JULIA EDNA WORTHLEY UNDERWOOD.

[DAUGHTER OF ALBERT (BERT) WORTHLEY.]

Arkansas City.

Edna Worthley's grandparents were Jacob Howard and Deborah (Hayford) Howard of Phillips, Franklin County, Maine.

Edna Worthley's parents were Albert (Bert) Worthley and Alice Howard (sister to Richard Howard, publisher of the Arkansas City Traveler) Worthley.

Albert Worthley was born June 20, 1846, in Maine. He came to Arkansas City, Kansas, in November of 1880 for a visit. The family moved to Arkansas City in early 1882.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 1, 1882.

Messrs. Worthley, Beals, and Reed, who have been visiting friends in this city for several weeks past, started on Monday by wagon for Arkansas, whither they go with the intention of investing in young stock.

Arkansas City Traveler, August 16, 1882.

Mr. Edwards, who hauls the stone for our sidewalks, was bitten on the hand by a bird dog of Worthley’s last Sunday as he was walking along the street. The dog was tied up, and has since bitten two dogs, and it is supposed the animal is mad.

Arkansas City Traveler, August 16, 1882.

Bert Worthley’s dog was not mad, as stated in last week’s issue. It has since died, doubtless from poisoning. Its peculiar actions were not understood, and hence the report arose that he was mad.

Arkansas City Traveler, November 1, 1882.

GRAMMAR DEPARTMENT.

The following were neither absent nor tardy during the past month: Angie Small, Flora Gould, Nina Pickering, Maggie Ford, Edna Worthley, Katie Warren, Myrtle McNelly, Thaddeus Jones, Nellie Patterson, Belle Hart, Guy West, Robert Warren.

Arkansas City Traveler, November 29, 1882.

Bert Worthley, who has been tearing around cattle hunting in the wilds of Arkansas for several months, returned to the city last week looking as hearty as ever.

Arkansas City Traveler, November 21, 1883.

Mrs. S. Whitney, mother of George and Charles Howard, who has been spending the summer in Maine, returned to this city last week, and will make her home during the winter with Mrs. Worthley.

Arkansas City Traveler, December 12, 1883.

The following were imperfect and received 65 percent: Sarepta Abrams, Sammie Beall, Alice Lane, Robert A. Nipp, Frank Wright, Lida Whitney, Frank Barnett, Ella Crocker, Edith Marshall, W. S. Pickering, Edna Worthley, Mary Dakan. S / C. T. ATKINSON, Teacher.

Arkansas City Traveler, January 16, 1884.

School Report.

The following pupils of the High School department were perfect in deportment and received 100 percent. Edna Worthley.

Arkansas City Republican, February 16, 1884.

Miss Edna Worthley returned to school Monday, after an absence of one month. Her absence was caused by sickness at her home. If Miss Edna was a less studious pupil, we would doubt her catching up, but as it is, she will soon come to the front.

Arkansas City Republican, March 29, 1884.

SCHOOL COLUMN.

JUNIOR DEPARTMENT.

The following is the second best essay for this month, composed by Miss Edna Worthley:

TEMPERS.

Everyone ought to control his temper, or the least we could do is to try; for “practice always makes perfect,” whatever be the undertaking. A person may be very beautiful, but if he has a bad disposition and makes no attempt at controlling it, and is always cross and disagreeable to those around him, it will render him utterly repulsive. Some people seem to be naturally disagreeable, and take their sole and only enjoyment in making others unhappy; such persons ought to be pitied for a disposition that is beyond control rather than despised, as they seem to deserve. If a person is always cross at home, making the lives of all around him unbearable, it will in time become a part of his nature, and when he leaves home, he will show his real nature no matter how hard he may try to conceal it. For what we have been for years acquiring, cannot be rooted from our natures in a moment. We should all try and control our tempers, no matter what it may cost at the time. Some may say it is too late, but the poet says:

“It is too late! Oh, nothing is too late,

Till the tired heart shall cease to palpitate.”

Arkansas City Traveler, June 18, 1884.

Burt Worthley and Sam Burress returned from Arkansas last week with 800 head of yearlings and two-year-olds. They are holding them at present on the Cimarron. Burt reports a good drive, with no loss worth speaking of.

Arkansas City Traveler, October 8, 1884.

The Maine Cattle Company.

A stock company under the above name has been organized by men having their headquarters in this city, and their range on the Ponca reservation. The company is composed of Messrs. N. C. Hinkley, S. P. Burress, Burt Worthley, H. P. Farrar, J. H. Sherburne, Howard Bros., and Bradford Beal, with a capital stock of $50,000, and a thousand head of one-, two-, and three-year-olds to start with. The range line south of the Salt Fork and east of the Otoe road, containing 35,000 acres of good grazing land, with plenty of water and timber—all fenced with a four-strand barb wire fence. When fully stocked up, which will be done as rapidly as possible, these gentlemen will have between 2,000 and 3,000 head of cattle. Another item is the 3,000 acre hog lot on the range, on which will be put about a thousand head of fine hogs. The Maine Cattle Company purpose grading up their cattle to a high standard, and shall purchase high grade Hereford, Durham, and Galloway bulls. The officers have not yet been elected, all hands being busy this week moving their cattle from Chilocco to their new range, but as soon as this is done, the company will be regularly organized under the laws of the state and officers duly elected. The name is singularly appropriate, as all the gentlemen, with one exception, are from the state that will furnish our next president.

Arkansas City Traveler, October 22, 1884.

The Maine Cattle Company met last Monday night and organized by electing the following officers.

N. U. Hinkley, President.

George S. Howard, Vice President.

H. P. Farrar, Secretary and Treasurer.

S. P. Burress, Manager.

Albert Worthley, Assistant Manager.

Directors: N. C. Hinkley, G. S. Howard, H. P. Farrar, S. P. Burress, Albert Worthley, Chas. Howard, B. Beal, and J. H. Sherburne.

The capital stock is $50,000.

Arkansas City Traveler, February 18, 1885.

We see Bert Worthley in the city again this week after quite an absence spent in the Maine Cattle Co.’s range in the Territory.

Arkansas City Republican, August 15, 1885.

The Johnson Loan and Trust Company have purchased one of the four lots belonging to Albert Worthley just west of the First National Bank, and will erect a two story brick front business house. A portion of the building will be occupied by the Johnson Loan and Trust Company with their office. The building which will be erected by the company will be equal to any in the city. The consideration was $1,000 and the sale was made with the understanding that the association would put up a first-class building.

Arkansas City Republican, August 14, 1886.

Howard Ross, a broker of New York, was in the city this morning. He made a purchase of a corner lot on Fifth Avenue of Albert Worthley, in the block where the Johnson Loan & Trust Company are building. The consideration was $3,500. Mr. Ross is greatly pleased with Arkansas City and its future prospects. He was in the city only a few hours until he began investing in real estate. He will build a three-story business block, occupying the first floor with a bank, which he will establish.

Arkansas City Republican, August 21, 1886.

Albert Worthley is compelled to move his residence from its present site on Fifth Avenue on account of the business blocks going up on the lots which he sold. He has purchased lots in the second ward and has commenced the foundation. As soon as he gets his residence off, Mr. Ross, the gentleman who purchased the corner lot, will commence the erection of his bank building.

Albert Worthley first traded cattle and then was employed in the retail mercantile business for several years. He completed his working career as a traveling grocery salesman for Ranney-Davis. He retired in 1918. In 1919 he worked for a short time selling, on the road, for the Krementz Jewelry Co. of New York. (We deduce that this is the company that his son-in-law was working for.) He died November 24, 1938, and was buried in Riverview Cemetery in Arkansas City, Kansas beside his wife. This left two lots in the plot.

Alice Howard was born November 4, 1848, in Phillips, Maine. The date of her marriage to Albert Worthley is unknown. She died October 10, 1936, in Arkansas City and was buried on October 14th, in Riverview Cemetery. The family had purchased a plot containing four lots. Her monument is marked with a D. A. R. marker from the Betty Bonney Chapter, of Arkansas City. She had one child, a daughter, Julia Edna Worthley, who was notified of her death but was unable to attend the funeral.

Julia Edna Worthley was born January 13, 1871, in Phillips, Maine. This was on Friday the thirteenth, which she considered as lucky. The family moved to Kansas in 1882, when she was 11.

Arkansas City Republican, April 19, 1884.

A. Jeannett arrived from Kansas City Thursday, and located yesterday at Holloway & Fairclo’s drug store, and will do watch, clock, and jewelry repairing, having had 10 years experience in Switzerland and the U. S. He will open a jewelry store in connection in about two weeks.

Arkansas City Republican February 20, 1886.

Languages.

French, Latin, Italian, and Spanish taught. Private classes organized. German class Monday, February 15, at Business school; 21 (24) lessons $3.00. Apply at A. Jeanneret, Jeweler, at Fairclo’s. New, speedy, natural method.

Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.

Last Friday afternoon the pupils of the high school held their closing exercises.The first honors of the middle year were given to Howard Maxwell and Edwin Marshall. Miss Edna Worthley won the first honors of the Junior class and Samuel Beall the second.

Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.

Bert Worthley, et al., bought two blocks of lots in McLaughlin’s second addition Monday. Tuesday he sold them at an advance of $2,000.

In 1874 Arkansas City built a new “common” school in the 300 block of North B street. It was also used for the high school with the first graduating class being in 1880.

The high school enrollment continued to grow until it outgrew the B street location, and had to be housed in rooms over a business block (called the Commercial Block) on Summit street. In 1888 the school rented a house downtown for the high school to be used until a new building could be built. This had been the home of H. P. Farrar and acquired the nick-name of “Bedbug Hall.” The location was where the W. D. Scott Auditorium-Gymnasium of the Community College is now situated. The new high school building was completed in 1893. This building still stands and is now owned by the community college and called Ireland Hall.

Item found in the Arkansas City Traveler, Thursday, December 3, 1896.

Earl Underwood, the up to date jeweler, has a new advertisement in this issue.

[I did not type up ad.]

Edna Worthley Underwood spoke of school in her book entitled “The Taste of Honey,” published in 1930. She wrote, “I recall the school on the plains. School is probably too important a word. It was a few bare rooms over a business (Commercial Block) block. No building for the purpose had been put up. From the windows we could look across the Main Street into upper rooms of other buildings. These rooms (in the Windsor Hotel) had been rented to houses of ill fame. Any time we could turn from our lessons and see the painted creatures lolling in the rooms, with their lovers. They were fat, greasy, disheveled, and clad in gay, cotton, Mother Hubbards.”

“Beneath one of these houses there was a saloon. From the windows we could look over tops of screens that cut the too plain view from the sidewalk, and see Greasers, Indians, the stragglers of the plains, drinking, gambling. They quarreled frequently. Occasionally fought with knives, with pistols. But the thrust of a knife that killed, in the lonely silence of the circling prairie was unimportant.”

The book “History of Arkansas City High School” lists a Edna Worthley as one of the ten graduates in 1888. She would have been 17 at that time. She delivered the valedictory address on Friday, April 27, 1888.

Edna Worthley attended Garfield College in Wichita for two years and then attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor where she graduated. It would probably have taken her until 1892 to get her degree.

(Note: The Christian Churches of Kansas created a university in Wichita, named Garfield University. It was named as a memorial to President James Garfield. It opened in 1888 but money woes forced it to close in 1890. The Property was later sold and became Friends University.)

The newspaper article also said that she taught in Arkansas City.

The September 25, 1920, issue of the Arkansas City Traveler reprinted a “High School Ark Light” article which states that after her graduation from Ann Arbor, Edna Worthley Underwood returned to Arkansas City, where she became a member of the faculty of the high school and taught English and Latin. By this time she had several pen pals who lived in Europe. At her request, they sent her copies of foreign classic literature printed in the original foreign language. Because of the problem of cost, they were usually the cheap yellow paper back editions. Because she was addicted to reading them, it became noised about that, “teacher reads dime novels.” She was, as she says, fired. It mattered not at all to the school board that the particular offending volume was Boussnet's “Funeral Orations” in the original language.

The earliest available Arkansas City directory is 1893. It lists Albert Worthley of 523 South B street as being a sales clerk at Matlack Mercantile Co. It also lists J. E. Worthley, of the same address, as being a student. It lists a Mrs. Caroline Underwood (widow) residing at another address.

Robert Earl Underwood was born March 28, 1872, in Bedford, Iowa. His grandfather was Daniel V. Underwood, who was a Revolutionary War veteran. He served in a North Carolina line company. His father was Daniel V. Underwood, Jr., who was born in North Carolina October 23, 1812, and died of cholera February 1, 1883, in Bedford, Iowa. His mother was Caroline Rachel Brady Underwood, who was born in Ohio. He had one sister, Vinnie Ream Underwood, born in 1868 at Bedford, Iowa. During his lifetime Robert Earl Underwood was a jeweler, an inventor holding 20 patents, an international advertising specialist, and a successful play writer under the name of “Robert Earl.” Two of his plays that appeared on Broadway, in New York, were “The White Mask” (1927) and “Every Dog has its Day” (1938).

On August 21, 1897, Edna Worthley married Robert Earl Underwood. There was no marriage license issued for them in Cowley County, so they were married elsewhere. They had no children.

Arkansas City Traveler, Monday, December 28, 1896.

Albert Worthley went south this morning on his usual weekly trip for the Ranney Alton Mercantile Co.

The next available city directory is 1898 and it lists A. B. Worthley as a traveling salesman and his wife living at the same address. There is a listing for Mrs. Caroline Rachel Underwood (widow) and Miss Vinnie Underwood (her unmarried adult daughter) living together at another address. Earl Underwood and Mrs. Edna Underwood were living in an apartment in the Traders State Bank Building at 227 South Summit, Arkansas City, Kansas, in 1898.

Earl Underwood had gone to work for Murphy, a jeweler, upon arrival in Arkansas City. He purchased the jewelry store of J. M. Murphy, watchmaker and jeweler, at 225 South Summit Street, on June 10, 1895. On April 1, 1901, Earl Underwood sold the store to Ralph Wickliffe. Earl and Edna Underwood then moved to Kansas City. Wickliffe ran the store until he liquidated it in 1924 and took a position as a watchmaker with E. L. McDowell.

We do not know how long the Underwood’s stayed in Kansas City or when they moved to New York. Earl’s father-in-law (Albert Worthley) had retired from Ranney-Davis in 1918. In February 1919 Albert Worthley made a business trip lasting several weeks for the Krementz Jewelry company of New York. (We infer from this information that this was the company that Earl Underwood joined, and that he was living New York at that time.)

In June of 1921 Earl Underwood was one of the most earnest advocates of the inauguration of a C. O. D. feature in international parcel post.

In the winter of 1903/04, Mrs. Caroline Underwood moved to Kansas City and made her home with her son, Earl Underwood, and her daughter-in-law, Edna Worthley Underwood. She was brought to Winfield for treatment and passed away there on June 29, 1904. She was 72 years old. She was buried in Riverview cemetery in Arkansas City in a plot that had three positions. An empty space was left on each side.

The next available city directory is 1908 and lists Albert B. and Alice Worthley living at the same address. There is no listing for any of the Underwood family. Miss Vinnie Underwood was living at the Chilocco Indian school at the time. She was secretary to the principal.

WINNING WORLD FAME

Edna Worthley Underwood, Formerly of Arkansas City.

Arkansas City Traveler, Monday, December 12, 1921.

The editor of the Traveler has just received a letter from New York, which gives him a great deal of pleasure. It is from a former Arkansas City girl, Edna Worthley Underwood, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. Worthley, of this city. The editor of the Traveler has known Mrs. Underwood half of a life time. He first knew her when her home was at the corner of First street and West Fifth avenue, opposite the Traveler office, and when there were no business houses there. She was a small girl then, going to the grammar schools. She was always a good student of literature and a writer of merit in her school days. Now she is gaining renown on two continents. The following is Mrs. Underwood’s letter and is explanatory of itself.

New York, N. Y., Dec. 9, 1921.

Mr. Dick Howard, editor of the Arkansas City Traveler.

Dear Dick:—My new book, “Famous Stories From Foreign Countries,” is now printed and bound and now ready for distribution. A copy of it will be sent to you as soon as more copies reach me.

I have in print in Japan a book on Oriental Art, which I hope will not be delayed in getting through the press as this one has been. Also, I wish to tell you that in the forthcoming edition of the International Blue Book of France, my name is to be mentioned and also a list of my books.

I have been reading with interest that you are to be the next governor. Here's hoping you get there with flying colors. I do not know of anybody I would rather see in the gubernatorial chair than you. Please remember me to your wife very kindly.

With much gratitude for past favors, I remain, very sincerely yours.—Edna Worthley Underwood.

IN FIVE LANGUAGES

Arkansas City Author's Latest Novel Will be Widely Circulated.

Arkansas City Traveler, Friday, April 14, 1922.

The extent of the fame achieved by Edna Worthley Underwood as an author and as a translator of languages is indicated in a letter which her mother, Mrs. Albert Worthley, of 523 South B street, has just received from her daughter. The letter in part states: “I received a package of fifteen volumes of very nice books from Holland a few days ago, and the next steamer brought me four more new typewritten books ready for the press, all dedicated to Edna Worthley Underwood, asking me to be the first to translate them into English and introduce them in America. I learned from the authors that the greatest Dutch critic saw my translation of ‘Famous Stories From Foreign Countries,’ and praised it very highly; said ‘I kept all the beauty of the original.’ They asked the privilege to translate my latest novel into the Dutch language. I am to be reviewed in the leading magazines of Holland and Belgium. It is to be what they call ‘a Thanksgiving tribute.’ My new novel will be out September 1st and will be published simultaneously in America, Germany, Holland, Australia, and France.”

Mrs. Worthley informed the Traveler reporter that her daughter had been invited to go to Switzerland in July 1922 to attend the international meeting of linguists. Edna Worthley Underwood resided at this time in New York City, where her husband, Earl Underwood, also formerly of Arkansas City, was engaged in the wholesale jewelry business.

—

A TRIBUTE

To Bessie Grady Sharp

By Edna Worthley Underwood

Arkansas City Traveler, May 18, 1922.

Brave adventurer once of our earthways,

Bright adventurer now of the skies,

Fearlessly casting aside garb of lifedays

For garments more splendid, you who could arise!

Of all who played by the edge of the prairie,

In the old, old days—played a childish part—

I know as I look down the vistas of memory

That you were the one with the greatest heart.

I have known none with such keen joy in living,

And now you are off on the Royal Quest,

Unvexed of the flesh with no vain misgiving,

You, with your tireless traveler's zest.

In measureless space, by its roadway of sapphire,

You watch Orion, the Hunter of Gold.

You count the multiple moons, with their fire,

Of Saturn—where night cannot day enfold.

Then — Then — In some garden of magic,

When, I, too, change dress—in some Garden of Time,

You will meet me, tell grandly, things splendid, things tragic,

While I can bear but a poor, little rhyme.

When high in the air the gray cottonwoods whiten,

When blue and white daisies are gay on the plain,

And I hear in the tree-tops a bird's voice brighten,

I shall cry gladly: ’Tis you — Again!

’Tis you again with your bird winged laughter!

(A body is only a playtime dress)

So who can say in what vast here after,

We shall play hide-and-seek? Who can guess?

Just as of old in the yellow playlight,

When sunset was spreading its shining sail.

And we counted our toys for another daylight,

Not vale I call to you. No!—but HAIL!

New York, May 12, 1922

[Edna Worthley Underwood and Mrs. Bessie Grady Sharp, now deceased, were girls together in Arkansas City in the early days. The above is a splendid tribute to Mrs. Sharp by a gifted writer and friend.—Editor.]

[EDNA WORTHLEY UNDERWOOD]

Arkansas City Traveler, Monday, June 26, 1922.

Following letter to the Traveler from Edna Worthley Underwood, former Arkansas City girl, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Worthley of this city, indicates the wonderful success she is meeting with in the literary world.

Box 54, Hamilton Grange Station, New York City, June 22, 1922.

Editor Traveler:—I am writing to tell you that the first volume of my long trilogy—three novels of some five hundred pages each, picturing the crumbling of the great civilization of the past—is in the press and it will be upon the market about September first. It will head the fiction list of one of America’s most important publishing houses. It will come out at the same time in England and Australia. Arrangements have already been made for publishing it in Holland, Germany, and France. Critics who have read it in manuscript say it compares favorably with Zola’s famous “Trilogy of Cities.”

Very soon too, I am publishing the first collection of the short story writers who use the old Flemish tongue to appear in English. Each writer has selected and sent to me what he considers to be his greatest story and given me alone the permission to use it. There are about twenty seven of these writers. In each case, the writer’ judgment has been reenforced by Holland’ leading critics. The book will be brought out under powerful patronage in Holland. In April and May of this year, Holland writers give me in their magazine what they termed “Thanksgiving Tribute.”

I have just been asked to write a monthly letter on prose and verse in America for one of the great French reviews, and invited to become a “Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts of England.”

Excerpts from article relative to Sara Warmbrodt...

FORMER LOCAL GIRL BIG HIT IN NEW YORK

Sara (Warmbrodt) Southern Reaches Pinnacle of Fame as Actress.

Arkansas City Traveler, Saturday, November 11, 1922.

Sarah Warmbrodt, formerly of Arkansas City, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Warmbrodt, the family having resided here a number of years, has arrived.

Praised by Edna Underwood

Adding to the glowing compliment paid Sara by the critic of the Sun are these words spoken of her by Edna Worthley Underwood, authoress and former Arkansas City woman, in a letter to the Traveler.

“I enclose a clipping from last night’s Sun about Sara Southern, who literally leaped to fame in one single night. She is acclaimed as another Bernhardt, another Nazimova. Even the critics most difficult to please say she possesses spiritual vision and the splendor of soul that can dominate masses. It is true that she is the dramatic success of New York.”

—

After the death of Edna’s father in 1938, the Underwoods returned to Arkansas City and resided in the home of her parents. Robert Earl Underwood’s health had been failing for four years. He passed away September 5, 1944, and was buried in Riverview cemetery in the plot to the south of his mother’s grave. Miss Vinnie Underwood (his sister) died January 4, 1952, and was buried in the remaining plot which was on the north side of her mother’s grave. This filled the Underwood cemetery lot.

Edna Worthley Underwood continued to own the house in Arkansas City, but she lived in the Elmo Hotel and later in the Osage Hotel until 1952. Her husband’s sister, Vinnie, also lived in the same hotels until her death in 1952. Mrs. Underwood traveled back east to Maine and Boston each summer.

Her will of 1952 was contested successfully by distant relatives. One-half was to go to the Auburn public library; and one-half to the relatives. The administrator of the estate sold all of the assets, including the library and manuscripts, and dispersed the money.

A tribute to Edna Worthley Underwood was written by a close Arkansas City friend of hers, Bess Oldroyd, in which the following comments were made.

“She did not attend the pioneer schools of this frontier town. Instead, a Swiss tutor in their home introduced her to European, Asian and African authors. Some of them were in the original, but many had been translated first into German. They were paperbacks printed in Europe and purchased there. Five hundred of these little volumes were found in Mrs. Underwood’s home at the end.

“Maine Summers, Sonnets to my Mother,” was written upon receiving news of the death of her mother, who was probably the dearest person in her life. Mrs. Underwood, then in her prime, was residing in New York City. She says bitterly, ‘I was not told in time to come.’

“After her husband's death Mrs. Underwood left their home and resided in a local hotel, but she spent most of her summers in her native Maine and in Boston.”

The Arkansas City Public Library has three lists of books in their vertical file. One is titled “Books from Edna Worthley Underwood’s library.” It contains 68 titles. The second is titled “Kansas State College” and it is continuation sheets numbered 1 thru 26 to order no. 25047 with no dates. It contains listings of about 1378 titles. One could have been an inventory of her library at the time of her death. The other might be a listing of her writings or translations. The third is handwritten on T. B. Oldroyd forms and is also a list of titles including some of Edna Worthley Underwood’s and some of Earl Underwood’s.

Edna Worthley Underwood is reputed to have written or translated over 150 books. Her first translated book was published in 1903 and the latest in 1939.

Kansas State University at Manhattan, Kansas, has a collection of her correspondence. Fort Hays State College at Hays, Kansas, also has a collection of her correspondence. I have no idea of how they acquired their collections.

Story compiled by Richard Kay Wortman