Thoreau's "Walden" Made Impression on Rochester, MI Teacher & Miller

Today's "A Patch of History" article features one of my all time favorite local history stories. Calvin H. Greene was a huge fan of Henry David Thoreau and his books. If there were nineteenth-century literature groupies, Greene was one of them.



Calvin H. Greene

In 1855, Greene  wrote to Thoreau asking to purchase a copy of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, which he saw listed in his copy of Walden. Thoreau wrote back to Greene in Jan. 1856 stating “I am glad to hear that my 'Walden' has interested you – that perchance it holds some truth still as far off as Michigan,” wrote Thoreau. “The 'Week' has so poor a publisher that it is quite uncertain whether you will find it in any shop ... The price is $1.25. If you care enough for it to send me that sum by mail (stamps will do for change), I will forward you a copy by the same conveyance.”

And so began Greene's four-year correspondence with Thoreau. After Thoreau's death in 1862 -- at the young age of 44 -- Greene wrote to the writer's sister and mother, both of whom received him warmly. Thoreau's sister, Sophia, invited him to visit the family in Concord, Mass. Greene took her up on the offer and visited in 1863 and again in 1874.

At the request of Calvin H. Greene of Rochester, MI, Thoreau had this daguerreotype of his picture taken while in Worcester, Mass. It's considered the first photo ever taken of the  famed writer and Transcendentalist.


Henry David Thoreau and the famous
daguerreotype taken at the request of
Calvin H. Greene from Rochester, MI.
Courtesy of Wikimedia.org.

Both visits to Concord were pilgrimages of sorts for Greene, who sought out Thoreau's grave site, as well as Walden and and a watering hole he was told Thoreau bathed in.
Greene also struck up friendships with Thoreau's inner circle of literary contemporaries and friends like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Bronson Alcott, father of famed author Louisa May.
The story of Calvin H. Greene and his association with some of the greatest literary figures in America was first told by Dr. Sanford Jones of Ann Arbor who published several of Thoreau's letters to Greene in Some Unpublished Letters of Henry D. and Sophia E. Thoreau in 1899.
Within the last ten years, Greene’s story has been researched and recorded by former Rochester, MI resident John C. Rosemergy, who grew up with a love for Thoreau's books. Rosemergy researched the story and wrote an unpublished paper titled, "Great God What a Man!" Notes Concerning Calvin Harlow Greene (1817-1898).
For more on this story, check out part 1 of my article on Rochester Patch and check back on Wednesday for part 2.

Remembering Armistice & Veterans Day on 11-11-11

Excerpt from Rochester Patch article "Patch of History: Rochester Has a History of Celebrating War News, May 3, 2011." http://rochester.patch.com/articles/rochester-has-a-history-of-celebrating-war-news#

A small Midwestern town celebrates the end of the Great War

In 1918, an armistice between Germany and the Allies marked the end of the Great War, which would later become known as World War I. Upon hearing the news, people paraded in the streets to celebrate the historic event.

According to Home Town Rochester: A History of Avon Township, Rochester and Rochester Hills, Michigan by Deborah Larsen, about 70 men from the Rochester area, including seven from Stoney Creek, left their families and the only home they had ever known to fight overseas in 1917.

When the war ended Nov. 11, 1918, Rochester residents, dressed warmly in coats and hats, marched down Main Street. Some walked waving American flags, while others crammed into horse-drawn wagons and onto cars draped with large flags, turning them into makeshift floats. Young and old sat on car hoods and bumpers to make their way down the street and participate in the celebrations marking the end of the war.

Please take a moment today and every day to remember those who served to protect our freedoms.