 Thanks everyone and my sincerest apologies for the delay. There's a few Technological and past office issues, but thank you for joining me today. It's much appreciated I'm really glad to see all these happy faces on a cold day and all of you Interested in learning a little bit more about the book and about the people that are in it and of course a little bit about Newport history this is my first book and I'm really excited that I've written a book and it's really happy and glad that it's out finally after about a year and a half working on it It was launched in November by Arcadia publishing as John said they do a Legendary locals series on top of a number of other historical and nostalgic books about communities across the country It was a very well-timed for the holidays and for Newport's 375th anniversary, which is this year Arcadia reached out to me February 2012 I just want to give you a little background about the book if that's okay, and then we'll launch into The characters they came to me, which was an honor to write this book It fit into a template as I mentioned and they said they had found me through my work at Newport Life magazine and Thought I guess that I would be a good fit with my background there and Newport of course is ripe with history with characters. So it was an appropriate subject as well They provided very minimal direction. I had heard that Arcadia had done so So I knew that the challenge was on me to really be the best writer and the best researcher and the best editor I guess that I could be They did rather I had an editor who I worked with who had standard standard author guidelines Including a page count, which was very strict 128 pages word count restrictions for each little caption You'll see inside and size of the photos the digital size, but everything else was really up to me So identifying the legends to include you'll see a few here What page each person was on all the layout all that stuff that was all up to me So I really also had to find all the information on the people the the details the dates As well as write everything of course, but also locating and paying for all of the photos That was something that I didn't necessarily think that I would have to do pay for all the photos It was an added expense. Luckily. I have great relationships with a lot of local historical organizations John Hattendorf was great to I work with him. He's also in the book So the the Naval War College Museum was a great ally in this research as well And of course working at Newport Life magazine being owned by the Newport Daily News That's certainly an asset as well. So their archives run centuries. So I had that access as well, which was free Thank you very much So that was definitely a help there So I I got the assignment I guess in April 2002 and my deadline was this past June 2013 Excuse me 2012 to 2013. Thank goodness. It didn't take me 10 years. I may have lost my mind by then So it took me a little bit more than a year to assemble From the research to the actual interviews. I did interview as many living people as I possibly could And then Writing the little captions. I'm not sure if you've actually seen a copy of the book or if you have copies, but they're all black-and-white historical photos with little captains and Anecdotes here So I did write each of those of those and send and email it to each of the people that I'd interviewed to make sure that Everything was accurate as far as facts facts goes I Also had heard that Arcadia did very little Fact-checking as far as the the information goes so that responsibility was on me So I had as many people read it as I possibly could that I felt knew what they were looking at including my dad Including my editor at the magazine and the newspaper a colleague at cruising world magazine So I really wanted to make sure I had as many as in this as possible Let's see it ended up being about 30,000 words So I'm not quite sure if that's long or short or what but given it's my first book I guess that's now my my level for for standard many people have asked me how The legends came to be legends and how I chose them and they came to be in this book I don't pretend to be an expert in in the people of this community I just adore them and cover them all the time with my work at the magazine So it was terribly hard to pick who to go in this book I Really wanted to make sure that people in here were very deserving of this and they weren't all the people that you may Have already heard of before I really tried to make it A new read for it for some people of course. There are a few recognizable faces and names in here And there are so many that I actually couldn't fit because of the 128 page word Excuse me page count Which actually was very restrictive in the end One wouldn't have thought that that was restrictive But it ended up being so because there are many people who couldn't fit in I Did actually try it's I've got a funny story for you Which is totally a digression, but I tried to include actor Van Johnson who is the 1950s actor You may be familiar with the name I did try to include him. He was on my my top 100 list of people to include I did include 100 people in the book. So that's why I mentioned that number But I went to MGM who produced his movies and they wanted to charge me somewhat something like $500 to reproduce an image of the movie poster of one of his his films And you know given that this is my first book and I don't have a budget for it I said, okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate the offer, but that's a little bit too expensive for me And so a couple of weeks ago. I get a random phone call from a woman who is a big Van Johnson fan and She's advocating this this initiative to have a Van Johnson postage stamp and She complained that I done my my research incorrectly and I shouldn't have gone to MGM I should have gone to her and she would have brought all the images I needed for free and And I just kind of thought that well, okay Thank you for your your support Maybe next time maybe the next book will have Van Johnson in it if I can get a photo for free But I just thought it was kind of funny that she was complaining of my research was with shoddy. Anyway, um, not everybody approved of my selection apparently But I really did make a concerted effort to have a wide variety of people past and present man and woman Black and white different industries and cultures and business and politics Preservation and development arts and public service. Those are a couple of the chapter titles of the book Because I felt they really represented newport and its makeup of people Though the book did start with the founders as you'll see here reverend clark And the gilded age of course the Vanderbilt's we all know that name It was generally not chronologic and did feature Living people and not living people throughout the the book But also as a journalist I was telling and this earlier today It was really important for me to interview these living people and meet them and and Hear their stories for myself And learn directly why they were legendary. Of course, I'd covered a lot of them and heard a lot of them through my work at the magazine on daily news But I really wanted to meet them directly if I hadn't already and and get to know them personally So that really ended up being the best part You know, that's how I got to see and meet professor hattendorf who's in the book And and Meet interview him upstairs in his bookfield office and really Meet these people in their comfort zones and they're in their in their worlds and That personal experience really influenced the writing Let's see Of course The next edition is going to be the challenge because I guess I can define the people in this book as The low-hanging fruit so to speak they were relatively easy to to pick in here and You'll recognize a few faces and say of course I know that person and then maybe you learn a little bit more about their their character or their history that you might not have known before and then I really made an effort to to reach out to To new names and new faces so that people would learn a little bit about more about about newport people and the characters So without further ado, I guess I started with with reverend john clark You may have be familiar with his name His uh, he was one of the founders of newport in 1639 coming down from the plimith bay colony in 1638 To found port smith with his group of settlers including an hutchinson He headed further south to newport, of course and He he everyone. I mean at least I think everyone is familiar with john clark And this so I know so I know if you guys have any questions, please feel free to interrupt me I do have a little spiel here, but it doesn't mean you can't interrupt and say hey any. What do you mean about that? Please explain. Please go for it Let's see so four sets of brothers actually family was ended up being a huge part of my book I didn't realize it going into it But I look back on it and there were quite a few few sets of brothers as well as families that let played a role in newport and the book oliver hazard perry See here um was known for his um decisive victory on like eerie during the battle of 1812 where he uh switched ships mid battle and uh abandoned the destroyed laurence in favor of magra to defeat the british fleet I'm not an expert in naval history. Perhaps I should get someone up here to explain more naval history but apparently that is something that has not been done before at that point at least and um he uh proclaimed a general uh, William Harrison at the who later became president We have met the enemy and they are ours. So I'm sure that you are all familiar with that with that statement um, he later ended up dying of yellow fever and was buried in turnadad only to be dug up twice and uh, Finally laid to rest permanently in newport um, his brother Matthew Calbrae of Perry also was responsible um for a significant naval um naval stories He negotiated the treaty of kanagawa in 1854 which established trade and diplomatic relations with japan which had um undergone centuries of of isolation from trade international trade When he arrived the japanese were surprised by the americans black ships that were spewing smoke and they didn't have any sales They're covered in in black tar pitch So now of course newport celebrates the black ships festival every july as a result Uh Two other sets of brothers or at least one for now the vandal brothers. This is cornelius uh the second And um, he actually built the breakers. He was not to be outdone by his um Let's see. This is the breakers. We all know the breakers. He wasn't to be outdone by his brother william Who built the marble house? We all know the marble house as well In 1892 it was a 39th birthday present for his wife alva Who was a newport and new york socialite? And actually ended up holding uh holding suffragette parties in the mansion after she had divorced her first rich husband william And married her second rich husband oliver hazard perry belmont And later by doing his bellcourt mansion down the street from her first mansion So cornelius i'm sorry i'm skipping around a little bit here Cornelius um took over his grandfather's new york central railroad empire Um after his father and uh was a little bit more pious than the rest of his family who was all that wealth and and uh grander met his wife while teaching sunday school in new york and um and What newport book is complete without the vandal build so i kind of i i almost had to put them in here Uh, this is alva. Um, i think she's fantastic. Um, this photo is of her in the late 1800s She's got dubs falling all over her and what one of us wouldn't want to be in that picture right there with her Um Let's see. Um, as i mentioned that the museum uh, then in the college here had a a nice presence in the book Um with familiar names to all of you alfort they in my hand. Um, of course the college's first president Whose name i think race is this very building am i correct? This is the hand building Am i someone's gonna correct me no it's next door shoot. Okay. I was close um Anyway, uh Anyway, so thanks to the his progressive naval uh thinking about warfare and his copious newport lectures which were published Um, professor john hattendorf, which i mentioned before is very helpful. Um, he's the museum's current director also is featured Um, there's sorry. I forgot my hand. There he is very dour fellow Hattendorf is not so much. He's very friendly Um, i'm not going to go into any more detail because we all know these characters and uh, you can read more about them in the book um One of one of my favorite anecdotes actually uh, while researching people for this book came about while i was in search for um ida louis's gravestone She is newport's darling heroine lighthouse keeper from the late 1800s died in 1911 um, my husband and i went to the common barian ground on my birthday, which was last may uh to find her her final resting place and her gravestone and um I found found it of course. It's actually there um And her father's is out of the picture because it's so small and behind hers Um, I ended up actually finding multiple generations of my own family Um, a couple of okay my full name for a full disclosure is lisabeth ann sherman Annie is a nickname So I ended up finding two annie shermans buried there three elizabeth shermans Multiple alberts and edwards albert is my father and grandfather's name edward is my great uncle. So those names are familiar sherman names um All of whom I knew existed Had through doing previous research But I didn't know they were actually all buried in all together in this family plot Dating back from the 1700s Um, I had done research previously about philip sherman who you'll read more about in the book as well. Sorry. Yes, go ahead Where is the cemetery the common burying ground it's not far from here It's just on the corner of van zandt and uh farewell streets right on the entrance into town And you can actually see her grave from the street, which I didn't realize beforehand I could have just driven up taking a picture and driven away. Um, but uh So it's right kind of on the corner of warner and uh and farewell almost next to that big red house Okay, let's see. Um, so I mean I had done research on my family And my my ancestor philip sherman came here in the 1600s and was part of the founding founding families of newport and was Secretary to governor coddington, I think But given this familial connection to the city Obviously, I thought that was pretty cool and thought it was a great background for me to both write the book and also to include in the introduction So, um, I thought that was unique that other books wouldn't oh, at least I thought that other books like this Wouldn't have that in here So, um, that's actually included in the introduction. So, um, you'll have a little sneak peek into that because I've just given the Wait the beginning. Um Let's see. So that's idah louis and um the idah louis. Yeah club is is there. She's um, I guess inspired that and that was where Her lighthouse was where that where that yeah club is now Yes I've learned that members of the crew of the Of buoy tender idah louis pay respects on a regular basis. Oh, that's good to know And the four posts around the grave are modern like lighthouse I didn't know that Let's go back Oh, I didn't see it. Sorry. I cut it out. Sorry That's why I didn't notice Um, okay So, um Wait a minute. Let me skip to skip ahead. Sorry. I'm out of order here Um, another legend in the book that I really wanted to to to note was um, one of my favorite actual people in the book Um, and also came about from family connection that is a little bit lengthy, but hopefully hopefully you'll bear with me His name is alfredo charada Uh, world war two era italian engineer and naval officer Um, he actually made torpedo weaponry Uh in italy um for one of the first scientists to make such a thing Uh, and then when italy fell to the allies during the war He and his team were smuggled to the united states by the office of strategic services Which was the precursor to the scia if i'm correct there um And they were brought to the naval uh naval base the on god island the torpedo station to build um Torpedo devices there they even had raised and brought with them two submarines and torpedoes Excuse me one torpedo and two submarines sunk by the germans in the bay of napels Uh, so that um, they could use those mechanisms and that research in their newport work here um They didn't speak english they're italian during world war two. They hadn't traveled before they, uh Took a long securitous route through africa and one of their ships sunk and they got here successfully Not speaking english, so of course they had to have an english tutor She was pretty And her name was margarite and he ended up marrying her. I don't have a picture of her unfortunately, but uh, She ended up marrying her as a teacher at rogers and they had three wonderful children one of whom I actually met during my research. Her name is rita. She lives in newport has a condo in new york as well and um After his passing, uh, she took a kind of a clever A securitous route to finding some of his work Which looks like this He later became a silversmith after the war. Um, he stayed in newport had a studio off valveu avenue behind the newport art museum Where their um Classrooms are He made trophies for the kentucky derby vases for cartier a shrieve crumb and low And um, he made small bowl, excuse me bowls like this. It's just a little thing with a leaf design um One of which ended up on my nightstand because um, it was a wedding gift and now holds my wedding jewelry at night when I go to sleep Um, my father knew of the bowls creator. He knew the background of it He knew who shirata was and i'm talking to my dad who's publisher of the daily news if Anyone didn't know retired now. Um, he said you gotta have alfredo shirata and I said dad come on Who's that? What are you talking about? So he told me this story. He thought he was a prisoner of war. He was not he actually went voluntarily Um, and he made these wonderful silver trophies and bowls Um, so my mother ended up finding rita Giving me the information I reached out to her we met we we hung out. We had a great time. Um, and and kind of perpetually, uh, impressed and inspired by the The work that these these folks have done and there's and they're still continuing to Make an impression on on me for starters and and newport, of course But anytime I should have brought it in but anytime you'll you'll see something like this It'll have a shirata stamp on the bottom and he tended to not in this version, but um, have A silver s on the bottom which ended up being the the footing of the of the bowl Um So let's see That might be the last person who is no longer living with us. I really tried hard to Um, not write a book about dead people because I wanted it to be a living living legacy Um About newport's present as much as as it's past Um, so living legends were equally as important. Of course, um when I reached out to them They're all like, what are you talking about? I shouldn't be in a book. Who do you this is ridiculous? None of them thought they were doing anything very special They they were very proud of their work and their accomplishments and they they met with me nonetheless and I should go back to my family here My dad in the middle bucky my grandfather on the right albert senior and my great uncle on the left ned They're They've owned the have owned the newport daily news since 1918 when my great grandfather bought it Their story is included in here a little bit as well and there's multiple generations in here Which reflect back to my my time searching for idah lewis in the in the grave in the in the cemetery And this the reason they're included not is just not because of the daily news but because they've been around since 17th century and they used to own a William Sherman and co dry goods which is Had two locations are based on different family members And one of which was where the the brick alley pub building is right now the restaurant And this I believe my father will probably correct me is is that building But on the left you'll see a few gentlemen One of which is my great great uncle and his family And you can read more about this exact photo is in the book on page 73. I think 74 So if you have copies of it in front of you, you can take a look Let's see any questions while I'm taking a breather Oh, thank you. Yay So regular people like George triplet Artists athletes education educators. Excuse me. We're also a huge part of the book I really tried to make it about The regular not common man, but the regular working man the man who and woman, excuse me who Really created a new port their blood sweat and tears is in the very foundation of the city George triplet is one of them High school track star people call them flash because he was so fast And he actually ended up turning down a track scholarship at uri He wouldn't tell me why But he ended up working at Sears and roebuck for two decades and later was an influential educator Was part of the local School committee for 16 years and the George triplet elementary school was named in his honor in 1985. I think 89 He later was a popcorn or football coach and won the NAACP role model of the year award. So He's a super cool dude and whenever he sees you will always say god bless. So he's a very Very pious man and very very very strong at heart as well Paul gains another one of my favorites. He is a character Always has a smile on his face lives down the street from me Also a little skeptical when I first met him. He had no idea what I was talking about Didn't know who I was the book. Are you just like, okay, I'll meet with you for a coffee. Sure. You're buying whatever He really warmed right up to me When we when he started joking about his days as a radio dispatcher in the korean war And actually that was one of my first errors in the book I hate that was one of my first Scariest notions was making something wrong and he told me he had Actually been in the korean war not world war two. So I made that that's that's that's an error on my fault. Sorry And but he has of course more bittersweet memories of sitting in the back of the bus in 1950s New Orleans before That fateful rosa parks incident on the bus a few years later He later became a hardworking teacher or a number of local schools A coach and made record books as the state's first black mayor I didn't bring a copy of the photo of him as a mayor But he's there's one in the book so you can you can take a look at he's got this huge big desk in front of him But he's still around he and his wife joeva. She's on the school committee and he's Really active in the portsmouth Black regiment who has a monument out in portsmouth right by 24 City brosie is Perhaps a little bit known or better known if you're a surfer This photo was taken in 98 back when he had a little bit more energy and less hair, I guess But he made a popular name for himself in the 1970s actually 1971 when he was arrested for breaking the city's surfing ban Which at this point in in I guess newport's history I think is kind of surprising given that that surfing is such a popular sport around here But there was a ban on surfing and he was surfing off off ruggles off cliff walk and he was arrested and Saw a trial at the newport courthouse and It was later overturned and Because he helped get that ban overturned he was released and he'll actually Be included in the or inducted excuse me into the east coast surfing hall of fame later this year You know and water brothers surf shop on the memorial boulevard So as I mentioned before families really are prominent From my own to the Vanderbilt's and the parries as well as modern family businesses Father and son duo fudd and nick Benson fun on the left nick on the right Are contributing excuse me continuing the dying stone carving trade in their early 18th century John steven shop on thames street Though fudd retired a number of years ago after buying the shop in 1927 from its first and only owner john stevens Nick is actually continuing to do the stone carvings. You can see a Grape stone there and their hand on chisel on stone. It's nothing mechanized. No computers. No nothing. It's all It's all done by hand Even the original lettering He's in the meantime nick himself is earning Some impressive historic stone carving commissions like the national gallery of art The kennedy and will wear two memorials among a few others which are all included in the book, of course And actually step on by john stevens shop on a friday at four o'clock and they'll let you in for a beer They usually sit down on the patio Another family that I've known for a number of years is the nesbit family the illsa you see here She owns the third annum press In the point not far from here She was actually born in germany but came to teach typography and art at the red island school of design Marrying her husband alexander Later and setting up the third annum press as you can see here in 1965 Uh, the third annum press is still there and she's still printing woodcuts Still cutting doing cards and other artwork on this press, which is dated 1895 If i'm not mistaken it still works. It's still a horse that thing Is incredible every little piece of paper she puts in manually It's pretty pretty incredible Their home was adjacent to the studios with all one building So her two sons were raised with these raw materials all over the place no tv and really no creative limits I've known her son sandy for a number of years. She's a local photographer And he does some freelance work for the magazine So sandy and her other son rupert inherited the art gene. They kind of didn't have a choice He actually sandy owns a blink gallery on thames street. Excuse me spring street And rupert is an archaeological illustrator and arch reproducer in new york city So when i actually interviewed illsa and sandy in their home Having known sandy as long as i have it finally made sense why he is the way he is He's so creative and you can just make something out of nothing He's just pulling his raw materials out of the corners and just whipping something out of nothing So it really made perfect sense why he is the way he is why he's so crafty and creative is like he didn't have a choice So sorry that's sandy in his gallery on On spring street in this photo he actually took for the magazine because blink won the best of newport award a couple of years ago So he took this photo for that that spread And of course i had to have some music in there This one's kind of funky i don't know if you recognize them the throwing muses They were a huge band in the 1980s. They met at cranson calbert elementary school. They were all classmates together And they were they were they were really big in the in the 80s They went on to tour For years maybe two decades in the uk europe and australia new zealand of course For 20 25 years or so They still play together Though they all live in different parts of the world christen hersch on the on the left is living in norlands now Dave narcizo in the middle actually still lives in newport with his wife misty and they run a graphic design firm And bernard george on the right i'm not quite sure where he is but they still get together and perform every now and then and i believe this year or late last year they released a 25th anniversary retrospective compilation cd and book So um that's the plug for for their their work if you like alternative 80s music then Perhaps that might be something that you can put on your to-do list So um that's the end of the slideshow portion I guess um i wanted to leave time for our questions if you guys have anything to ask that i didn't that i didn't include Yeah, go ahead. Why did you will met uh jt o'connell jt o'connell. He was on my list. I wanted to make sure i um Specifically jt and a few others. Uh, kate lucy is a local photographer and friend of mine who had a couple of book photos in here Sid a bruises was one of them She's done a book a number of years ago uh born new porters and he was in that book So I wanted to try to differentiate a little bit from her book and not compete too much with it Um, but jt o'connell was on my list and I tried to analyze as best I could I didn't she missed them How did you know she missed it? Do you have a copy of the book? He might how did you know that why listen carefully? I only mentioned about 15 of them, but there there are 100 people in the book. I did not include jt o'connell So he's he's pretty pretty good guess. Yeah Yeah Doris is in the book. Yes. She has a couple of pages. Um She was one of my first picks as well. I work regularly with the restoration foundation. Um And I a lecture I did previously somebody asked me if I had included um some not so savory stories about her that uh had been publicized At the time I did not include anything. I try to be positive in in all of my work And so I this wasn't about rumors or or negativity really I wanted to really be positive about people's work in there and their lasting legacy So I didn't include anything about a car accident. Yes Did you come across a name cut trail in your in your work? I didn't I um We'll start now though can add that to my I mean I have a list for the addition number two going With quite a few names already on it. So I'll add involved in some of the Okay ministries that's great I do have a couple furniture makers clockmakers in there um claggots and towns and goddards in there But that could be a good one for the next one. Thank you Control She's in there Yep, she's the last one Is there any any true sports like golf tennis uh polo yachty? There's not there there is a whole section on sports So cid was my one inclusion from from the athletic side of things Yachting of course is huge in this community tennis is huge. I didn't include uh, james van allen and the history and the historic members of the Hall of Fame james gordon benet and on the story about his wonderful, uh polo pony friend Which my dad refutes of course, but um Anyway, so I did include more athletics in the book. Yes. Yep Yes I did yes, not quite I had I had quite a lot of naval people in here and I didn't realize I was doing until the book came out I'm like, oh my god. I'm doing a lecture at the naval war college. I probably should put some naval people in here Yes, I got to know jt quite well and uh later on I was talking to a college professor And I just wanted to get jt to go in and um give your students the lecture Yep, and he said why would I do that? He said he's not even educated But he did well in the he did very well in business very I mean I never got to know him But he had a great name for himself and worked very hard So there is no reason why he was not in this book other than what I explained previously And if this book were twice the size I um, perhaps wouldn't have had to cut so many people out. Of course. I wouldn't but yes What else Yes, Anne might have been john haward benston who bought the john steden shop rather than oh his father. Yes. Yes You're right. Yep Yep, we need to get you a copy of this They are on sale Here today Downstairs in the bookstore Very reasonable price I did a few lectures before christmas and I told people that uh, they uh, depending on how large your christmas stocking was It fit in the stocking mine's large Stretched to fit a few things Sold out before before christmas they were sold out at barns and noble and island books But they have since replenished and they did a second reprinting last week What else yes, thank you Absolutely, I will be here to sign if you have copies uh and answer any further questions Yeah Is that it you guys let me off easy. Are you sure? That's nothing. I thought you Yes, kate Was there one person for if you don't if you don't want to if you don't want to say that's okay But can you is it what was it being who you found the most interesting or is there a story? My favorite was alfredo charada the italian Yeah, no, that's okay. Um, he just because of the way his story came about I didn't know anything about him to start He wasn't on my list My list being all the ten thousand people that could be in this book And then it was so organic the way it came about and I ended up learning most of the story about him through A story in newport life magazine 20 years ago that I didn't know actually existed So I didn't do my research properly But the story was right there and um, he was just kind of the coolest the coolest character I really enjoyed meeting paul gains because he was just such a funny funny guy um but yeah a lot of a lot of the the That like I mentioned the the journalism background was really what inspired me to to meet these people and and Learn their stories directly. So I really wanted to um have them see this and See that it's legitimate and real and I'm not just making this up and and their stories will be kind of broadcast Everywhere. Yeah, thank you Yes, I didn't see that story was it was it a Benson was it fun? Was it fun? Yep Project samples for the kennedy family to choose from It's the same family. Yep. Yep. Fudd is the gentleman in the photo Anything else Thanks for coming guys. I appreciate it