Elmira

From Mark Twain in the German Language Press

Revision as of 11:05, 25 August 2025 by KB (talk | contribs) (Created page with "Elmira, N.Y., was the home of Olivia Langdon Clemens' family and the Langdon family home was the place where Olivia and Samuel Clemens got married in 1870. During the summers, the Clemens family frequently visited Quarry Farm - just outside of Elmira - where Olivia Clemens' sister, Susan Langdon Crane, lived (see [https://www.zotero.org/groups/4437667/mtxdigital/items/FIZ6WARP Rasmussen et al. 2:678]). Elmira became a central part of the family's lives and Clemens'...")
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Elmira, N.Y., was the home of Olivia Langdon Clemens' family and the Langdon family home was the place where Olivia and Samuel Clemens got married in 1870. During the summers, the Clemens family frequently visited Quarry Farm - just outside of Elmira - where Olivia Clemens' sister, Susan Langdon Crane, lived (see Rasmussen et al. 2:678). Elmira became a central part of the family's lives and Clemens' daughters were all born on Quarry Farm. Clemens himself, his wife, and their children are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira.


There are 2 subtopics.

See a list of Article Pages which are connected to each subtopic by navigating to the specific Topic Page.

Quarry Farm

Situated just outside Elmira, N.Y., Quarry Farm was the permanent home of Olivia Langdon Clemens’ sister, Susan Langdon Crane, and her husband Theodore. The Clemens family spent most summers between 1871 and 1889 at Quarry Farm and the Cranes had a private study built for Clemens, the “octagonal study”, where he worked on many of his stories (see Rasmussen et al. 2:849-850).

Clara Langdon Clemens wrote about the Quarry Farm summers in My Father, Mark Twain and introduces the location as follows:

The major part of Father’s work was accomplished in the summer, which we spent with my mother’s sister, Mrs. Theodore Crane. She lived on the top of a long hill overlooking Elmira, New York. The place was called Quarry Farm, and was a heavenly spot. On a sunny day one could see the Chemung River sparkling far below as it wound its way through the town of Elmira, nestled cozily between the hills surrounding it. […]

The house […] was simple but very comfortable, with enough rooms to [...]

Woodlawn Cemetery

Clemens and “all members of his immediate family” (Rasmussen et al. 2:945) are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, N.Y.. The cemetery has been in use since 1858. A virtual tour of Woodlawn Cemetery with an interactive map of notable burials is available from the Center for Mark Twain Studies.

Jervis Langdon, father of Olivia Langdon Clemens, first purchased a family plot in Woodlawn Cemetery in 1866 (see Jerome and Wisbey 143) and when Olivia and Samuel Clemens’ first child, a son named Langdon, died in infancy in 1872, he was buried in the Langdon cemetery plot establishing the place as a shared grave site for the Langdon and Clemens families alike (see Selby 19).

Whereas the inscription on Clemens’ own gravestone is quite short, those on the gravestones of his [...]