There is a fair amount.
The two main books are Ireland, Gordon, The Balestiers of Beechwood
(self-published, 1948) and van de Water, Frederic, Rudyard Kipling's Vermont
Feud (New York, Haskell House Publishers, 1974). The first is hard to come by
-- I finally tracked down the copy I read at the Houghton Library, Harvard --
but it is terrifically good when you do get hold of it. By far the best thing
I found on the early background. Van de Water is not easy to find, but I did
locate a copy in the UK (I think at the London Library, but I can't
remember,I'm afraid). It's also horribly pro-Beatty, and therefore
anti-Kipling, but if this is discounted, there is a certain amount of good
stuff in it.
In addition, the Dunham descendants have put a microfilm copy of Carrie's
letters to her mother on deposit at the University of Sussex. I found that
quite helpful.
There is also a piece on Wolcott in the Kipling Journal of December 1989,
In the Harvard collection of Charles Eliot Norton's papers, there are notes
on the Balestiers from the Chicago Record's Rochester correspondent. I'm
afraid that I didn't take full notes, as I wasn't directly working on Carrie,
but I am happy to pass on the paragraph I've got if you can't get Harvard to
photocopy it. (I didn't take a full reference -- just Norton papers, bMS Am
1088, and it's a newspaper clipping.) Norton himself is of course not
reliable. In his Rudyard Kipling: a biographical sketch, he says Carrie was
the 'daughter' of Wolcott, so I don't think anything else from there can be
counted on...
Hope there is something in this you hadn't found before.
Best
Judith Flanders
In a message dated 19/10/00 14:33:35 GMT Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<< Subj: Carrie's childhood
Date: 19/10/00 14:33:35 GMT Daylight Time
From: [log in to unmask] (Adam Nicolson)
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I am writing a shortish piece about Carrie Kipling (nee Balestier) and am
having great difficulties finding anything about her childhood. Andrew
Lycett refers to a Rochester Historical Society publication (her mother's
family was from Rochester NY) and I am on the trail of that. But is that all
there is? Does anyone know what the Henry Balestier household, which
produced four highly individualised children, was actually like? Or if there
are any documents describing it?
I would love to know!
Adam Nicolson
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