October 19 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his cousin Mary Ann Pamelia Xantippe “Tip” Saunders (1838-1922), who was born in Kentucky and studied art in New York. She was the first listing for “artist” in the 1874 Louisville phone book, and later ran an art school there. Tip had written asking to visit. Tip was the daughter of Ann Hancock Saunders, half-sister of John Marshall Clemens. Sam replied they would very much like her to come, but that he was:
“…getting ready for a brief reading-tour which begins Nov. 10 & ends Nov. 23, & so I couldn’t see as much of you as I would like to, until after the latter date…can you come next Wednesday or Thursday?”
Sam offered to meet her at the Hartford train depot, white handkerchief tied around one of his arms.
“…when you step from the train, don’t hesitate to put yourself in charge of the first man you meet who bears that sign” [MTLE 1: 130].
Note: The name “Pamela” is found as “Pamelia” or “Parmelia,” perhaps accounting for accent-spellings or dialect. Sam’s sister Pamela was named “Pamelia” but was always referred to as Pamela.
Genealogy Note
Pamelia (Goggin) Clemens (1775-1844) was married first to Samuel Clemens (d. 1805) and, after his death, to Simon Hancock of Adair County, Kentucky. Her son by her first marriage, John Marshall Clemens (1798-1847), was the father of American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain). Her children by her second marriage were: Ann Hill Hancock, Mary G. Hancock, Pamelia G. Hancock, and a son whose name is unknown. Ann Hill Hancock married William H. Saunders of England; they had a daughter, Mary Ann Pamela Xantippe (Tippy) and a son, James Saunders.
When Ann died (ca. 1841) William Saunders married her sister, Mary G. Hancock. Mary Hancock Saunders is said to be the inspiration for her nephew Mark Twain’s “Aunt Polly” in The Adventures of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. <http://oasis.harvard.edu:10080/oasis/deliver/~hou00117>
Sam also wrote to an unidentified person:
The book has come & I promise myself much pleasure in reading it. So I offer you my thanks in advance.
I was going to see Mrs. [Mary] Shoot & Miss Mollie [Shoot] when I was last in N Y, but the business I was on kept me clear up to train time. Can’t write to Daly; I don’t know him well enough; but I had talked with him once, & shall sieze the first opportunity to do it again [MTLE 1: 131]. Note: Mollie’s mother was Mary J. Shoot (b. 1822), dealer in millinery items in Hannibal, at this time living with her daughter Mollie in NYC.