Today's forays

Ever since I began my journey, I’ve always wondered about Susie’s relationship with E.J.B., Edward Julius Berwind. There was some clues— her diary entries that mentioned him, and a line in Bolton Hall’s unpublished autobiography that called Mr. Berwind “a friend of my wife’s.” I can recall a time when Susie’s grandson, Scott Herrick, said that he’d been told that she was once in love with a man before she met Bolton, but had to call it off. I had no proof, but I’d hoped that man was Edward—it seemed like the basis of a terrific story. The only thing that puzzled me was, WHY didn’t they marry if they were so much in love? (See “Edward Julius Berwind, Susie’s Lost Love? for excerpts from her diaries).

That question was what I began to explore in my fictionalized version, and became a backbone of my novel. I decided that Edward Berwind’s counterpart, Ned Babcock, was unsuited for Lucy Hoagland (Susie Scott) because he was an industrialist who thought nothing of exploiting his laborers. For someone who was growing ever more progressive, their union was untenable. In the end, she agrees to marry a principled radical, Colman Young (Bolton Hall). I’m now on draft 8 of my novel (currently titled Asunder), and very happy with how I resolved Lucy’s marriage conundrum.

Two weeks ago, after I’d graduated from Stony Brook University with a MFA in Creative Writing and Literature, my mother called me. She was preparing for a move out of her home of 60 years, and came across this delightful little birthday book that she realized once belonged to Susie.

We assumed that long ago, Scott Herrick gave it to my mother to give to met, but she tucked it away and forgot all about it. Scott passed in 2012, so my mother must have had it in her possession for at least eight years.

WHAT A FIND!

The book was filled with entries, both in Susie’s hand, as well as that of her daughter, Lois. On the first page, Susie had written:

There were some notable entries, such as the wedding date of Andrew Carnegie and her childhood friend, Louise Whitfield. Most likely, Susie was present at the small ceremony that took place at the Whitfield home in 1887.

Also, Lois wrote this the day Susie died:

However, the big revelation was found on June 18, That date was Edward Berwind’s birthday, and Susie had written, “E.J.B.” Below that, Lois wrote, “Edward J. Berwind to whom my mother was engaged, breaking it on the request of her dying grandmother who felt it would not be a happy marriage.”

Finally, the proof I’d been looking for since 2000, when I first read Susie’s diaries! I’m not always one who believes in signs “from the beyond,” but there is a part of me that is struck by the fact that the book finally came to me AFTER I wrote my novel and graduated. If I’d seen it all those years before, I know my creativity would have been stifled by facts—resulting in a less satisfying book.

What a wonderful surprise. What a wonderful gift. Thank you, Scott.