A Victorian Era Love Story
How my great-grandparents hooked-up
There was an old photo in a beautifully ornate silver frame on display at my grandparent's house that I used to love studying as a young kid. It was a late 19th century image of my great-grandparents Fayette Kinyon and Mae Chapin, not long after they met while interning at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C..
The two were by a rustic wooden fence, beneath some blossoming cherry trees. Mae was seated atop the fence, with her long hair pinned up and wearing a light, ankle length flowered dress. Fayette was standing beside her leaning some weight on his elbow. He had on a striped shirt, a straw hat, and a mandolin in his hand. They both looked so charmingly joyful. I wish I had the photo in my possession, but my wicked aunt probably burned it.
My great-grandpa … played piano and mandolin, and sang. He had an angelic voice and would serenade Mae with the romantic and popular songs of the day.
Next to this photo was a tall, narrow picture frame, containing three elegant, white square engraved invitations from the White House. Two were from Teddy Roosevelt and wife, and the other from the Tafts (who were not-so-distant cousins of the Chapin family). Pasted on the back of this frame were the names of several hotels and clubs in Washington, where the two young lovers attended extravagant balls.
I don't remember hearing how they met, but I imagine that it was at a party of people employed in the senate offices. I can picture Fayette falling in love with the pretty Mae at first sight from across the room.
My great-grandpa had performed with musical groups while at the University of Minnesota - he played piano and mandolin, and sang. He had an angelic voice and would serenade Mae with the romantic and popular songs of the day. He was also an early enthusiast of ragtime and had some serious chops. I think there's a good chance that he had been in one of the groups performing at those balls.
I do remember the background on how they ended up together in D.C..
Mae graduated the University of Chicago and began teaching, but she found it nerve-racking. She wanted to find another way to support herself and do something interesting.
Looking for a change of scene, she wrote to her favorite uncle, Colonel E.W. Foster who had long worked for President Benjamin Harrison, and then in the office of his brother, Addison Foster a senator from Washington state. She mentioned that she had studied business and that she thought it would be good to work in an office. Addison offered her a job in his.
It was a time of decadence; especially among "old money" families - like those who ran D.C. Promiscuity was widely accepted in all social classes, although the aristocracy hid its lust behind a strict code of propriety.
In the meantime, Fayette was also trying to decide what to do with his life. He had graduated with a business degree, spent an extremely rough year in northern Minnesota as paymaster for railroad gangs, and finally found himself back working in the family bank in Owatonna - which was not his dream job.
His father, Charles J. Kinyon had worked in the bank his whole life. His uncle, William R. Kinyon founded the bank shortly after the family moved west from New York. They were pioneers and early settlers of the town. In fact, so many Kinyon's bought property there, settling on the same small hill, that it was called Kinyon Hill for generations.
William was Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives and through his connections he landed Fayette a job in the office of Cushman K. Davis, a Senator from Minnesota. He loved it.
Fayette and Mae were in their 20s when they met in the midst of what would later be called the Gay Nineties (or the Naughty Nineties, if you were in the U.K.). It was a time of decadence; especially among "old money" families - like those who ran D.C. Promiscuity was widely accepted in all social classes, although the aristocracy hid its lust behind a strict code of propriety.
I sometimes wonder just how much fun they had in those heady days. They had a long courtship and didn't marry until Fayette turned 30, and Mae 28.
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