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Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff

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Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff (née Shoemaker, later Carr) (July 10, 1888 – December 15, 1967) was an American poet.

Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff
Blanche Wagstaff, painted by Théobald Chartran.
Born
Blanche LeRoy Shoemaker

(1888-07-10)July 10, 1888
Larchmont, New York, U.S.
DiedDecember 15, 1967(1967-12-15) (aged 79)
Virginia Water, Surrey, England
Spouses
Alfred Wagstaff III
​
​
(m. 1907; div. 1920)​
Donald Carr
​
​
(m. 1921; died 1961)​
ChildrenAlfred Wagstaff IV
Parent(s)Henry Francis Shoemaker
Blanche Quiggle Shoemaker
RelativesHenry W. Shoemaker (brother)

Early life

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Blanche was born in Larchmont, New York, on July 10, 1888, but spent much of her life in New York City. She was the only daughter of Henry Francis Shoemaker (1843–1918), a railroad magnate and close confidante of future vice president Charles W. Fairbanks, and Blanche (née 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) in 1905,[1] but died tragically in an elevator accident a few months after his wedding in 1906.[2][3] Her mother was the sole daughter of railroad magnate and diplomat Col. James W. Quiggle of Philadelphia and Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.[4]

She began writing at age 7, and had sold her first poem, to Town & Country, by age 16.[5] In 1905, her portrait was painted by the French artist Théobald Chartran. After she made her debut in New York City, she was presented at the Court of St. James and later had a private interview with Pope Pius.[6]

Career

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Blanche served for a time as the associate editor of The International,[7] a magazine founded by her close friend George Sylvester Viereck, 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.[5] 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.[8][9] Her 1944 book for children, The Beloved Son, was a life of Jesus in verse.[10][11][12]

H. L. Mencken 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".[13]

Personal life

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In 1907, she married Alfred Wagstaff III (1881–1930), the eldest son of Alfred Wagstaff Jr.[14] Before their divorce in 1920, they were the parents of:[15]

  • Alfred Wagstaff IV (1908–1982), who married Julia A. C. Frederick, a daughter of William P. Frederick and descendant of Chief Justice John Marshall, in 1949.[16]

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.[6] During the ceremony, the officiating clergyman read one of her new poems entitled Marriage.[6] Carr, who owned Cedarcliff in Riverside, Connecticut, was the son of Henry Shaler Carr and Tamzin (née Shaler) Carr (a daughter of Civil War Gen. Alexander Shaler).[6]

In 1934, she sold two business buildings, 24 and 26 East 54th Street, adjoining the southwest corner of Madison Avenue, in midtown Manhattan for $400,000.[17] 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.[17]

Carr died in 1961.[18] Blanche died on December 15, 1967, in Virginia Water in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England. She was interred at the Shoemaker Mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

Published works

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References

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  1. ^ "A Day's Weddings.; Shoemaker -- De Peyster". The New York Times. 15 December 1905. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  2. ^ Leonard, John William (1907). Men of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries. L.R. Hamersly. p. 1960. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  3. ^ "BROKER SHOEMAKER KILLED.; Elevator Started as He Was Getting Off and Crushed His Leg". The New York Times. 22 June 1906. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  4. ^ "PA State Archives: Manuscript Group 114 HENRY W. SHOEMAKER COLLECTION 1841-1955". Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  5. ^ a b "Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff". ViereckProject. 2014. Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
  6. ^ a b c d "Mrs. B.S. Wagstaff Weds Donald Carr – Her New Poem" (PDF). The New York Times. 31 July 1921. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  7. ^ The Lyric Year: One Hundred Poems. Page 314. M. Kennerley, 1912.
  8. ^ "From The Book of Love", in T.R. Smith (ed.), Poetica Erotica, Volume 2. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1921, pp. 260-263.
  9. ^ "Bacchante", in T.R. Smith (ed.), Poetica Erotica, Volume 2. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1921, p. 281.
  10. ^ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1967). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1964: July-December. Copyright Office, Library of Congress. p. 2172. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  11. ^ Wagstaff, Blanche Shoemaker (1951). The Beloved Son: The Life of Jesus for Children. B. Humphries. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  12. ^ Moore, George S.; Brack, O. M. (1988). George Moore on Parnassus: Letters (1900-1933) to Secretaries, Publishers, Printers, Agents, Literati, Friends, and Acquaintances. University of Delaware Press. ISBN 978-0-87413-152-9. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ "Alfred Wagstaff Dead – Son of Late Colonel Was Well Known in Social Life of New York" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 December 1930. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  15. ^ "WAGSTAFF BABY CHRISTENED.; Named Alfred Wagstaff, Third -- Receives Great-Grandfather's Tankards". The New York Times. 1 December 1908. p. 6. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  16. ^ "JULIA FREDERICK IS MARRIED HERE; Descendant of John Marshall Wd to Alfred Wagstaff 3d in Chapel of Christ Church". The New York Times. 22 March 1949. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  17. ^ a b "BUSINESS SITES IN $400,000 DEAL; Mrs. Donald Carr Sells Two East 54th St. Buildings to an Investor. ONE WAS HER RESIDENCE Operators Make Quick Turnovers of Apartment Houses They Bought Recently". The New York Times. 28 February 1934. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  18. ^ "DONALD CARR DEAD; SPORTSMAN WAS 74". The New York Times. 5 August 1961. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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