B09_Amendment_0003_The_Grange_HSR_Full_Report_2014_0003.pdf

The Grange Residence of William Page

Including Notes on the Beach Creek Dock House and Pump House

Cumberland Island National Seashore

Historic Structure Report Prepared for

The National Park Service Prepared by

GWWO, Inc. / Architects

Cumberland Island National Seashore

The Grange: Residence of William Page Including Notes on the Beach Creek Dock House and Pump House

Historic Structure Report

Approved by:

Superintendent, Cumberland Island National Seashore Date

Recommended by:

Chief, Cultural Resources, Partnerships and Science Division, Southeast Region Date

Recommended by:

Deputy Regional Director, Southeast Region Date

Approved by:

Regional Director, Southeast Region Date

National Park Service

1.0 COVER

The Grange Residence of William Page

Including Notes on the Beach Creek Dock House and Pump House

Cumberland Island National Seashore

Historic Structure Report Prepared for

The National Park Service

Prepared by

GWWO, Inc. / Architects September, 2014

The Grange Historic Structure Report

Cover Image:

View of The Grange at Cumberland Island National Seashore, looking at the front entry on the west elevation. GWWO photo-graph, winter 2012.

National Park Service i

1.1 CONTENTS

1.1 Contents i

1.2 Executive Summary iii

1.3 Administrative Data v

2.1 Historical Background and Context

Introduction 1 William Enoch Page and Elinor Bickford Page Introduction 6 William Page’s Youth 6 William Page at Cumberland Island 8 Life with Elinor Bickford 10 Florence Nightingale Carnegie Perkins and Frederick Curtis Perkins Introduction 13 Florence Nightingale Carnegie’s Youth 13 Frederick Curtis Perkins Youth 16 Perkins Family Assumes Control of The Grange 19 Subsequent History at Cumberland 21 Transition to National Seashore 24 Historical Background and Context Timeline for The Grange 26

2.2 Chronology of Development and Use

Introduction 27 The Grange as Originally Built Site Conditions 27 The House 28 Subsequent Alterations 32 Beginning of Lucy Carnegie’s Trust 33 The Carnegie Perkins Family at The Grange 33 End of Lucy Carnegie’s Trust 35 The National Park and Retained Rights for The Grange 36 The Grange becomes a Vacation Home 36 Under the Stewardship of Cumberland Island National Seashore 39 Development and Use Timeline for The Grange 40 Beach Creek Dock House Introduction 41 The Dock House as Originally Built 42 Subsequent Alterations 44 New Ownership 44 Pump House Introduction 47 Date of Original Construction 47 The Pump House as Originally Built 47 Alterations 47

2.3 Physical Description

Overview 49 Site 49

Contents ii The Grange Historic Structure Report

The Grange Exterior 52 The Grange Interior Spaces 58 Comparison of Common Elements 88 Framing 93 Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing Systems 93 Beach Creek Dock House 97 Pump House 101 Summary of Existing Conditions 102 Summary of Materials Condition 103

2.4 Significance and Integrity

Periods of Significance 105 The Grange 105 Pump House 108 Beach Creek Dock House 109 Summary of Character-Defining Features 110

3 Treatment and Use Requirements for Treatment and Use 111 Alternatives for Treatment and Use 114 Ultimate Treatment and Use 115

Appendices

4.1 Documents

1972 Renovation Contract 123 Exhibits to the Contract 131

4.2 Measured Drawings

Basement Plan 141 First Floor Plan 142 Second Floor Plan 143 Attic Plan 144 Roof Plan 145 Beach Creek Dock and Pump House Plans 146

4.3 Maps

1763 Thomas Wright Map 147 1802 John McKinnon Map 148 1975 University of Georgia 149 CUIS Brochure Map 150

4.4 Descendants of Thomas & Lucy Carnegie 151

4.5 Bibliography 153

National Park Service iii

1.2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In December 2011, the National Park Service en-tered into a contract with GWWO, Inc., Architects from Baltimore, MD, to provide an Historic Struc-ture Report (HSR) for The Grange on Cumberland Island, GA. The contract scope was expanded in 2012 to include the Beach Creek Dock House and Pump House, also in the vicinity of The Grange.

The Grange, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing structure within the Dungeness Historic District, is a significant and well preserved structure associated with the Carn-egie era on Cumberland Island. With construc-tion completed in late 1903, the house served as the residence of William Page and his wife Elinor Bickford. Mr. Page was Lucy Carnegie’s general business manager until her death in 1916, and then continued in the employment of the Carnegie chil-dren until his death in 1922. In the years following, The Grange became home to Florence Nightingale Carnegie Perkins and her family. Mrs. Carnegie Perkins was the seventh and longest lived of Lucy Carnegie’s children. The death of Mrs. Carnegie Perkins in 1962 ended an island trust established by Lucy Carnegie, which in turn necessitated the division of island property among the living Carnegie heirs. In 1970, Lucy Johnston Graves, granddaughter of Lucy Carnegie, sold The Grange property to the National Park Service with a forty-year retained rights agreement. The property also included the Beach Creek Dock House and Pump House.

Executive Summary

Construction of the Beach Creek Dock House probably occurred in the 1890s, and may have coincided with the delivery of Lucy Carnegie’s Dungeness yacht in 1894 and her admission as the first woman member in the New York Yacht Club.

The Dock House is also included on the National Register as a contributing structure within the Dungeness Historic District.

The existing Pump House was constructed in the mid-1950s and determined to be of minor signifi-cance as an outbuilding associated with the later years of the Carnegie-Perkins era.

With the expiration of the retained rights agree-ment approaching, the National Park Service commissioned the preparation of a Condition Assessment and Life Cycle Cost Analysis to report on The Grange. This study identified several press-ing repair and maintenance needs. The forty-year retained rights agreement on The Grange con-cluded in December 2010, and full responsibility for the property reverted to the Cumberland Island National Seashore, a unit within the National Park Service.

The structures discussed in this HSR were physi-cally examined during two extended site visits, which occurred in March of 2012 and March of 2013. During this period the Cumberland island National Seashore acquired funding to address sev-eral problematic conditions identified in the 2010 Condition Assessment. Consequently, this report includes images taken both before and after these repairs were made.

Fig. 1.2-1 View of the Grange’s west elevation, from the northwest.

Fig. 1.2-2 View of the Dock House and Beach Creek at high tide, from the north.

iv The Grange Historic Structure Report

The Grange retains a remarkably high degree of original fabric, which is mostly considered in good condition. Its outward appearance closely reflects its 1903 design and interpretation of these exterior features would remain a priority within the Dunge-ness Historic District. Returning the structure to its highest best use, would require a rehabilitation approach to fulfill the programmatic needs of the Park. Life safety, accessibility, and climate control are modern considerations necessary before public use of the structure can be achieved. These ele-ments could be reversible installations with mini-mal effect to historic fabric.

Prior alterations to the Dock House now offer a compromised interpretation of the structure, but its original use could be retained, allowing small craft access. Its exposure to the elements has left much of the structure in poor condition. Stabili-zation and preservation are recommended treat-ments.

The Pump House is neither a significant nor an historic property. It continues to serve its intended use and preservation is recommended.

National Park Service v

1.3 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA

Names: The Grange Beach Creek Dock House

Alternate Names: Residence of William Page The Grange Dock House

Owner: National Park Service (NPS) NPS Unit Location: Cumberland Island National Seashore (CUIS) Cumberland Island, GA

NPS Regional Office: Southeast Regional Office (SRO) 100 Alabama St. SW 1924 Building Atlanta, GA 30303

NPS Project No.: P12PD10337 HSR Document No.: TBD

Property Postal Address: Cumberland Island National Seashore 101 Wheeler Street St. Marys, GA 31558 Park Telephone Number: 912-882-4336 Park FAX Number: 912-882-5688

FMSS Property Location #: 112412 (The Grange) 238007 (Dock House)

Universal Transverse Mercator: Zone 17, E 455043, N 3401708 (The Grange) (in meters) Zone 17, E 454936, N 3401632 (Dock House)

Global Positioning Coordinates: 30o 44’ 49.2” N by 81o 28’ 10.8” W (The Grange) 30o 44’ 46.7” N by 81o 28’ 14.8” W (Dock House)

National Register District: Listed 02-13-1984 (Dungeness Historic District) National Register System ID #: 8400920

LCS Structure #: CUIS 038 (The Grange) CUIS 039 (Dock House) LCS Identification #: 006645 (The Grange) 006646 (Dock House)

Planning & Management Docs.: CUIS General Management Plan, January, 1984 CUIS Former Reserved Properties Management Plan and Environmental Assessment, July, 2012

Administrative Data vi The Grange Historic Structure Report

Note: all images within this report , not otherwise credited, were taken by GWWO, Inc. Architects during the 2012-13 site investigations.

National Park Service 1

2.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Historical Background and Context Introduction

William Enoch Page arrived on Cumberland Island in c1890, in the hire of Lucy Coleman Carnegie, wife of the late Thomas Carnegie. Formal, intel-ligent, well-educated, and organized, Page quickly rose from tutor to manager of the Carnegie’s Cum-berland Island estate.

In 1903 Page oversaw the construction of his new island home, apparently in preparation for his marriage to Elinor Bickford. He named the home, The Grange, a term referring to the home of a farm steward. With Lucy’s blessing, he located the building a few hundred yards from the Carnegie’s Dungeness mansion, at the southern end of the island. During the home’s first fifty years it housed only two families: the Pages and then the Perkins, Mrs. Perkins being Florence Nightingale Carnegie Perkins, the second daughter and the seventh of nine children born to Lucy and Thomas Carnegie.

Cumberland is one of the largest and perhaps best preserved of the barrier islands on the east coast, which run along the Atlantic seaboard from New York to Florida. The Grange and the Beach Creek Dock House are two significant structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places as contributing to the Dungeness Historic District.

A total of forty-seven structures associated with the Carnegie estate remain standing on the island.

Much of the island has returned to a wild, natural state, belying its long history of sustained human habitation. (Fig. 2.1-1).

Fig. 2.1-1. Tangle of island oak. CUIS Museum collection.

The Carnegies Come to Cumberland Island

With borrowed money, the family of William Carn-egie (1804-1855) immigrated to America in 1848, from Dunfermline, Scotland. They moved with their two sons, Andrew William Carnegie (1835- 1919) and Thomas Morrison Carnegie (1843- 1886), into tenement housing near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where William worked in a cotton mill and his wife Margaret Morrison Carnegie (1810-1886) mended shoes.1

In 1852, William Carnegie’s seventeen year old son Andrew helped support the family by working as a bobbin boy in a Pittsburgh cotton mill. At nine, Thomas continued with school until taking a job as a telegrapher at around age sixteen.2

Thomas Carnegie became interested in Lucy (also seen as Lucinda3) Coleman (1847-1916) around 1864 and they married in June 1866.4

1 Joseph Graves, Cumberland Island Saved, Gravesend LLC, 2009, p. 9. Hereafter referenced as Graves, 2009.

2 Ibid.

3 The 1850 US census at Pittsburgh for the William and Nancy Coleman family list their third daughter, age 3, “Lucin-da.”

4 Mary R.Bullard, Cumberland Island: A History, Uni-

Fig. 2.1-2. c1880 studio photograph of Thomas Carnagie.

Published in Joseph Graves, Cumberland Island Saved.

2 The Grange Historic Structure Report

Lucy’s father, William Coleman (1807-1878), and her husband, Thomas Carnegie, together with Andrew Carnegie and their cousin, George Lauder (1836-1924), established the Edgar Thomson Steel Works in Pittsburgh in 1872. Lucy’s mother, Nancy Trovillo Coleman (c1820-1881) raised six girls and one boy, with Lucy in the middle of the group.5 By 1880 Lucy and Thomas Carnegie headed a large family. Thomas held a partnership position in a prosperous business; but he lived within the darkened skies and polluted air of Pittsburgh’s iron and steel industry.6

In 1880 the rhapsodic writing of Frederick Albion Ober, in Lippincott’s Magazine caught the eye of Lucy Carnegie, as he described an island paradise in south Georgia with clear skies, comfortable year round climate, and the majesty of the ruined Dungeness mansion.

On and about the semicircular terrace imme-diately around the house were planted crape-myrtle, clove trees and sago-palms; some yet remain to indicate what an Eden-like retreat was this garden of spices and bloom half a century ago.7

In 1881 Thomson Steel Works consolidated with several other iron and steel companies forming Carnegie Brothers and Company. A powerful new company was formed, of which, Thomas Carnegie was appointed chairman.8

In November of 1881, Thomas purchased 1,891 acres of the Dungeness area on Cumberland Island from General William George Macke Davis (1812- 1898). The following year, with his business part-ner, Leander Milton Morris (1832-1910), Thomas Carnegie purchased the Robert Stafford plantation, adding another 8,240 acres.9

Thomas and Lucy hired a Pittsburgh architect, Andrew W. Peebles (c1835-1919), to design their new island home. The house was constructed on the foundations of Catherine Greene’s Dunge-ness, which required removing the remaining tabby walls. The cornerstone was laid for the Carnegie’s versity of Georgia Press, 2003, p. 180. Hereafter referenced as Bullard, 2003.

5 The youngest son, Lucy Coleman’s younger brother, William H., born in 1863, lived in the Thomas M. Carnegie household in Pittsburgh in 1880, with their mother Nancy Cole-man. Nancy died in Pittsburgh, 9 March 1881, aged 60.

6 Bullard, 2003, p. 181.

7 Frederick Ober. “Dungeness, General Greene’s Sea- Island Plantation.” Lippincott Magazine, vol. 26 (August 1880),

p. 245.

8 Bullard, p. 180.

9 Graves, 2009, p. 10.

new Dungeness mansion in 1884 and workmen completed the house in January 1885 (Fig. 2.1-4).10

In October 1886, Thomas left his office early feeling ill. The doctors diagnosed him with acute pneumonia—in actuality a case of typhoid fever— and his condition steadily deteriorated. He died on 16 October 1886, within days of the death of his mother, Margaret Morrison Carnegie, who had contracted the same disease. Thomas left behind his wife, Lucy, and their nine Carnegie children;

William Coleman (1867-1944), Frank Morrison (1868-1917), Andrew II (1870-1947), Margaret Florence (1872-1927), Thomas Morrison, Jr.

(1874-1944), George Lauder (1876-1921), Florence Nightingale (187811-1962), Coleman (1880-1911), and Nancy Trovillo (1881-1954), ranging in age from nineteen to five.12

10 Ibid.

11 Some recent reference sources, including Bullard, and the Georgia State Archives, give Florence’s birth date as 1879. Several vital records, however, indicate the birth date was 19 May 1878. See for example Florence’s application for passport, issued from Paris, 31 October 1895, signed by Florence. NARA records, US Passport Applications, 1795- 1925; Emergency Passport Applications (Issued Abroad), vol.

018, image 141. Also see 1900 US Census record for the Lucy Carnegie family, living in Pittsburgh, which gives a birth year for Florence of 1878.

12 An oral history by Lucy [Hart] Graves indicates a tenth child had been conceived. Since no records of this child exist, Lucy may have miscarried. “Transcribed Interview with Lucy [Hart] Graves.” Oral History Project, 5 May 1996, p. 8.

CUIS Museum archives.

Fig. 2.1-3. c1882 studio photograph of Lucy Coleman Carn-egie. Published in Joseph Graves, Cumberland Island Saved.

National Park Service 3

After Thomas died, Andrew Carnegie purchased his interest in the company, less one-and-one-half percent which Lucy retained. Lucy received only about twenty percent of the stock’s book value.

In 1892, at the recommendation of Thomas’s business partners Lucy purchased a property on Pittsburgh’s Fifth Avenue, which would generate a significant income during her life.13

13 Graves, 2009, p. 12.

In 1896-97, Lucy decided to enlarge and renovate portions of Dungeness, shifting architects and choosing to use the services of the celebrated Boston firm of Peabody & Stearns. She then proceeded with multi-year undertakings to provide homes for her children to live in on Cumberland Island, as well as to fund the construction of numerous other recreational and support facilities.

With careful forethought, she held back from

Fig. 2.1-4. Lucy Coleman Carnegie’s Dungeness mansion c1900, with expansion and renovations. CUIS Museum collection 4336.

Fig. 2.1-5. c1898 photograph of Lucy Coleman Carnegie (dark dress leaning against stone) with her nine children at Dungeness.

Nancy and Margaret Carnegie Ricketson are seated at the left of the image. Florence Nightingale Carnegie is resting on the steps.

Gentlemen left-to-right: George, Frank (in front), William, Andrew II, Thomas Jr., and Coleman (standing). Published in Lary Dil-saver, Cumberland Island National Seashore, 2004, fig. 2.4; republished Joseph Graves, Cumberland Island Saved, 2009.

4 The Grange Historic Structure Report actually transferring ownership of any of the land to any of the children.14

Eldest son, William Carnegie, married Martha Gertrude Ely (1871-1906) on 11 December 1890, in Ohio. In 1891 they moved into the Stafford house, an existing property that they remodeled with financial support from Lucy. The house burned to the ground in January 1901, and a new house was constructed (Fig. 2.1-6).15

George Carnegie married Margaret Thaw (1877- 1942) in 1898. Lucy provided financial assistance for their new Plum Orchard home, and proposed “a simple house” to the architects, Peabody & Stearns (Fig. 2.1-7).16 Margaret was fashionable and came from a wealthy family, her father having been vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Thomas Morrison Carnegie, Jr.(called Morris) married Virginia Beggs (1878-1952) also in 1898.

Lucy Carnegie used Peabody and Stearns again, this time to design a house that became known as The Cottage (Fig. 2.1-8). Oliver Garrison Ricket-son (1864-1943) married Margaret (called Retta) Florence Carnegie in 1891, but her mother waited until 1900 to begin construction on their Cumber-land Island residence. Since Margaret Ricketson had already spent the wedding gift money received from her mother, her husband financed that con-struction.17 The Pittsburgh architects, MacClure and Spahr designed their house, called Greyfield.

(Fig. 2.1-9).

Lucy Carnegie continued to add property to her is-land estate, until eventually owning ninety percent of the island. She added grounds, gardens, roads and about 300 structures and commanded a staff of 200-300 workers18 (Fig. 2.1-10).

14 Bullard, 2003, p. 203.

15 Bullard, 2003, p. 205.

16 Bullard, 2003, p. 204.

17 Larry M. Dilsaver, Cumberland Island National Seashore: A History of Conservation Conflict, U. of Virginia Press, 2004, p. 44. Hereafter referenced as Dilsaver, 2004.

18 “National Register of Historic Places Inventory,” Nomination Form QMB No. 1024-0018, 1984, p. 7.

Fig. 2.1-6. Stafford house following its c1901-2 rebuild-ing. William Carnegie and later Andrew II Carnegie used this residence. c1936 photograph. Digital image, CUIS Museum digital collection.

Fig. 2.1-7. View of Plum Orchard, 2012. Following the death of George Carnegie, Nancy Carnegie Johnston and her family moved in. Photograph courtesy of Kerry Homburg.

Fig. 2.1-8. The Cottage, home of Thomas Morrison Carnegie and family. Image courtesy of the Georgia State Archives, Carn-egie Family Collection, Photograph Album carn13, page 20.

Fig. 2.1-9. Greyfield. CUIS museum collection.

National Park Service 5

Fig. 2.1-10. Cumberland Island Carnegie Estate, Historic Dungeness Mansion Area. Image Source: National Park Service, Cum-berland Island National Seashore. Image by Lauren Zeichner taken from the Landscape Management Plan for Dungeness, Cumber-land Island National Seashore, Georgia, CPSU No. 44, March 1988.

Cumberland River

Beach Creek

Dock

Tung Orchard

Nightingale Avenue

Beach Field

Poultry Manager’s HouseMansionUpper

Garden

Rec House

Lower Garden The

Grange

Dock House

Carriage House

Garden Point

Cottage

Tidal Marshland

6 The Grange Historic Structure Report

William Enoch Page and Elinor Tucker Bickford Page:

Initial Family to Inhabit The Grange

Introduction

With Thomas Carnegie’s passing, Lucy lost not only her husband, but probably her closest financial advisor and business partner. Over time, William Enoch Page (1862-1922), the man she hired initially to serve as a tutor for her children, became one of her most trusted and loyal employees, and ultimately assumed the management of the majority of her business and legal dealings concerning all the operations on Cumberland Island. Even after her death, Page assisted with the management of the estate and of the Trust that Mrs. Carnegie had set up to protect the Island for the benefit of her children and their offspring.

William Page’s Youth

During the 1850s and early 1860s, William Page’s parents, Enoch Page (1790-1865), originally from Weare, Hillsboro County, New Hampshire, and his second wife, Ruth Duval (also seen as Du Vol or Devol) Page (1826-1865), from Schaghticoke, Rensselaer County, New York, owned and managed a sixty-six acre farm in South Danvers, Massachusetts.19 Their marriage had taken place on 8 December 1853 at the Duval’s home town in New York and represented a classic “May-December”

19 See the 1850 and 1860 US Census Non-Population Schedules for Danvers, MA, NARA, for 1850: T1204, roll 1, page 527; schedule: agriculture; for 1860: T1204, roll 11, page 5, schedule: agriculture.

Fig. 2.1-11. January 1898 survey plat signed by W. E. Page and E. A. Meader (from Savannah, GA) showing the Dungeness and Stafford areas of Cumberland Island. Image courtesy of the Georgia State Archives, record ID omf021.tif, Carnegie Estate Records of Cumberland Island, accession nbr. 1969-0501M.

Fig. 2.1-12. Detail of the Dungeness area taken from the January 1898 survey plat signed by W. E. Page and E. A.

Meader shown above. Besides the Dungeness mansion, the ar-rival “Pier” (Dungeness Dock) is labeled. A structure shown at the bend of Beach Creek, south of Dungeness, is clearly visible, with what appears to be a hipped roof, perhaps indicating the existence of the Beach Creek Dock House by 1898. The Grange is not yet constructed. A structure to the southeast of Dunge-ness in the vicinity of what later became the Carriage House is shown. The early Green cemetery is lableed “graveyard.” Im-age courtesy of the Georgia State Archives, record ID omf021.

tif, Carnegie Estate Records of Cumberland Island, accession nbr. 1969-0501M.

National Park Service 7 recreational experiences on Cumberland Island.

An 1885 advertisement for the school described the operation:

A Special Educational Work. St. John’s House, Newport, R.I. The Rev. W. S. Child, S. T. D., Rector, assisted by a Harvard graduate, receives into his family twelve young gentlemen for personal training and culture, preparing them for business, society, or any college. The spacious grounds and commodious buildings look out upon the bay, affording opportunity for boating and wholesome recreation.

Fifteenth year begins September 16th, 1885.25

While at Newport, Page contemplated following Child’s religious calling. The Episcopal Bishop of Rhode Island, Thomas Marsh Clark (1812-1903), in his annual address of June 1886, included William Enoch Page in the group of three young men “recommended to the Bishop as candidates for Holy Orders.”26 Two years later, the Bishop

25 The Churchman, vol. 52 (8 Aug. 1885), p. 167.

26 Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-sixth Annual Session of the Rhode Island Episcopal State Convention, held 12th and 13th June 1886, Providence, 1886, p. 25.

union, with the bride aged twenty-seven and the groom aged sixty-three. Nine years later their only child, William Enoch Page, was born on 7 August 1862. Tragically, within a one-month period in the spring of 1865, both parents died.20 William, at the age of two-and-one-half, became an orphan.

Young William Page spent the next several years cared for by his considerably older half-sisters, Peace Page Nichols (c1822-1909) and Julia Page Hodgdon (c1830-1901).21 In 1871, his sisters sent the young boy to Providence, Rhode Island, to receive seven years of primary instruction, boarding at the Moses Brown School, affiliated with the Society of Friends. He graduated from there in 1878.22 He excelled in his studies, demonstrated by his acceptance that fall into Haverford College, Pennsylvania, as a sophomore.

Page graduated Haverford in 1881 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then entered Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a two year period, taking one year in the College with the seniors, graduating in 1882 and gaining a second Bachelor of Arts degree, and then spending an additional year at Harvard Law School.

Rather than practice law, William Page started his career as a teacher. From September 1883 until 1888, he taught at the small, private school, St. John’s House, in Newport, Rhode Island, established in 1870 by the Rev. William Spencer Child (1818-1892). Prior to this, Child had been rector of the Christ Episcopal Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, at an Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, New York, and then rector at the Zion Episcopal Church, Newport. Page boarded in Child’s Victorian-style residence at 87 Washington Street, Newport23 (Fig. 2.1-13).

The school’s location, finely situated “on the Point, near the bay in this most healthful, attractive watering place,”24 must have inspired Page and may have foreshadowed both his tutoring duties and

20 State of Massachusetts death records; Enoch died 29 March 1865, Ruth died 28 April 1865; both buried at Salem cemetery. Entries recorded at Plymouth 22 January 1866.

21 In the 1870 census William is listed living with Peace Nichols. The 1900 census for Newburyport, MA, has the two widowed sisters living together, Peace born October 1822 and Julia born August 1830.

22 This and following biographical information comes from Class of 1882, Harvard College, Sixth Report of the Secretary, 1907, p. 135.

23 Newport, Rhode Island, Directory, for the years 1884- 1887; Newport, RI: Sampson, Murdock & Co. Child had the house built in c1866. Child had graduated AB from Brown University in 1837. He died in December 1892 and was buried in Springfield Cemetery, Hampden County, MA.

24 Elias Child, Genealogy of the Child, Childs, and Childe families…1630-1881, Utica, NY, 1881, p. 256-7.

Fig. 2.1-13. 1876 map of Newport, Rhode Island, published by G. M. Hopkins. The green circle locates the area of the en-largement, which shows the Child mansion and school property at 87 Washington Street, looking out onto Narragansett Bay.

8 The Grange Historic Structure Report

William Page at Cumberland Island

By 1890, if not before, William Enoch Page, aged twenty-eight, relocated to Cumberland Island. He served as a tutor for the younger Carnegie children, at least during these first several years. Although one account33 indicated that only the young boys received tutoring from Page, it seems plausible that the young girls benefited as well. In 1890, Coleman, aged ten, was the only son under the age of sixteen, the typical age at which one completed primary education. Coleman’s two sisters, Florence, age twelve, and Nancy, age eight, may have sat in on some of Page’s classes, some of which were supposedly held in the small, historic Tabby house, located near Dungeness. How Page obtained this tutoring position is not known, but it could have been through his previous work as a teacher at Newport, Bar Harbor, or Chicago; or through his associations with the Episcopal Church.34 The quality of his teaching performance may have been communicated to friends of Lucy Carnegie, some of whom undoubtedly vacationed at Newport. His initial salary equaled $30 per month.35

Page’s work description at Dungeness changed in 1892. In his report back to Harvard, he gave this

33 Bullard, 2003, p. 208.

34 There is a chance that the link between Page and Cumberland Island came through a son of Rev. Child. A young couple named Mr. and Mrs. Child visited the island in 1889, photographed as part of “The Gang” as seen in albums in the Carnegie collection, Georgia State Archives. John Child, three years younger than Page, had married in 1886, and shortly thereafter relocated to Chicago, which may have prompted Page’s relocation to Chicago. How and if John Child or his wife know some of the Carnegie children needs additional research.

35 Bullard, 2003, p. 213.

still mentioned William E. Page as one of nine “Candidates for Holy Orders.”27

Sometime during 1888 or early 1889,28 Page left Newport and headed for Chicago. Page wrote in 1890 from Cumberland Island that after leaving Newport, he “tutored in a private family at Bar Harbor [Maine] and in Chicago for a year.”29 It seems doubtful that he pursued further religious training. In 1889, his name appeared as one of three lawyers listed under the Finance Subcommittee organized to promote the Chicago Centennial Celebration of Washington’s Inauguration, held in April of that year.30 One other brief biographical notice indicated that Page continued to practice teaching while in Chicago.31 Little else can be documented of his less-than-two-years stay here.32

27 Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-eighth Annual Session of the Rhode Island Episcopal State Convention, held 12th and 13th June 1888, Providence, 1888, p. 44.

28 Haverford’s Biographical Catalogue of the Matriculates for 1922, p. 199, indicated he resided in Newport 1883-1888, and in Chicago for only 1889.

29 Harvard Class of 1882, Secretary’s Report 3, 1890,

p. 62. Here Page gave the year he left Newport as 1887, but in other later reports he listed it as 1888.

30 Chicago’s Centennial Celebration of Washington’s Inauguration, April 30, 1889, Chicago, 1889, p. 320.

31 Harvard Alumni Bulletin, vol. 25, no. 3 (12 October 1922), p. 79.

32 William E. Page does not appear in the 1888 or 1889 edition of The Lakeside Annual Directory for the City of Chicago.

Additional sources for Page’s initial communications with Mrs.

Carnegie may be found in the Georgia State Archives Carnegie Papers.

Fig. 2.1-15. William E. Page photograph–labeled “WEP”– showing him on one of the Dungeness benches with a small dog, taken c1897 during the renovations of the mansion.

Image courtesy of the Georgia State Archives, Carnegie Family Collection, Photograph Album carn08, page 9.

Fig. 2.1-14. Detail from a c1895 photograph showing William Page with Carnegie family members, on the veranda of Dunge-ness. Published in Bullard, Cumberland Island: A History.

National Park Service 9

Fig. 2.1-16. William E. Page at left, seated, photograph la-beled “Page.” “LCC,” Lucy Carnegie, sits next to him with young Nancy and Coleman Carnegie in front on the steps, c1890.

The view may show in the background one of the side porches of Dungeness, before the renovations. Image courtesy of the Georgia State Archives, Carnegie Family Collection, Photograph Album carn11, page 9.

Fig. 2.1-17, above. William E. Page at right, photograph labeled “Page,” showing him behind “WCC,” William Coleman Carnegie, on one of the Cumberland Island beaches, c1891.

Young man at left not identified. Image courtesy of the Georgia State Archives, Carnegie Family Collection, Photograph Album carn11, page 35.

Fig. 2.1-18. William E. Page, at left, Lucy Carnegie center, and her daugher Nancy Carnegie, right, c1900. Image courtesy of the Georgia State Archives, Carnegie Family Collection, Photo-graph Album carn14, page 6.

Fig. 2.1-19, at right. William E. Page, left, seated next to Lucy Coleman Carnegie, on her yacht, early 1900s. Photograph la-beled. Image courtesy of the Georgia State Archives, Carnegie Family Collection, Photograph Album carn10, page 8.

10 The Grange Historic Structure Report year as the date when he became “manager of the property in Georgia of Mrs. Thomas M. Carnegie of Pittsburgh, Pa.”36 In this role, he oversaw the entire management of the land and buildings under Carnegie ownership on Cumberland Island, including the major expansion to the Dungeness mansion in 1896-7, as well as the subsequent construction of the recreation buildings and the houses for Lucy Carnegie’s children.

Beginning in 1900, Page’s responsibilities increased, and he noted that his job description had changed to “general business manager,” of both the property and some of Lucy Carnegie’s other business affairs.37 During this entire period he faced a myriad of responsibilities and needed to organize a multitude of activities, both business and recreational:

Page became the island’s chief personnel officer, harbor master, farm superintendent, commissary agent, banker, surveyor, cartographer, and bookkeeper. In plantation days he would have been regarded as the overseer. It was also his duty to help the Carnegies and their friends go riding, hunting, shooting, and fishing. To that end, he maintained a game preserve. He dressed in formal clothes and sauntered over to Dungeness nearly every evening to dine with Lucy and her guests.38

From the time of his arrival on the Island, until The Grange was built, Page typically resided in the Dungeness mansion. One Carnegie descendant noted that Page “lived in the large bedroom with its own bathroom, next to the gun room.”39 An early photograph shows him with the Carnegies, perhaps at the side of Dungeness (Fig. 2.1-14), with Nancy and Coleman Carnegie seated in front of him. The June 1900 US census understandably did not record any Carnegie members living at Dungeness; however, Page’s name appeared, listed as “manager” of the estate, renting, and sharing the house with the core support staff. Besides himself, the census recorded six domestic servants—three men and three women—functioning as the butler, cook, laundry-woman, chamber maid, and two unspecified, probably more general, household assistants. This staff, with additional support from other help living outside the mansion, tended to

36 Class of 1882, Harvard College, Sixth Report of the Secretary, 1907, p. 135.

37 Ibid. The Page-generated financial records relating to Lucy Carnegie’s holdings, as well as some Page correspondence, are held in the Georgia State Archives, AC 69-501M, Series V.

38 Bullard, 2003, pp. 118-9.

39 Bullard, 2003, p. 206.

the needs of Lucy Carnegie and her guests during their stays at Dungeness.

Page pursued other professional responsibilities beyond his service to Lucy Carnegie, and yet these other roles helped him in handling his frequent Carnegie dealings with the mainland business community. In 1896 he became a director of the First National Bank, Fernandina, Florida; and beginning in 1902 he served as secretary of the Fernandina Dock and Realty Co., a key company that—among many things—handled much of the shipping into and out of the immediate region.

Life with Elinor Bickford

How Page met his future wife, Elinor (frequently seen misspelled as Eleanor) Tucker Bickford (1859-1941), is still conjecture. She grew up in the Chicago area, and their relationship could have begun when Page lived there during 1889.40 The younger of two daughters of banker Charles D.

Bickford (1819-1900), Elinor enjoyed an upper middle-class upbringing, with a domestic servant and coachman living in their household during the 1870s and 1880s. After her mother died, she lived with and helped to care for her father until his death in 1900. During the early 1890s she joined the staff of the Chicago Times; in 1895 the paper merged with the Chicago Herald and became the Times-Herald. That year, if not before, Elinor Bickford received the appointment of art editor, a position she held for eight years until late 1903 when she married and departed the city.41

Lucy Carnegie assisted Page—by this time definitely one of her most favored employees—in achieving his goal of marrying Elinor Bickford.

Page apparently did not want to wed until he could provide his own house for his bride, an ethic Lucy Carnegie certainly must have admired.42 In 1901 he

40 This is supported by a comment made by Lucy Carnegie’s granddaughter that the couple had a lengthy courtship. See Bullard, 2003, p. 203.

41 Her editorial position was noted in the yearly The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, from 1895 through 1903 (and was mistakenly carried in 1904). For the first two years of the editorial listing, in 1895 and 1896, the directory incorrectly entered her as “Mrs.” E. T. Bickford (in 1895, p. 235), and “Mrs.” Eleanor [sic] T. Bickford (in 1896,

p. 252). The directory changed the designation to “Miss” in 1897. The newspaper merged in 1901 and its name became the Record-Herald. The national journal, Brush and Pencil, noted her editorial position when it quoted some of her writing for an advertisement promoting Mr. Frank Holme’s Chicago School of Illustration, published in 1899. See vol. 4, no. 4 (July 1899), p. 18, advertising section.

42 See Mary Bullard’s discussion about Lucy’s belief in providing the proper domestic surroundings for newlyweds.

Bullard, 2003, pp. 201-5, 209-10.

National Park Service 11 had inherited some money from the estate of his recently deceased half-sister, Julia Page Hodgdon,43 but he still lacked sufficient funds to build a home.

When Mrs. Carnegie learned about the situation, she made him a generous loan of $12,500,44 to facilitate the endeavor; and she allowed him to construct his house on a piece of land southeast of Dungeness—albeit, land in which she maintained the full ownership rights, just as she had done with her children’s dwellings. With all of his experience watching over the other residential construction that had occurred on the Island, Page must have

43 Julia Hodgdon, a widow known as an advocate in helping to save the Whittier home in Massachusetts, lived out her life in Newburyport, Massachusetts. For a brief obituary which mentions her siblings, including William Page, see Boston Herald, 20 Jan. 1901, p. 21.

44 Lucy made the loan on 20 September 1901, secured by stock in the Fernandina Dock and Realty Company, where Page served as secretary.

felt comfortable performing this same duty for his own house. The Grange was constructed between 1902 and late 1903, at a cost of $25,483 (Figs. 2.1- 20, and -21).45

Page, aged forty-one, married Elinor Tucker Bickford, three years his senior, on 23 November 1903 at Waukegon, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago on Lake Michigan, where the Bickford family had originally settled after moving from the Syracuse, New York, area. The newlyweds moved into The Grange shortly thereafter, probably during the winter of 1903-04 (Fig. 2.1-23). The 1910 US census for the family documents their domestic conditions within the island home. Three single, white, female “house servants” assisted the Pages and lived with them: Minnie Smith, twenty-seven

45 Bullard, 2003, p. 206.

Figs. 2.1-20, -21, and -22, clockwise from upper left. Upper left: Early view of The Grange, c1904, shortly after completion, showing northwest (entry) and southwest (side) elevations, with original open south porch. CUIS museum collection. Upper right:

northeast and northwest elevations, c1910, with larger west corner foundation planting. Image published Bullard, 2003. Lower:

Aerial view of The Grange, c1950, probably taken from the top of the water tower (no longer extant) showing the northeast eleva-tion, porte cochere added to the northwest entry, and second level porch added to the southeast. Image by Joseph Clark Graves, Sr., courtesy of Margaret Graves, his granddaugher.

12 The Grange Historic Structure Report years old, and Delia McKinny, twenty-six years old, both originally from Ireland; and Lena Carroll, forty-two years old, originally from New York.

Since Page’s work necessitated that he spend the majority of his time on the Island, one can assume that the couple lived almost year-round in this residence. While the Carnegie’s typically vacated the Island during the hot summer months, the Pages remained. Having married rather late in life, the couple had no children.

When Lucy Carnegie died in 1916, she attached a letter to her will, canceling the remaining $6,000 owed by William Page on The Grange. Page continued working for the Carnegie children after their mother’s death, assisting with the management of all the lands and property now controlled under the Trust.46 Activity on the Island, however, quickly wound down, partly due to the financial concerns that the children had in keeping such a lavish and costly operation in full swing.

As a result of this paring back, William Page wrote that only six men remained on the payroll by April

1916.47 Page noted in a letter to William Coleman

Carnegie, “It is terribly lonesome here. When the time of year comes for the houses to fill up, 46 The 1920 US census listed William Page as “manager, Carnegie Estate.”

47 Graves, 2009, p. 20.

and they don’t fill up, you feel it more than in the summer when they have always been empty.”48

Even the Page family cut back on their domestic help. The 1920 US census placed them on the island, undoubtedly living in The Grange, but with no live-in assistants. Following a two-day illness just one month into his sixty-first year, William Page died at The Grange on 11 September 1922.

The Carnegie family had his remains buried in the Carnegie Family graveyard on the island.

With William Enoch Page’s death, only his widow, Elinor Bickford Page, remained in The Grange.

Following Page’s death, the Carnegie family members may have encouraged Mrs. Page to vacate the island, or she may have decided to move out on her own. Since she was neither Carnegie family, nor married to family, without her husband she had little standing; and she may not have felt entirely welcome. However, since Page had paid for the house, his widow must have had some expectation of receiving compensation for leaving it. Ultimately the Dungeness estate funds provided her a pension of $3,000.49 How quickly she gathered her things and left the Island is not known.

Elinor Bickford Page’s later whereabouts have not been fully documented. She travelled to England during 1926, arriving back in New York City on the ship Minnetonka on 23 August.50 The 1930 US census placed her as a widow, living by herself without servants, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. One can wonder, with so many Carnegies using this hotel as an interim residence, whether she socialized or otherwise interacted with the Carnegie clan during this period.

Sometime after 1930, Mrs. Page relocated to Orlando, Florida, perhaps to appreciate the warmer climate she had known at Cumberland Island. In 1938 she lived at 648 Osceola Avenue.

One note indicated that she “remained in Florida under the care of nurses until her death.”51 Elinor Bickford Page died at her home at 1399 Miller Avenue, in the Winter Park area north of Orlando, Orange County, Florida, in 1941. Carnegie funds covered the cost of her removal back to Cumberland Island for burial next to her husband in the Carnegie Family graveyard.52

48 Bullard, 2003, p. 248, note 29.

49 Bullard, 2003, p. 342, note 14.

50 NARA Passenger List of vessels arriving at New York, New York, Microfilm series T-715, roll 3909, line 30. She listed her address at that time as Bankers Trust Co., 57th Street and Madison Avenue, New York.

51 Bullard, 2003, p. 342, note 14.

52 Orlando City Directories for 1938 and 1941, and

Fig. 2.1-23. William E. Page shown with his wife, Elinor Bick-ford Page, c1908, on Cumberland Island, detail from a larger photograph, labeled at bottom. Image courtesy of the Georgia State Archives, Carnegie Family Collection, Photograph Album carn19, page 11.

National Park Service 13

Florence Nightingale Carnegie Perkins and Frederick Curtis Perkins:

Second Family to Inhabit The Grange

Introduction

With William Page’s death and his widow’s subsequent departure, The Grange became available for use by one of the Carnegie children.

The 1920 US census for Cumberland Island, documented three of Florence Carnegie’s older brothers, Andrew II, Thomas, and George, each living as owner-occupants in three other island homes; although not mentioned by name these included, respectively, Stafford, the Cottage, and Plum Orchard. Her older sister, Margaret Ricketson, and her family occupied Greyfield during winter months and lived outside Boston during the summers.53 Her younger sister, Nancy Carnegie Hever Johnston, lived in Lexington, Kentucky, with her second husband, Dr. Marius Earley Johnston (1869-1960). Shortly after George Carnegie’s death in November 1921, his wife relocated to Paris, France, remarried, and settled in Kenya, Africa, with her second husband.54 Nancy Johnston and her family took occupancy of Plum Orchard. Of Florence Carnegie’s other siblings, Frank and Coleman had died, and William had been all but eliminated from the Trust set up by the matriarch, Lucy Carnegie.55 Florence was the only eligible sibling remaining who lacked an island home. She and her family would take occupancy of The Grange.

Florence Nightingale Carnegie’s Youth

Lucy Carnegie gave birth to Florence (called by family members “Floss” or “Flossie”) in Pittsburgh

Florida State Death Records. Also see Bullard, p. 342, note 14.

53 The 1920 census listed the Ricketsons at their Boston home in Ward 8. Apparently from c1920 onward, the Dungeness itself remained empty of family, too expensive or difficult for the children to keep up. “Dwelling 1” in the 1920 census, which housed as renters the family’s master mariner, George Yates, the cook, Victoria Roberts, and her son, a young servant, Frank Roberts, probably referred to the dwelling near the main dock, known as the “Captain’s house.”

54 In February 1921 she applied for a US passport, listing her “residence” as the Plaza Hotel, New York, and with intentions to travel to Brazil, Uruguay, and Barbados, sailing in March. She married in Paris Roger Comte de Perigny, and they settled in Kenya, where she died on 9 January 1942.

55 William’s first wife, Martha Gertrude Ely, died in 1906. In 1912 he remarried, in Pittsburgh, Alice Bell (c1886- 1941), a nurse. Apparently this union dismayed his mother sufficiently to have her will provide him only a small stipend, and no property. See Bullard, p. 343, note 19; and for Lucy Carnegie’s entire will, the Rockefeller, The Carnegies..., Apendix 2.

Fig. 2.1-26. Lucy Carnegie with Florence (rear), Nancy, and Coleman, c1889, probably in Pittsburgh. Image courtesy of the Georgia State Archives, Carnegie Family Collection, Photograph Album carn02, page 14.

Fig. 2.1-24. Pittsburgh home of the Lucy Carnegie family, including Florence Nightingale Carnegie, c1890. Image cour-tesy of the Georgia State Archives, Carnegie Family Collection, Photograph Album carn10, page 2.

Fig. 2.1-25. Plot plan of the Pittsburgh home of the Lucy Carnegie family, 1890. G. M. Hopkins Plats, vol. 4, plat 13. Im-age courtesy of University of Pittsburgh, Historic Pittsburgh.

14 The Grange Historic Structure Report

Lucy Carnegie herself would spend winters at Dungeness, and portions of the summers either in Pittsburgh, New York City, or resort areas of New York State.“ Though maintaining a lodge in the Adirondacks, a city house in Pittsburgh and apartments in New York, Mrs. Carnegie nevertheless spends the greater part of the year at Dungeness.”59 During her initial winter sojourns to the Island, in the late 1880s and early 1890s, with three of the children under the age of sixteen— Florence, Coleman, and Nancy—Lucy Carnegie recognized the need to have a tutor on hand to help with their studies, which brought William Enoch Page to the island in 1890. Despite spending considerable time on Cumberland Island during this period, she and her children considered Pittsburgh their permanent residence. Lucy Carnegie listed the family, including Florence and seven of the other children, living with her in their Pittsburgh home, in the June 1900 US census.60

As a teenager, Florence Carnegie frequently went on yachting excursions with her mother, accompanied by many of her siblings and their guests.61 By the age of seventeen, she experienced international travel, visiting Paris in October

1895.62 She applied for a US passport from there, giving her permanent residence as Pittsburgh and indicating an intention to travel “East” for up to two years.63

On 9 April 1901, just shy of her twenty-third birthday, Florence Carnegie married Frederick Curtis Perkins, thirty, an up-and-coming the Thomas Carnegie family.

59 Ibid.

60 The 1900 Census for Pittsburgh, PA, lists Lucy (entered as M[rs] Thomas M. Carnegie) living with eight of her nine children on Penn Avenue, 22nd Ward, an address that the family occupied since her marriage. Only George L. Carnegie was not listed or present.

61 See notice of the Lucy Carnegie yacht, Dungeness, arriving at Nantucket on 22 August 1894, Boston Herald, 23 Aug. 1894, p. 4; and an excursion from Newport to New York City, at the end of September 1894, recorded in Dallas Morning News, 30 Sept. 1894, p. 12. An 1897 article in the Wichita Daily Eagle noted: “With her daughter, she [Lucy C. Carnegie] takes a cruise every summer up and down the Atlantic coast from Chesapeake Bay to Bar Harbor, and in winter she keeps her yacht in commission for use in Florida waters and around the Bermudas.” 11 July 1897, p. 12. Reference to “her daughter” could have included Nancy as well as Florence.