The Glessner Family Arrives in America - Part II

In last week’s article, we retraced the steps of John Glessner’s immigrant ancestor, Henry Glessner, from Bingen am Rhein, Germany, to the wilderness of western Pennsylvania in 1763 and followed the events of his life over the next half century until his death in early 1814. In this installment, we will look back at visits to Pennsylvania made by various descendants through the years, anxious to learn more about their German roots in the United States.

1888 – John Glessner and Jacob Glessner

Jacob Glessner

In May 1888, John Glessner accompanied his father Jacob on a trip to Somerset, Pennsylvania where the elder Glessner had been born in 1809 but had not visited since his marriage and removal to Ohio in 1837. Immediately after his return to Chicago, John Glessner penned an eight-page report of their visit, excerpts of which follow:

“To increase my knowledge of family antecedents and confirm the statements heretofore made to me by others, I went to Somerset, Pa. with my father on May 14^th, reaching there about noon May 15^th, 1888.

“The country in the vicinity is broken but the farms are beautiful, well cleared up and cultivated and stocked with fine cattle and horses and sheep. Five large barns are the rule, but the dwellings are neither large nor fine, and are without architectural pretense. The village occupies the highest ground of any county seat in Pennsylvania, but is a sleepy old place, and the people are conservative in every sense of the word.

“In the two days we spent at the Somerset House, my father found and called upon and received calls from several schoolmates and friends of his boyhood . . . (Cousin) Anna Maria Baer, widow of Solomon Baer and now in her 90^th year is quite an erect though small body with good hearing and sight, a good memory, and altogether a bright and cheerful old lady. She was delighted to see us, and from her I gained much information about the family, or more correctly, confirmation of what I had already heard.

“On Wednesday, Father and I drove over to Berlin, a village 9 miles away, passing a gypsy camp by the roadside. My grandfather Glessner was born here and married here, and my great-grandfather and great-grandmother died here, and were buried in the old cemetery. Here we found another schoolmate of my father’s, Samuel Philsen, the banker and principal merchant of the eastern part of the county, and in company with him we visited the old cemetery and deciphered the inscriptions – some in German – upon the old headstones. The cemetery is not a beautiful spot – no trees and almost no shrubbery, but the turf was green and fine. He pointed out the house still standing where my great uncle Ludwick Baker had lived, and the spot where my grandmother had lived as the adopted daughter of her uncle, Rev. George Giesy, and where she was married; also the spot where my grandfather’s uncle Jacob Glessner was murdered by Rev. Spangenberg etc. etc.

“Returning to Somerset, my father showed me the lot where he was born and lived, but the old house has disappeared and another stands in its place. The old stable is still there, small and low, and three of the old apple trees. On the next lot, Chauncey Forward had lived, my grandfather’s warm friend, and there his daughter was married to Judge Jere. S. Black* the great lawyer, afterwards of President Buchanan’s cabinet, a playmate of my father’s, and here Black lived years after my father left Somerset. I also saw the old Academy site where grandfather’s boys went to school – the old brick building is gone but replaced by one of similar style – the place where my father learned to be a printer and where he afterwards published the Somerset Whig, a democratic paper, my grandfather’s furniture shop, the old “coffee spring” the place of 4^th of July celebrations and picnics of 50 years ago, etc.

“I am happy in knowing Father enjoyed his old friends, these old scenes, and the reminiscences and events they recalled, but even he was ready to leave, and on Thursday morning we said goodbye to the old place and the old friends, and started homewards.”

*Jeremiah S. Black served as Attorney General from 1857 to 1860 and as Secretary of State from 1860 until President James Buchanan left office in March 1861.

1955 – John J. Glessner II

John J. Glessner II with his wife Martha and

children John J. III and Ellen, 1934

In 1955, John and Frances Glessners’ grandson, John J. Glessner II, made a visit to Somerset and Berlin, Pennsylvania with his wife Martha to research the Glessner family. He relayed their findings to his sister, Frances Glessner Mathey, in a lengthy letter, which included the following excerpts:

“We arrived on Friday, April 15, and put up at the Roof Garden Motel (Somerset, by the way, is known locally as the roof garden of Pennsylvania).

“In registering, I printed GLESSNER in large letters and then asked the proprietor if he had ever seen that name before. For answer, he flipped open the phone book under the letter G and at the same time allowed as how, if we were looking for Glessners, we had come to the right place. I then went into my routine which consisted in telling the story of how my grandfather, when a boy, had visited Somerset with his father and had seen some old gravestones in a field, inscribed in a language that he could not read but that was said to be German, this visit having occurred shortly after the Civil War. Could he tell me where I might find these stones, etc.?

“His advice was of a general kind; to go out to certain outlying towns: Brotherton, Shanksville, and Berlin (Glessners in all of these towns) and to enquire further there. Later, I talked to the proprietor of Schweinberg’s Somerset Pine Grill, where we had dinner and was advised to call on Mr. Roger Glessner at the County Bank; that Roger would be able to give the information I was after.

“Roger proved to be the black sheep of the family and certainly not worthy to bear the name, He knew little, and cared less . . . After this brush-off, he proceeded to give us the run-around by referring us to his brother, Mr. Alvin T. Glessner, who, he said, was both keenly interested in the family history and also very knowledgeable about such matters.

“So, we went at once to Alvin’s house only to find the house locked up and Alvin clearly out of town. My strong suspicion is that Roger knew this all along, and that is what I mean by the run-around.”

John and Martha were then referred to an Earl Austin, maker of tombstones, whose wife referred them to Walter Johnson, a mortician and furniture dealer in Berlin. Johnson’s brother referred them to a J. Jacob Glessner who knew nothing of family history but directed them to Willard E. Glessner in Roxbury. The letter continues:

“Here we talked to Willard and to Willard’s wife, both of them, interested and intelligent. He gave us the location of the original Glessner homestead and also told us that there were old family gravestones and, in particular, the gravestone of Jacob, the (presumed) progenitor of our branch of the family, in the Reformed cemetery in Berlin.”

There then follows an inaccurate accounting of the Glessner brothers, Jacob and Henry, as having been Hessian soldiers who fought for the British during the Revolution, afterwards settling in Pennsylvania. Jacob and Martha Glessner ended up at the old cemetery in Berlin, but, guided by misinformation, identified the headstones of Jacob and Catherine Glessner as being those of his great-great-great grandparents.  In closing the letter, he notes:

“Mr. Johnson of the Berlin furniture store stated that a Miss Thelma Saylor, 702 Main Street, Berlin, had a lot of papers pertaining to the Glessner family which had been left her by her father who was something of an antiquary.”

It is interesting to note that in the archives of Glessner House are several letters regarding Glessner family history between John Glessner and Dr. E. C. Saylor of Berlin from the 1920s; this is no doubt the above-mentioned father of Thelma Saylor.

Whatever plans John J. Glessner II may have had for continuing his genealogical research are unknown, as he died the following year at the age of 54.

1971 – John Glessner Lee and Percy (Maxim) Lee

John Glessner Lee in the Reformed cemetery at Berlin, PA, 1971

John Glessner Lee was the oldest son of Frances Glessner Lee. In preparation for the 1971 publication of Family Reunion, a history of many of the branches of the Glessner, Lee, Maxim, and Hamilton families, John and his wife Percy visited Berlin in early 1971, noting the following in their book:

“In April of 1971 (we) visited the area and found the Reformed cemetery, which is two short blocks behind the Berlin post office. We found the same stones mentioned above, although the inscriptions on them are now becoming hard to read. This is almost certainly the cemetery visited by (my) grandfather and his father nearly 100 years ago. However, it is my guess that these stones mark the graves of relatives, not in the direct line, as they do not fit with John J. Glessner’s account, given earlier.”

2019 – William Tyre

Reformed cemetery gates, Berlin, PA, 2019

During my biennial trip to The Rocks in October 2019, I decided to stop in Berlin to see for myself the cemetery that so many Glessners had visited previously. The cemetery was easily located in the small town, and the headstones identified, photos of which were included in last week’s article. I was also interested in visiting the Reformed church, which I had previously determined survived as the Trinity United Church of Christ, located just a couple of blocks from the cemetery. The historian of the church was very helpful in locating a Bible that I had found reference to, which had been donated to the church by Henry Glessner sometime around 1800.

It was a large pulpit Bible with a tooled leather cover reinforced with metal fittings at the corners, the pages printed on a durable rag paper. The German language Bible was published in Nuremberg in 1788. Of greatest interest was the inscription, written on the first page:

“This Bible was presented to The Reformed Church at Berlin, Pa. by Henry Glessner during the pastorate of the Rev. H. Giesey.”

A penciled notation underneath noted Henry Glessner’s death in Somerset in 1814. Farther down on the page, one of Henry’s grandsons, Lewis Knepper, an elder in the church, attested the record in 1886.

Reverend Henry Giese (the spelling varies in early accounts) came to the church in 1795, after the previous minister, Cyriacus Spangenberg, was arrested and executed for the murder of Henry Glessner’s brother Jacob. Giese remained with the congregation until 1832 and, through marriage, is found in the Glessner family tree. John Glessner’s grandmother, Margaret Young, lost her father when she was ten; her mother, also named Margaret, later married Rev. Giese, after his first wife had died. Giese presided at the marriage of Margaret Young (the daughter) to Jacob Glessner I in 1802.

Old Testament illustrations from the Glessner Bible

Clockwise from top left: Adam and Eve,

Noah, Moses and Aaron, and Abraham

The Bible was an exciting find, as the library of Glessner House contains large Bibles presented to John Glessner, his father Jacob, and his grandfather Jacob, upon their marriages in 1870, 1837 and 1802, respectively. The discovery of the Henry Glessner Bible continued the line of preserved Glessner family Bibles back to the original immigrant ancestor.

A final note

The Glessner name can still be seen in the vicinity of Berlin today.  Less than ten miles to the northeast is the town of Shanksville, the location of a beautiful covered bridge constructed across the Stonycreek River in 1881 by Tobias Glessner. Tobias was a great-grandson of Henry Glessner’s brother Jacob, and therefore a third cousin of John Glessner. Utilizing king post truss construction, it is one of ten covered bridges in Somerset County listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 1980. 

Glessner bridge (Wikimedia, Allen C., posted 2012)

On a sad note, the bridge is located immediately west of the Flight 93 National Memorial, which commemorates the site where that plane crashed during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

John Maxim Lee - A Tribute

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of John Maxim Lee on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020 at the age of 93. Jack, as he was known throughout his life, was the first grandchild of Frances Glessner Lee, and the eldest great-grandchild of John and Frances Glessner. Being eight when John Glessner died, he was also the last of the line to have distinct memories of his great-grandfather, thus forming a link to the earlier generation that is now broken. This tribute to Jack is a bit more personal than most of my articles, for in addition to recording the facts of a life well lived and one worthy of celebrating, I also wish to record my personal memories of him and my gratitude for the opportunity to get to know him over the past nine years.
                                                 Bill Tyre, Curator & Program Director

Notation of John Maxim Lee's birth in

John J. Glessner's pocket calendar for 1927

John Maxim Lee was born in Hartford, Connecticut on April 5, 1927 to John Glessner and Percy Maxim Lee, who were residing in Amityville, New York at the time. His parents had accomplished careers and will be the subject of future blog articles. His father, John Glessner Lee, at his retirement, was the director of research at United Technologies (formerly United Aircraft Corporation), was one of the six men who designed the well-known Ford tri-motor plane, and was a co-founder of the University of Hartford. Mother Percy Maxim Lee served as president of the National League of Women Voters from 1950 to 1958, working with several U.S. presidents in various roles with the League from the 1940s into the 1960s.

Jack with his sister Percy, May 1930

Jack with his mother and sister Percy, 1932

By the time Jack was nine, he had been joined by three siblings – sisters Percy and Frances (Nan), and brother Hamilton (Tony). 

Applethorne, the Lee family home in Farmington, CT, circa 1936

The Lees built their new home, Applethorne, in Farmington, Connecticut in 1934; it was designed by the well-known Hartford architect Carl J. Malmfeldt. It would remain the family home for the next forty-one years.

Jack with his grandfather, Blewett Lee, at left, 1936. Jack's father,
John Glessner Lee is at right.

Jack was proud of his Glessner heritage, but also the other lines from which he was descended. This included his paternal grandfather, Blewett Lee (who married Frances Glessner in 1898), a distinguished attorney, general counsel for the Illinois Central Railroad, and the only son of General Stephen Dill Lee, the first president of Mississippi State University.

Jack and Percy at the Maxim summer home, Bill Hill, in Lyme, CT, September 1931.
His mother noted on the back, "Jack is flying a glider, hence the attitude."

His middle name, Maxim, was his mother’s maiden name. Her father's father was Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, the inventor of the Maxim machine gun, and her mother’s father was William T. Hamilton, governor of Maryland from 1880 to 1884. Her father, Hiram Percy Maxim, invented the Maxim silencer and motor cars/horseless carriages. Jack spent part of his summers at the Maxim summer home, Bill Hill, in Lyme, Connecticut. Built in 1766, it was one of the oldest houses in the state.

Jack, being held by his father at right, holding the

left cuff of the coat of his great-grandfather, John J. Glessner,

at The Rocks, August 1932. Jack's sister Percy stands

in front of John Glessner.

Jack also spent time at the Glessners’ summer estate, The Rocks, in Littleton, New Hampshire, and it was here that he came to know his great-grandfather. His clearest memory was of John Glessner peeling an orange at the dinner table, holding it on a fork at its base, and then removing the peel in one long piece, after which he distributed the sections on separate forks to each person around the table.

In 1937, the Lee family purchased land on Mason’s Island in Mystic, Connecticut and this became an important part of Jack’s world for the remainder of his life, instilling a passion for sailing.

Jack presenting the Maxim trophy at a gasoline model plane meet,
July 1936. His father, John Glessner Lee, looks on at left.

Jack had many memories of “Grandmother Lee,” i.e. Frances Glessner Lee. As a child, he proudly helped produce maple syrup at The Rocks, and then gave some to his grandmother. Soon after, he heard his parents discussing the fact that all her hair had fallen out, and he feared his maple syrup was the culprit! (It was not). He also remembered seeing her diligently at work on her Nutshell Studies, and he treasured the drill press he used, which had come from her Nutshell workshop.

Drill press in Jack Lee's workshop, originally used

in the construction of the Nutshell Studies

As World War II was raging in Europe, the Lee household was suddenly expanded. Anne and Daphne James, the daughters of an Oxford University professor were sent to the United States and lived with the family until the war ended. Additionally, the Lees also took in the Wohl family, who had escaped Nazi Germany.

In 1941, Jack was admitted to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. It was here that he met his future wife, Rosalie Benton, the daughter of his Latin professor. He graduated in May 1945, just days after V-E Day, earning a $50 prize for showing the most improvement during his four years at the Academy. He immediately joined the Army Air Corps, being stationed at Keesler Field in Biloxi, Mississippi, and then at Buckley Field in Denver, Colorado. This was most convenient, as Rosalie Benton was by this time a sophomore at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was promoted to sergeant shortly before being discharged in November 1946.

He applied for, and was admitted to, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the GI Bill, and on February 11, 1948 he and Rosalie were married in Boulder. He earned a BS in economics and chemical engineering and it was during this period that his first two children, Virginia (Gigi) and Stephen were born. His sister Percy recalled an amusing incident:

“It was when Jack was at MIT that Grandmother Lee pulled up in front of Jack and Rosalie’s little army house in what my mother called ‘her 27-foot-long Packard.’ She said it took up the whole street and was very impressive, but embarrassing, I think, for Jack and Rosalie. But they had tea . . . Grandmother always sat in front with the chauffeur because it was too bouncy in the back.”

Rosalie recalled on one of these visits that Grandmother Lee brought a box of chocolates as a gift, but requesting that Rosalie return the white quilted liner paper atop the chocolates, as she thought it would work well for the ceiling in one of her Nutshells.

Jack presenting a gift to his grandmother, Frances Glessner Lee,

on the occasion of her 80th birthday, March 25, 1958

In 1951, Jack accepted a position with the DuPont Corporation in Wilmington, Delaware, working as an engineer specializing in developing a process for extracting refractory metals from their ores. In 1954, the Lees’ third child, a daughter Martha (Molly) was born. It was also during this time that Jack and Rosalie were invited to attend a luncheon of the Harvard Associates in Police Science, as a surprise for Grandmother Lee. She was surprised indeed, and they noted the enormous respect that the police officers had for her.

After a short stint at the National Research Corporation working on vacuum processes and equipment, Jack accepted a new position with Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford, Connecticut, remaining there until his retirement 30 years later. He worked on the development of alternative energy systems such as solar, wind, and thermal conversion, but his most significant work was with the space program. In 1960, Pratt & Whitney became involved in the planning and development of the Apollo Fuel Cell program to land a man on the moon. Jack worked on the development, design, manufacture, and testing of the fuel cells, being promoted to the Program Manager of Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Fuel Cells, which provided power for the Command and Service Modules on all the Apollo missions.

Apollo fuel cells

Later, Jack also led the development of the fuel cells used for the space shuttle. One day, while looking at a framed photo of the space shuttle in his home, I asked about this work. His comment was that he remembered vividly the day that the last space shuttle mission ended successfully, noting with pride that the fuel cells had performed perfectly on every single mission.

Fuel cell for the space shuttle

Throughout these years, Jack was actively involved in his community, serving as a corporator of the Renbrook School, and as the first president of the Board of Friends of Public Television. He also served as the president of the Hartt School of Music and on the Mystic Harbor Commission.

Upon retirement, Jack and Rosalie were able to fully pursue their passion for sailing. They spent four years sailing the Caribbean in their ketch, Aurora, both becoming Commodores in the Seven Seas Cruising Association. They then spent five years aboard their motor sailor, Aurora II, exploring the rivers and canals of Europe.

In 2002, they built a home on Mason’s Island in Mystic on a portion of the property his parents had acquired in the 1930s.

Jack at the 2011 groundbreaking ceremony

My first opportunity to meet Jack and Rosalie took place on June 1, 2011 when they traveled to Chicago for the recreation of the groundbreaking ceremony for Glessner House, which had occurred exactly 125 years earlier to the day. The original ceremony in 1886 included his grandmother and her brother George each digging a shovel full of dirt to officially start the construction of the house. Jack, using a special spade, dug two holes before a large assembled crowd, into which were planted heirloom roses.

Rosalie and Jack Lee (bottom row, 4th and 5th from left), with
Glessner family reunion attendees, August 2012

Jack and Rosalie returned to Glessner House the next year for a Glessner family reunion. He was one of seventeen direct descendants of the Glessners to attend from around the country, many of the attendees having never met previously.

Rosalie and Jack at their home in Mystic, CT, April 14, 2013

In April 2013, exactly seven years ago this week, I headed to The Rocks estate with Glessner docent/board member John Waters. The Lees had invited us to visit them at their home in Mystic, and we were warmly welcomed, enjoying their hospitality overnight before continuing our journey. We were fortunate to return to Mystic for visits in 2015 and 2017.

Presenting Jack and Rosalie with a certificate honoring
Frances Glessner Lee, from the Chicago Chapter, DAR, April 2015

Jack examining the "Three Room Dwelling" Nutshell Study,
Baltimore, MD, October 28, 2015

In 2015, the 70^th annual Frances Glessner Lee Seminar in Police Science was held in Baltimore at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Maryland. I was asked to come and speak on the life and career of Frances Glessner Lee, and Jack and Rosalie, along with other family members came for the day, enjoying the opportunity to see the famous Nutshell Studies. We were all treated to a fine dinner that evening, reminiscent of the elaborate banquets Frances Glessner Lee would plan for the seminar attendees.

Jack Lee at the dinner following the opening of the "Murder is Her Hobby" exhibit
at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., October 19, 2017.
Top row (L-R): sister Percy Lee Langstaff, brother-in-law Richard Heminway,
sister Frances Lee Heminway, wife Rosalie Lee.

October 2017 found Jack and Rosalie and many other family members gathered in Washington, D.C. for the opening of the exhibit “Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death” which opened at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  What a special day that was, seeing how much interest people took in Frances Glessner Lee’s career, and her amazing craftsmanship of the Nutshells. A family dinner followed, and I was honored to be invited, the only non-family member included in the festivities.

Bronze medal awarded to Warder, Bushnell & Glessner
at the 1900 Paris Exposition

During these visits, Jack and Rosalie generously donated several items to the house. These included wonderful pen and ink sketches of Glessner house and Blewett Lee’s ancestral home in Columbus, Mississippi, executed by John Glessner Lee. A bronze medal awarded to the Warder, Bushnell & Glessner company at the Paris Exposition of 1900, and several books including one which was the assembled patents issued to John Glessner Lee over the decades, were among additional donations.

Soon after the 2017 exhibit opening, Jack and Rosalie, aided by their daughter Virginia, made arrangements for Fanny’s bed, which had been used by generations of their family, to be returned to Glessner House, and thus the project to restore her bedroom was begun.

My last visit with Jack and Rosalie took place in October 2019. I was quite surprised and pleased when they announced their intention to return the remaining three pieces of furniture to complete Fanny’s bedroom – two side chairs and a side table – and I was most relieved to find that they all fit into my car! Although Jack’s health had declined since I last saw him in 2017, I was still able to enjoy his gentle nature, sharp mind, and quiet sense of humor.

One of the two side chairs returned by Jack and Rosalie Lee,

as it appeared after reupholstering, April 8, 2020

Ironically, the two side chairs for Fanny’s bedroom were returned from the upholsterers on April 8^th, and I immediately took pictures of the room and sent them off to Jack, who by this point was at a skilled nursing facility. I do not know if he saw the pictures before he passed away just four days later. But I do remember specifically how pleased he and Rosalie were that the pieces were coming back home to Prairie Avenue, where they would be cared for and appreciated by visitors.

Jack died on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, exactly one week after his 93^rd birthday. By coincidence, his great-grandfather, John Glessner, died one week before his 93^rd birthday, so Jack outlived him by just two weeks. He leaves his wife of 72 years, Rosalie, his two daughters, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Jack and Rosalie in the main hall of Glessner House, June 2011

I will always consider one of the highlights of my years with Glessner House to be the opportunity to have known Jack and to have shared many happy times with him and Rosalie here in Chicago, at their home in Mystic, and in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. He first came to me as a descendant of the Glessners, but over the years, I came to have a great deal of respect for his character, his many accomplishments both in his career and in service to his community, and for the fine family he left behind. I mourn his loss, but celebrate a life well lived.

Flonzaley Quartet Model Unveiled

One hundred years ago, on February 21, 1914, Frances Glessner Lee presented her model of the Flonzaley Quartet to that world-famous string quartet.  Known for her earlier model of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and later for her meticulously crafted series of “Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death,” Frances Glessner Lee spent nearly two years creating the quartet model.

Her son, John Glessner Lee, recounted the creation and presentation of the model in his 1971 book, Family Reunion, and we present that excerpt in its entirety.  (Notes:  He refers to his mother as FGL; their family home where the model was created and unveiled was located at 1700 S. Prairie Avenue, one block north of the Glessner House).

“(The Chicago Symphony Orchestra model) really launched FGL in her career of model work.  Her next model was the Flonzaley Quartet – perhaps the best-known string quartet of the era – and a masterpiece it was.  It took nearly two years to do.  It really was precise, the individuals were striking likenesses, and everything about it was as close to reality as one could get.  You could actually play the ‘cello – it emitted a faint squeak, but no sound would come from the smaller instruments, despite the care in making the bridge and strings and other parts.  By the time FGL got going on the Quartet I was old enough to help.  We went to concerts together, and sat on opposite sides of the house, and made elaborate notes on how the men sat and what they wore – Mr. Betti’s vest (he was the first violin) – how Mr. Pochon put his feet (he was the second violin) – d’Archambeau’s gold watch chain, how it hung (he, the cellist) and last, but by no means least, Ugo Ara, who played the viola, a little Italian man with a magnificent Assyrian beard, how he managed his viola amongst the profusion of shrubbery.

FGL presented the model to the Quartet one evening at dinner at our house in Chicago.  It was covered with a large floral piece in the center of the table, which gave no hint as to what was underneath.  FGL sat at one side of the table which was long and narrow and my grandfather opposite her, each with a member of the Quartet on both sides of them.  We lesser lights were farther down the table.  After dinner, the floral piece was removed with a flourish, and there, not two feet from their noses, was this model of themselves playing!  The effect was extraordinary.  For a moment nobody spoke, and then all four members of the Quartet burst out into voluble language.  Nobody listened.  But each one of them pointed with delight to the eccentricities of the other three.  I still remember Mr. Betti, with a magnifying glass, peering over the shoulder of his own miniature, trying to read the music on the music rack.  It had been specially written by Frederick Stock, the conductor of the Chicago Symphony, in the style of Schoenberg, but was impossible to play – a fact which Mr. Betti soon appreciated.

Then my grandfather read a long account of how the model was made, which FGL had written.  The figures were Viennese dolls, as before, modified by FGL to incorporate a wire frame so they would hold a position.  The heads were modeled out of a mixture of LePage’s fish glue and plaster of Paris which she had developed.  This was long before the days of plastics or quick-drying cement.  The result, which took several days to dry, became as hard as glass.  To this cotton fibers were added for hair, and the result painted to match the individual.  I can still remember the four little heads hanging upside down on a stand on FGL’s work table.  Mr. Ara’s with its square cut beard was particularly gruesome, and one had uncomfortable thoughts of the guillotine.  The accompanying picture of FGL shows her working on this model at a card table in her bedroom in Chicago.

The model was built for permanence, with every party thoroughly anchored.  When I last heard of it, the Quartet had taken it to Switzerland and placed it in a museum near the home of Mr. (Edward J.) de Coppet, the chief sponsor of the Quartet.  Mr. Pochon told us afterwards that the only damage resulting from the long voyage was that his bow had slipped off of his violin, which they had been able to fix themselves.”

The presentation was also recorded in the Glessner journal, by this time being written by John Glessner.  He notes that in addition to the persons listed above, those attending the dinner included his wife, Frederick Stock and his wife, Enrico Tramonti (CSO harpist) and his wife, and Henry Voegeli (CSO assistant manager and treasurer) and his wife.  An interesting discrepancy in the two accounts is that John Glessner Lee places his grandfather in a place of honor with members of the Quartet to either side; but John Glessner clearly indicates it was his grandson, age 15 at the time, who sat opposite his mother:

“John Lee sat opposite his mother at table & did his part very well.  Betti seated at right & Pochon at Frances’ left, d’Archambeau at right & Ara at John’s left.  Next to Betti came Mrs. Tramonti, then I, Mr. Stock, Mrs. Voegeli, Ara, John, d’Archambeau, Frances, Tramonti, Voegeli, Mrs. Stock, Pochon & Frances Lee.”

One must conclude that John Glessner’s account, written immediately after the event is indeed accurate, especially since he identifies where each of the 14 members of the party sat.  Why John Glessner Lee saw his grandfather in that place of honor and not himself when recounting the incident nearly 60 years later remains an interesting question, but perhaps shows the high level of esteem in which he held the patriarch of the family.

The Glessners and Their Automobiles

On Sunday June 24, 2012 from 10:00am to 4:00pm, Glessner House Museum will present a spectacular vintage car exhibit.  Set amidst the beautiful 1890s restored streetscape of the Prairie Avenue Historic District, the exhibit will feature nineteen automobiles from the timeframe in which John J. Glessner owned an automobile – 1906 to 1936.  The cars to be featured are as follows:

1910 Ford Model T Touring                                                          

1912 Maxwell Special 36 H.P. Touring                            

1919 Haynes Light 6 Touring                                            

1925 Ford Model T Touring                                                          

1927 Pierce Arrow Series 80 Roadster                            

1929 Packard 8 626 Sedan                                                

1930 Cadillac V16 Sport Phaeton                                     

1930 Alfa Romeo 6C-1750 Zagato Roadster                   

1930 Stutz SV16 Weymann Monte Carlo                        

1931 Packard 840 Sport Roadster

1931 Pierce Arrow Model 41 Dual Cowl Phaeton

1931 Ford Model A Deluxe Phaeton                                 

1931 Lincoln K Dual Cowl Phaeton                                   

1931 Packard 840 Sport Landaulet

1933 Rolls Royce Phantom II Brewster Town Car

1933 Auburn 8-105 Salon Sedan                                      

1935 Auburn 851 Cabriolet                                                           

1935 Plymouth 6 Sedan                                                     

1936 Cord 810 Sportsman 

In addition to the automobile exhibit, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in complimentary walking tours of the nearby Motor Row Historic District, home to dozens of early automobile showrooms in the early 1900s, as well as free tours of both the Glessner and Clarke House Museums.  For more information, visit http://www.glessnerhouse.org/ or call 312.326.1480.

In recognition of the car exhibit, one of several special events being held to commemorate the 125^th anniversary of Glessner House, we present a few interesting tidbits about the Glessners and their early automobiles.

-The Glessners purchased their first automobile in 1906 and it was delivered to the house on Monday November 26.  Frances Glessner records the significant event quite simply in her journal, “Our Automobile came on Monday.”  In all probability, the car was a Pierce Arrow Victoria Tonneau, similar to the one pictured at the top of the article, which would have cost the Glessners about $5,000, a huge sum in 1906.  The Pierce Arrow dealership in Chicago, H. Paulman & Company, was located at 1321 S. Michigan Avenue, part of the emerging “Motor Row” district.

-John Glessner Lee, the Glessners’ eldest grandchild (born 1898) recalled that the replacement of the family carriage with an automobile required some changes to the traffic patterns around the Prairie Avenue home:

“In my time the carriages and the horses had gone and in their place was an elegant Pierce-Arrow, gleaming with brass.  This was too smelly and noisy to allow in the courtyard and further, my grandmother, would have no such contraption drive under her bedroom (dressing room), so the chauffeur, who was a Swede named Torset, drove it out of the stable, onto 18^th Street, and around the corner onto Prairie Avenue where my grandfather and grandmother got into it in public.”

-Lee also recalls how Frances Glessner became a favorite of the “traffic police”:

“Grandmother was so generous to the traffic police around Christmas time and on other occasions, what with gifts in little white envelopes and honey from The Rocks for their wives, that whenever the dark blue Pierce-Arrow came in sight, all other traffic was stopped, and the police saluted and bowed and grinned from ear to ear.  My grandmother, who looked to be the perfect little old lady, beamed with pleasure and waved back.  All extremely leisurely and friendly, except perhaps for the traffic which was stopped.”

-Cars were replaced fairly frequently.  Journal entries record the purchase of new automobiles in May 1909 and January 1911.

-In May 1910, John Glessner had the coach house modified to better accommodate the family autos.  He recorded in the journal, “Have had garage modified this week, so that it is now more convenient than before and will hold another automobile – my own, two of George’s, and one for Frances Lee.”

-By the summer of 1910, even the servants had use of an automobile as indicated in the family journal, “The servants have been much pleased that an automobile has been provided for them in place of the carriages they have had heretofore.”

-One of George’s automobiles was stolen early in 1911.  The incident was recorded in a letter from his daughter Elizabeth to her grandparents, who were wintering in Santa Barbara, California:

“I have something very thrilling to tell you.  Father’s little Automobile has been stolen.  He has gone and told the police station men about it and they have gone out and found it right near Douglas park at the side of the road, and I am very glad.”

-In July 1912, John Glessner gave up his beloved four-in-hand (a type of carriage) as the automobile became the preferred method of transportation:

“On Friday I sent our four-in-hand brake as a present to the Maplewood Hotel Co. (in New Hampshire, near the Glessners’ summer estate, The Rocks).  I was very sorry to give it up, it was so easy and comfortable to ride in and so handsome and as good as new, but in this day of automobiles we could use it so little that I couldn’t keep four horses sufficiently trained to drive together with comfort.”

-John Glessner Lee recalled his Uncle George (who always had an interest in fires) and the automobile he kept after the family moved to New Hampshire in the mid-1910s:

“When Uncle George moved to New Hampshire permanently, his Stoddard-Dayton roadster had a fire gong rather than a horn.  Instead of the customary squawk, his roadster gave out a single deep “bong.”  You could tell him a quarter of a mile away.”