Empathy In August 1894, J.H. Wade II (1857–1926) and his family departed on an 11-month tour around the world traveling on their private ocean-going, steam-powered yacht, Wadena. The steamship was commissioned by Wade in 1891, a year after his grandfather, J.H. Wade I died. Wadena was a beauty, outfitted with…

I am currently on an extended trip to the UK and Italy following the travel journals of Jeptha H. Wade I (1889), Randall Wade (1870–71), and Jeptha H. Wade II (1870–71, 1889, 1892, 1895, 1900, 1904, and 1914), in order to better understand the various personalities, travel styles, and collecting…

I’ve spent years attempting to communicate the volume and grandeur of Jeptha “Homer”Wade II’s gifts to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Topics for other blogs are his years of diligent support of efforts to build a museum in Cleveland, his support and encouragement of the young architects Hubbell and Benes…

Without a doubt writing this book about the Wade family in Cleveland has led me down some unexpected and truly wonderful paths. Yesterday I had further proof of this when Sandra Gilliland, Historian Emerita of Scipio, NY, and Dodie Rowlands, the current Historian of Scipio, NY, met me for breakfast…

In this excerpt from a letter to his fiancee, 21-year old Randall Wade (1835–1876) writes updating her on the search for a home. Randall’s father, Jeptha H. Wade (1811–1890) had decided the family needed to establish a base of operations and so father and son had headed up to Cleveland…

Probably in or around 1852 the Jeptha Homer Wade (1811–1890) and his family settled in Columbus. His son Randall (1835–1876) , 17, entered Capital University there. A year later, in the autumn of 1853, Randall travelled east where he entered the newly-opted National Scientific and Military Academy at Brandywine Springs…

Been thinking about Ellen Howe Abbott Garretson recently. She is mostly remembered today — when she is remembered at all — as the mother of Ellen “Nellie” Garretson Wade, the wife of Jeptha “Homer” Wade II. …

In religious matters my aim has been to do right…. In religious matters my aim has been to do right, and to learn the truth, and as far as possible reach correct conclusions, and act accordingly — J.H. Wade Jeptha H. Wade approached religion with a practicality and rationalism that…

Boarding school on the Hudson River in November, especially during the holidays, must have been cold and a little lonely at times, even if your best friend (and cousin) is at school with you. …