Frances Matilda
VANDEGRIFT was born on 10 Mar 1840, to Jacob & Esther Thomas Keen
Vandegrift, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Frances "Fannie" Vandegrift lived near
Indianapolis until 1864, when she decided to join her husband, Samuel Osborne,
who had already moved near Carson City, NV (prospecting). She and her children,
Samuel Lloyd and Isobel Stuart Osborne, went by train to New York, then boarded
a steamship to Panama, walked across the isthmus, by steamship to San Francisco,
and finally stage coach to Carson City and Austin, Nevada, where she supported
the family as a laundress. In 1869, the fa mily moved to Oakland, CA, where
Fannie studied painting. In 1875, she left Osborne and took the children to
France and Belgium to pursue her art studies, and it was there she met Robert
Louis Stevenson and the couple was living together by 1877. In 1878, she
returned to San Francisco and Monterey, CA. After a reconciliation with Osborne
failed, she divorced him.
Stevenson joined her after an
arduous journey, described in "Across the Plains". They were married in 1880 and
lived in Great Britain in 1880-1888. In 1889, searching for relief from RLS's
health condition, which may have been genetic in nature. The Stevenson family
(including his mother) went by s hip to Tahiti, Hawaii, Gilbert Islands, and
ultimately Western Samoa (see footnote).
The year
following the family's arrival in Western Samoa, they began building their
estate, Vailima, on 400 acres of lushly forested land behind Apia, and lived
there until Stevenson's death, from a massive brain hemorrhage, in 1894. The
last four years of his life were spent with his wife, her son Lloyd, and his
adopted family of Samoans. Fannie continued living in Samoa until 1897, at which
time she sold the land and returned to San Francisco until shortly before her
death on 19 Feb 1914 in Santa Barbara, CA. She was buried in Jun 1915, at the
summit of Mount Vaea, next to her husband.
Her daughter
Isobel was amanuensis for RLS, and was, herself, and author, writing "This Life
I've Loved", and other works. Fannie's son, Lloyd, served as Vice-Consul of
Western Samoa, and was also an author, publishing several books of his own,
including "An Intimate Portrait of RLS", and collaborated on several works with
his famous step-father.These works included: "The Wrong Box" (1889) *"The
Wrecker" (1892) "The Ebb Tide" (1894)
Ancestors of Frances Matilda Vandegrift
First Generation
1. Frances Matilda VANDERGRIFF was
born on 10 Mar 1840. She died on 18 Feb 1914.
Samuel
OSBORNE and Frances Matilda VANDERGRIFF had the following children:
i. Isobel Stuart OSBORNE was born on 18 Sep 1858 in
Indianapolis, In.. She died on 26 Jun 1953 in Hotel El Mirasol, Santa Barbara,
Ca. She was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, Ca.
2 ii. Samuel Lloyd OSBORNE.
Second Generation
2. Jacob VANDERGRIFF was born on 9
Sep 1816. He was married to Esther Thomas KEEN in 1838.
3. Esther Thomas KEEN.
Jacob
VANDERGRIFF and Esther Thomas KEEN had the following children:
i. Henry VANDERGRIFF was born on 8 Mar 1839. He died in
infancy..
1 ii. Frances Matilda VANDERGRIFF.
iii. Josephine Knodle VANDERGRIFF was born on 21 Nov 1842.
She died on 1 Sep 1915.
iv. Elizabeth Ellen VANDERGRIFF
was born on 23 Jan 1846. She died on 9 Oct 1917.
v.
Jacob VANDERGRIFF was born on 9 Nov 1848. He died on 14 Feb 1923.
vi. Cora VANDERGRIFF was born on 12 Nov 1852. She died on
15 Sep 1925.
vii. Nellie Foster VANDERGRIFF was born on
24 Nov 1855. She died on 4 Jan 1935.
Third Generation
5. Jacob VANDERGRIFF was born on 10 Jun 1785. He died on 12
Oct 1821 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was married to Elizabeth MILLER on 28
May 1807.
6. Elizabeth MILLER
was born on 1 May 1792 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She died in 1862 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jacob VANDERGRIFF and Elizabeth MILLER had the
following
children: i. John Miller VANDERGRIFF was born
on 15 May 1808.
ii. Matilda VANDERGRIFF was born on 4
Mar 1810.
iii. Susanna VANDERGRIFF was born on 9 Jun
1812.
iv. Mary Ann U. VANDERGRIFF was born on 5 Aug
1814.
2 v. Jacob VANDERGRIFF.
vi. Henry VANDERGRIFF was born on 23 Dec 1818.
vii. Elizabeth VANDERGRIFF was born on 13 Jan 1822.
7. John Cooke KEEN.
8. Catherine WEAVER (WEBER).
John
Cooke KEEN and Catherine WEAVER (WEBER) had the following children:
3 i. Esther Thomas KEEN.
Bibliography:
"Life of Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson".
Josephine Vandegrift, Charles Scribner, NY 1920;
"Fanny Stevenson, A Romance
of Destiny". Alexandra Lapierre, Carroll & Graf, NY 1995.
"This Life
I've Loved", Longman Green, 1937.
Island Magazine. Article by Lawrence
Millman. May/June 1995 Issue.
Basic information contributed by: Kathleen
M. Smith, Paul Vandergrift, and John Carter.
Thank you~
* The Wrecker
An electronic edition of this book is now on the Internet. To find the URL, go
to a search engine, then type in "Lloyd Osbourne".
Footnote: Western
Samoa is not to be confused with American Samoa, and is located in the Pacific,
off the coast of South America