Mary Reynolds Aldis, wife of Chicago developer Arthur Aldis, wrote one-act plays, poetry, and painted in watercolor. Born in Chicago and educated at St. Mary’s School in Knoxville, IL, she married her husband in 1892. After moving to Lake Forest in 1902, she occupied an estate on the southeast corner of Deerpath Rd and Green Bay Rd. She and her husband added and then converted a cottage on their property into an amateur playhouse which opened on June 11, 1911.
The Aldises were considered pioneers in amateur and community theater in Chicago. Mary’s Lake Forest summer playhouse ran full seasons until 1915 and ended by 1920. The playhouse put on plays by both amateur and professional playwrights and reflected Mary’s tastes as a writer, translator, and dramatist.
Aldis worked to support women's rights and other progressive causes. She, at times, lived independently from her husband and died in 1949 in Milwaukee.
Son of Archibald Sr., and Susan Tracy (Rice) McClure
Born in Albany, New York and Married to Phebe Ann Dixon on Nov. 19, 1879
Father of Annie, James G.K. Jr. or "Jim," Harriet, Archibald, and Nathan Fellows (Jr.) McClure
Reverend at First Presbyterian Church and President of McCormick Theological Seminary
Son of Nathan Fellows and Elizabeth (Palmer) Dixon
Married Harriet Palmer Swan on June 28, 1843
Father of 6 Children: Nathan Fellows Dixon (born June 10, 1845 and died in infancy), Nathan Fellows Dixon III (b. Aug. 28, 1847; m. Grace McClure), Edward Hazard (b. Oct 4, 1849; m. Antonia Draper), Phebe Ann (b.Feb. 18, 1852; m. James Gore King McClure), Walter Palmer (b. Dec. 8, 1855; m. Frances Lee), and Harriet Swan (b. Feb. 24, 1859).
Daughter of Nathan Fellows Dixon II and Harriet Palmer Dixon (Swan)
Wife of James G.K. McClure (Married on Nov. 19, 1879)
Mother of Annie, James G.K. Jr. or "Jim," Harriet, Archibald, and Nathan Fellows Jr. McClure
Second Child of James G. K. McClure and Phebe Ann McClure (Dixon)
Known as Jim and was a Presbyterian Minister
Married Elizabeth Skinner Cramer in 1916
Two Children James G.K. McClure III and Elizabeth (Elspeth) McClure (later Mrs. James "Jaime" Clarke)
Daughter of Rev. Roswell Randall Swan and Harriet Palmer
Married Nathan Fellows Dixon on June 28, 1843
Mother of 6 Children: Nathan Fellows Dixon (died), Nathan Fellows, Edward Hazard. Phebe Ann, Walter Palmer, and Harriet Swan Dixon
Fifth Child of James G.K. McClure and Phebe Ann McClure (Dixon)
Married Louise Sheldon Olcott in 1918
Father of 4 Children Nathan, Barbara, Douglas, and Anne
Lieutenant in the US Marines
Son of William Dixon (1748-1809)
Married to Elizabeth (Palmer) Dixon
Father to Nathan Fellows Dixon (II) and Courtlandt Palmer Dixon
Garrett H. Leverton, born December 13, 1896, in Huntington, Indiana, was an early twentieth century American theater educator, scholar, and producer. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from DePauw University in 1919, a Master of Arts degree from Northwestern University in 1925, and a Doctorate of Philosophy from Columbia University in 1936.
Leverton held the positions of instructor in speech at Lake Forest College from 1924-26 and assistant professor of speech from 1926-28; he also served as the Lake Forest College Dean of Men from 1925-28. In 1928, Leverton became both a professor of dramatic production at Northwestern University and the director of the University Theatre. Moving to New York City in 1937, Leverton joined the Samuel French firm, a company that specializes in play publication, author representation, and script sales, where he came to be the editor-in-chief. Leverton furthermore taught playwriting at Columbia University from 1946-1948.
Leverton was nominally known for his support of Lynn Riggs’ play Green Grow the Lilacs, which was eventually adapted into the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!.
Leverton was unmarried and died of a heart attack on November 11, 1949.
James R. Getz was an ardent historian of all aspects of Lake County Illinois and founding mayor of the village of Mettawa. James, his spouse Betsy, and their family lived on sixty acres at Shagbark, the name of their estate on Riverwoods Road, beginning in 1939 until James's death in 1986. Betsy decided to move east to Conway Farms in 1998. Getz, an early lover of libraries and history, was both a long-time president of the Lake County Historical Society, a trustee of the Lake Forest Hospital, and also of valued member of Lake Forest College community.
Eleanor (Nelly, as she wrote it, or Nellie) Lytle Kinzie Gordon was born in Chicago June 18, 1835. She was the "daughter of John A. [sic] and Juliette (Magill) Kinzie." Eleanor Lytle Kinzie married Mr. William Washington Gordon II. Gordon rose to the rank of Captain in the Confederate army during the Civil War. and was given the rank of Brigadier General in 1898 (Spanish/American War) when he volunteered for the U.S. Army at the request of President McKinley. He was appointed to the Puerto Rico Peace Commission. After their marriage, they lived in his home city of Savannah, GA, in what now is known as the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace (Low being the founder of the Girl Scouts, 1912). Mary Willliams Blatchford apparently was a friend from her younger days, during her first twenty-two years in Chicago, 1835-1857. By 1861 and the opening of hostilities between the Union and the Confederacy keeping up old friendships across the Mason-Dixon line would have been difficult. These two letters apparently represent a re-kindling of this old amity between the women over a half century after Gordon had left Chicago. But the warmth of Gordon's letters to her old friend is palpable.
Eleanor Kinzie Gordon published in 1910 apparently at her home in Savannah, Georgia, John Kinzie, the "Father of Chicago--A Sketch: http://archive.org/details/johnkinziefather00gord .
Nelly Gordon's first letter, to her old Chicago friend Mrs. Blatchford, perhaps of early July 1910, is a response to a "thank you" note for a copy of her 1910 sketch of Gordon's grandfather, John Kinzie or McKenzie (1763-1828), father of John H. Kinzie (1803-1868). Mrs. Gordon asks Mrs. Blatchford to report to Mr. Blatchford (a founder of the Newberry Library) that she has more copies of her privately-produced 1910 book.
The second letter, dated July 27, 1910, is written in response to receiving a group of photos of the Blatchfords from Mary, and she also sends them a copy of her collection of poems in memory of a deceased daughter, Sarah Alice Gordon (b. 1863).
Another daughter of Mrs. Gordon's, Juliette Gordon Low, was the founder of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace museum, Savannah, is the Gordon home near Low's later home that also served as the first Girls Scouts headquarters. The the 1910 sketch of John Kinzie, mentioned in the letters, and the subsequent 1914 second edition of the Juliette (Mrs. John H.) Kinzie account of the Battle of Fort Dearborn with its appended family history both served to deal with the issue of the legitimacy of the children of the John Kinzie second "marriage" to Eleanor McKillip, notably Mrs. Gordon and also by 1914 her increasingly high-profile daughter, Juliette ("Daisy") Gordon Low (1860-1927).
The two letters were purchased ca. 1988-90, at the book sale of the Newberry Library.