See letters, photographs and other ephemera from two of Seattle's early families.
Angelo Pellegrini Interview, February 27, 1986
Angelo Pellegrini (1903-1991) was a food and wine expert, author, and a professor of English Literature at the University of Washington. He was born in Casabianca, Italy and was one of six children. His father, Piacento, was a sharecropper and left Italy for the United States in 1912 to seek a better life for his family. He found work first with the Northern Pacific Railway (which sent him to Washington) and then with the Henry McCleary Timber Company in Grays Harbor. The rest of the Pellegrini family followed in 1913. Angelo Pellegrini excelled in school, learning English and completing eight years of grade school in five years. He completed high school in three years and enrolled in the University of Washington where he studied history. Following his graduation from the University of Washington, he began became an English professor at Whitman College for a brief time before returning to teach at the University of Washington. Pellegrini published his first book, The Unprejudiced Palate, in 1948. Over the course of his career he earned several awards and honors including being named an "an Outstanding Citizen of Washington State" by the Washington State House of Representatives. He retired from teaching in 1973 but continued to write, authoring ten books in total over the course of his lifetime. His books were noted for their appreciation of food and culture and representation of the Italian immigrant experience.
Identifier: spl_ds_apellegrini_01_01
Date: 1986-02-27
View this itemEnvelope to Mrs. A. [Sarah] Latimer, December 8, 1891
Empty envelope addressed to Sarah Latimer. Sarah was the wife of Alexander Latimer and mother to five daughters: Narcissa Leonora Latimer Denny (1851-1900), Eliza Alice Latimer Fowler (1856-1934), Harriet Ellen Latimer Stephens (1859-1938), Clara Latimer Bickford (1861-1934), and Emma Chesney Latimer Reynolds (1864-1946). The letter was postmarked from Minnesota. The town is difficult to read but is likely Winnebago City where Sarah Latimer was living at the time.
Identifier: spl_lj_010
Date: 1891-12-08
View this itemChildren of Sarah Jane Latimer Dawdy, ca. 1920
Sarah Jane Latimer Dawdy (1847-1915) was the daughter of Alexander Latimer and his second wife, Julia Ann Hart (1819-1850). She married John W. Dowdy on March 25, 1868 in Knox, Illinois. They had three children, Drennan Latimer Dawdy, Norval Dawdy and Daisy E. Dawdy. Location and exact date of the photograph are unknown.
Identifier: spl_lj_070
Date: 1920
View this itemUnknown girl, ca. 1865
Tintype portrait of unidentified young girl.
Identifier: spl_lj_016
Date: 1865
View this itemUnknown woman in Hiawatha, Kansas, ca. 1880 [Narcissa?]
Photograph taken by R.A. Hickox in Hiawatha, Kansas.
Identifier: spl_lj_027
Date: 1880
View this itemUnknown man in Waterloo, Iowa, ca. 1880
Photograph taken by H.S. & J.W. Hoot in Waterloo, Iowa.
Identifier: spl_lj_024
Date: 1880
View this itemUnknown woman in Portland, Oregon, 1881
Photograph taken by Frank G. Abell in Portland, Oregon.
Identifier: spl_lj_051
Date: 1881
View this itemNarcissa Latimer letter to Alexander and Sarah Latimer, November 17, 1884
Narcissa Leonora (Nora) Latimer Denny was the daughter of Alexander and Sarah Latimer. She had four sisters: Eliza Alice Latimer Fowler (1856-1934), Harriet Ellen Latimer Stephens (1859-1938), Clara Latimer Bickford (1861-1934), and Emma Chesney Latimer Reynolds (1864-1946). Narcissa married Orion Denny on April 1, 1889. The letter is addressed to Alexander and Sarah Latimer and is written from Seattle. It discusses Seattle's climate, her duties as a teacher, women's suffrage, the recent presidential election and Denny family matters including the birth of Roland Denny's third daughter (Edith Denny). Narcissa writes that one of Roland's daughters' was upset that the baby was a girl and notes that ""Cousin Arthur"" (Arthur Denny) consoled the child by telling her that a girl is worth as much as a boy because ""She can vote."" (Washington Territory women were granted the right to vote in 1883 but the right was repealed in August 1888 when a court ruled that the territorial government did not have the authority to enfranchise women voters. Washington became a state in 1889 but women did not regain the vote in Washington until 1910.)
Identifier: spl_lj_004
Date: 1884-11-17
View this itemFlorence Wiltsie, Alice Fowler and Anita at Money Creek Park, 1920
Transcribed from photograph: "1920. Florence Wiltsie, Alice Fowler and Anita at Money Creek Park on Miller River, near Seattle." Eliza Alice Latimer Fowler was the sister of Narcissa Latimer Denny. Her daughter, Alice Anita Fowler, was born in 1890. The identity of the child in the photograph is unknown.
Identifier: spl_lj_066
Date: 1920
View this itemClara Latimer Bickford letter to mother Sarah Latimer, February 16, 1892
Clara Latimer Bickford was the daughter of Alexander and Sarah Latimer and sister of Narcissa Latimer Denny. She married Arthur Farrington Bickford in 1888 in Minnesota. They lived in Seattle from roughly 1892-1900 before moving to Oregon. The letter discusses Clara's sister and brother-in-law Narcissa and Orion Denny, along with Clara's daughter Ethel and other family matters.
Identifier: spl_lj_009
Date: 1892-02-16
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