July 4 Sunday – From Susy Clemens’ diary, comes the final entry of the biography of her father, interrupted in mid-sentence. Sam would later remark how this sentence suggested his dead daughter was merely away, would return to finish:
July 4. We have arrived in Keokuk after a very pleasant [Papa 225].
July 5 Monday – In Keokuk, Iowa Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore (who had written June 29), giving him power of attorney to act in a matter of “the music scheme.” Sam informed him that they were leaving Keokuk on July 7 [MTP].
July 7 Wednesday – The Clemens party left Keokuk [July 5 to Whitmore] and traveled to Rock Island, Ill. Or Clinton, Iowa where they caught a train to Chicago. Sam’s only entry in his notebook on the trip was the following:
July 8 Thursday – The Clemens family and Rosa Hay stayed in Chicago for two days at the Richelieu Hotel. This is probably the day Sam was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune. On July 15 Sam would write his sister, Pamela Moffett, about seeing the Moffetts in Chicago, probably nieces of the late William A. Moffett:
July 9 Friday † – The Clemens party boarded an eastbound train from Chicago. In his July 15 to his sister, Sam wrote of the accommodations:
June 15 Tuesday – The Clemens family and governess Rosa Hay (a party of six) left Hartford for Elmira and spent the night at the [Sam to Orion June 2] Gedney House at 40th Street and Broadway in New York [Hotel stationery on Sam to Whitmore this date; Salsbury 230].
June 16 Wednesday – The Clemens family spent the day in New York City; Sam most likely met with Frederick J. Hall and the Webster & Co. Staff, probably discussing Webster’s impending trip to Italy, the Pope book, and other matters. It was Sam’s usual plan when traveling to and from Elmira with Livy, to allow her a day’s rest in New York.
June 17 Thursday – The Clemens family left New York and took the ten-hour train ride to Elmira, where Sam wrote a letter to Charles Webster about the Pope’s biography. Sam detailed what he felt a presentation copy of Leo XIII’s book should look like, feel like, and cost — a book bound in:
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.
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 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 22 Tuesday – The Clemens party sailed from Buffalo in the steamer India headed for Duluth, Minn. 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.
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 24 Thursday – The Clemens family were aboard the steamer India.
June 25 Friday – The Clemens family were aboard the steamer India.
June 26 Saturday – The Clemens family were aboard the steamer India. Note: 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 27 Sunday – The Clemens family reached Duluth, Minn. About this day.
June 28 Monday – The Clemens family traveled by rail from Duluth to St. Paul, Minn. About this day. The St. Paul and Minneapolis Pioneer Press interviewed Sam (See June 30 entry). Note: Kaplan writes Sam was dressed “in alligator slippers, a light-gray suit, and a pearl-colored high hat” [289].
June 29 Tuesday – According to the interview with the St. Paul newspaper (printed June 30), the Clemens family was in St. Paul and staying at the Ryan Hotel.
June 30 Wednesday – The Clemens family boarded a Mississippi steamboat for the final leg of their journey to Keokuk, about 500 miles [Scharnhorst, Interviews 88]. (Sam had estimated it “a 7 or 8-day journey” from Elmira to Keokuk; it took eight days).
Willis writes:
September 1 Wednesday – In Elmira Sam wrote a five-page letter to Edward H. House:
Clara Spaulding is to be married tomorrow evening, and I have contributed, among our other bridal presents, a dollar’s worth of horse-car tickets and a poem.
The poem was, “S’KIK! G’lang” and also sent to Clara Spaulding on this day with a short letter:
September 10 Friday – In Elmira Sam wrote to J. Chester, and headed the letter “Private.” This is a response to Chester’s Sept. 8 letter for Lincoln University. Since 1882 he had contributed to the support of several Negro students at Lincoln. When a student, Willis, decided to stay on for graduate studies, Sam chose to cut his support.
September 11 Saturday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, asking again when Webster would arrive back from his trip to Europe. Sam submitted a proposed reply to someone who had asked why Webster & Co. Needed data about compositor production.
September 13 Monday – Jane Clemens wrote a rambling two-page letter for Sam & Family about not knowing what to write, of wanting to leave Keokuk, of dead relatives and of her daughter “Mela” (Pamela) being there for a visit on her way to see her son Samuel. Jane signed the letter, “An Old Citizen” [MTP].
Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam of progress and several details at the Webster & Co.
September 14 Tuesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto, who had sent a statement and notes for deposit, as well as a pamphlet of compositors’ prices. Sam noted that the English (as now) always seemed to make their own systems that don’t always translate across the Atlantic:
…I seem to discover a most curious thing: that over there you measure type by the 1000 ENS instead of ems, & have done so all this century. I can’t see how we came to change [MTP].