Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy, Sally Young and Sue Davis for their ongoing research collaboration; specifically to William for providing a scan of the original document, and in turn many thanks to Peter Binckley and Patricia D'Arcy "Trish" Binckley (1951-2007), at the source.]
I was born in The Cottage. [September 1, 1860 -- P.D.B.] By that time the neighborhood was all built up and the swamp long vanished. The Cottage, when I knew it, and the garden around it, and the long garden behind, were still the same as in the sketch. The streets were all paved and well lighted, however, and the city had grown up. We were on the corner of N and 13th, and there was a large brick house next to us on N Street, owned by the Donahoes. Mr. Donahoe was rather eccentric, I believe, and wrote verses -- not very good ones, I'm afraid -- and tried to look like Tennyson, wore a shawl. He had a little daughter named Ivy with whom I used to play. He had Ivy baptized in the [Atlantic] Ocean and named Ivy May Atlantic Donahoe. He was really a nice fellow, and Father liked him.
On the opposite corner, across 13th Street, lived the Junkins. Their little girl Lizzie and I were great chums. Next door to him, on N Street, lived the Suverkrops, a delightful family, of whom my parents were very fond. Mr. Suverkrop was Danish, and his wife Scottish. Her maiden name had been Smith, and she used to say that she had been born with the commonest name in the world and had married the most uncommon. They had several half grown sons and a little daughter a few years older than I, named Euphemia. She was always called Mia, though. She had been born in Edinburgh, Scotland. She and I were great friends and constantly together.
I never went to school till I entered college. Mother and Grandmother taught me at home. I have not the slightest recollection of ever learning to read. It [seemed] as if I always knew how. My two grandmothers visited us from time to time. Father's mother [Charlotte Stocker Binckley -- P.D.B.] I called Grandma, and Mother's mother was Grandmother. Grandmother told me fairy stories, Grimm's, Hans Christian Andersen's, etc. Grandma loved the [Greek] mythology, and I became as familiar with Olympus and the gods and goddesses as with the Black Forest and Snow White and the Little Seamaid. My head was full of fairies and saints and angels.
When we went to the country in the summer I was always looking out for fairy rings, and listening for the horns of Elfland faintly blowing. The Never, Never Land was real for me. A favorite book was Mrs. Jamieson's [Anna Brownell Jameson (1794-1860)] Sacred and Legendary Art [italics added.] And my favorite saint was the boy saint who had suffered martyrdom, Saint Pancras. I made many sketches of my idea of his rapt, inspired young face. I was a good deal of a tomboy, and I loved to climb trees and went barefoot all summer. Mother used to tell me that when the leaves on the trees got as big as my hand, I could take off my shoes.
One time we went to the Eastern Shore, and to Cape Charles. They took me to the end of the Point, and made me kneel down and put a hand in the water on each side. Then they told me that one hand was in the Atlantic Ocean and the other in [the] Chesapeake Bay.
[Ellen/Nellie/Nella Fontaine Binckley (September 1, 1860-April 27, 1951). Family names and dates were whimsically tweaked by their owners during their lifetime, adding mystery and sometimes causing confusion. For Binckley's "Artist's Life," I'm opting for the full artist's signature name, Nella Fontaine Binckley.
Harvey Mitchell/Michel (1799-1866).
Jane Johnston Mitchell/Michel (1811-1892).
Mother = Mary Louisa/Louise Mitchell/Michel Binckley (1838-1930).
John Milton Binckley (circa 1831-1878).
Charlotte Stocker Binckley (1788-1877).
Suverkrops = see 1860 US Federal Census. They already lived in Ward 2 by that time. Euphemia/Mia is listed as Eupeinia Luwerkrop, age 3 (born circa 1857), corrected to Suverkrop. The rest of the Suverkrop family in the 1860 Census include: Edward A., (46), Isabella (39), John P. (8) and Robert E. (7). They were living with the McLeod family, probably related on the maternal side.]
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