Date: Fri 12-Apr-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Mary-Hawley-library-Crabtree

Full Text:

w/photos: A Hawley Cousin Sends Newtown Small Tokens Of History

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

The letter which arrived in the first selectman's office in August 1994 was

addressed "To the Mayor of Newtown."

"My Dear Sir," the letter began. "Enclosed please find a picture of a pair of

portraits. They are of Mr and Mrs Thomas Hawley. They were the grandparents of

the late Mary Hawley of Newtown. They were also my great-grandparents."

The letter, from Mirabee Miller Crabtree of LaMar, Missouri, began what has

become a regular correspondence between the 88-year-old second cousin of the

late Mary Elizabeth Hawley and Caroline Stokes, curator of the Cyrenius H.

Booth Library. It also led to the continuing donation by Mrs Crabtree of many

items which belonged at one time to Mary Elizabeth Hawley, her mother, Sarah

Booth Hawley, and other family members.

"The portraits I speak of were in my grandmother's house in Bridgeport and

then in my parents' house in Bridgeport," Mrs Crabtree wrote in her first

letter. "I received them in 1960 in California, my home then. I should like to

present these lovely portraits to the Newtown Library. I have visited it. I

think they belong there and no doubt Cousin Mary would approve."

In her letters, Mrs Crabtree talked about the history of the Hawley family.

"Mr and Mrs Hawley had four sons - Walter, George, Marcus and Edward Augustus

Hawley, and a daughter, Mary Louise (Eaton). Marcus was Mary Hawley's father

and Edward A. was my grandfather," Mrs Crabtree wrote. "My mother, Harriet

Hawley Miller and I often visited Cousin Mary, and when there was a sale of

her furnishings in 1931, we purchased several lovely items.

Under the terms of Mary Hawley's will, many of her possessions and her home,

which later became the Hawley Manor restaurant and inn, the were disposed of

in an auction. Her will provided 29 bequeaths including those which financed

the construction of Edmond Town Hall and the Booth Library. She had already

paid for the construction of Hawley School.

A Very Serious Lady

Before Mary Hawley died in 1930 at the age of 73, she frequently entertained

members of her family.

"My mother saw her often in the late 1920s after we moved back to Bridgeport.

Mother was very fond of her cousin and they were close," Mrs Crabtree wrote.

"I recall only one or two meetings I had with her as I was away at school.

Cousin Mary was a reserved lady, not easy to talk with from my standpoint. She

was very serious."

According to Mrs Crabtree, Mary Hawley's house was memorable.

"The house was very large and beautifully furnished. I remember the little

housekeeper and having dinner there," Mrs Crabtree said. "When the furnishings

were sold in 1931, Mr Nettleton was in charge and mother and I went to

Newtown. Mother bought several pieces of furniture, a large chair (which) we

had for years, tables, silver, quilts and blankets.

"My last visit to Newtown was in 1959. (My husband) Woodrow, (our son) Philip

and I journeyed from California via Williamsburg and up the coast to

Bridgeport. We spent the night in Newtown at the Hawley Manor and I visited

the handsome library. I was delighted with it although my heart gave a pull at

being there in Cousin Mary's house and she not there."

Mrs Crabtree said her grandfather, Edward Augustus, also known as E.A., was

born in 1844, ten years after his brother Marcus. The four brothers were

dispatched to the West Coast during the Civil War to establish hardware

stores, as had their father in Bridgeport.

"E.A. was sent to Portland, Oregon," Mrs Crabtree said. "He returned to

Bridgeport in 1873 to marry Hattie Anne Thompson who was reported in the local

newspapers as resembling the radiant Princess of Wales, later Queen

Alexandria. The wedding was an auspicious occasion. The bride and groom

returned to Portland and in 1874 and 1876 two daughters were welcomed, Ella

and Harriet. The family returned to Bridgeport and lived there permanently.

E.A. became a prosperous businessman. The young ladies were very popular as

they grew up.

"Ella married Dr Joseph C. Roper of New York City. Harriet married Archibald

M. Miller of Albany, N.Y, and they had a daughter, Harriet Mirabee, who is

this writer," Mrs Crabtree wrote.

Mirabee's Donations

Mirabee was born October 25, 1908, in her grandfather's house in Bridgeport.

She was raised in Albany, NY, and attended the Albany Academy for Girls and

graduated in 1926. Then she went to Arnold College for Physical Education in

New Haven, graduating in 1929. For a short time she attended William and Mary

College.

In 1932 she married H.C. Gardner of Liverpool, England. They had a daughter

who at 60 now lives near Branson, Mo. The young family lived in New York City,

Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

When World War II began, Mr Gardner returned to Liverpool and later died in

the war. Mirabelle went to live with her mother in Bridgeport and they

traveled to California. In 1945 Mirabelle married Woodrow Crabree and they

lived in California where their son, Philip Woodrow, was born in 1946.

After years of living along the Pacific shore, the Crabtrees decided to move

"back East" to New England. They found a beautiful old inn in New Hampshire

which they bought and operated. The inn had been a small tavern in 1795 but

grew to 29 rooms by the early 1900s, Mrs Crabtree said.

They sold the property in 1976 and three years later moved to Forsythe,

Missouri, where Woodrow died in 1981. In 1995 Mirabelle and Philip sold the

house and moved to LaMar, where they live in a duplex in the country, with 13

acres, plenty of pasture for their three horses and three dogs to roam in.

Last summer Philip built a cabin which is used as a gift-antique shop that

specializes in Western art, primarily silhouettes of famous men from the Old

West.

During this relocation, Mrs Crabtree began sending more of Mary Hawley's

possessions to Caroline Stokes.

"I have sent off to you great grandmother's Bible and a little book of a young

brother of Cousin Mary," Mrs Crabtree wrote in one letter. "Also today I am

posting a photograph of Cousin Mary and news clippings you may not have. I

will send a pieced quilt of silk pieces made in 1882 by Cousin Mary. She wrote

or embroidered her name and date in the margin."

"There is also a bedspread signed by Cousin Mary's mother, Sarah Booth. I have

had it since 1962, my mother bought it at the auction. I am sending a package

of linens. These are items signed by Mrs Hawley."

In one package came an elaborate ballgown.

"The gown belongs to Mrs E.A. Hawley, my grandmother," Mrs Crabtree wrote. "It

is of the style of 1880. My grandparents oftened wintered in New York City and

and the gown was fashioned at James McCreery & Company.....I have several

pieces of black lace like pictured on great Aunt Mary Eaton, made in Brussels

in 1867, (I) will get them to you."

In all 18 gifts have been sent by Mrs Crabtree including a silver serving

spoon marked with the initials of Sarah Booth, three coin silver teaspoons, a

steel engraving in a gold frame, embroidered linens - including a sheet woven

from flax grown in Newtown - a white bedspread made by Sarah Booth and family

photographs and paintings.

The items will be displayed in the library once the new addition is completed.