Winn Wiki - User contributions [en]

Nina Winn Wiki

2022-05-13T01:30:04Z

Ajones: /* For more information, visit these sites: */

''NOTE: This wiki is very much a work-in-progress. It will be updated frequently during 2022. For “questions that it doesn’t answer,” a search of the archives of the Arlington List (arlingtonlist.org) will provide information that has been added as footnotes to diary entries published in that forum.''

==Introduction==
This Nina Winn “wiki” is being developed as a reader’s guide to the transcribed entries of the Nina Winn diaries that are posted to the Arlington List email group (arlingtonlist.org). The initial goal is to provide a convenient resource to follow the current narrative in the diaries as it moves forward. This “read along” approach avoids creating “spoilers” by omitting information (example: dates of deaths that have not yet occurred) that would interfere with the simulated real-time presentation of the historical material. Check back from time to time to see additions to this wiki, such as photographs, maps, and other images, as well as additions to the cast of characters as persons with major storylines are added to the canvas of Nina Winn’s life.

Within the previous two years, Nina has taken it from an old-fashioned dwelling, with no utilities except for water and cooking gas, and transformed it with modern features such as central heating, hot water, an indoor bathroom, a telephone, and electricity. Nina was not a high school graduate and did not work outside of the home until she was nearly 40 years old, beginning as a part-time library assistant at Robbins Library. She has progressed in recent years to full-time roles of increasing responsibilities in the Somerville, Waltham, and Framingham public libraries. Due to the long commuting times via public transportation (typically two or more hours each way), Nina rents a room in Framingham. Nina spends most of her free time with friends she met in 1923 in Waltham: Hilda Olsen, Martha “Dickie” Drake, and Marjorie Warren.

==Wiki Sections==
This wiki includes these sections:

* [[Plot Synopsis (as of April 1925)|Plot synopsis as of 1925]]
* [[Cast of Characters (1925)|Cast of characters]]
* Backstory (in development)
* Links to images
* History of the diary transcriptions 2000 – 2022

==For more information, visit these sites:==
https://arlingtonhistorical.org/tag/nina-winn/

https://arlingtonhistorical.org/nina-louise-winn/

https://arlingtonhistorical.org/knowing-susanna-adams-winn/

https://lawelter.wordpress.com/

https://arlingtonhistorical.org/on-the-piazza/

Nina Winn Wiki

2022-05-13T01:28:40Z

Ajones: /* Wiki Sections */

''NOTE: This wiki is very much a work-in-progress. It will be updated frequently during 2022. For “questions that it doesn’t answer,” a search of the archives of the Arlington List (arlingtonlist.org) will provide information that has been added as footnotes to diary entries published in that forum.''

==Introduction==
This Nina Winn “wiki” is being developed as a reader’s guide to the transcribed entries of the Nina Winn diaries that are posted to the Arlington List email group (arlingtonlist.org). The initial goal is to provide a convenient resource to follow the current narrative in the diaries as it moves forward. This “read along” approach avoids creating “spoilers” by omitting information (example: dates of deaths that have not yet occurred) that would interfere with the simulated real-time presentation of the historical material. Check back from time to time to see additions to this wiki, such as photographs, maps, and other images, as well as additions to the cast of characters as persons with major storylines are added to the canvas of Nina Winn’s life.

Within the previous two years, Nina has taken it from an old-fashioned dwelling, with no utilities except for water and cooking gas, and transformed it with modern features such as central heating, hot water, an indoor bathroom, a telephone, and electricity. Nina was not a high school graduate and did not work outside of the home until she was nearly 40 years old, beginning as a part-time library assistant at Robbins Library. She has progressed in recent years to full-time roles of increasing responsibilities in the Somerville, Waltham, and Framingham public libraries. Due to the long commuting times via public transportation (typically two or more hours each way), Nina rents a room in Framingham. Nina spends most of her free time with friends she met in 1923 in Waltham: Hilda Olsen, Martha “Dickie” Drake, and Marjorie Warren.

==Wiki Sections==
This wiki includes these sections:

* [[Plot Synopsis (as of April 1925)|Plot synopsis as of 1925]]
* [[Cast of Characters (1925)|Cast of characters]]
* Backstory (in development)
* Links to images
* History of the diary transcriptions 2000 – 2022

==For more information, visit these sites:==
<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/tag/nina-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/nina-louise-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/knowing-susanna-adams-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://lawelter.wordpress.com/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/on-the-piazza/</nowiki>

Nina Winn Wiki

2022-05-13T01:28:14Z

Ajones:

''NOTE: This wiki is very much a work-in-progress. It will be updated frequently during 2022. For “questions that it doesn’t answer,” a search of the archives of the Arlington List (arlingtonlist.org) will provide information that has been added as footnotes to diary entries published in that forum.''

==Introduction==
This Nina Winn “wiki” is being developed as a reader’s guide to the transcribed entries of the Nina Winn diaries that are posted to the Arlington List email group (arlingtonlist.org). The initial goal is to provide a convenient resource to follow the current narrative in the diaries as it moves forward. This “read along” approach avoids creating “spoilers” by omitting information (example: dates of deaths that have not yet occurred) that would interfere with the simulated real-time presentation of the historical material. Check back from time to time to see additions to this wiki, such as photographs, maps, and other images, as well as additions to the cast of characters as persons with major storylines are added to the canvas of Nina Winn’s life.

Within the previous two years, Nina has taken it from an old-fashioned dwelling, with no utilities except for water and cooking gas, and transformed it with modern features such as central heating, hot water, an indoor bathroom, a telephone, and electricity. Nina was not a high school graduate and did not work outside of the home until she was nearly 40 years old, beginning as a part-time library assistant at Robbins Library. She has progressed in recent years to full-time roles of increasing responsibilities in the Somerville, Waltham, and Framingham public libraries. Due to the long commuting times via public transportation (typically two or more hours each way), Nina rents a room in Framingham. Nina spends most of her free time with friends she met in 1923 in Waltham: Hilda Olsen, Martha “Dickie” Drake, and Marjorie Warren.

==Wiki Sections==
This wiki includes these sections:

[[Plot Synopsis (as of April 1925)|Plot synopsis as of 1925]]

[[Cast of Characters (1925)|Cast of characters]]

Backstory (in development)

Links to images

History of the diary transcriptions 2000 – 2022

==For more information, visit these sites:==
<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/tag/nina-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/nina-louise-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/knowing-susanna-adams-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://lawelter.wordpress.com/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/on-the-piazza/</nowiki>

Main Page

2022-05-13T01:27:39Z

Ajones: Ajones moved page Main Page to Nina Winn Wiki

#REDIRECT [[Nina Winn Wiki]]

Nina Winn Wiki

2022-05-13T01:27:39Z

Ajones: Ajones moved page Main Page to Nina Winn Wiki

Temp

2022-05-13T01:26:51Z

Ajones: /* Introductionedit */

''NOTE: This wiki is very much a work-in-progress. It will be updated frequently during 2022. For “questions that it doesn’t answer,” a search of the archives of the Arlington List (arlingtonlist.org) will provide information that has been added as footnotes to diary entries published in that forum.''

== Introduction ==
This Nina Winn “wiki” is being developed as a reader’s guide to the transcribed entries of the Nina Winn diaries that are posted to the Arlington List email group (arlingtonlist.org). The initial goal is to provide a convenient resource to follow the current narrative in the diaries as it moves forward. This “read along” approach avoids creating “spoilers” by omitting information (example: dates of deaths that have not yet occurred) that would interfere with the simulated real-time presentation of the historical material. Check back from time to time to see additions to this wiki, such as photographs, maps, and other images, as well as additions to the cast of characters as persons with major storylines are added to the canvas of Nina Winn’s life.

Within the previous two years, Nina has taken it from an old-fashioned dwelling, with no utilities except for water and cooking gas, and transformed it with modern features such as central heating, hot water, an indoor bathroom, a telephone, and electricity. Nina was not a high school graduate and did not work outside of the home until she was nearly 40 years old, beginning as a part-time library assistant at Robbins Library. She has progressed in recent years to full-time roles of increasing responsibilities in the Somerville, Waltham, and Framingham public libraries. Due to the long commuting times via public transportation (typically two or more hours each way), Nina rents a room in Framingham. Nina spends most of her free time with friends she met in 1923 in Waltham: Hilda Olsen, Martha “Dickie” Drake, and Marjorie Warren.

== Wiki Sections ==
This wiki includes these sections:

[[Plot Synopsis (as of April 1925)|Plot synopsis as of 1925]]

[[Cast of Characters (1925)|Cast of characters]]

Backstory (in development)

Links to images

History of the diary transcriptions 2000 – 2022

== For more information, visit these sites: ==
<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/tag/nina-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/nina-louise-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/knowing-susanna-adams-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://lawelter.wordpress.com/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/on-the-piazza/</nowiki>

Temp

2022-05-13T01:26:36Z

Ajones: /* Wiki Sectionseditedit source */

''NOTE: This wiki is very much a work-in-progress. It will be updated frequently during 2022. For “questions that it doesn’t answer,” a search of the archives of the Arlington List (arlingtonlist.org) will provide information that has been added as footnotes to diary entries published in that forum.''

== Introductionedit ==
This Nina Winn “wiki” is being developed as a reader’s guide to the transcribed entries of the Nina Winn diaries that are posted to the Arlington List email group (arlingtonlist.org). The initial goal is to provide a convenient resource to follow the current narrative in the diaries as it moves forward. This “read along” approach avoids creating “spoilers” by omitting information (example: dates of deaths that have not yet occurred) that would interfere with the simulated real-time presentation of the historical material. Check back from time to time to see additions to this wiki, such as photographs, maps, and other images, as well as additions to the cast of characters as persons with major storylines are added to the canvas of Nina Winn’s life.

Within the previous two years, Nina has taken it from an old-fashioned dwelling, with no utilities except for water and cooking gas, and transformed it with modern features such as central heating, hot water, an indoor bathroom, a telephone, and electricity. Nina was not a high school graduate and did not work outside of the home until she was nearly 40 years old, beginning as a part-time library assistant at Robbins Library. She has progressed in recent years to full-time roles of increasing responsibilities in the Somerville, Waltham, and Framingham public libraries. Due to the long commuting times via public transportation (typically two or more hours each way), Nina rents a room in Framingham. Nina spends most of her free time with friends she met in 1923 in Waltham: Hilda Olsen, Martha “Dickie” Drake, and Marjorie Warren.

== Wiki Sections ==
This wiki includes these sections:

[[Plot Synopsis (as of April 1925)|Plot synopsis as of 1925]]

[[Cast of Characters (1925)|Cast of characters]]

Backstory (in development)

Links to images

History of the diary transcriptions 2000 – 2022

== For more information, visit these sites: ==
<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/tag/nina-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/nina-louise-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/knowing-susanna-adams-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://lawelter.wordpress.com/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/on-the-piazza/</nowiki>

Temp

2022-05-13T01:26:06Z

Ajones: Created page with "''NOTE: This wiki is very much a work-in-progress. It will be updated frequently during 2022. For “questions that it doesn’t answer,” a search of the archives of the Arlington List (arlingtonlist.org) will provide information that has been added as footnotes to diary entries published in that forum.'' == Introductioneditedit source == This Nina Winn “wiki” is being developed as a reader’s guide to the transcribed entries of the Nina Winn diaries that are pos..."

''NOTE: This wiki is very much a work-in-progress. It will be updated frequently during 2022. For “questions that it doesn’t answer,” a search of the archives of the Arlington List (arlingtonlist.org) will provide information that has been added as footnotes to diary entries published in that forum.''

== Introductioneditedit source ==
This Nina Winn “wiki” is being developed as a reader’s guide to the transcribed entries of the Nina Winn diaries that are posted to the Arlington List email group (arlingtonlist.org). The initial goal is to provide a convenient resource to follow the current narrative in the diaries as it moves forward. This “read along” approach avoids creating “spoilers” by omitting information (example: dates of deaths that have not yet occurred) that would interfere with the simulated real-time presentation of the historical material. Check back from time to time to see additions to this wiki, such as photographs, maps, and other images, as well as additions to the cast of characters as persons with major storylines are added to the canvas of Nina Winn’s life.

Within the previous two years, Nina has taken it from an old-fashioned dwelling, with no utilities except for water and cooking gas, and transformed it with modern features such as central heating, hot water, an indoor bathroom, a telephone, and electricity. Nina was not a high school graduate and did not work outside of the home until she was nearly 40 years old, beginning as a part-time library assistant at Robbins Library. She has progressed in recent years to full-time roles of increasing responsibilities in the Somerville, Waltham, and Framingham public libraries. Due to the long commuting times via public transportation (typically two or more hours each way), Nina rents a room in Framingham. Nina spends most of her free time with friends she met in 1923 in Waltham: Hilda Olsen, Martha “Dickie” Drake, and Marjorie Warren.

== Wiki Sectionseditedit source ==
This wiki includes these sections:

[[Plot Synopsis (as of April 1925)|Plot synopsis as of 1925]]

[[Cast of Characters (1925)|Cast of characters]]

Backstory (in development)

Links to images

History of the diary transcriptions 2000 – 2022

== For more information, visit these sites:editedit source ==
<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/tag/nina-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/nina-louise-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/knowing-susanna-adams-winn/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://lawelter.wordpress.com/</nowiki>

<nowiki>https://arlingtonhistorical.org/on-the-piazza/</nowiki>

Nina Winn WIki

2022-05-13T01:21:32Z

Ajones: Blanked the page

Nina Winn Wiki

2022-05-13T01:21:08Z

Ajones: Blanked the page

Winn Wiki

2022-05-13T01:17:18Z

Ajones: Blanked the page

Winn Wiki

2022-05-13T01:15:13Z

Ajones: Changed redirect target from Nina Winn Wiki to Nina Winn WIki

#REDIRECT [[Nina Winn WIki]]

__FORCETOC__

Winn Wiki

2022-05-13T01:12:45Z

Ajones: Ajones moved page Winn Wiki to Nina Winn Wiki

#REDIRECT [[Nina Winn Wiki]]

Hilda Olsen

2022-05-13T01:09:30Z

Ajones:

Hilda Olsen was born in 1896, making her 19 years Nina’s junior. Hilda was introduced as “Miss Olsen” in Nina’s diary of April 10, 1923, when Nina was working as a library assistant at the Waltham Public Library and Hilda was a teacher of gardening and natural history in the public schools there. Hilda and Nina went from a professional relationship to a personal friendship, as evidenced not least by becoming on a first-name basis with one another, by September 9, 1923. Nina and Hilda discovered a shared passion for nature and the outdoors, and a deep friendship was quickly cemented. Hilda is a professional landscape architect by training, a graduate of the prestigious Lowthorpe School in Groton. Hilda is the illegitimate daughter of a mother who immigrated to the U.S. from Sweden and worked as a cook in a private home. Hilda is at turns energetic, sickly, affectionate, moody, manipulative; she is overall force of nature with whom Nina is constantly preoccupied, in an almost obsessive relationship that is difficult to categorize as either mother-daughter or big sister-little sister. Hilda has lived for several years as a boarder in the home of the late Bradford W. Drake of Waltham, and his daughter, Martha “Dickie” Drake.

====== =================== ======
Earl Grey and I were startled when you first identified Hilda Olsen, Norwegian immigrant, as a landscape gardener. My father's family came from Scandinavia in the late 1800's and we never heard of an immigrant woman who did anything other than domestic work. The men were mostly skilled tradesmen, with a few farmers for variety, but -- landscape gardener? I don't think there is a Norwegian word for such a thing.

So I set up a family tree for Hilda in Ancestry.com. Long story short, Hilda appears to be the daughter of an immigrant cook named Oline Olsen and an anonymous member of a wealthy Boston family. Oline could not raise a child and keep her job, of course, so Baby Hilda was raised by foster parents Henry & Mary Hill on their farm in Canton.

Far as I can tell, our Hilda Olsen appears in only one family tree on ancestry.com. It's a small and sketchy tree that traces Oline Olsen and her immigrant siblings, and includes a findagrave memorial to Hilda, who is buried with the May family in Canton. A note calls Hilda a mysterious cousin. The owner of this tree also has a larger tree labelled May Family, but it's not public. I'm guessing that descendants of the Mays knew about Baby Hilda's origins. Next rainy day, I might try to get in touch with the tree owner & see if they can fill in more story.

Hilda Olsen appears in the 1900 Census of Canton as the 3 year old Boarder of Henry May, Farmer, his wife Mary and their sons Oscar & Walter, all 5 born in Massachusetts. In the 1910 census, Hilda is 13 years old and At School, still born in MA. In 1920, Walter Hill & his wife live with 23 yr old Hilda Olsen, who is a Landscape Gardener for a Private Family. That would be Bradford Winslow Drake, whose household also lists a 23 yr old Hilda Olsen of No Occupation. The Drakes report that Hilda was born in Norway, as were both her parents. Daughter Martha Drake, a Wellesley grad and sometime school teacher, appears to be BFF with Hilda, who meets Nina Winn at the Waltham library. In 1923, Nina Winn accompanies Hilda Olsen to visit her brother Walter Hill on the family farm near Ponkapoag Pond and the rest is, um, history.

According to that one online tree, Oline Gunelle Olsen was born in 1874 in rural Norway (then part of Sweden). She arrived in New York about 1894 and in the 1900 census she is a 26 yr old Cook in the household of Malcolm Graeme Haughton, Cotton Merchant, on Cottage Street in Brookline. The two other servants are also Scandinavian. The youngest Haughton son is 23 year old Percy, who later became famous coaching Harvard football -- he's the one who supposedly once strangled a bulldog in the locker room to motivate his team. You can't make this stuff up.

The Haughtons didn't employ a gardener or a landscaper, so I started looking at their neighbors on the census sheets. Next household is headed by Architect Shepley, son-in-law of the adjacent wealthy widow Julia Richardson and her sons. Then there is William Whitman, another Cotton Merchant. Next comes Arthur Hartt, Landscape Architect. Then the census-taker turns the corner of Cottage Street onto Goddard Avenue, where he finds one Larz Anderson, whose staff listings occupy the next page or two. Then there are the Goddards themselves, whose household includes the entire cast of Downton Abbey. Oddly, only the Haughtons have Scandinavian servants. The other households employ Irish and English staff, with the occasional French governess and Polish bricklayers. Florists may be German. So the possibilities for Hilda's paternity are endless.

In 1910 & 1920, the census finds Oline Olsen cooking for Eben Dyer Jordan at 42 Beacon Street. Yes, those Jordans. Oline last appears in the 1930 census, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where she is the cook for a Jordan granddaughter's family. She never married and reported no children. Several siblings also settled near Boston, but none seem to have gone into Service as a career.

Maybe you already know all this? And more? Or better?

I don't know why the Hills were chosen to raise Hilda. Maybe their farm supplied produce to Brookline and somebody slipped a basket with Baby Hilda under the seat of the delivery wagon when Henry wasn't looking. Maybe Little Hilda was allowed to visit the gardener-landscaper-architect-customer as she grew & she paid attention when they talked about plants. I don't know how Hilda met the Drake family, who hailed from Stoughton before Brad married Miss Whitford and her father deeded them the outfit in Waltham. (On first pass, I scored 6 bunks on the Mayflower for the Drakes) It's easy to see how Adult Hilda could have been Born Again as an immigrant herself, orphaned and then raised by a respectable farmer's family, without any parental backstory needed.

I would love to see Hilda's marriage and death certificates, but can't legitimately claim to be a relative in order to obtain copies. I have no idea who her husband was and ancestry.com explodes when I try to look for men named James Smith. So that's the end of my story of Hilda so far.

It was so nifty to read Nina's progress in this new friendship -- First, she met with Miss Olsen, then Hilda Olsen, now Darling Hilda! Even knowing that Hilda will marry in 1929 & die within the year, I can share Nina's excitement thanks to you!

Best!

Ruth

====== ======== ======
Have been following along Hilda's adventures with you. Adrienne has a clipping that says Hilda graduated from the Swedenborgian high school (later Waltham School for Girls, now part of Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall) and also from the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture and Gardening for Women in Groton -- a very elite credential. This was Hilda's golden ticket to being able to support herself, not to mention an entree to social circles that would be otherwise closed to her. Miss Grace Cabot Holbrook of Naulakha was likewise a graduate of Lowthorpe and just a few years older than Hilda. So I'm guessing that Hilda's Brattleboro gig came about via the Old Girls network. Huzzah for Hilda!

Martha Louisa Drake b. 1888

Aunt Sarah 1844

Susanna 1852

George 1873

Mabel 1876 m 1903

Hilda Olsen

2022-05-13T01:08:11Z

Ajones:

Hilda Olsen was born in 1896, making her 19 years Nina’s junior. Hilda was introduced as “Miss Olsen” in Nina’s diary of April 10, 1923, when Nina was working as a library assistant at the Waltham Public Library and Hilda was a teacher of gardening and natural history in the public schools there. Hilda and Nina went from a professional relationship to a personal friendship, as evidenced not least by becoming on a first-name basis with one another, by September 9, 1923. Nina and Hilda discovered a shared passion for nature and the outdoors, and a deep friendship was quickly cemented. Hilda is a professional landscape architect by training, a graduate of the prestigious Lowthorpe School in Groton. Hilda is the illegitimate daughter of a mother who immigrated to the U.S. from Sweden and worked as a cook in a private home. Hilda is at turns energetic, sickly, affectionate, moody, manipulative; she is overall force of nature with whom Nina is constantly preoccupied, in an almost obsessive relationship that is difficult to categorize as either mother-daughter or big sister-little sister. Hilda has lived for several years as a boarder in the home of the late Bradford W. Drake of Waltham, and his daughter, Martha “Dickie” Drake.

Earl Grey and I were startled when you first identified Hilda Olsen, Norwegian immigrant, as a landscape gardener. My father's family came from Scandinavia in the late 1800's and we never heard of an immigrant woman who did anything other than domestic work. The men were mostly skilled tradesmen, with a few farmers for variety, but -- landscape gardener? I don't think there is a Norwegian word for such a thing.

So I set up a family tree for Hilda in Ancestry.com. Long story short, Hilda appears to be the daughter of an immigrant cook named Oline Olsen and an anonymous member of a wealthy Boston family. Oline could not raise a child and keep her job, of course, so Baby Hilda was raised by foster parents Henry & Mary Hill on their farm in Canton.

Far as I can tell, our Hilda Olsen appears in only one family tree on ancestry.com. It's a small and sketchy tree that traces Oline Olsen and her immigrant siblings, and includes a findagrave memorial to Hilda, who is buried with the May family in Canton. A note calls Hilda a mysterious cousin. The owner of this tree also has a larger tree labelled May Family, but it's not public. I'm guessing that descendants of the Mays knew about Baby Hilda's origins. Next rainy day, I might try to get in touch with the tree owner & see if they can fill in more story.

Hilda Olsen appears in the 1900 Census of Canton as the 3 year old Boarder of Henry May, Farmer, his wife Mary and their sons Oscar & Walter, all 5 born in Massachusetts. In the 1910 census, Hilda is 13 years old and At School, still born in MA. In 1920, Walter Hill & his wife live with 23 yr old Hilda Olsen, who is a Landscape Gardener for a Private Family. That would be Bradford Winslow Drake, whose household also lists a 23 yr old Hilda Olsen of No Occupation. The Drakes report that Hilda was born in Norway, as were both her parents. Daughter Martha Drake, a Wellesley grad and sometime school teacher, appears to be BFF with Hilda, who meets Nina Winn at the Waltham library. In 1923, Nina Winn accompanies Hilda Olsen to visit her brother Walter Hill on the family farm near Ponkapoag Pond and the rest is, um, history.

According to that one online tree, Oline Gunelle Olsen was born in 1874 in rural Norway (then part of Sweden). She arrived in New York about 1894 and in the 1900 census she is a 26 yr old Cook in the household of Malcolm Graeme Haughton, Cotton Merchant, on Cottage Street in Brookline. The two other servants are also Scandinavian. The youngest Haughton son is 23 year old Percy, who later became famous coaching Harvard football -- he's the one who supposedly once strangled a bulldog in the locker room to motivate his team. You can't make this stuff up.

The Haughtons didn't employ a gardener or a landscaper, so I started looking at their neighbors on the census sheets. Next household is headed by Architect Shepley, son-in-law of the adjacent wealthy widow Julia Richardson and her sons. Then there is William Whitman, another Cotton Merchant. Next comes Arthur Hartt, Landscape Architect. Then the census-taker turns the corner of Cottage Street onto Goddard Avenue, where he finds one Larz Anderson, whose staff listings occupy the next page or two. Then there are the Goddards themselves, whose household includes the entire cast of Downton Abbey. Oddly, only the Haughtons have Scandinavian servants. The other households employ Irish and English staff, with the occasional French governess and Polish bricklayers. Florists may be German. So the possibilities for Hilda's paternity are endless.

In 1910 & 1920, the census finds Oline Olsen cooking for Eben Dyer Jordan at 42 Beacon Street. Yes, those Jordans. Oline last appears in the 1930 census, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where she is the cook for a Jordan granddaughter's family. She never married and reported no children. Several siblings also settled near Boston, but none seem to have gone into Service as a career.

Maybe you already know all this? And more? Or better?

I don't know why the Hills were chosen to raise Hilda. Maybe their farm supplied produce to Brookline and somebody slipped a basket with Baby Hilda under the seat of the delivery wagon when Henry wasn't looking. Maybe Little Hilda was allowed to visit the gardener-landscaper-architect-customer as she grew & she paid attention when they talked about plants. I don't know how Hilda met the Drake family, who hailed from Stoughton before Brad married Miss Whitford and her father deeded them the outfit in Waltham. (On first pass, I scored 6 bunks on the Mayflower for the Drakes) It's easy to see how Adult Hilda could have been Born Again as an immigrant herself, orphaned and then raised by a respectable farmer's family, without any parental backstory needed.

I would love to see Hilda's marriage and death certificates, but can't legitimately claim to be a relative in order to obtain copies. I have no idea who her husband was and ancestry.com explodes when I try to look for men named James Smith. So that's the end of my story of Hilda so far.

It was so nifty to read Nina's progress in this new friendship -- First, she met with Miss Olsen, then Hilda Olsen, now Darling Hilda! Even knowing that Hilda will marry in 1929 & die within the year, I can share Nina's excitement thanks to you!

Best!

Ruth

Hilda Olsen

2022-05-13T01:06:35Z

Ajones:

Principal Characters (1925)

2022-05-13T01:05:03Z

Ajones: Ajones moved page Principal Characters (1925) to Cast of Characters (1925)

#REDIRECT [[Cast of Characters (1925)]]

Cast of Characters (1925)

2022-05-13T01:05:03Z

Ajones: Ajones moved page Principal Characters (1925) to Cast of Characters (1925)

[[Nina Winn]]

[[Hilda Olsen]]

[[Martha “Dickie” Drake]]

[[Marjorie Warren]]

[[George A. Winn]]

[[Mabel C. Winn|Mabel C. (Hartwell) Winn]]

[[George A. Winn, Jr|George A. Winn Jr. (“Junior")]]

[[Arthur Harold Winn]]

[[Barbara Winn]]

[[Sarah Daniels Winn|Sarah Daniels Winn (“Aunt Sarah”)]]

[[Susanna Adams Winn|Susanna Adams Winn (“Aunt Susanna”)]]

[[Edith B. Hayes]]

[[Odine Gunnelle Olsen]]

[[Marion Keyes Wilson & Alice Mary Wilson|Marion Keyes Wilson & Alice Mary Wilson (“The Wilsons”)]]

[[Warren A. Peirce]]

[[Elizabeth Waite Bacon Potter|Elizabeth Waite Bacon Potter Hittinger]]

[[Grandma Sturgis]]

Other established characters who make infrequent appearances in Nina’s diary are often “re-introduced” to readers with brief parenthetical references or footnotes, just as are new characters who are new on the canvas (sometimes appearing only once, but worth mentioning for their connection to Arlington history).

Plot Synopsis (as of April 1925)

2022-05-13T01:03:15Z

Ajones: created

Nina Louise Winn is a 48-year old single woman, born April 8, 1877 in Arlington. Her family date going back to the Colonial era in the town. Her eldest brother, George Albert Winn, is her only surviving sibling. He operates the Winn farm, which is located on approximately 20 acres extending from the northwest corner of Mystic and Summer streets, where George took a corner of the property to build a “gasoline” filling station (the site of today’s Gulf service station). George and his family reside at Nina’s childhood home at 146 Mystic St. (no longer extant). The Winn farm grew produce for the Boston market (thus would be termed a “market garden” or “truck farm”), and is one of just a handful of such farms, which formerly predominated the Arlington landscape. Celery was still one of Arlington’s agricultural claims to fame and generally is a profitable crop for the Winns.

Nina set up housekeeping on her own in YEAR. She resides in half of a duplex house (one of several dwellings owned by the Winn family) at 37 Summer St. (still standing). Her aunt-by-marriage, Sarah Daniels Winn resides in the other half, which she owns independently (making the structure essentially a condominium). At 57 Summer St. is the home of Nina’s aunt Susanna Adams Winn (b. ), which is the Winn ancestral homestead (still standing). Nina shorthand for these homes is 37, 57, and 146.

In 1917, Nina began to work as a part-time library assistant at Robbins Library. Denied promotion there (note: she did not posses even a high school diploma), at age YEAR she took her first full-time job in 1920 at the Somerville Public Library, where the assistant head librarian was Edith Hayes. A quick learner who could handle a large volume of work and be effective in a variety of settings (school library work, reference desk, branch library assignments), she left Somerville without having another job lined up.

Nina’s next role was at Waltham Public Library in 1922, which led her to rent a room there to stay overnight most days of the week, as a daily commute via public transportation was impractical. She met Hilda Olsen, then a YEAR teacher of natural history and gardening in the Waltham public school system, who contributed material for library displays on flora and fauna. Nina, an inveterate lover of the outdoor life, quickly formed a friendship with the younger and phenomenally energetic Hilda. Through Hilda, Nina met Martha Drake, the unmarried daughter in the home where Hilda is a boarder. At first Martha viewed Nina as a rival for Hilda’s friendship, but later developed a friendship with Nina that beyond the triangle with Hilda. Eventually, YEAR Marjorie Warren of Waltham creates a steady foursome of female friends. It is significant to note that the appearance of Hilda Olsen in the life of Nina came at a time not long after the deaths of Nina’s two closest and lifelong friends: Vida Damon (who drowned following a heart attack ____________, and Eleanor “La” Prentiss, who was a third-degree cousin of Nina’s from Belmont and who died at age ___ in ______ after a brief illness with

In the summer of 1924 Nina was hired by Edith Hayes, who by then was head librarian of Framingham Public Library, to be the assistant librarian (versus a “library assistant”). Nina is essentially a number-two at Framingham, although her job focus is in cataloguing and communications (bulletins, displays, etc.). She rents a room in Framingham a couple of miles from the library.

Nina attended grammar school at the Russell School in Arlington, and then kept house for her widowed father (Nina’s mother died when she was three years old) and her unmarried brother, at 146 Mystic St. (no longer extant). After her father died she was part of the household of her brother and his bride, Mabel, from 1908 until 1912. Their housing needs of George and Mabel’s growing family led Nina to move to the Winn family homestead at 57 Summer St. (still standing), with her two maiden aunts, Susanna Adams Winn and Sarah Georgianna Winn (died YEAR). At age XX, Nina moved into a home of her own when she took over half of the duplex dwelling at 37 Summer St. that was collectively owned by the Winn family. In the other half of the duplex resides her aunt, Sarah Daniels Winn, the widow of Nina’s uncle Albert Winn. Sarah D. Winn owns her unit in the duplex outright, thus as a condominium.

Cast of Characters (1925)

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Cast of Characters (1925)

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[[Nina Winn]]

[[Hilda Olsen]]

[[Martha “Dickie” Drake]]

[[Marjorie Warren]]

[[George A. Winn]]

[[Mabel C. Winn|Mabel C. (Hartwell) Winn]]

[[George A. Winn, Jr|George A. Winn (“Junior")]]

[[Arthur Harold Winn]]

[[Barbara Winn]]

[[Sarah Daniels Winn|Sarah Daniels Winn (“Aunt Sarah”)]]

[[Susanna Adams Winn|Susanna Adams Winn (“Aunt Susanna”)]]

[[Edith B. Hayes]]

[[Odine Gunnelle Olsen]]

[[Marion Keyes Wilson & Alice Mary Wilson|Marion Keyes Wilson & Alice Mary Wilson (“The Wilsons”)]]

[[Warren A. Peirce]]

[[Elizabeth Waite Bacon Potter|Elizabeth Waite Bacon Potter Hittinger]]

[[Grandma Sturgis]]

Other established characters who make infrequent appearances in Nina’s diary are often “re-introduced” to readers with brief parenthetical references or footnotes, just as are new characters who are new on the canvas (sometimes appearing only once, but worth mentioning for their connection to Arlington history).

Cast of Characters (1925)

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[[Nina Winn]]

[[Hilda Olsen]]

[[Martha “Dickie” Drake]]

[[Marjorie Warren]]

[[George A. Winn]]

[[Mabel C. (Hartwell) Winn]]

[[George A. Winn (“Junior")]]

[[Arthur Harold Winn]]

[[Barbara Winn]]

[[Sarah Daniels Winn (“Aunt Sarah”)]]

[[Susanna Adams Winn (“Aunt Susanna”)]]

[[Edith B. Hayes]]

[[Odine Gunnelle Olsen]]

[[Marion Keyes Wilson & Alice Mary Wilson (“The Wilsons”)]]

[[Warren A. Peirce]]

[[Elizabeth Waite Bacon Potter Hittinger]]

[[Grandma Sturgis]]

Other established characters who make infrequent appearances in Nina’s diary are often “re-introduced” to readers with brief parenthetical references or footnotes, just as are new characters who are new on the canvas (sometimes appearing only once, but worth mentioning for their connection to Arlington history).

Grandma Sturgis

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Grandma or Grandma Sturgis is not Nina’s grandmother. She is an beloved elderly near neighbor of the Winn family when they are at their cottage in Mashpee, Massachusetts. “Grandma” is used as an honorific.

Bessie Boardley

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Bessie Boardley is the daughter of Grandma Sturgis.

Elizabeth Waite Bacon Potter

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Elizabeth Waite Bacon Potter Hittinger is one of the surviving sisters of Nina’s late mother, Melissa Bacon Winn, the others being Mary Alice “Mame” and Altanah Bacon Hardy. All three of Nina’s aunts are widows. They are closer in age to Nina than her paternal aunts, so Nina has enjoyed a greater ease of relationship with them. Most recently, Aunt Elizabeth has been keeping house at Nina’s home, and has returned to her own home in Belmont to be available for the birth of her son and daughter-in-law’s first baby, due in June or July 1925.

Warren A. Peirce

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Warren A. Peirce is Nina’s uncle by his first marriage to her late maternal aunt, born Jessie Bacon. He heads the Peirce & Winn Coal Co. and is a leader in Arlington’s civic life. The sports stadium at Arlington High School bears his name.

Marion Keyes Wilson & Alice Mary Wilson

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“The Wilsons” The "two Wilson sisters" have developed recurring roles in the narrative since Nina became reacquainted with them on November 2, having briefly met them first in 1923 when she worked at the Waltham Public Library. Both are school teachers and thus colleagues of Hilda in Waltham. They are 26-year old Marion Keyes Wilson (b. June 28, 1898) and 23-year old Alice Mary Wilson (b. October 4, 1901). The Wilsons are much closer in age to 28-year old Hilda than are Martha and Nina, and they share common interests, such as horseback riding. Hilda has been enjoying more of their company in a relationship that would offer a more fun-loving peer-group dynamic than the semi-maternal "big sister" roles that Martha and Nina often play in her life.

Odine Gunnelle Olsen

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Odine Gunnelle Olsen (variously spelled as Odina or Odena), is born in 1874 and is less than three years younger than Nina. She is Hilda’s mother. She works in New York City as a cook in a private home. The identity of Hilda’s father is unknown to Nina, and perhaps also to Hilda. Based on the private education that Hilda received (boarding school in Waltham, followed by the Lowthorpe School), it is possible that there was financial support coming from Hilda’s father.

Edith B. Hayes

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Edith B. Hayes is head librarian at the public library in Framingham. She was a supervisor of Nina’s at Somerville Public Library in 1921. She recruited Nina away from Waltham to Framingham, and they both lodge with Mr. and Mrs. Randall, at 1 Concord Terrace.

Susanna Adams Winn

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“Aunt Susanna” is Susanna Adams Winn, born in 1852, is the unmarried matriarch of the Winn family, who is the sister of Nina and George’s father. She resides at the Winn family homestead at 57 Summer St. Susanna, an 1869 graduate of Cotting High School (as Arlington High School was previously named), worked as an artist and managed her inherited money. She spends most of the winter with her close friends, the Touts, in Winchendon, Massachusetts.

Sarah Daniels Winn

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“Aunt Sarah” is Sarah Daniels Winn, born in 1844. She is the widow of Nina’s uncle, Albert Winn, Jr., and lives in the other side of the duplex home where Nina resides. Aunt Sarah owns her half of the home in her own name.

Barbara Winn

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Barbara Winn is the only daughter and youngest child of George and Mabel Winn, born in 1911.

Arthur Harold Winn

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Ajones: Created page with "Arthur Harold Winn is the second child of George and Mabel Winn, born in 1909."

Arthur Harold Winn is the second child of George and Mabel Winn, born in 1909.

George A. Winn, Jr

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“Junior” is George A. Winn, Jr., the eldest son of George and Mabel Winn, born in 1908.

Mabel C. Winn

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Mabel C. (Hartwell) Winn, born in 1876, has been married to George A. Winn since 1903.

George A. Winn

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George A. Winn, born in 1873, is Nina’s eldest brother and only surviving sibling. He manages the Winn farm on behalf of himself and all the heirs of his grandfather, Albert Prentiss Winn. George lives with his wife and three children, in Nina’s childhood home at 146 Mystic St., where he also operates a gas station.

Nina Winn Wiki

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#REDIRECT [[Winn Wiki]]

Nina Winn

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Nina Winn. Nina Louise Winn, age 48, is the author of the diary. She was born in Arlington on April 8, 1877, and lives half of a duplex home owned by the Winn family at 37 Summer St. She has been the assistant head librarian and cataloguer at the public library in Framingham since October 22, 1923. Nina rents a room in Framingham at Mrs. Randall’s where she typically stays four nights a week, due to the long (typically over two hours each way) travel time by public transportation to or from Arlington. More on Nina’s backstory and that of the Winn family can be found in the section “Plot Synopsis.”

Nina Winn

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Nina Winn WIki

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#REDIRECT [[Nina Winn]]

Nina Winn

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Ajones: Ajones moved page Nina Winn WIki to Nina Winn

#REDIRECT [[Nina Winn Wiki]]

Marjorie Warren

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Marjorie Warren (sometimes spelled by Nina as “Marjory”) was born in 1902 and was a friend of Martha Drake and Hilda Olsen in Waltham, from the time that Nina came upon the scene as a friend in the early fall of 1923. Marjorie lives with her parents, Lowell and Olive Warren, in Waltham, and works as a secretary.

Martha “Dickie” Drake

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Martha “Dickie” Drake was born in 1888 and was a graduate of Wellesley College. She previously worked as a schoolteacher but now is employed in office work. Initially, Martha Drake was jealous of the newfound friendship between Hilda and Nina, but now she and Nina have developed their own friendship, with Hilda always in the mix, even if not present in the action.

Hilda Olsen

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Nina Winn

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#REDIRECT [[Nina Winn Wiki]]

MediaWiki:Nina Winn Wiki

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Nina Winn Wiki

Winn Wiki:VisualEditor

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Ajones: Created page with "''NOTE: This wiki is very much a work-in-progress. It will be updated frequently during 2022. For “questions that it doesn’t answer,” a search of the archives of the Arlington List (arlingtonlist.org) will provide information that has been added as footnotes to diary entries published in that forum.'' == Introduction == This Nina Winn “wiki” is being developed as a reader’s guide to the transcribed entries of the Nina Winn diaries that are posted to the..."

MediaWiki:Nina Winn Wiki

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Ajones: Created page with "Nina Winn Wiki"

Nina Winn Wiki