Lorenzo A. Hopkins (the real George Hurstwood)

 

‘Lorenzo A. Hopkins, the real George Hurstwood’

 

Please note.

This post partially reiterates and also amplifies upon material in a previous post of mine, namely: “Lorenzo A. Hopkins, Emma Wilhelmina Dreiser, and Family”

Roger W. Smith, “Lorenzo A. Hopkins, Emma Wilhelmina Dreiser, and Family”

 

************************************************

Above is a downloadable Word document containing an article about Lorenzo A. Hopkins (1847-1897), who was the real life model for the character of George Hurstwood in Theodore Dreiser’s novel Sister Carrie. The article includes newly discovered factual information about Hopkins, including his death, information about which has not hitherto been found. It is a significant matter to investigate since, in real life, Hopkins, the model for Hurstwood, was left by his lover Emma Wilhelmina Dreiser (Dreiser’s sister), leading to the decline and death of Hurstwood, which concludes the novel.

Also provided here (see below) are images of Hopkins’s death certificate, his gravestone, and the cemetery (Mt.  Olivet Cemetery in Maspeth, Queens, NYC) where he is buried.

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   February 2017

 

*****************************************************

See also:

“The Real Julia Hurstwood and the Lutz Murder Case”

Roger W. Smith, “The Real Julia Hurstwood and the Lutz Murder Case”

 

*****************************************************

Lorenzo A. Hopkins death certificate

death certificate, Lorenzo A. Hopkins

Lorenzo A. Hopkins gravestone (photograph by Roger W. Smith)

Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Maspeth, Queens, NYC (photograph by Roger W. Smith)

excerpts from the autobiography of Harold James Dies

 

the-life-story-of-harold-james-dies-excerpts

 

Posted here as a downloadable PDF document are excerpts from the autobiography of Harold James Dies (1914-2012). Mr. Dies was related, on his mother’s side, to Theodore Dreiser’s second wife, Helen (Patges) (Richardson) Dreiser. He was Trustee of the Dreiser Trust.

The full title of the autobiography is “The Kingdom of God and the World’s Final Generation: The Life Story of Harold James Dies” (2010).

Included in the autobiography is anecdotal material related to Theodore Dreiser and his second wife Helen, as well as some information about Dreiser’s niece Gertrude Amelia Hopkins (1894-1963) that is not available elsewhere. Topics of interest discussed in the autobiography, and included in the excerpts posted below, include:

Mr. Dies’s relationship with Dreiser’s second wife Helen, whom he knew from his early years, and biographical information about her

his meeting Dreiser and some anecdotal material about Dreiser

mention of his cousin congressman Martin Dies, chairman of the House un-American Activities Committee

his relationship with Gertrude Amelia Hopkins, Dreiser’s favorite niece and the daughter of Dreiser’s sister Emma (“Sister Carrie”)

negotiations over the production of Tobias Picker’s opera “An American Tragedy”

I wish to thank Joann Crouch, Mr. Dies’s niece, who told me about this unique book and made it available to me for photocopying.

 

— Roger W. Smith

   February 2017

Ted Dreiser?

 

email to North Country Public Radio,  Canton, NY

radio@ncpr.org

from Roger W. Smith

February 16,  2017

 

re your broadcast on February 15 of a review by  Betsy Kepes of Murder in the Adirondacks: An American Tragedy Revisited by Craig Brandon

the announcer on your program who introduced Ms. Kepes referred to the novel based on the case (An American Tragedy) that was written by Ted Dreiser

Please note: Theodore Dreiser was sometimes referred to by intimates as Teddy

But in public and in the media, he was NEVER referred to as Ted

it was Theodore Dreiser, never Ted, including in his boyhood