Laurel Louisa TARKINGTON

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1910, Living with parents in Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1870, Living with parents in Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana
• Census: 1900, Living with parents in Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana
• Census: 1910, Living with father in Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana

Notes:

Name:
Novelist and Playwright. Born Newton Booth Tarkington in Indianapolis, Indiana, the second child of lawyer John S. Tarkington and Elizabeth Booth Tarkington. He attended Purdue University and then Princeton University but graduated from neither. Tarkington wrote about life in the American Midwest, beginning with ?The Gentleman from Indiana' in 1899 and including two Pulitzer Prize winners, ?The Magnificent Ambersons' in 1918 and ?Alice Adams' in 1921. The latter was adapted as a play in 1945 while in 2001, ?The Magnificent Ambersons' was named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 1902, Tarkington ran for and won a seat as a Republican in the Indiana State House of Representatives; the position provided background for his book ?In the Arena: Stories of Political Life'. His quintessential American boy was immortalized in the classic ?Penrod' and its sequels. He dramatized several of his novels, and wrote ?The World Does Move' a book of reminiscences in 1928. He illustrated his own works and other writers' books, including the 1933 reprint of ?Huckleberry Finn' by Mark Twain. Two of his novels appeared on the annual best-seller lists nine times. He was one of the most popular American novelists of his era.

Bio by: Iola

Newton married Laurel Louisa FLETCHER on 18 Jun 1902, and was divorced in 1911. Laurel was born on 12 Dec 1878 in Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana; died on 7 Feb 1957 in Providence, Providence Co., Rhode Island; was buried in Forest Chapel Cemetery, Barrington, Bristol C., Rhode Island. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1910, Living with husband in Indianapolis, Marion Co., indiana

Notes:

Name:
Daughter of Stoughton Jesse Fletcher and Lizzie Laurel Locke Fletcher. Usually called by her middle name, Louisa, in adult life. Her family called her "Abbess". She is often confused with her niece and namesake, Laurel Louisa Fletcher (1903-1927), who was the daughter of her brother, Stoughton A. Fletcher.

Poet and author, who collaborated with her famous first husband in arranging many of his works as plays for Broadway. His book "The Magnificent Ambersons" is thought to have been based on her colorful and flamboyant family.

She attended Smith College. Her most famous poem is "The Land of Beginning Again", which she wrote after her first divorce. This poem is said to have been the origin of the song of the same name sung by Bing Crosby in the movie "The Bells of St. Mary".

Married, first, [Newton] Booth Tarkington, 18 Jun 1902 in Indianapolis, IN (divorced 1911).

Child:
1. Laurel Louisa, b. 6 Feb 1906, d. 13 Apr 1923 of pneumonia in Indianapolis. Laurel also suffered from what was then called dementia praecox, now known as schizophrenia.

Married, second, [James] Willard Connely, a newspaperman, biographer, and professor of English at Brown University, 16 May 1915 in Washington, DC (divorced 1925)

Child:
2. Nancy Willard, b. 9 Dec 1922, d. 12 Nov 2008; m. Albert Van Nostrand, 3 Sep 1943; five children.

Married, third, Dr. Peter K. Knoefel, October 19, 1931 in Carson City, NV (divorced 1932). No children. Louisa resumed the surname of her previous husband, and was called by it in her obituary in 1957.