Annie Sullivan, On Genesee Hill

[dgriffin]

Annie Sullivan appears to have been a real person who worked as a domestic for a family in Utica's Genesee Flats and survived the tragic fire that took place there in 1896. She may be the young woman who reportedly was seen sitting on the curb as the fire raged, apparently unable to stand. When asked if she was injured, she replied in the negative and said she put her shoes on the wrong feet, so quickly did she leave the burning building, and now could not walk in them. Only a few years later a young woman by the same name died in a hotel fire in downtown Utica. It's possible this was the same person.

To a few of us, Annie represents the hopes and aspirations of a class of working people from the very late 19th century who, while not destitute, had little control over their lives and futures. Annie Sullivan, the wispy figure from history, is an excellent ghost on which to base the fictional character of a young woman who may have grown up in an abusive family and been practically sold to the highest bidder through the use of a hiring bonus paid to her parents. Whether the character endured a short relatively easy life of work or cruel abuse is unknown until the story is written (and there may be several.)


To get and keep a picture in mind, we very early on began looking for images of Annie. Again, I have to emphasize we're speaking of a fictional character, based on a real life person we know very little about.

We felt she was a redhead. Here were some candidates:





At this point, I'll try to pick up the thread as it began to be posted in the Genesee Flats thread, before it was moved here.

NOTE: This story is a work of fiction belonging to Fiona O'Downey, Jon Hynes and Dave Griffin. It is a collaboration. The title is "On Genesee Hill" and the date of genesis is September 21, 2009.

copyright 2009, Fiona O'Downey, Jon Hynes and David Griffin

[dgriffin]

Dave wrote:


I have to say this young woman seems to fit the bill best, in my opinion. She's barely more than a child. But, you decide. After all, she's your character.

[dgriffin]

Dave wrote:

"Do you want me to send the work to More Stories or post it here?"

Sorry, I missed your question. Let's put it on "More Stories!" That way we can index it on the site and it should be easier to find by the world at large. If I can, I'll do some "artwork" to accompany it.

[dgriffin]

Fiona wrote:


Dave: Let's move this to another thread, because it's sort of off the beaten path of the history. OK? I think the bottom image is way to sexual for the character. I like the other images and I think the girl in the bottom corner next to the left of the redhead logo will be closer to my idea. Although she doesn't know it yet. What shall we call the new thread? I found a beginning on the internet. because I want to know everything about my characters there is to know, before I begin to write. I researched Ellis Island and came up with an Annie Sullivan, age 15, departed from QueensTown on the Teutonic, arrived Ellis Island May 30, 1895, traveling alone, born 1881, 1000 in 3rd class, 300 in first class, a twin stack vessel of the White Star Line. So, see you in the new thread? OK?

[dgriffin]

Dave wrote:



This painting?




OK, I'll set up the thread and move our posts. We'll simply call it "Annie Sullivan."



And here we are.

[dgriffin]

I hope Jon joins us on this thread. He has an excellent memory and is quite a historian. I think the hotel fire in which the historical Annie Sullivan died was at the Metropolitan in Utica.
Fiona, your research would support a 16 y.o. servant girl at the G.F in '96. Was your idea to pair her with Mary Wood as a servant who becomes a friend, or was that my idea? Doesn't matter, it's a nice touch. Mr. Wood goes back for the family jewels (or something) Annie is too scared to volunteer, but when Mary and Mrs. Wood meet up with the other party (can't remember who that was, but it's in the newspaper accounts) Annie somehow gets separated from the group, before Mrs. Wood and Mary themselves get separated and die.

I'm still looking for a song. "Annie Laurie" works, sort of, but I'm not really wild about it. I want Annie to have a beautiful singing voice, sadly useless in her type of employment. She sings the lyrics of a popular song of the day over and over to herself. And the lyrics begin to in some way match the story.

Or ... I may give those attributes to Mary B., although she is not as sympathetic character, and write about her demise.

[jon hynes]

Sept 25, 2009 16:03:51 GMT -5 @dgriffin said:

I hope Jon joins us on this thread. He has an excellent memory and is quite a historian.

I'm still looking for a song. "Annie Laurie

Not quite sure what you're doing but I guess you can count me in.

Isn't the song Annie Laurie the same melody as Love Me Tender? I remember getting freaked out while riding in the car with my father as he hummed along with Elvis on the radio with his brand new record Love Me Tender.

[fiona]

Dave and Jon: Can I have some feedback on this? I would like to confine the comments and questions to another thread. This is because the story line can quickly spin out of control. I realize that this is inconvienient for most readers, but I think it is necessary so that the story remains cohesive while in process. Also, in this way, questions can be answered more fully. Dave, can you please post copyright prior to my posting of the characters bios. This story is a work of faction belonging to Dave Griffin, Fiona O'Downey and Jon Hynes. it is a collaberation. The title is 'On Genesee Hill" and the date of genesis is September 21, 2009.
I would also like each section referenced numerically so that the reader can go to the comments post and have a point of referance. The first section will be no 1.
Jon, i will answer your question about Annie Laurie in the comments.

[dgriffin]

Yup, I think the thread you just created is fine and will try to remember to use it.

[fiona]

Hello! Welcome to this interactive novel about old Utica as written by Fiona M. O'Downey, Dave Griffin, Jon Hynes and others. Please join us here and in the question and comments thread for a story, - or a series of them- along with maps, postcards, photos, and other art- that will grab at your heart and won't let go. The story is titled "on Genesee Hill" and all the characters are, (were) real individuals, including Ann Sullivan, who lived and worked and died in Utica NY during the late 1890's. The only composite character thus far is Ann Sullivan, all others will be presented with as much historical, factual information as we are able to ascertain. As such, this will be a type of faction, not a strict historical work. This is necessary to bring the characters into view and give them lives on paper.

For those of you who are new to the site and have not read the "History of the Fire at the Genesee Flats" thread, or the incomplete "History of the Olbiston" thread, I suggest that you at least take a passing glance at it. Most of the information we will be writing about is in there. Dave, Jon and I, as well as others, worked on it for quite a few months last year and this new work has sprung from that research. Also, for the sake of a good story, I have taken some persons who were involved in a murder on Hotel Street on Christmas Eve, 1898. This is the true story of a 15 year old prostitute named Carrie Cobb, her older lover John Karl and their murderer, Peter Wolfe, owner of Peter Wolf's Imperial Hotel on the corner of Whitesboro and Hotel street. Although this incident happened 2 years after the disasterous fire, I so was taken by Carrie Cobbs story, which I read in the Saturday Evening Globe, I decided not only to make her younger, (age 13) but also place her at Mrs. Gorman's boarding House perhaps earlier than she would have been. Later she will develop a voice of her own and speak to me the way Annie Sullivan has.

[fiona]

The third female character, and the actual genesis of the story, is Miss Mary Brandegee Wood, age 15. Miss Wood, the only child of Attorney John Brandegee Wood and Sarah Miller Wood, a member of the prominent Miller family of Rutger park, lived at The Genesee Flats Apartment House where the Olbiston now stands. Mary B., as she liked to be called, lost her life along with three others on March 3, 1896, the nite the Flats burned. The bodies of both she and her mother were never found.
That these 3 girls lived in Utica at approximatly the same time and all met violent deaths within a few years of each other is a story worth telling. Surely, Mary B., born to wealth and privilage, never met Carrie Cobb, the 13 year old prostitute from Hotel Street, but she may have known Annie Sullivan, the immigrant Irish girl, or someone like her, who came to Utica in search of a better life and whose lot in life was simply"to do for the quality".

[fiona]

The reader may ask: How did I come to this work? It is an interesting story with many twists and turns, but essentially this: I lived at the Olbiston Apartments for many years and on the 3rd of November, 2003, someone threw a bottle rocket into the garbage shed at the back of the property, (so I was told) causing a bad fire and much damage to the main hall. The main fire was on the loading dock, this quickly spread into the laundry room and damaged the main hall way. This was at 4 AM, and I was living on the 7th floor at the time, in a large loft that at one time was the Cafe. I had my painting studio up there and was used to the fire alarm, so when it usually went off, which was often, I was up and out the door in a flash. But not this time. Unbelievably, I went to my closet and began to rummage around looking for a bra. In this way I lost precious time while the fire was growing beneath me on the main floor. Leaving my apartment, I had to run down 7 flights of stairs and the halls were already filled with smoke. The building seemed to be completley empty, and it was. I was the last person out. There was nothing to be seen but smoke, apartment doors hanging open and the terrible wailing sound of the fire horn bouncing off the marble walls. On the 6th floor I doubled back to the fire escape door, which was locked. I could see below me flames shooting up in the air and the fireman pouring on water. I finally made it to the third floor, but the heat and smoke coming up the stairwells drove me back. I went to the far south side of the building and started down to the second floor. Once there I found the last exit, to the first floor, full of thick black smoke. I just stopped and stood on the landing. I didn't know what to do, then, instantaneously, I went to another place, another thought process. I don't know what to call it. This only took a few seconds - I thought all at once - "Well, this buildings going to go and it's going to take me with it. I have no regrets. I have had a good life and if this what it is, this is what it is. I have done this before, been here before. No regrets, no fear. just an acceptance of my fate. Then suddenly, I felt and saw the presence of a teenage girl come up behind me. I knew I was no longer alone. This rather plumpish girl was wearing what I can only describe as a Victorian style of dress. She had a head full of beautiful brown curls. She put her "hands" on my shoulders and "shoved" me into the stairwell, so that I had no other choice but to go through the smoke and heat to the street, where I was given oxygen. There were about 200 people out there. Total chaos. Hours later we were allowed to go back to our apartments. I fell into a deep exhausted sleep. The girl in the hall came back to me, smiled and said so sweetly "I'm glad you're fine. ". I saw her very clearly. I need to add that up to this point in time I had lived in the Olbiston for years and never knew there as a building there before the present one, much less that building had burned to the ground in under an hour. Shortley after that I became obsessed with wanting to know who that girl was. I went to the library and began to search through old records for the death of a teenage girl on that spot around 1890, which is how I saw her dressed. What I found has taken years of research and brought me to this point. I know know that that girl must have been Mary B. Wood. She saved my life and it is to her that I dedicate this work.

[dgriffin]

Here's a possible web page on which to keep stuff.


www.windsweptpress.com/ogh1.htm


www.windsweptpress.com/images/ogh flag sm.jpg[/img]

[fiona]

Dave: That's beautiful. I have that postcard. Yes, lets go with that.

[fiona]

How do I get started in the website?