June 26, 1886 Saturday 

June 26 Saturday – The Clemens family were aboard the steamer IndiaNote: According to the interview in St. Paul, Sam claimed the trip across the lakes was five days.

From Susy Clemens’ diary:

June 26, 86 We are all of us on our way to Keokuk to see Grandma Clemens, who is very feeble and wants to see us and pertickularly Jean who is her name sake. We are going by way of the lakes, as papa thought that would be the most comfortable way [Papa 225].

June 23, 1886 Wednesday

June 23 Wednesday – The Clemens family were aboard the steamer India. Meanwhile, using USA Passport No.6854, Charles L. Webster accompanied by his wife, Annie Moffett Webster, sailed for Europe on the City of Rome [Samuel L. Clemens Papers in the McKinney Family Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries; Webster to Sam June 21].

June 22, 1886 Tuesday

June 22 Tuesday – The Clemens party sailed from Buffalo in the steamer India headed for DuluthMinn. At the western edge of Lake Superior. The captain of the India was Edward Mooney [MTNJ 3: 243n62]. Sam jotted in his notebook to send Mooney a copy of IA.

A Trip to Keokuk

June 22 Tuesday – The Clemens party sailed from Buffalo in the steamer India headed for DuluthMinn.

June 27 Sunday – The Clemens family reached Duluth, Minn

June 28 Monday – The Clemens family traveled by rail from Duluth to St. Paul, Minn.

June 21, 1886 Monday

June 21 Monday – The Clemens family and governess Rosa Hay left Elmira and traveled by rail to Rochester, where they probably dined with Daniel William Powers (1818-1897) and family, and may have spent the night there, continuing on to Buffalo the next day (See July 12 to Whitmore). Powers was an eastern financier and the owner of a fabulous art collection.

June 20, 1886 Sunday

June 20 Sunday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore about three boxes of cigars, 150 total, which would be sufficient for the family’s five-day stay in Keokuk [MTP, from Anderson Auction Co. Mar.3, 1924 item 97]. Note: With Webster sailing to Europe, Sam relied on Whitmore for such details.

June 19, 1886 Saturday

June 19 Saturday – John M. Hay wrote from Cleveland, Ohio to Sam: “I find your letter of the 13th on arriving at home from a visit to my mother in Illinois.” Hay hoped to see Sam on his “trip westward,” and promised to go see Edward H. House when next in N.Y. “I am grieved to hear he is in such ill care. He is one of the men still left in this sad dusty world worth talking with” [MTP]. Note: the letter was forwarded from Hartford to Keokuk.

Subscribe to