From the Au Family Bookcase

The room I found myself in most often was the parlor. It had a beautiful wood cabinet with shelves for books, protected by two glass doors, and beneath that, drawers full of family treasures. I'm lucky enough to have a few of the books, to wit:

New Caesar with Vocabulary (Allen & Greenough's edition) re-edited by James B. et al, and published by Ginn & Company in 1886, and again in 1898. Inside, the top of the front free endpaper was inscribed "Mary Au". It had been my grandmother's school book from her Latin class. I remember being surprised and impressed to learn that my grandmother had learned to read and write Latin as a young woman.

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Another of Mary Au's books was St. Elmo, which  Wikipedia describes as "a novel by American author Augusta Jane Evans published in 1866. Featuring the sexual tension between the protagonist St. Elmo, a cynical man, and the heroine Edna Earl, a beautiful and devout girl, the novel became one of the most popular novels of the 19th century. The novel sold a million copies within four months of its publication." 

Mary was sixteen years old when she inscribed the front end paper of the book with her name and date: "Mary Au Oct. 30, 1909".

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Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush by Ian MacLaren, published in 1895, belonged to Mary Au's mother Leila White. 

The front end paper of that book was inscribed "This is Leila Au Book received from her sister-in-law Nina Au as a present 28 years ago. Many thanks." The hand writing in that book varies considerably from that of Mary Au in the two books that belonged to her. From the wording I imagine that it was inscribed by Leila Au.

This edition of Bedside the Bonnie Brier Bush was published in 1894. If Leila White acquired the book the year it was published, the inscription was made in the year 1922, when Leila was fifty-eight years old. 

Nina Au, the sister-in-law referred to in the inscription was Nina Katherine Jesson, wife of Charles Henry Au, a younger brother of Samuel Augustus Au. 

Wikipedia describes the book thus: "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush is a book of short stories by Ian Maclaren's published in 1894. It became a hugely popular bestseller. It is considered to be part of the Kailyard School of Scottish literature. A kailyard or kailyaird (kale) is comparable to a cabbage patch and refers to a kitchen garden as might be found adjacent to a cottage. The title, Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, references the Jacobite song "There grows a bonnie brier bush in our Kailyard". Publishers Weekly reported it as the bestselling novel in the U.S. during 1895 and the 10th bestselling novel during 1896. The stories in the book recount some of MacLaren's experiences as a Free Church minister in rural Perthshire and blends humour and pathos with racy Scots dialogue."

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The Child's Own Book of Standard Fairy Tales, published by the John C. Winston Company of Philadelphia, is a 525-page hardcover book, bound in green decorative cloth, containing many stories, including Aladdin, or the wonderful lamp; Ali Baba, or the Forty Thieves; The Booby; Jack the Giant Killer; The Two Cakes; Puss in Boots; The White Cat; Valentine and Orson; Beauty and the Beast; and Cinderella.

It is illustrated with several color plates. Inside, the top of the front free endpaper is inscribed "Richard Au from Sammie, Xmas 1910".

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Andersen's Fairy Tales, published by Rand, McNally & Co., is a 416-page hardcover book, bound in green decorative cloth, containing many stories, including The Snow Queen; The Nightingale; The Red Shoes; The Ugly Duckling; The Little Match Girl; and Thumbelina.

It is illustrated with several monochrome plates. Inside, the top of the front free endpaper is inscribed "Richard Everette Au, Merry Xmas, December 25, 1911".

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The following three books contain nothing to indicate to which members of the Au family they belonged.

Daddy Jake, the Runaway, by Joel Chandler Harris.

 Published in 1898, it was one of the author's early collections of "Uncle Remus" tales. 

 As a child I had read some of the Uncle Remus stories in Woodland Elementary School. 

I had also seen the Walt Disney movie version, Song of the South, which I enjoyed very much.

 I especially loved the Uncle Remus character and the animated characters Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear.

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Three Daughters of the Confederacy. Published in 1905 by G. W. Dillingham Company, New York. 

I know nothing about this book other than it was one of many pumped out by Cyrus Townsend Brady, an Episcopal minister, who found the time to write over 100 books in his lifetime. He also worked as a screenwriter for Vitagraph. 

The title page of the book reads: "Three Daughters of the Confederacy The Story of Their Loves and Their Hatreds, Their Joys and Their Sorrows, During Many Surprising Adventures on Land and Sea." 

The author dedicated the work to Mrs. James Henry Parker and the New York Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy and to "that Fair Daughter of the South", his wife.

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Life and Adventures of Frank and Jesse James the Noted Western Outlaws by Hon. J. A. Dacus, Ph. D. The title page contains the following quote:

"Strange murmurs fill my tingling ears, 

Bristles my hair, my sinews quake, 

At this dread tale of reckless deeds."

Now who could resist purchasing a book that promised all that?

As fascinating as the book may be, one can only wonder as to the veracity of the author's account of the "Noted Western Outlaws" lives and the events described in the book. 

More interesting perhaps, was the life of the "Hon. J. A. Dacus, Ph. D." himself. In 1868 the Public Ledger of Memphis reported that Dacus was then a "Baptist preacher in Illinois," adding that 'Within the brief space of five years he has been a grocer, cotton factor, farmer, school teacher, journalist, poet, political 'stump orator', book agent, chief engineer of a flatboat and superintendent of a saw mill.'"

- See https://www.newspapers.com/image/215169609/?terms=dacus

The House in Mansfield

Once or twice a year our family would make a 430 mile journey from Oak Ridge to Mansfield, Richland County, Ohio. Our destination was a two story farmhouse, built in 1880, the home of Dad's parents and his brother Wendell. I always looked forward to those trips. I loved the house and the people who lived in it. I loved their hometown and the countryside around it. I loved Ohio.

All of the people I loved there are gone now. The house still stands, but it is not the house I knew and loved. That house died many years ago too. Only its body remains. Its soul has departed.

I do not know the folks who live there now. I hope they love the place as much as I did. I think they must, judging from the way it looks. They seem to care for it. They seem to appreciate it for what it is, without trying to change it into something else. They are undoubtedly infusing the house with a new soul. I wish them well. To respect the privacy of current or future owners of the house I will not reveal its address.

I will try my best to describe the house and the people who lived there prior to 1 June 1990 as best as I can. To do that I must close my eyes to now to return to then. I will write in the present tense because I will not be writing about the past. I will be writing about the now that still lives, somewhere, in the present of my mind. Bear with me. Here we go.

Me in a large tree at the rear of the house. Summer of 1956.

The basic plan of the house is that of a traditional T shaped farmhouse, with the addition of another room on the northwest side. In the roof line drawing above, the "T" is inverted. Learn more about this style of farm house here.

Here I am enjoying an aerial view from the driveway on the southeast side of the house.
Dad is operating the bucket mounted on a Ford tractor.. Summer of 1956.

The kitchen, pantry, dining room, office/study, and parlor are all on the ground floor. Beneath a portion of the ground floor is a cellar. Access to the cellar from inside the house is by stairs between the Kitchen and Pantry. The cellar may also be accessed through a pair of cellar doors outside the house, beneath the Kitchen window.

Me atop the outside cellar doors. Summer of 1956. I am happy. Oh so very happy.

The bathroom and four bedrooms are on the second floor. There is an attic above the second floor. Access to the attic was in the Bedroom above the Parlor. 

There are two outbuildings on the property: a two story garage and a two room shed. The rear room of the shed holds firewood. The other room has lawn and garden tools such as the lawn mower shown below. Some of the hand tools are old and may have belonged to Samuel Augustus Au.

Me with Wendell's lawn mower in the front yard.
Summer of 1956.