Tragedy in the life of CSP

In this exchange of email, Will Petty and I discuss a passage he read in CSP's Notes:


Mon 8/30/2010 8:20 pm

Hi Lawrence,

I enjoyed spending some time with the CS Petty notebooks you've put up. When I came across the following, I found myself curious about the circumstances of his life:

"As I look over the pages of my life I am pleasantly surprised to find how good my luck has been. Through unseen and unforetold circumstances not a few of my dreams have come true. If I could live my life over I don't see how I could make it more satisfactory than it is at present; yet so strange are the twists of fate that tragedy has been the outstanding factor directing my destiny."

Do we know what tragedies he was referring to?

Best regards, and thanks for putting the notebooks on line,

Will Petty
Dorset, England

Mon 8/30/2010 10:57 pm

Hi, Will--

No, I don’t really know what tragedies CSP was referring to, though I know of two tragedies that surely would have marked him. There may have been more, and perhaps my older cousins know.

The first was the death of his grandfather Jesse Weissinger, by murder during a robbery in Alabama, I think in the 1870's or '80's. CSP was a boy at the time; death of a loved one is bad enough, but by murder is particularly traumatic. I have the details of this (where, when) in a document that your grandmother Germaine prepared, that at the moment is 6 floors down in my studio.

The second is the death of his first wife, Mary Nicholas, a few days after the birth of his daughter, Mary Claire, in 1902. Presumably her death was a result of child-birth; since CSP was a physician, it must have been particularly agonizing that his art was not adequate to save his wife. I am almost certain this is part of what he was referring to. Looking at the photos of Mary Nicholas & second wife, Florence Sturges, on the Cousins Website, I have come to have a lot of respect for CSP's taste in women-- they both seem quite beautiful.

In his Notes he is really parsimonious with personal details, and in the earlier volumes, there are no dates nor references to events; this changes later, particularly with the New Deal and WW II. I remember feeling a bit of a shock when he mentions his second wife Florence once in a later volume. I am thinking of adding a chronology to the website, and, after the Reunion, perhaps, a biography; we are supposed to do some reminiscing. As the youngest child of CSP's youngest child, I knew him the least. He died when I was 10 years old; his heart had gotten much worse a little before I was born. I remember him always in pajamas & usually in bed.

A couple of questions for you: do you remember where you saw this passage? I remember reading it, but not where. Also, could I have your permission to put this exchange in the blog?

Best,

Larry Johnson (Lawrence is OK, too)

Mon 8/30/2010 11:16 pm
( WP to LSJ )

Of course you can put the exchange in the blog.

I found the quotation around page 17 (give or take a few) of the final typed volume [ VII ].


Mon 8/30/2010 10:57 pm
( LSJ to WP)

And CSP's father died when he was 2, in 1873. (Jesse Weissinger [died] in 1881 when he [CSP] was 10). I was just looking at the family photos section of the Cousins Website.

Mon 8/30/2010 11:37 PM
( WP to LSJ )

Since his father died so early, I wonder if Jesse Weissinger was a surrogate father figure to CSP at the time he also died.

Tue 8/31/2010 12:13 AM
( LSJ to WP )

Yeah, after I sent the last email, I started thinking about that, too. I hope someone in Oklahoma will have something to say about this.