Title: Atwood, Ormsby and Green family papers
Inclusive Dates: 1853-1998

Call Number: Mss 989; PH Mss 989

Quantity: 1.6 c.f. (4 archives boxes), 657 photographs (2 archives boxes, 1 flat box, and 1 microfilm box), and 20 negatives

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers and photographs documenting several generations of the Atwood, Ormsby, and Green families from the 1850s through the 1950s and also documenting the family's estate, Bonnie Oaks (Marquette County, Wisconsin), that served as an informal artist's retreat during the 1920s and early 1930s. Papers include genealogical materials, legal documents, correspondence, subject files, news clippings, published works, daily diaries of Alma Atwood and John Whitney Ormsby (1862-1866), and one blueprint of Bonnie Oaks (1924). The correspondence, subject files, and photographs comprise the majority of the collection. The bulk of the correspondence dates from the 1850s-1890s and is generally between family members, with a large number of outgoing letters from Alma Atwood Ormsby. Correspondence from the 1920s-1930s contains exchanges between members of the Green family including Eleanor Green (Piel), Katherine Green, Mildred Ormsby Green, and the artists who visited Bonnie Oaks, such as Robert Fitzgerald, Zona Gale, Margery Latimer (Toomer), Joseph and Rosina Lhevinne, William Maxwell, Frantz Proschowski, Paul and Eslanda Robeson, and Jean Toomer. The bulk of the photographs consist of images of various family members both individually and in groups. There are also photographs of visitors to Bonnie Oaks and images of the structures and grounds of the estate.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00989

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Joshua Atwood (1812-1896) was one of the early settlers of Briggsville, Wisconsin, and in 1857 he and Edward R. Cudworth bought the title to Bonnie Oaks, an 80-acre estate in Marquette County. Joshua Atwood, son of Parker Atwood (1788-1853) and Lovicy/Lovisa Gale (1792-1878), was originally from Vermont but moved to Wisconsin where he met and married Rosina (Willson) Atwood (1815-1881). They spent much of their time at Bonnie Oaks with their children, including their daughter Alma (1843-1893), who gave the estate its name.

In 1866 Alma Atwood married John Whitney Ormsby (1842-1916). John Whitney Ormsby was one of three sons and two daughters of John H. Ormsby and Betsy A. Corrill. John H. Ormsby was one of the early Mormons in Ohio but was excommunicated and eventually moved to Wisconsin around 1850. As a result of unsuccessful forays into the milling and distillery businesses John H. Ormsby and his wife and children decided to relocate to Petaluma, California. John Whitney, however, stayed in Wisconsin and worked as a clerk in Oxford. David G. Ormsby, John Whitney's uncle, also remained in Wisconsin for a short time but then he too decided to relocate to Erie, Pennsylvania. In time, John Whitney Ormsby also made his way to Erie where he worked for H. Jarecki & Co., an oil refining business operated by his uncle. Later, John Whitney returned to Wisconsin.

It was in Milwaukee that John Whitney Ormsby made his permanent residence with Alma and their children. He again took up business, working as president of the Ormsby Cement and Lime Company, which had branches at Grafton, Hayton, and Brillion, Wisconsin. The Ormsby family spent the majority of their time in Milwaukee, but in 1869 when the title to Bonnie Oaks was conveyed to Alma Atwood Ormsby, the family began to use Bonnie Oaks as a summer residence.

The Ormsbys made considerable changes to the Bonnie Oaks estate and built many of the structures still there today. In the 1870s or 1880s John Whitney Ormsby built the main house for his wife's parents, Joshua and Rosina Atwood. Around this time John Whitney also built the structure known as the Log House on the site of an earlier log cabin, one originally used by Joshua and Rosina Atwood. A three-story square frame building known as the Tower was built circa 1890, to be used as a two-story guest house, with a water tank on the third floor to provide irrigation to the lawns. During the late nineteenth century John Whitney Ormsby also relocated the original barn by removing portions of it above the fieldstone and erecting a new foundation northwest of the original. The remaining foundation was later converted by the Greens into a garage. Also, during the last quarter of the nineteenth century John Whitney Ormsby built a new barn, two stories on a one-story fieldstone foundation, probably obtained from Ormsby's Lime Company. Several other smaller outbuildings were also erected circa 1890.

In 1897 the Ormsby's daughter Mildred (1872-1964) married the prominent Milwaukee lawyer Harrison Samuel Green (1873-1955), son of Harrison L. Green and Harriett Harrison. Harrison S. and Mildred Ormsby Green had three children, Katherine (b. 1901), Margot (b. 1908), and Eleanor (b. 1911), and made their home in Milwaukee.

Following the death of John Whitney Ormsby in 1916 the Greens became the owners of Bonnie Oaks, and they also maintained the estate as a summer residence. It was through Mildred Ormsby Green that the estate became known as an informal artist's retreat in the 1920s-1930s.

Intensely interested in the arts, Mildred Ormsby Green opened her estate to many aspiring and experienced artists. In 1922 Mildred Ormsby Green invited pianist and Juilliard teacher Josef Lhevinne (1874-1944) to Bonnie Oaks. For twenty-two years, from the first visit until his death, Lhevinne spent a part of each summer in the Tower at Bonnie Oaks. He generally visited with his wife Rosina (1880-1976), also a noted pianist and a Juilliard teacher, and frequently brought along a student for intensive study. With the encouragement and favor of Mildred Green, Lhevinne encouraged his associates to visit Bonnie Oaks, including Franz Proschowski, a voice teacher of Paul Robeson.

Other visitors to Bonnie Oaks included close friend and writer Zona Gale (1874-1938), a distant relative through Lovicy Gale and a well known author at the time, who spent much of her time in Portage, a short distance from Bonnie Oaks. She brought many protégés to the estate, such as writers William Maxwell (b. 1908) and Margery Latimer (1899-1932), each of whom became friends with the Greens.

In fact, Maxwell had come to Bonnie Oaks while still in high school to do odd jobs around the estate. After a period of stress and ill health, Maxwell was taken in by Mildred Green. He spent much of his time in the Tower and it was there that he completed his first novel, Bright Center of Heaven (1934), apparently inspired by the lifestyle at Bonnie Oaks. Maxwell wrote several other novels and later became an editor at the New Yorker.

Margery Latimer was another writer who visited Bonnie Oaks, and wrote letters frequently, exchanging ideas with its inhabitants. Both Latimer and Zona Gale were involved with the Gurdjieff philosophy, one that dictates the practice of an elaborate system of mental and physical exercises designed to develop the individual's emotional and mental powers, integrate them with the body and bring them under self-control and self-direction. In the summer of 1931 when Jean Toomer (1894-1967), a published writer of the Harlem Renaissance and a known leader of the Gurdjieff philosophy in the Midwest, conducted the “Portage Experiment” at Big Slough, Margery Latimer and Katherine Green were among the participants. In this experiment, a group of male and female students lived together (with a chaperone) in an effort to disintegrate the personalities of the participants and then rebuild them according to the Gurdjieff principles. As the Portage Experiment occurred not far from Bonnie Oaks and both Katherine Green and Margery Latimer were involved, Toomer and his students visited Bonnie Oaks several times. The experiment was eventually terminated when it became a source of scandal, dubbed by the press as a free-love cult. Following the experiment Latimer, a white woman, and Toomer, a black man, married secretly in 1931, and in August of 1932 Latimer died giving birth to the couple's daughter.

Toomer soon made headlines again when he and Charles (a.k.a Chaus) Dupee were arrested at Margery Latimer's former home, though it was Dupee and not Toomer who was the source of the trouble. Dupee, the son of a socially prominent and wealthy Oconomowoc family, was charged with abandoning his wife and children, a state his wife blamed on his participation in the Portage Experiment. As fellow participants, both Jean Toomer and Katherine Green had known and grown close to Charles Dupee during this time. Charles Dupee and Katherine Green were married sometime between 1932 and 1935, though they eventually divorced.

All three Green sisters married in the 1930s. In 1934 Margot Green married Faun Freeborn; the two had several children and remained together. Eleanor Green married a noted poet and translator of classical literature, Robert Fitzgerald (b. 1910) in 1936. At this time Eleanor Green herself was an aspiring author, having written her first novel while at Bonnie Oaks. That novel, The Hill, was published in 1936 and received widespread acclaim. In 1945 Green and Fitzgerald divorced, and she later married William Piel, Jr. (1911-1998) with whom she remained married until his death.

Bonnie Oaks, the site and inspiration of so much creativity, still exists and is currently listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The estate remained in the Atwood, Ormsby, and Green families for 125 years, until 1982, when it was bought by William and Grace Schultz.

The Atwood, Ormsby and Green Family Papers consist of seven series: GENEALOGICAL/HISTORICAL, CORRESPONDENCE, ARTIST SUBJECT FILES, PERSONAL PAPERS, NEWS CLIPPINGS, PUBLICATIONS, and PHOTOGRAPHS.

The GENEALOGICAL/HISTORICAL series contains genealogical information culled by Eleanor Green Piel about the maternal side of her family. The correspondence and lengthy genealogical records she received trace the family's genealogy back to the early eighteenth century. The genealogical materials include not only the Wisconsin Ormsby family line but also the many Ormsby/Ormsbee lines in the Ohio and Midwestern area. The majority of the legal documents within this series are very sparse though the Abstract of Title for Bonnie Oaks does detail the ownership changes from 1853 to 1927.

The CORRESPONDENCE series contains outgoing family correspondence from all branches of the family, predominantly from the 1860s-1870s, arranged by author. The bulk of this concerns Alma Atwood Ormsby and John Whitney Ormsby. Alma Atwood Ormsby wrote numerous letters to her parents, and also received a vast quantity of letters, particularly from her cousins Ellen Willson and Laura Bascom. Alma Atwood and John Whitney Ormsby also corresponded with each other, and some of these letters illustrate initial stages of their courtship and progressive stages of their relationship. Correspondence from the Green family is very sparse with the use of nicknames common throughout, including names such as Oddie (Harrison S. Green), Daisy (Mildred Ormsby Green), Tokie (Katherine Green), and Sis (Eleanor Green). Other correspondence consists of very general letters from uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, and sisters to various members of the Atwood, Ormsby, and Green families. There is very little post-1900 correspondence.

The ARTIST SUBJECT FILES series includes news clippings and correspondence to members of the Green family from artists who visited Bonnie Oaks and dates from the 1920s through the 1980s. The two most prominent correspondents are William Maxwell and Jean Toomer. All of Maxwell's letters are to Eleanor Green discussing everyday matters and artistic endeavors. Letters from Jean Toomer are primarily to Katherine Green, though some may be intended for her husband Charles Dupee. These letters date from 1933 through 1936, following Margery Latimer's death and Toomer's subsequent marriage to Marjorie Content, who also adds on to Toomer's letters. As Toomer was close with both Katherine Green and Charles Dupee, the letters discuss intimate issues and offer extensive advice regarding the relationship. A smaller portion of the correspondence, but one of note, is that of Proschowski and the Robesons. It appears from letters that Mildred Green wrote to Proschowski and Paul Robeson introducing them to each other, at which time Robeson became a student of Proschowski.

The PERSONAL PAPERS series consists of daily diaries, two kept by John Whitney Ormsby in 1862 and 1863, and one by Alma Atwood in 1866. Brief daily entries in John Whitney Ormsby's diaries discuss events of the day, weather, traveling and health concerns, and the aftermath of the Civil War.

The NEWS CLIPPINGS series documents various noteworthy events over the years such as weddings, a case in which Harrison S. Green participated, book reviews on works published by Eleanor Green, and Mildred Ormsby Green's participation as a leader in the Girl Scouts. Bonnie Oaks often inspired human interest stories exploring the estate's past and also served as a site for a tree dedication ceremony.

The PUBLICATIONS consist of one published book of short stories and novellas written by Eleanor Green, as well as a few poems published in a pamphlet produced by a school attended by her.

The PHOTOGRAPHS series includes images of family members from the 1850s through the 1970s, as well as artists from the 1920s and the 1930s. Family photographs are fairly comprehensive, and a number follow a particular family member from childhood, through adulthood and into his or her later years. Many of these family photographs also depict the various activities family and friends engaged in at Bonnie Oaks such as sports, plays, hunting, traveling, swimming, and canoeing. The photographs of various artists include formal portraits with inscriptions as well as informal snapshots of the artists at Bonnie Oaks and with the Green family.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Eleanor Green Piel, Sherman, Connecticut, 2000-2002. Accession Number: M2002-012

Processing Information

Processed by Lauren Kestenbaum (Practicum student), 2003.

	Series: Genealogical/Historical Information
	Genealogical research
Box   1 Folder   1	Atwood, Briggs, and Ormsby families by Hoyt, William, 1994
Box   1 Folder   2	Briggs, Clement of Plymouth Colony and his descendants, undated
Box   1 Folder   3	Family historical writings by members of the Ormsbee/Ormsby families, 1959
Box   1 Folder   4	Green, Samuel McGee, Obituary, 1936
Box   1 Folder   5	News clippings about Ormsby family, 1986
Box   1 Folder   6	Ormsbee/Ormsby family by Pierce, A.E., 1966
Box   1 Folder   7	Ormsby family group records by Sexsmith, Louella O., 1993
	Birth and death information
Box   1 Folder   8	Certificates, Photocopies of material dating from 1842-1959
Box   1 Folder   9	Dates as determined by various authority figures, 1956-1972
	Legal documents
	Bonnie Oaks
Box   1 Folder   10	Abstract of Title, 1853-1927
Box   1 Folder   11	Blueprint, 1928
Box   1 Folder   12	Deed of Conservation Easement, 1992
Box   1 Folder   13	Taxes, 1859-1868
	Personal affairs
Box   1 Folder   14	Atwood, Joshua, 1854-1957
Box   1 Folder   15	Green, Harrison Samuel, Papers relating to the practice of law, 1898
Box   1 Folder   16	Green, Katherine, Purchase of a burial plot, 1955
Box   1 Folder   17	Green, Mildred Ormsby, 1873-1965
Box   1 Folder   18	Green (Piel), Eleanor, Photocopy of Marriage Certificate to William Piel, 1951
Box   1 Folder   19	Ormsby, Alma Atwood, Teaching certificate and will, 1862-1882
Box   1 Folder   20	Ormsby, John Whitney, 1867-1916
	Series: Correspondence	⇧
Box   1 Folder   21	Atwood, Josephine, 1871-1875
Box   1 Folder   22	Atwood, Joshua, 1853-1874
Box   1 Folder   23	Atwood, Rosina Willson, 1856-1870
Box   1 Folder   24-25	Bascom, Laura, 1859-1922
Box   2 Folder   1	Bascom, Laura, continued
Box   2 Folder   2	Cudworth, Lucinda W., 1855-1878
Box   2 Folder   3	Freeborn, Margot Green, 1941-1952
Box   2 Folder   4	Green, Harrison S., 1918-1942
Box   2 Folder   5	Green, Katherine, undated
Box   2 Folder   6	Green, Mildred Ormsby, 1920-1941
Box   2 Folder   7	Green (Piel), Eleanor, 1969
	Ormsby, Alma Atwood
Box   2 Folder   8-10	To Atwood, Joshua and Rosina, 1862-1879
Box   2 Folder   11	To Bascom, Laura, 1856-1872
Box   2 Folder   12	To Green, Mildred Ormsby, 1879-1892
Box   2 Folder   13	To Ormsby, John Whitney, 1862-1866
Box   2 Folder   14	To other family members, 1862-1877
Box   2 Folder   15	Ormsby, Betsy A. Corrill, 1865-1868
Box   2 Folder   16	Ormsby, John H. to Ormsby, John Whitney, 1856-1870
	Ormsby, John Whitney
Box   2 Folder   17	To Atwood, Joshua, 1877-1893
Box   2 Folder   18	To Green, Mildred Ormsby, 1879-1892
Box   2 Folder   19	To Ormsby, Alma Atwood, 1861-1892
Box   3 Folder   1	To Ormsby, Betsy A. Corrill and John H., 1866-1880
Box   3 Folder   2	To Ormsby, Julia and/or Mary, 1864-1878
Box   3 Folder   3	To other family members, circa 1860
Box   3 Folder   4	Ormsby, Julia, 1864-1878
Box   3 Folder   5	Smith, Daisy, 1936-1939
Box   3 Folder   6	Willson, Ellen E., 1855-1877
Box   3 Folder   7	Willson, Eliza, 1854-1858
Box   3 Folder   8	Willson, Mary, 1862-1874
Box   3 Folder   9-12	Other family correspondence, 1839-1898
	Series: Artist Subject Files	⇧
Box   3 Folder   13	Fitzgerald, Robert, Correspondence, outgoing and news clippings, 1943, 1976
	Gale, Zona
	Correspondence, outgoing
Box   3 Folder   14	Green, Mildred Ormsby, 1925-1935
Box   3 Folder   15	Green (Piel), Eleanor, 1928-1935
Box   3 Folder   16	News clippings, pamphlets and excerpts, 1962-1982
	Latimer (Toomer), Margery
	Correspondence, outgoing
Box   3 Folder   17	Green, Katherine, 1929-1931
Box   3 Folder   18	Green, Mildred Ormsby, 1931
Box   3 Folder   19	Green (Piel), Eleanor, 1929-1931
Box   3 Folder   20	Correspondence, incoming from Wolfe, Thomas, 1929-1930
Box   4 Folder   1	News clippings, 1932 Note: Also see “Toomer, Jean, News clippings”
	Lhevinne, Joseph
	Correspondence, outgoing
Box   4 Folder   2	Green Family, 1922-1944
Box   4 Folder   3	Green (Piel), Eleanor, 1927-1928
Box   4 Folder   4	News clippings and programs, 1928-1981
	Lhevinne, Rosina
Box   4 Folder   5	Correspondence to Green family, 1964-1976
Box   4 Folder   6	News clippings and documentary work, 1970-1989
Box   4 Folder   7	Death and Piel family, 1976-1977
Box   4 Folder   8	Maxwell, William, Correspondence, outgoing to Green (Piel), Eleanor, 1931-1941
Box   4 Folder   9	Robeson, Eslanda and Paul and Proschowski, Frantz, Correspondence and news clippings, 1926
	Toomer, Jean
	Correspondence, outgoing
Box   4 Folder   10	Green, Katherine, 1931-1936
Box   4 Folder   11	Green, Mildred Ormsby, 1932
	News clippings
Box   4 Folder   12	Gurdjieff and Portage Experiment, 1932
Box   4 Folder   13	Marriage to Latimer, Margery; Also writings and invitation, 1931-1937
	Series: Personal Papers	⇧
Box   4 Folder   14	Green, Katherine, Poems, 1923-1924
Box   4 Folder   15	Ormsby, Alma Atwood, Diaries, 1866
	Ormsby, John Whitney
Box   4 Folder   16	Diaries, 1862-1866
Box   4 Folder   17	Henry Jarecki & Co., 1896-1897
	Series: News Clippings	⇧
Box   4 Folder   17	Bonnie Oaks, 1957-1988
Box   4 Folder   18	Green, Harrison Samuel, 1925
Box   4 Folder   19	Green, Margot, undated
Box   4 Folder   20	Green, Mildred Ormsby, 1957
Box   4 Folder   21	Green (Piel), Eleanor, 1935-1937
	Series: Publications	⇧
	Green (Piel), Eleanor
Box   4 Folder   23	Pilgrims and Strangers: Stories by Eleanor Green, published 1998
Box   4 Folder   24	Poems in Sharpened Quills of the Literary Club of Milwaukee-Downer Seminary, 1925-1927
PH Mss 989	Series: Photographs and Negatives	⇧
	Family Members
Box   1 Folder   1	Atwood, Joshua, Formal portraits alone
Box   4 Folder   1	Atwood, Lovicy Gale, Formal portrait alone
Box   1 Folder   2	Atwood, Parker, Formal portrait alone
Box   1 Folder   3	Atwood, Rosina Willson, Formal portraits alone
	Freeborn, Margot Green
Box   1 Folder   4	Formal portraits and informal snapshots alone
Box   1 Folder   5	Wedding at Bonnie Oaks, 1934
Box   1 Folder   6	With husband and children
	Green, Harriet Harrison
Box   1 Folder   7	Formal portraits and informal snapshots alone
Box   1 Folder   8	With Green sisters
	Green, Harrison S.
Box   1 Folder   9	Formal portraits and informal snapshots alone
Box   1 Folder   10	With daughters
Box   3 Folder   1	With Smith, Daisy, Montana camping trip, 1922
Box   1 Folder   11	With others
	Green, Katherine
Box   1 Folder   12	Formal portraits and informal snapshots alone
Box   3 Folder   2	With Smith, Daisy, Montana camping trip, 1922
Box   1 Folder   13	With others
	Green, Mildred Ormsby
Box   4 Folder   2	As a teenage girl
Box   1 Folder   14	Formal portraits and informal snapshots alone
Box   1 Folder   15	Wedding, 1897
Box   1 Folder   16	With others
Box   1 Folder   17	Green, Samuel McGee, Formal portraits alone
	Green (Peil), Eleanor
Box   1 Folder   18	Formal portraits and informal snapshots alone
Box   1 Folder   19	In Mexico, 1946-1947
Box   1 Folder   20	With Piel, William
Box   1 Folder   21	With others
Box   3 Folder   7	Portrait
Box   1 Folder   22	Ormsby, Alma Atwood, Formal portraits alone
Box   4 Folder   3	Ormsby, Alma Atwood, Seated on a low stool pictured with two unidentified women
	Ormsby, John Whitney
Box   4 Folder   4	Formal portrait alone
Box   1 Folder   23	Formal portraits alone and with others
Box   1 Folder   24	Hunting and camping
Box   1 Folder   25	Photo by Orsmby, John Whitney, 1888
Box   1 Folder   26	Willson, Mother of Rosina, 1888
	Family Groupings
Box   1 Folder   27	Atwood, Joshua and Rosina Willson with others in Napa, California
Box   4 Folder   5	Atwood, Joshua, Rosina Willson and Ormsby, Alma Atwood, 1854
Box   3 Folder   4	Atwood and Green family album
Box   1 Folder   28	Freeborn, Margot Green and Green (Piel), Eleanor together
Box   1 Folder   29	Green family groupings, Various members
	Artists and Friends
Box   1 Folder   30	Fitzgerald, Robert with Green, Mildred Ormsby and Green (Piel), Eleanor
Box   3 Folder   3	Gale, Zona
	Lhevinne, Josef
Box   1 Folder   31	Formal portraits and informal snapshots alone
Box   2 Folder   1	With others
Box   2 Folder   2	Lhevinne, Rosina, Formal portraits alone and informal snapshots with others
Box   2 Folder   3	Maxwell, William, With members of Green family
Box   2 Folder   4	Proschowski, Frantz, Alone and with his family
Box   2 Folder   5	Toomer, Jean, Informal snapshots alone and with others, and Gurdjieff house
Box   2 Folder   6	Employees of Green family, Bonnie Oaks and in Milwaukee
	Bonnie Oaks
	Grounds
Box   3 Folder   6	“Framed”
Box   2 Folder   7	Garden and vineyard
Box   2 Folder   8	General views
Box   3 Folder   5	General views
Box   3 Folder   8-12	General views
Box   2 Folder   9	Neenah Creek
	Buildings
Box   2 Folder   10	Barn
Box   2 Folder   11	Barn on new foundation with old boathouse
Box   2 Folder   12	Boat House
Box   2 Folder   13	Garage on foundation from old barn
Box   2 Folder   14-17	Houses, Frame and Log
Box   2 Folder   18	Log house construction sequence
Box   2 Folder   19	Outbuildings
Box   2 Folder   20	Tower
Box   2 Folder   21	Summer tents
Box   2 Folder   22	Water tower and windmill
Box   2 Folder   23	Interiors
	Properties and Businesses
Box   2 Folder   24	Henry Jarecki & Co. building
Box   2 Folder   25	Ormsby lime kilns at Brillion, Wis.
Box   2 Folder   26	Ormsby Wahl Avenue home, Milwaukee, Wis.
Box   2 Folder   27	Summer home of Samuel Harrison Green, Oconomowoc
Box   2 Folder   28	Bonnie Oaks Tree Farm