Roger W. Smith letter to Harold J. Dies, March 24, 2007

 

roger-w-smith-to-harold-dies-3-24-20071

 

 

Harold J. Dies (1914-2012) was Trustee of the Dreiser Trust.

 

– posted by Roger W. Smith

   June 2017

photo of Gertrude Amelia Hopkins (Theodore Dreiser’s favorite niece)

 

See commentary below.

Gertrude Amelia Hopkins (1894-1973)

 

This photograph of Gertrude Amelia Hopkins (1894-1973), Theodore Dreiser’s favorite niece, is, as far as I know, unique. It is the best photo of Gertrude that I have ever seen.

I am grateful to Mrs. Gloria N. Vevante, Gertrude’s niece, for giving me this photo.

Gertrude Amelia Hopkins was the daughter of Theodore Dreiser’s sister, Emma (Dreiser) Nelson (1863-1936). Emma (Dreiser) Nelson was the real life prototype of the lead character, Carrie Meeber, in Theodore Dreiser’s first novel, Sister Carrie.

 

— Roger W. Smith

  December 2016

 

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email to a Dreiserian from Roger W. Smith, January 15, 2017

Attached is a gorgeous photo of Gertrude Amelia Hopkins (1894-1973), who was TD’s favorite niece.

The photo was given to me by Mrs. Gloria Vevante.

Mrs. Vevante was born Gloria Nelson. She was Gertrude’s niece. Her (Mrs. Vevante’s) father was George Nelson.

George Kates Nelson (1892-1955) was the son of Emma and Hopkins. He took the name of his stepfather, John Nelson.

George was a hotel manager in Manhattan for most of his professional life. He married a woman, Gunda Ryerson, who had emigrated when young from Norway. For many years, his family lived in Manhattan.

George had nothing to do with TD and did not seem to have been intimate with his mother, Emma, as an adult. He was apparently somewhat of a wild kid who straightened out as he matured. He knew Paul Dresser and as an adolescent would spend time with him.

His first name, George, is possibly significant, since Hurstwood’s first name is George and he has a son named George, Jr.

Gertrude alternatively used the names Gertrude Hopkins and Gertrude Nelson when she was young. She aspired to be singer when young. She was close to Emma. She ended up working for Con Edison in Westchester County. She married a coworker, Emil Dorn, and became Gertrude Hopkins Dorn. But, she found out — much later (I believe it was after Dorn’s death) — that Mr. Dorn was already married (when he married Gertrude) to a wife who had been found mentally incompetent and was confined to a hospital. Gertrude went back to being Gertrude Hopkins.

Gertrude died in Westchester in 1973.

Her letters to TD are touching.

Harold J. Dies (1914-2012), a descendant of Dreiser’s aunt who was Trustee of the Dreiser Estate (he was a cousin of Dreiser’s second wife, Helen Patges Dreiser), knew Gertrude well and played a major role in administering her estate. It is clear that he was fond of her. Tedi Dreiser Goddard and her mother, Dr. Vera Dreiser, knew Gertrude but didn’t seem to give her the time of day or think that much of her. Helen knew Gertrude and liked her. And, at an early age, at least, Gertrude used to correspond with Jug.

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

 

‘Lorenzo A. Hopkins, Emma Wilhelmina Dreiser & Family’

See downloadable Word document above.

 

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Lorenzo A. Hopkins (aka L. A. Hopkins; 1847-1897) was the real life counterpart of the character George Hurstwood in Theodore Dreiser’s novel Sister Carrie.

Gertrude Amelia Hopkins (1894-1973), Theodore Dreiser’s niece, was the daughter of Dreiser’s sister Enema Dreiser (1863-1936). Emma was the real life counterpart of, and model for, the lead character in Sister Carrie.

 

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Abstract/Summary:

Theodore Dreiser’s first novel, Sister Carrie, was based on real people and incidents: Dreiser’s sister Emma; and, Emma’s lover L. A. Hopkins with whom she eloped after Hopkins, a married man, stole money from his employer in Chicago.

In the novel, Carrie Meeber’s lover, George Hurstwood, commits suicide. Very little has been known hitherto about the identity of L. A. Hopkins, the real life model for Hurstwood, or what became of him after he and Dreiser’s sister Emma, the model for Carrie Meeber, settled in New York City.

This article provides information about Hopkins and his death. It also provides information about the life of Dreiser’s sister Emma after Hopkins’s death and about the children of Hopkins and Emma; they had two children whom Dreiser met in 1894 when he first visited New York City: George Nelson and Gertrude Hopkins. The former, George Nelson, did not relate to Dreiser in later life, though in his youth he had some contact with Dreiser’s brother Paul Dresser. The latter, Gertrude Hopkins, was Dreiser’s favorite niece.

 

— Roger W. Smith

   October 2016; updated July 2020

 

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Also, see below:

photo of Lorenzo A. Hopkins’s grave

photo of Theodore Dreiser’s niece Gertrude A. Hopkins

 

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See also my posts:

contemporary newspaper accounts about the real life Hurstwood’s theft”

contemporary newspaper accounts about the real life Hurstwood’s theft

 

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

https://dreiseronlinecom.wordpress.com/2017/03/01/the-real-julia-hurstwood-and-the-lutz-murder-case/

 

PHOTOS

gravestone of Lorenzo A. Hopkins (1847-1897); Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Maspeth, Queens, NY (photograph by Roger W. Smith)

Gertrude Amelia Hopkins (1894-1973)

Sara Dreiser (Aunt Juggie) postcard to her niece Gertrude Nelson, 1907

 

Sara White Dreiser postcard to Gertrude Nelson 8-4-1907

 

See above downloadable PDF file, above.

Sara Dreiser (“Aunt Juggie”) was Theodore Dreiser’s first wife.

Her postcard was addressed to  Gertrude Nelson. Gertrude, who was born in 1894, was the daughter of Dreiser’s sister Emma and Lorenzo A. Hopkins. She took the surname Nelson, the name of her stepfather John Nelson. Later, Gertrude changed her last name to Hopkins.

Gertrude Nelson was living at the time in St. Louis with her aunt Mame, Dreiser’s sister, and Mame’s husband Austin Brennan.

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

 

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 Miss Gertrude Nelson
1324 Union Blvd.
St. Louis
Mo.

posted from Avon, N.J.
Sun., August 4, 1907

My dear Gertrude:

You should see your mother and father* sporting at Avon-by-the-Sea. Your Uncle Teddy & I came a week ago & they are spending the day with us. We all go back this p.m. Your mother looks lovely. Love to all of you.

Aunt Juggie

 

*Emma (Dreiser) Nelson (Theodore Dreiser’s  and Emma’s husband John Nelson.

Gertrude A. Hopkins death certificate

 

Gertrude Amelia Hopkins (1894-1973) was Theodore Dreiser’s niece. Below is an image of her death certificate.

 

 

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Note: The late Harold J. Dies gave me a copy of Gertrude Hopkins’s death certificate. I would not have been able to obtain one otherwise, since only relatives can obtain such a record from the state of New York. It is an invaluable document. Gertrude was Theodore Dreiser’s favorite niece and knew Dreiser and his second wife Helen well.  See my article

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

posted on this site at

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

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   March 2016

Harold J. Dies letter to Roger W. Smith, February 24, 2007

 

Harold J. Dies (1914-2012) was Trustee of the Dreiser Trust.  Mr. Dies was a first cousin once removed of Theodore Dreiser, and a half first cousin of Dreiser’s second wife, Helen Dreiser.

 

sara-dreiser-postcard-to-gertrude-nelson

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

  March 2016