This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Mark Twain in German-Language Newspapers and Periodicals

Elmira, N.Y. | Quarry Farm

Situated just outside Elmira, N.Y., Quarry Farm was the permanent home of Olivia 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 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 accommodate our family. Susy and I slept together, my younger sister, Jean, roomed with the nurse, and Father and Mother occupied a third room. Mrs. Crane often referred to her home as “Do as you Please Hall,” for she wished everyone to feel complete liberty to act and think as he would.
(59)

Quarry Farm was donated to the Elmira College in 1983 and is now used by the Center for Mark Twain Studies. A virtual tour of the location is available on the Center for Mark Twain Studies website.

This page is referenced by:

Mark Twain’s Leiche beigesetzt | 25 April 1910

Tägliches Cincinnatier volksblatt. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]), 25 April 1910. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045474/1910-04-25/ed-1/seq-1/>

Transcription	English Translation
Mark Twain’s Leiche beigesetzt	Mark Twain's body interred
Elmira, N. Y., 24. April. Eine kleine Gruppe Leidtragender sah mit stillem Schmerze zu, wie die sterbliche Hülle Samuel L. Clemens' im Woodlawn Friedhofe neben dem Grabe seiner Gattin und Kinder der kühlen Erde übergeben wurde. Rev. Samuel E. Eaton, Pastor der Park Church und intimer Freund des großen Humoristet, leitete die kurze und einfache Trauerfeier. Die Familien-Mitglieder, welche die Leiche von New York nach hier begleiteten, eine frühere Gouvernante in der Clemens'schen Familie, einige ihrer Freundinnen und ein halbes Dutzend Zeitungsleute waren die einzigen, welche der Beisetzung der Leiche beiwohnten.	Elmira, N. Y., April 24. A small group of mourners watched with silent sorrow as the mortal remains of Samuel L. Clemens were consigned to the cool earth in Woodlawn Cemetery next to the grave of his wife and children. Rev. Samuel E. Eaton [Samuel Elijah Eastman], pastor of Park Church and intimate friend of the great humorist, conducted the brief and plain funeral service. The family members who had accompanied the body from New York, a former governess in Clemens' family, some of her friends and half a dozen newspaper men were the only ones who attended the funeral.
Der Gottesdienst war vorher in der Residenz des Generals Charles J. Langdon, wo Mark Twain vor vierzig Jahren des Generals Schwester geheirathet hatte, gehalten worden. Auf besonderen Wunsch der Angehörigen war derselbe ganz einfach und bestand nur aus einer kurzen Ansprache und einem Gebet. Die Leiche war in demselben Parlor aufgebahrt, wo vor 40 Jahren die Trauung stattfand und einige der Trauzeugen befanden sich unter den Leidtragenden. Unter den prächtigen Blumenspenden befand sich ein schöner Kranz mit der Inschrift: „Von 500 Knaben der Louisville Hochschule zur Erinnerung an Herrn Clemens, der sie durch unschuldiges Lachen erfreut und sie Gerechtigkeit sowie Duldsamkeit gegenüber Schwächen gelehrt hat.“	The service had been conducted earlier at the residence of General Charles J. Langdon, where Mark Twain had married the general's sister forty years ago. At the special request of the relatives, the service was very plain and consisted only of a short speech and a prayer. The body was laid out in the same parlor where the wedding had taken place 40 years ago and some of the witnesses were now among the mourners. Among the splendid donations of flowers was a beautiful wreath with the inscription: “From 500 boys of Louisville High School in memory of Mr. Clemens, who delighted them with innocent laughter and taught them justice as well as tolerance of weakness.”
Dr. Eastman sagte in seiner kurzen Leichenrede, daß er nicht von dem berühmtenHumoristen Mark Twain, um dessen Heimgang die ganze Welt trauere, sprechen wolle, sondern nur von dem guten Gatten und Vater und treuen Freunde. Nachdem noch alle einen letzten Blick auf die Züge des Verstorbenen geworfen, wurde der Sarg geschlossen und zum Woodlawn Friedhofe hinausgefahren, wo die Beisetzung stattfand.	Dr. Eastman, in his brief funeral oration, said that he did not wish to speak of the famous Humorist Mark Twain, for whose passing the whole world mourned, but only of the good husband and father and faithful friend. After everyone had taken a last look at the deceased's features, the coffin was closed and driven out to Woodlawn Cemetery, where the burial took place.
Die Bewohner Elmira's halten Mark Twain im besten Andenken. Manchen Sommer hat er mit seiner Gattin und den Kindern in vollkommenem Glück auf der Quarry Farm, dem Heim seiner Schwägerin Susan L. Crane verbracht. Ein Pfad schlängelt sich vom Crane'schen Hause durch den Wald zum Sommerhäuschen, wo Mark Twain zu arbeiten liebte und wo er „Roughing it“, „A Tramp abroad“ und andere Werke schuf.	The people of Elmira hold Mark Twain in the best of memory. Many a summer he spent with his wife and children in perfect happiness at Quarry Farm, the home of his sister-in-law, Susan L. Crane. A path winds from the Crane home through the woods to the summer cottage where Mark Twain loved to work and where he created “Roughing it,” “A Tramp Abroad,” and other works.
Während der „Quaker City Expedition“ im Jahre 1867 wurde Herr Clemens mit General Langdon, damals ein noch junger Mann, bekannt. Die Bekanntschaft reifte zur Freundschaft und führte später zur Heirath des Schriftstellers mit der Schwester seines Freundes.	During the “Quaker City Excursion” in 1867, Mr. Clemens became acquainted with General Langdon, then a young man. The acquaintance matured into friendship and later led to the writer's marriage to his friend's sister.

This page is referenced by:

This page references: