around, it seems Elizabeth Allen Brevard died in 1863.
Well, the historical record, provided as a PDF on the House of Patterns page of the Parlor linked above, states that it was Elizabeth Brevard's widower, James Brison Woods, who sold the house to Emory Clapp. The PDF file can be found under Authentic New Orleans.
According to the aforementioned record as well as FamilySearch, Elizabeth Brevard had been married to James Brison Woods at the time of her death. Also, FamilySearch lists a daughter, Elizabeth Brevard Woods, who born in 1862 but died in 1863. Another daughter, Alice, died in 1864, according to the same source. It doesn't list a birth year, though.
Apparently, James Brison Woods did remarry in 1867 to Leonora Matthews. She died in 1887. As I looked at what I could find of this individual, I noted Woods had been born in West Virginia but lived out most of his life in New Orleans. I also noted that Woods was entombed in his family crypt in Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. Could Elizabeth Brevard or any children she had by her marriage be entombed here, as well?
If they are, the names on the crypt do not say. James Brison Woods himself was entombed here upon his death in 1917. This crypt and the names on it can be seen on Woods' listing on Find a Grave. That listing also includes a scan of Woods' obituary.
I've also learned that Elizabeth Brevard Woods died in Bladon Springs, Alabama. In 1867, her maternal uncle who had also been her father's business partner in Missouri, John W. Gayle, also died in Bladon Springs, Alabama. John W. Gayle and his wife are buried in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, in the same cemetery Albert Brevard and his wife are buried in.
As I found, Woods had been married three times. However, his obituary listed Leonora Matthews, whom he married in 1867, as his first wife. If that was correct, where is the information about him having been married to Elizabeth Brevard in 1861 coming from? Or is this an error, one of those small mistakes that lead to generations of confusion and uncertainty? Not that this did, exactly, but it could be. It does happen.
The obituary gives a pretty detailed account of Woods' life, but one more detail jumped out at me. James Brison Woods died in 1917 at his home, 1321 Chestnut Street. No, this is not the First Street house. In fact, Google Maps calculates that these two houses are about a half a mile away from each other. Several blocks, in fact.
This is really interesting. And it does give a good historical perspective on the lives of the people in New Orleans during that time period. Certainly, there were many people who played prominent roles in the history of the city who came from other places in the United States. What we are learning of New Orleans' French Creole and Spanish history now will, I hope, finally catch up with what is known of people like the ones discussed here. There seems to have been a tradition of one group of people overshadowing the history and culture of other groups who were an equally vital part of history. I hope this will change so ALL history is considered important, not just some of it.
There is something else that I've come to wonder about. Unsurprisingly, the Brevard-Rice house is rumored to be haunted. This is not a recent development. The stories apparently had been around for many years even before Anne Rice bought the house. One of the ghosts is said to be that of Albert Hamilton Brevard himself. Various claims made over the years say his ghost can sometimes be seen on the front porch of the house, where, it is rumored, he took his own life.
But did he?
One thing I keep running across are records that consistently state that not only was Missouri Brevard's place of burial and probate, but also where he died. I have yet to find anything at all that even hints at how he died. While the 1964 historical survey does explain that Elizabeth Brevard Woods had inherited 1239 First Street upon her father's death and that it was her widower, James Brison Woods, who sold the house to Emory Clapp in 1869, it does not say anything about her death. At all.
I have yet to find out where she might have been buried. Odd, when one considers the fact that a great deal of records still exists about at least one of her brothers, who died in Natchez, Mississippi and is buried there with his own family. Elizabeth Brevard Woods might have been brought back to Missouri for burial, but if she died in 1863, the Civil War might have complicated things. It would certainly explain why James Brison Woods was probably stuck with this Garden District house until about four years after the war ended.
It could very well be true that Albert Hamilton Brevard took his own life. It could be true he did so in front of his New Orleans house just two years after he had it built and seven years after he bought the plot of land it sits on to this day. And the rumored reasons--at the house to reduce the enormous property tax bill he received and/or on the porch to avoid...ummm...making a mess on the...walls? One or both could be true?
If so, what is the source of the story? Can a source be found today to support the story?
Or might it be true that another death by firearm that might have actually occurred in the house decades later is the actual source. If so, might it also have resulted in a haunting inside the house? Certainly, another ghost rumored to haunt 1239 First Street is one who, in life, had known the individual whose death might have occurred in the house decades after Brevard's death.
Pamela Clapp, for whom her new husband, Emory Clapp, bought the house from James Brison Woods as a wedding gift to her...
Clearly, there is more to learn here. As I find out more, I will update this page.
The Clapp Family
New Orleans Visitors' Guide 1875
Find A Grave
Pamela Starr Clapp died in 1934. The following year, 1935, it was adopted daughter Lily Clapp who sold the First Street house to a new owner. That owner later sold the house to Judge Minor Wisdom and his wife.
Today in New Orleans History: March 29~Theodore "Parson" Clapp is Born
http://www.neworleanspast.com/todayinneworleanshistory/march29.html
American Ancestry Vol XII 1899
Rev Theodore Clapp on Find A Grave
Note that Reverend Clapp's tomb and that of two sisters of Emory Clapp are in the Eagle Fire Co. No. 7 tomb, Henderson & Orange in Cypress Grove Cemetery, New Orleans.
Robert Slark Day
Read about the rather bizarre death of Robert Slark Day on his Find A Grave listing:
Robert Slark Day on Find A Grave
Now, assuming you have read the tale of the death of Robert Slark Day...
There are some interesting parallels between Day and the Mayfair Witches, in certain aspects. I never had the chance to ask Anne Rice if she had ever heard of this, but the comparisons are interesting by themselves. I also do not know for certain if Day's accident occurred in the house on First Street or not, but it could have.
It was the part where Day, having gotten up in the middle of the night, heard sounds coming from...the library, which was downstairs. The window of the library was found to be open, although I've never heard of a break-in where the burglar stopped to have a smoke before continuing further into the house.
In Lasher, Michael Curry, hearing sounds from the library where he'd left Mona sleeping, came back in to find that the library window was open. It hadn't been when he'd left the room just minutes earlier. And whoever had tried to enter the house through the window clearly hadn't gotten far, because Mona was just waking up, realizing something had gone on.
Another thing I learned about Robert Slark Day is that, well, he was a member of a yacht club. What gives? Michael, after taking a self-guided tour of his old neighborhood in New Orleans, met Rowan at the First Street house, I believe, the day after the funeral of Dierdre and the death of Carlotta Mayfair. As they talked, Michael pointed out that the two of them "did not meet at the yacht club". Now, what made him say that?
How they met was, Michael had tumbled into the Pacific Ocean and was literally dead for some moments before Rowan, in command of the Sweet Christine, found him floating face down. As a native of the Pacific Northwest, I can tell you this much: the Pacific Ocean really is THAT cold and THAT deadly should you tumble in the way Michael Curry did. Rowan Mayfair, at considerable personal risk to herself, somehow managed to pull Michael aboard the Sweet Christine.
The Pacific Ocean loves nothing better than to sink something, so if this was based on an actual incident, I am impressed that as far as the vessel itself went, all it cost was one dinghy.
We have arrived at the part where we discuss the vessel. The Sweet Christine was described as a 40 cabin cruiser, which is a small yacht. When her adoptive parents were still alive, they'd host parties on the deck of this vessel, as wealthy society people do. For Rowan Mayfair, it was something of a personal safety net.
I am, of course, referring to the Rowan Mayfair of the book series rather than the TV series. In the TV series, Rowan Fielding lives on the Sweet Christine. Given enough time, would the Rowan Mayfair of the books eventually have chosen to live aboard the Sweet Christine rather than the house that had become so empty after the loss of her adoptive mother, Ellie?
Impossible to say.
Whether or not Anne Rice was aware of these details about Robert Slark Day, I thought these coincidences were too interesting to NOT point out. Below the image of the Sweet Christine from The Witches' Companion are two more links with more information about Robert Slark Day. One of them discusses Day as a yachtsman...
Men and Matters: A Magazine of Fact, Fancy & Fiction, Volume 2
The Sweet Christine
This corner of the library might also be the same corner where an open window and a recently used ashtray were found on the night Robert Slark Day died in 1895. It is also likely the window found open in Lasher, when Michael enters the library after hearing sounds of a break-in and finds the window open and Mona just waking up.
This little video is a preview of items I have added to the 3D Mayfair library that will be devoted to the Sweet Christine in the Lives of the Mayfair Witches. As an added "bonus", I've provided some photographs of my own relatives who lived in San Francisco at the time of the 1906 earthquake (they did survive the earthquake) as "random Mayfairs".
As I work to make 3D models of the Mayfair Witches themselves, I've found one model that is an excellent representation of Rowan Mayfair. She is standing on the deck of the beginnings of a model of the Sweet Christine on San Francisco Bay. This is what you will see in the photograph on the table that the video is panning around the bow section of....
I've added this video here because I wanted to combined details the Lives of the Mayfair Witches has in common with the real-life history of the Brevard-Rice house in New Orleans. When I use my 3D model for videos and graphics for the Parlor, I want to also be sure the people who once called 1239 First Street home over its long history are remembered and honored, as well.