Northern Light
Lt. Colonel
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2014
Arabella Wharton Griffith Barlow
Arabella Griffith was born in rural New Jersey on February 29, 1824. Her father was a merchant who had lost all his money when he became an alcoholic. Her parents divorced when she was young and she was brought up by an elderly relative. She was educated at St. Mary’s Hall school in New Jersey.
In 1846, Arabella was living in New York City as a governess. With her personality and intellect, Arabella was able to enter in the world of intellectuals, literary-minded socialites, artists and prominent politicians of New York Society, where she made many friends, including the noted diarist, George Templeton Strong, who wrote of her, “[She is] certainly the most brilliant, cultivated, easy graceful, effective talker of womankind, and [she] has read, thought and observed much and well.”
There are no know pictures of Arabella Griffith but there is a school of thought that this MIGHT be her. It is a great picture so I am going to stick it in anyway.
View attachment 301931
Since we don't know what she looked like, we can pretend she looked like this.
How Arabella met Francis Barlow met is not known, however, it may have been because both of them wrote articles for the New York Tribune. They also travelled in the same social circles. The ten year difference in their ages did not seem to matter to them, but it bothered some of their friends. Maria L. Daly, a supposed friend of Arabella’s, called Francis “Arabella’s boy-husband”., and thought it disrespectful when he called her “Belle”. Daly also passed along the tale of her maid announcing the visit of a “soldier and his mother”, when Arabella and Francis came to call.
Despite such often mean-spirited criticism, loved blossomed, and Francis proposed. They were married on April 20th, 1861 at St. Paul’s Church in New York City
.
Arabella Griffith was born in rural New Jersey on February 29, 1824. Her father was a merchant who had lost all his money when he became an alcoholic. Her parents divorced when she was young and she was brought up by an elderly relative. She was educated at St. Mary’s Hall school in New Jersey.
In 1846, Arabella was living in New York City as a governess. With her personality and intellect, Arabella was able to enter in the world of intellectuals, literary-minded socialites, artists and prominent politicians of New York Society, where she made many friends, including the noted diarist, George Templeton Strong, who wrote of her, “[She is] certainly the most brilliant, cultivated, easy graceful, effective talker of womankind, and [she] has read, thought and observed much and well.”
There are no know pictures of Arabella Griffith but there is a school of thought that this MIGHT be her. It is a great picture so I am going to stick it in anyway.
View attachment 301931
Since we don't know what she looked like, we can pretend she looked like this.
How Arabella met Francis Barlow met is not known, however, it may have been because both of them wrote articles for the New York Tribune. They also travelled in the same social circles. The ten year difference in their ages did not seem to matter to them, but it bothered some of their friends. Maria L. Daly, a supposed friend of Arabella’s, called Francis “Arabella’s boy-husband”., and thought it disrespectful when he called her “Belle”. Daly also passed along the tale of her maid announcing the visit of a “soldier and his mother”, when Arabella and Francis came to call.
Despite such often mean-spirited criticism, loved blossomed, and Francis proposed. They were married on April 20th, 1861 at St. Paul’s Church in New York City
.