Dating Aimee

When Memories Get in the Way of Facts

Aug 02, 2024

Release Date: August 2, 2024

The Early Years

Like many of us, Aimee Henry was remarkably inconsistent when placing memories on a timeline.

The question of when she lived in Baltimore with Orin and Etta Byers is a great example of this inconsistency.

Each of these statements was given by Aimee in 1928.

“On returning to Boston [after giving birth], Mrs. Taylor left me with friends of Amelia Wright in St, Johns. At the end of a few weeks, I was moved to Baltimore to people by the name of Byers.”¹

“When I was four, Archibald Henderson Taylor, a lawyer of Mary Martha Parker, thought some poor relatives of his right as well be paid the money the Byers were getting so prevailed upon Mary Martha to board me with a Miss Minor and her brother.”²

“I first recall seeing [Mary Martha Parker] when I was five years old. I know my birthday was June 19, and the year of my birth was 1889. I was then living in Baltimore with a family named Byers.” ³

“From the time of my birth until I was five, I remember nothing. When I was 10 or 11, I lived with a family named Byers opposite the old baseball grounds in Baltimore.” ⁴

“After a year or two with Professor Minor, my aunt took me to her home at Rhinebeck, NY. Here I stayed for a year or so. It was a beautiful place, but no one paid any attention to me or loved me. My Aunt Martha, as I called her, stood this for a year — then the boarding schools began.” ⁵

Sort of makes your head spin, doesn’t it?

I know it did mine.

In attempting to put together a more accurate timeline of Aimee’s life, I relied heavily on outside sources, including historical records, official documents, newspaper and school newsletter articles, and – that great friend of writers, yet nemesis of genealogists – educated guesses.

Back to our example of when she lived with the Byers, I concluded it was likely from sometime in 1892 until sometime in 1896. Here’s how I got there:

Orin Byers was listed in Baltimore city directories from 1891 until 1901; however, the family only lived near the baseball park from 1892 until 1898. That’s not a deal-breaker, of course, but it is something to consider when building a timeline. They also changed houses in 1894, also something to remember. ⁶

Aimee was not included with the Byers family in the 1900 US Census. Instead, she was listed as a member of Ellen Kimball’s household in Worcester, MA. The census enumerator recorded her as an eight-year-old student. Ellen Kimball was the director of Miss Kimball’s School for Girls. ⁷

So, I feel like 1900 is a known event on which we can hang our hats.

In multiple statements, Aimee said she attended Miss Kimball’s School for three years before Mary Martha moved her to Linden Hall Seminary. And school records show 10-year-old Aimee first enrolled at Linden Hall in the fall of 1901.

Working backward, simple math puts Aimee at Miss Kimball’s in the fall of 1897. That seems like another date we can work with!

So, where was Aimee before the fall of 1897?

Well, she was with the Byers for some of that time.

And with someone named Minor, likely Mary Lancelot Minor of Charlottesville, VA, for a while – either a relatively short time or “a year or two”, depending on the account.

And finally, Aimee was with Mary Martha at her New York estate for what she recalled was a year just before she started at Miss Kimball’s School for Girls.

Let’s say she was right about her time with Mary Martha and Aimee was in New York from the fall of 1896 until the fall of 1897.

Two years with Mary Minor would have Aimee leaving the Byers home as a three-year-old in 1894.

One year would be 1895, and a short time could be sometime in 1896 or about the time she was five, which is what I went with.

Why?

Well, Aimee clearly had some of her own memories from her years with the Byers. She recalled her first meeting with Mary Martha, down to what kind of clothing she was wearing. Those are details that seem more available to a five-year-old than a younger child. They’re also details she probably wouldn’t have gotten from someone like Amelia Wright.

In the end, of course, the 1896 date is just an educated guess, a place marker that provides a pause before we dive into details about which we have more information, and I’m ok with that.

Recreating timelines based on conflicting and inaccurate information and memories is challenging, isn’t it? It involves giving weight to some details and setting other details aside, making decisions and then changing them when new knowledge or insight comes along.

And, ultimately, it requires us to move forward with uncertainty, understanding that the timelines we create are “good enough” for now and will likely change as time passes.

Do you know what would be awesome? If you shared this post with a friend!

Memories of Halifax

Here’s another example of Aimee’s memory issues. And, let me be clear, I have a terrible memory myself, so this isn’t a slight against her at all, just an example of the ~~danger~~ challenges of relying on memory as the sole source of historical information.

Aimee mentioned her time at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, a number of times during interviews as well as in her 1928 affidavit. Yet, when I reached out to staff at Armbrae Academy (Dalhousie University underwent a name change in 1980), they had no record of her attendance.

Curious but not unexpected, since it appears she wasn’t a student there for very long.

Then, while doing some followup research, I happened upon a November 1, 1928 article in the Halifax Evening Mail titled, “Former H.L.C. Student in $16,000,000 Will Case”.⁸

Turns out, Aimee didn’t actually attend Dalhousie University, but was, instead, a student at nearby Halifax Ladies College and Conservatory of Music, a school affiliated with Dalhousie at various points in its history. According to the article, she arrived in Halifax in the fall of 1908, and caused quite a stir.

“There was a subtle sophistication about the new girl which was wholly absent from the average H.L.C. student. Without being pretty, she was fascinating. In appearance the thoroughbred, in color a perfect blonde. Skin of dazzling fairness, large wistful blue eyes with the shadow of melancholy about them, except when she smiled, disclosing a row of strong white teeth, beautifully kept, which would have been a joy to those producers of toothpaste who have made smiles profitable.”

The article paints a picture of Aimee which is in sharp contrast to just about everything else I've found about her.

Consider this description:

“The elegance of her bearing, and the grace of her tall slim figure, not to mention the long ostrich feather which curled bewitchingly over her shoulder, smartly black against a red fox fur, made her a conspicuous figure in any group of H.L.C. girls on their daily walks towards the Park, the Gardens, or out to Marlborough Woods…She looked like the product of generations of careful breeding. She danced, rode and moved graciously about spacious homes. Her, head-daughter of a line whose women was (sic) held high, as befitting a patrician.”

Some of the details in the article do ring true, however, including this one:

“She mentioned names that were outstanding in American society, yet seemed to have no relations. She was too good to be nobody, yet she lacked many attentions that the poorest girl in school had, the little attentions that stamp a girl as belonging to a clan. In her mournful moods, she would hint at unhappiness, at some great personal tragedy.”

And then there’s this one, which definitely echos what Aimee herself said about her experiences at previous boarding schools, especially Mrs. Mead’s School for Girls:

“The combined results of all questions brought about a mystified conviction that Aimee made up stories about her home affairs. Different versions were current, and the feeling grew that she was not quite truthful. This cast some doubt on the patrician quality, as even the veriest schoolgirl identifies character with breeding.”

If you haven’t caught on yet, I’m not sure how I feel about the veracity of this article. It carries no byline and, despite the vivid details, the information is surprisingly unsourced. Then there’s the fact that it appeared months after scores of other articles had already been published in both the US and Canada, many of which included similar, if less colorful details than the ones published elsewhere - details which could easily be built-upon.

That said, I don’t have any doubts Aimee attended Halifax Ladies College and Conservatory of Music and not Dalhousie University, and that she went there after leaving Mrs. Mead’s School for Girls at the end of the 1907-1908 school year. Why? Because she’s listed as one of four H.L.C. students who were confirmed by Bishop Clarendon Lamb Worrell during a special service on Sunday, March 28, 1909, at St. George’s Anglican Church in Halifax. ⁹

So, Aimee may have gotten the name of the school wrong, but, in this case, at least, the dates she gave were pretty spot on, and fit like a glove with the dates I’ve previously presented.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on recreating timelines – techniques, tips and mindsets that have worked for you, places I might have missed the boat on this particular timeline or others I’ve constructed in Call Me a Bastard. Drop your thoughts in the comments, and let’s talk about it!

End Notes

¹ “Astonishing Secrets Behind the Morecroft Fight for Millions — and the Bar Sinister; Sworn Statement of the Dainty Divorcee that she is the Natural Daughter of Rich “400” Widow, Whose Vast Estates she would share after Harrowing Experiences in Schools, Hospitals and Sanitariums while kept in the Dark,” Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, November 25, 1928.

² “Astonishing Secrets Behind the Morecroft Fight for Millions — and the Bar Sinister; Sworn Statement of the Dainty Divorcee that she is the Natural Daughter of Rich “400” Widow, Whose Vast Estates she would share after Harrowing Experiences in Schools, Hospitals and Sanitariums while kept in the Dark,” Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, November 25, 1928.

³ “Lonely, Loveless Childhood Recalled by Woman who insists ‘Aunt’ is her Mother”, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 30, 1928.

⁴ “Woman Would Tear Birth Mystery Veil; 12-year Gap in Life of Mrs. Morecroft”, Daily News (NYC), September 24, 1928.

⁵ “Lonely, Loveless Childhood Recalled by Woman who insists ‘Aunt’ is her Mother”, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 30, 1928.

⁶Baltimore, Maryland, City Directory, 1892-1894, Entry for Orin Byers.

⁷1900 United States Federal Census Record, Worcester Ward 7, Worcester, Massachusetts, Entry for Aimee Henry.

⁸“Former H.L.C. Student in $16,000,000 Will Case: Is Attempting to Gain Share in Big Estates, Mrs. Morecroft, Formerly Aimee Henry, Former Student at Halifax Ladies College, Enters Court Action to Prove She has Claim on Great New York Fortune”, The Evening Mail, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, November 1, 1928, P. 3, 22.

^{9 '“}Confirmation at St. George’s”, The Evening Mail, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, March 29, 1909, p. 10.