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Funny where life takes you…

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Tag: Coolidge

Poor Cottages in the Wilderness

Pioneer couple with baby standing in front of unfinished log cabin under construction

John Coolidge (1604–1691) left Cambridgeshire in 1630 to help establish the Puritan settlement of Watertown in early colonial Massachusetts

Natalie Mayhew 🌐 Migration & Emigration, New England, Poverty, Hardship & Resilience, Religion & Social Reform May 11, 2026June 24, 2026 12 Minutes

A ‘desperate state of things’

Alexander Cameron Brock (1855-1898) a forgotten family story, uncovered through hospital archives, reveals the quiet tragedy of a Victorian doctor lost to mental illness

Natalie Mayhew ⚕️ Health, Medicine & Mental Health, Business, Trades & Professions, England July 4, 2025June 24, 2026 12 Minutes

A woman before her time

Meta Brevoort (1825-1876) an intrepid Victorian mountaineer and the first female climber to wear trousers

Natalie Mayhew Alps & Switzerland, Art, Sport & Performance, 🌐 Migration & Emigration, New York, Women's Lives March 22, 2024June 24, 2026 13 Minutes

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906)

Victorian carte de visite photograph of a young girl

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906) Overview with links to separate stories about her life

Natalie Mayhew 🌐 Migration & Emigration, England, France, New York, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 1 Minute

Exodus from the New World to the Old

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Aug 1857 to Sep 1864, New York to the French Riviera

Natalie Mayhew Alps & Switzerland, Art, Sport & Performance, France, New York, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 7 Minutes

The wandering years

General Map of the Alps annotated to show the location of Cannes, Genoa, Mt Cenis, Geneva and Thun

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Oct 1864 to Jan 1875, a circuitous route from Cannes to Oxford

Natalie Mayhew Alps & Switzerland, Art, Sport & Performance, 🌐 Migration & Emigration, France, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 7 Minutes

A most difficult year

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Jan 1875 to Dec 1876, introduction to Dorking society

Natalie Mayhew Alps & Switzerland, England, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 7 Minutes

Staying in and ‘Coming Out’

A pale lady is seated alone in a schoolroom holding a black-edged letter, obviously downcast and presumably musing sadly about home and family, as suggested by 'Home, sweet Home', the music on the music stand. Three pupils play happily in a sunlit background.

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Jan 1877 to Jun 1880, the rocky and twisting road to finding love

Natalie Mayhew Domestic Service, England, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 8 Minutes

A doctor’s wife

photograph of the Old House, Dorking, now a Grade II listed building

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Jun 1880 to May 1896: happiness and tragedy in a small country town

Natalie Mayhew Business, Trades & Professions, England, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 7 Minutes

Things are never so bad

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Jul 1896 to Oct 1906: doing the best she could

Natalie Mayhew ⚕️ Health, Medicine & Mental Health, England, Guernsey, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 8 Minutes

Funny Where Life Took Them
Some of the surnames on this site — click one to find stories behind it

Bailey Baker Banfield Banfield aka Wackrill Barrett Baynes Booth Bovill Bowes-Lyon Brevoort Bristow Brock Carson Chaldecott Collingwood Conway-Gordon Coolidge Cooper Cotton Courtauld Daley Dibben Dowman Down Earle Finch Fitzgerald Gordon Hall Harvey Hill Irving Kirby Krug Lane? Levens Mayhew Mayo Napier Obee Payne Poulton Rose Saumarez Sheldrake Todd Twohey Wackrill Whetten

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