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We know a whole lot more than we used to. With the growing availability of digital newspapers, online PhD dissertations and other sources we keep learning more. Some things will remain unknowable, but worth some creative speculation about. What else would be good to know -- or try to imagine?
Em Turner Chitty emailed Mary Glen in January 2019
““But
the personal narrative aspect of it is weak because the funny thing about the
letters is, of course, that she almost never wrote about her feelings about the
events, and there was a whole private side to her life that as far as we know
she did not share (unless there was a diary that we don't have). The big things
that I would have liked to see spelled out are, how did she feel about her
relationship with John Nickinson? Did he divorce? (His son said he didn't)? How
did she bear the stigma of unmarried motherhood? How did she feel about her
intensive traveling, apart from exhilarated by travel? Were there dark moments?
How did she get through them?”
EJ Phillips often seems intrepid, adventurous, resilient and cheerful, but her life was
not easy. A somewhat darker picture emerged when I started thinking about Em's
questions.
John Nickinson and
Divorce?
John Nickinson and his
first wife Mary
Anne Talbot legally
separated in March 1855
after
20 plus years of marriage and five children because "unhappy differences have
arisen and do still subsist". He agreed to pay her an annuity of
seventy-eight pounds yearly, or one pound and ten shillings weekly. They
were already living apart by this time. John Nickinson agreed "that he will not
at any time hereafter by any cause or any pretence whatever, sue or prosecute
any person or persons for receiving, harbouring or protecting the said Mary
Anne." Mary Anne agreed that she would not "molest or disturb the said John
Nickinson or his children living with him, by her presence, or her act or deed
in any way whatever nor continue to live in the same city, town, or part of the
country in which he or they may be living..."
Whether John Nickinson and EJ Phillips actually married (and if so, when) is unclear. . John Nickinson often refers to himself as EJ Phillips' husband in his letters. EJ Phillips occasionally calls herself Nickinson, though she uses Phillips much more often. (She started acting as “Miss Phillips” and became “Mrs. Phillips” after a printer’s error.) John Nickinson, Jr., son of his first marriage, wrote to the New York Clipper after his father's death that his parents had never been divorced.
“John Nickerson [sic] was stage manager at this time. He and Miss Phillips lived together as man and wife. There was a mystery about them, however, it was hinted that he had a wife and family living in Canada. [The first Mrs. Nickinson was then living in New York.] says a chapter "Samuel N. Pike and Pike’s Opera House” from Recollections of a Scene painter, E.T. Harvey, Cincinnati Ohio 1914 [via Google Books]
EJ Phillips’ 1890 autobiography for AM
Palmer says “. I have been a widow for 26
years”.
Dolman cousin Susan Spencer, who lives in Toronto, researched Canadian marriage and divorce records, but fire seems to have destroyed public records from that time.. West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia has no gravestone for EJP but she's listed as Elizabeth J. Nickinson in cemetery records.
She appeared in plays at the Royal Lyceum Theatre with Charlotte, Virginia and
Isabella in 1852-1857 according to
PB Anthony O'Neill's thesis, A History of Theatrical Activity in Toronto,
Canada, from its beginning to 1858, Louisiana State University dissertation,
1973 . EJ Phillips told Albert
she hadn't seen Eliza Nickinson Peters since her marriage in 1854.
John Nickinson was 22 years older than EJ Phillips. Their relationship obviously dated from about the time EJ Phillips joined his stage company in 1852, for his letter of October 3, 1859 refers to "our seven years of past love". John Nickinson and first wife Mary Anne Nickinson officially separated in March 1855.
EJ Phillips' Single parenthood
EJ Phillips was 28
when her first child, Charles Alderman Nickinson was born in Toronto (Apr. 30, 1858 - died Pittsburgh, Sept. 1859, reportedly of a
fall from a high chair).
The week before this birth
John Nickinson's oldest daughter Charlotte Nickinson married theatre critic Daniel
Morrison
April 22, 1858 in Toronto
, retired from the stage
and
moved to Quebec.
Mary Shortt, in a January 1980
letter about her thesis on Toronto theatre notes that "I was unable to explain
Nickinson's strange behavior in 1858, when he disappeared for an extended period
from the Royal
Lyceum.
The loss of Charlotte,
who married and left the stage in the spring of '58 was obviously a blow, but I
was unaware of the great stress created by E.J.'s pregnancy (in strait- laced
Toronto, where Nickinson had been considered a pillar of respectability!").
How did EJ Phillips care for her children
while working?
How she cared for her children has
always been a concern, but careful examination of her account books makes it
clearer where they lived. EJP recorded their board and pocket money from
1867-1875 while she was traveling so much. . It can’t have been easy for them or her.
The children began boarding in Indianapolis with the Fays, whom they had known when EJ Phillips was living and working there 1867- 1868 and in Suffern NY with the Zavistowskis starting in February 1873. EJ Phillips had known the acting and dancing Zavistowskis in Toronto and Cincinnati. (The Zavistowskis had been in California, Australia and New Zealand 1870-1871. )
She paid about $134 for the two children's board in 1870, Sept 3-Dec 7; while in New York, Toledo and Detroit; about $478 in 1871, while in New England Jan-May, Sept-December New Orleans, Memphis and St. Louis; about $615 in 1872 while in Mobile, Memphis, St. Louis, New Orleans, St. Paul Minnesota, New York, Philadelphia, Louisville, Canton and Vicksburg Mississippi, with about 19 days in Indianapolis; $737 in 1873, with Lawrence Barrett Jan-April in the South, May in the Midwest, June to July in New York State and New England, August to December mostly in St. Louis, with Christmas week in Indianapolis; about $848 in 1874, mostly in St. Louis, with some trips to Kansas City, Detroit, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio and two weeks in March and two in May in Indianapolis; and about $376 in 1875, January-July traveling in the Northeast from late Dec- Jan. and then mostly in the South, until the three of them all moved to Philadelphia in September..
Did children Albert or Hattie ever meet any of their half siblings?
We have
a mysterious April 12 1900 letter from Eliza Nickinson Peters
on Sunshine of
Paradise Alley letterhead, which had been attached to one from Mrs. Peters
to her brother reading "Mrs. Peters who plays the widow (her creation) has asked
me as a special favor, she has a brother there [where?], Nickinson, and I
believe they don't speak as they pass by. This is her way of showing him
that she is still on earth." An April 15 1900 letter from EJ Phillips
mentioning her "Saw by [Middletown newspaper] Mercury that you are to have a
play at the Casino [Theater] on Tuesday next in which Mrs. Charles Peters played
in here [Philadelphia] at the Park a few weeks ago. Was born 1834. Guess she is
with it still for the play belongs to Denman Thompson who was a member of
your father's company for several years and he still is grateful for the
kindnesses he received then from the "Governor" and has frequently given
employment to members of the family who requested it -- since he has been a
star-manager. ... Strange how things come about. I have not seen Mrs.
Peters since she was married and that was in 1854 [Sept], I think, and became a
widow not later than 1866 [1870] & now you will see her after so many years.
She has a son Fred and a daughter, Maud, living, that is all I know of.
Both were on the stage.
We know a fair amount about the
Nickinson daughters of the first marriage. They were all on the stage at various
times, including after Charlotte, Eliza and Virginia were widowed and needed to
support their families. We do have photos of each daughter, but none of John Jr.
EJ Phillips read the New York Clipper and was aware of some of their
activities, and at times they were in Philadelphia or New York together in the
1870s and later. What did they think
of her?
EJ Phillips
“Nerves” and Aging
New York, Feb. 14, 1886 after
climbing up two long stairs and finding the money order office, I discovered I
had no eye glasses with me and could not see to fill the blanks properly, so in
disgust I left the office and took the 4th Avenue cars home
Boston, May 30, 1886 Mr. [Louis] Massen just called to know if there was anything he could do for me. I told him "no". Kind of him though, wasn't it? Said he and his wife would see me to the Depot which is only one block away, but I feel the kindness for very seldom so you find actors so thoughtful of an old lady.
San Francisco Aug 9, 1886 I am getting old - my health will not stand the wear and tear it did
Boston, May 27, 1888 I am awfully nervous all the time, but I suppose that is the result of my increased age.
Philadelphia, July 1, 1888 [I would have to] wear myself out before starting for the long journey to California, and all for the benefit and convenience of A.M. P[almer]. So I may as well remain where I am. If he can do without me, perhaps someone else will take me in the Fall. I have been his Jack at a pinch long enough. It has made me ill and nervous, and I cannot allow him to impose upon me any longer.
New York, Jan. 22, 1889 I was sorry to hear you [Albert] were in a fit of "the blues" or that affairs were not progressing as smoothly with you, as you and I would have them. But perhaps it is not as bad as you think. B. may have a disagreeable manner when he is thinking, but I guess he appreciates your work even if he does not gush over it. You know I have often been accused of being cross, when I have been in the happiest of moods. And it may be the same with him.
Philadelphia June 5, 1891 Excuse this letter Neppie dear. I am very sleepy, and my eye glasses make my eyes ache.
Cincinnati Jan 20, 1893 I have seen a few old acquaintances here, but more that knew me than those I knew. Have not heard from the Egans or Mrs. Bass -- all my other friends have died or gone away. It makes me feel sad.
New York, Sept. 29, 1893 I have come to the conclusion that a woman has no right to be on the stage after she is 50 [EJP was 63]. It has cost me $290 to dress the part, without counting my expenses of board & and all I had was $400. So you see I am bankrupt, and if my health fails, I do not know what is to become of all of us. Providence, Rhode Island, Feb. 1894 You have waited and I pray trust, you are now rewarded. It will be a great consolation to me, I assure you, for I do not see much prospect before me of bettering my condition. Managers are looking for the young and beautiful and I shall have to take a back seat.
Pittsburgh, May 4, 1891 I was very weak, sick and nervous in Washington.
New York, Sept. 18, 1893 I have had considerable trouble and annoyance over the matter [contract with Charles Frohman for the 1893-1894 season], and consequently am very nervous and not at all well.
New York, Sept. 29, 1893 I have no real pain, but great nervousness. If I can only get through Monday night all right, I hope then to improve. The "part" would have been nothing to me in the past and I am very near perfect, but I am so afraid that I shall not get through, that it makes me fear to go through the ordeal. ... I have not told Hattie that I have been to Dr. Smith as I had been getting medicine from Dr. Guernsey, but I was not getting any better and thought it best to get another Dr. to brace me up. Hattie to Neppie Oct 10/93 I found Mama looking thinner & more haggard than when she went away & from all accounts she had had a pretty close call from a thorough break-down. The Doctor had been to see her the day before & made an examination of her. She thought she had a cancer or that her heart was diseased, both of which he denied. Said there was a slight irritation of the heart from the nervous strain & her system run down. Said her lungs were as sound as a drum. Told her she fretted too much. She denied it, but she does & always has when she is away from her children. She worries how they may be getting on & when she is home she worries because her salary isn't coming in. Summer vacations have never done her any good for that reason. It is among my earliest recollections. She is not weak in any way & doesn't feel weak. I think it has all come from mental worriment.
Philadelphia, Mar 24, 1894 I am as usual beginning to feel a little "blue" that my occupation is ended. I am rested and want to go to work again -- but I shall have to wait for a long time before I shall be wanted I am afraid.
Philadelphia, Aug. 12, 1894 I have not made any arrangements for next season, and do not as yet see any prospect of my getting anything to do. Of course, you can understand that makes me rather "blue". It was later than this when I got the "Duchess" last year and perhaps something may yet turn up.
Hattie to Neppie, Philadelphia, Aug 27, 1894 Mama has nothing in prospect and that makes her nervous & blue at times. She is never perfectly happy when idle.
Philadelphia, Sept. 18, 1894 I feel "right down in the dumps". I am still a member of the great army of the un-employed, do not think anything will be given me before Novr, if then.
St. Louis, Oct. 16, 1894 I am not as strong as I would like to be, but if in an engagement I think I should feel better.
Hattie to Neppie, Philadelphia, Oct. 31, 1894 It was well that I could go [to New York], for she [EJP] had a wretched time of it. Long rehearsals, running to dressmakers &c & the part was altered just enough to make it confusing & more troublesome than a new one. And she was ill in the bargain. The day before I arrived she had nothing to eat between 9 AM & 6 PM. She began to feel so worn out & miserable by Saturday that she went to see Dr. Smith who thought the trouble came from nervousness. Sunday night there was a rehearsal, which was not over until 1:30 Monday morning. Mon morning she saw the Doctor again & he then said her liver was congested. She was a little better when I left her yesterday.
Detroit, May 15, 1896 I am glad to hear Ted enjoyed his visit to New York. I feel it was not a very enjoyable time for any of you for I was tired, nervous & fidgety, and did not know what to do to make it pleasant for you. It made me very happy to have you all there and in my own happiness I fear I did not do all I might have done to make the rest of you comfortable. The rooms were all so small. We were crowded, yet I took the best they had. I thank you all for coming to see me
Philadelphia Dec. 10, 1896 Since my arrival I have slept every Morning until after 10 and the rest of the day soon passes. Yesterday left here at 12:30 and returned at 11:30 so did not get time to write. This Morning I feel more like myself than I have since my arrival. The nerves are more rested.
Philadelphia, Feb. 22, 1898 I have been idle for a year and so have many others in my profession, even those younger than I. Whether I shall be able to appear again is doubtful, though I am not in bad health, but the accumulation of years has me tied down and I cannot do as I have done. I did hope to be able to pull through for another five years at least, but it is vanity for me to think it. "All is beauty."
Canadian Immigration to the US
during the Civil War
What was it like for
EJ Phillips and John Nickinson to move from Canada in 1862/63 to
Cincinnati a border state? Was their move purely an economic
decision?
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_in_the_American_Civil_War
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/american-civil-war/
Canada was officially neutral. Many newspapers supported the South.
The Revolution was America’s first civil war. About a third of the American colonists wanted nothing to do with what Adams, Jefferson and the others were selling. With every British military defeat, more of those loyal to the Crown left or were driven out. Some fled to Britain while others went south, but most escaped to what remained of British North America... Shortly after the U.S. Civil War began in April 1861, Britain declared itself neutral. The Canadian and Maritime governments dutifully echoed that official line and informed their citizens that it was against the law to support North or South, and for individuals to join in the fight.... Business people enjoyed more commerce with Northern than Southern industry. Canadians travelling to Britain often went by way of New York and Boston. Despite such familiarity, however, public and popular opinion of the North and South was divided, volatile and multi-dimensional. It was coloured by class, ethnicity, religion, ideology and region. ... The Toronto Leader was pro-South, while the Toronto Globe was pro-North. The Montreal Gazette was pro-South, while the Montreal Witness was pro-North. The reporting and editorial stances of 84 Canadian papers revealed themselves to be obviously pro-South, with only 33 pro-North and eight neutral. A report of the Confederate victory in the war’s first battle elicited a spontaneous cheer in Canada’s legislature. ...many young Canadians and Maritimers left home to fight. Those who did fought overwhelmingly in Union ranks.Blood and Daring: How Canada Fought the American Civil War and Forged a Nation, John Boyko, Knopf Canada, 2013 http://nationalpost.com/opinion/john-boyko-canadians-for-the-confederacy
Library and Archives Canada,
Influence of the American Civil War
https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/politics-government/canadian-confederation/Pages/influence-american-civil-war.aspx
Some colleagues such as Ben DeBar
and Maggie Mitchell were Southern sympathizers. Other such as
Lawrence Barrett served in the Union Army.
Did John Nickinson ever see any of his grandchildren?
Did he go to any of his daughter’s weddings?
Charlotte Nickinson Morrison had four children two of them appeared in the 1861
Canadian census, aged 1 and 2 I think.
John Nickinson was certainly in Toronto when she married in 1858, but EJP
was about to have their first child. Eliza Nickinson Peters married in 1854 in
New York and had Fred Peters in 1860.
[Her daughter Maud was born in 1868] Virginia Nickinson Marlowe was
married in 1857 at Niagara Falls and had Jessie Isabel Dearling Marlowe the
first of her three daughters in 1861 in New York. [Virginia Eliza was born in
1865 and Ethel in 1871 and both of these died young.] Isabella Nickinson Walcott
married in New York in May 1863, and had no children.
John Jr seems not to have married or had children.
So it seems possible that John Nickinson didn’t go to his daughter’s
weddings and unlikely that he saw much, if anything of his grandchildren.
We know that there were some Morrison descendants living in Toronto and
Edison NJ [but not apparently very interested in their ancestors according to
theatre historian Mary Shortt.] Only Jessie Marlowe Voight is known to have
married. Fred Peters seems not to
have married and Maud Peters married a Nicaraguan man and became Mathilde Deshon
[and acted some.] We do know that
only child EP Nickinson has many descendants as do Jack Dolman and Melanie
Dolman Seymour.
The Tribute occurred on the afternoon of March 14, 1916, at the Century Theatre,
NYC. Approximately 250 signatories (autographs reproduced photographically) were
represented in the souvenir publication; (these included Thomas Edison and
Theodore Roosevelt, among other eminent persons.) The entertainment portion of
the tribute featured a "Temple Dance" by Ruth St. Denis and scenes from
Shakespeare performed by leading actors, including Annie Russell, Walter
Hampden, Crystal Herne, James O'Neill, Louis Calvert, James K. Hackett,
Henrietta Crosman, Rose Coghlan, Jane Cowl, Blanche Bates, Viola Allen, and many
others.
https://www.amazon.com/William-Testimonial-Afternoon-Fourteenth-Nineteen/dp/1290982295
EJ Phillips' Shakespearean roles
-- missing 4 plays and 5 roles
AM Palmer
almost never produced Shakespearean plays. Most of EJ Phillips'
Shakespeare performance were with John Nickinson, some at Pike's Opera House in
Cincinnati, some in Indianapolis and a number with the Varieties Theatre in New
Orleans, with Pope and Ben Debar in St. Louis and with Lawrence Barrett.
We have a list of 31 roles in 19
Shakespearean plays and know of 15 plays and 26 roles, and would
like to figure out the remaining 4 plays and 5 roles.
When and where did EJP perform the following plays by
Shakespeare? As You Like It, Comedy of Errors, Coriolanus, King John, Merchant
of Venice, Richard III, Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night.
When did EJP first come to New York?
Her account books indicate she performed at
the Olympic Theatre in New York in Sept 1872 for two weeks.
Did she accompany John Nickinson when he was playing at
Laura Keene’s in
May and June of 1862 or Washington hall Harlem in August 1862? Perhaps she did
because she responded to a request for her impression of Laura Keene by saying
that her acquaintance with her was slight but she had seen her act.
Laura Keene died in 1873 and gave up her New York theatre in 1863 because
of her poor health, but toured for much of the next ten years.
(Isabella Nickinson Walcott had been a protégé of Laura Keene’s in New York
in 1862-1863.)
When exactly was EJP in James Wallack’s Rosedale?
When was she part of Augustin Daly’s company?
The book Marie Burrough’s Stage Celebrities says she was in Rosedale, as does an
obituary? And the New York Times performance was reviewed in 1881. Odell? says
something about only EJP and Maude Harrison dressing up to the Daly standard,
but I’m unclear on when this was.
When did John Nickinson come to Canada?
We know he was there by 1830 and had enlisted in the British Army at
15 in 1823, and was promoted to sergeant in 1825, but not much else.
We know his father was a Chelsea Pensioner [retired to the Royal Chelsea
Hospital in London, where Mary Glen went as a researcher to the National Army Museum in
the 1970s. Middletown New York had Army
medals from the Napoleonic and Peninsular Wars [Cape of Good Hope 1795, Talavera
1809, Fuentes Donor 1811 Salamanca 1812, Vittoria 1813, Pyrenees 1813, Nivele
1813, Orthes 1814, mainly in Spain and Portugal].
John Nickinson seems to have been an absentee father on a number of
occasions – perhaps his dad was too.
Did John Nickinson have any siblings?
His father was Richard Nickinson but haven’t
found a birth or death date. His
mother was Mary but have no maiden name or dates. Haven’t found any siblings.
Presumably once John came to Canada he never returned to England, unlike EJ Phillip’s
father Thomas Phillips.
Did John and Mary Ann Talbot Nickinson have any other children who died young?
Given
infant mortality in those days it seems possible that he sired more than eight
children. Census records for various people record live births as well as living
children. But not everyone shows up
in censuses every ten years.
What did Mary Ann Talbot Nickinson do after she
left Toronto?
Mary Ann Talbot Nickinson died in New York in 1877
at the home of her daughter Eliza Nickinson Peters. Her
death certificate lists here as a widow, but who was going to dispute that? She
seems to have been born in 1806, which made her 1-2 years older than John, born
in 1808. She was from Limerick Ireland, according to an interview with Eliza
Nickinson Peters in Donahoe's magazine 1905 The article also says the Nickinson
children were sent to a Catholic school on Mulberry St in New York but were sent
home when the nuns learned their father was an actor. Eliza later converted to
Catholicism and Lived in Yorkville New York.
https://books.google.com/books?id=qgjZAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22sunshine+of+paradise+alley%22+peters&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Last revised August 24, 2020
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