Thoreau Fan From Rochester Visits Author's Literary Circles Out East

Editor's note: This is part two of a two-part look at the correspondance of Rochester teacher Calvin Greene and writer Henry David Thoreau. Read Part One:

In 1856, a school teacher and principal from Rochester named Calvin Harlow Greene read a review of Henry David Thoreau's Walden in a New York newspaper. Greene was a lover of literature and owner of a saw and cider mill on the banks of the Clinton River in what is now Rochester Hills. He was intrigued enough by the reviewer's description of Thoreau's work to purchase a copy. When he learned that Thoreau had written an earlier but somewhat obscure work titled A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Greene wrote to the author himself, who sent Greene a copy of the book.

And so began the correspondance between the two. 

The story of their letters was first reported by Thoreau scholar Dr. Samuel Jones of Ann Arbor, who published several of the letters in Some Unpublished Letters of Henry D. and Sophia E. Thoreau in 1899. More recently, Greene’s story has been researched and recorded by John C. Rosemergy of Rochester in his unpublished paper, “Great God, What a Man!” Notes Concerning Calvin Harlow Green.

A significant piece of Thoreauvian history

In June 1856, Greene sent $5 to Thoreau asking him, Rosemergy notes, to send copies of Walden and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, to his brother, Hurburd, a gold miner in California. He also requested a photograph of the author.

Thoreau obliged and sent Greene a photo and a note stating “while in Worcester this week I obtained the accompanying daguerreotype – which my friends think is pretty good – though better looking than I.”

In A Bibliography of Henry David Thoreau compiled by Francis H. Allen in 1908, it’s noted that the image was taken by Benjamin D. Maxham in Worcester, Mass., where Thoreau was visiting with two friends. He had three daguerreotypes made: two were given to the friends in Worcester and a third was sent to Greene.

The three images are thought to be the first ever taken of Thoreau.

Jones later obtained Greene’s daguerreotype (as well as his copy of Walden and other documents), which eventually made its way to a private collector who purchased the image at an auction in 1972 for $2,000, a sum Rosemergy states was the “highest price ever paid for a daguerreotype up to that point.”

The collector sold the image later that year for $4,000 to a buyer who donated it to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. where it still resides. A copy of the Thoreau daguerreotype is framed and hanging on a wall in the Local History Room of the .

Letters from Thoreau

As noted in Jones’ Unpublished Letters, Thoreau wrote to Greene in May 1857 thanking him for his “kind intentions respecting me. The West has many attractions for me, particularly the lake country ... I have once or twice came near going West a-lecturing, and perhaps some winter may bring me into your neighborhood: in which I should probably see you.”

Subsequent letters show Thoreau to be thoughtful and kind, yet one who valued his privacy.

“I am gratified to hear of the interest you take in my books,” Thoreau wrote to Greene in July 1857, “it is additional encouragement to write more of them. Though my pen is not idle, I have not published anything for a couple of years at least. I like a private life, and cannot bear to have the public in my mind.

“I should like to meet you,” Thoreau continued, “and if I ever come into your neighborhood shall endeavor to do so. Can’t you tell the world of your life also? Then I shall know you, at least as well as you me.”

We know now that Thoreau never made a visit to Rochester or Oakland County.

Visits with Thoreau’s family

Thoreau died in May 1862 in Concord, Mass., at the age of 44 from complications of tuberculosis and bronchitis, both of which he had contracted years earlier.

Upon hearing the news of Thoreau’s death, Greene wrote to the writer’s mother and sister in June 1862 stating that “I have Mr. Thoreau’s writings, his daguerreotype ... which I prize them most highly.”

Greene also wrote that he shared “sympathy with you in your bereavement.”

Thoreau’s sister, Sophia, soon answered Greene’s letter stating, “I desire to thank you for the very friendly sympathy which you have manifested for us in this season of sorrow and affliction.”

She went on to state that “it would afford us pleasure to see you at any time. Concord is the home of many worthies, Emerson, Alcott, Hawthorne, Channing, etc., all valued friends of my brother. I trust that you may be attracted to this neighborhood.”

Greene visited Concord twice — in 1863 and 1874 — paying visits to Thoreau’s family as well as to many of Thoreau’s contemporaries, including Emerson and Alcott.

His visits with such illustrious literary figures of the time was noted by Jones and referenced by Rosemergy.

“The sterling native worth of Thoreau’s Western Correspondent was quickly discerned by not only Thoreau’s mother and sister,” wrote Jones, “Thoreau’s friends recognized and honored it ... Alcott was moved to the highest issues of friendship ... "

As Rosemergy points out, Greene kept a journal of his “pilgrimages to Concord,” portions of which were published by Jones who only referred to Greene as the “western correspondent.”

First visit to Concord: September 1863

Franklin Sanborn, a friend of Thoreau’s, wrote about Greene’s visits in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Familiar Letters published in 1906, noting that “Greene was a plain and sincere man, never in New England before ... He came once more in 1874, and spent an evening with me in the house where Thoreau lived and died.”

In his journal, reprinted by Jones and noted by Rosemergy, Greene writes of arriving in Concord and visiting Thoreau’s grave site on Sept. 2, 1863, as well as Walden Pond. He also wrote about visiting Thoreau’s mother and sister.

“After supper at the hotel, call’d upon the T’s Mother and Sister. Found them rather expecting me. Was made quite welcome, with urgent request to get my things from hotel & stop with them. Did so — They are decidedly bright appearing women.”

The next day, Greene wrote of visiting with Thoreau’s sister, Sophia. He mentions missing a chance meeting with Alcott's daughter, writer Louisa May (though he spelled her name differently). 

“He talked about Carlyle, Thoreau, books, his own experiences &c – I did not see his daughter – Louise – She had just come home sick from the army hospital at Washington & had lost a part of her hair ... & so was unpresentable.”

It seems Greene made quite an impression on the Thoreau family and was well-liked. On the day he left the Thoreau residence to return to Rochester, Greene wrote “After dinner, bid the Thoreaus’ good bye. Mrs. T’s Sister weeping at the foot of the stairs from her room above! It was a tender leave-taking.”

Second visit to Concord: August 1874

During his second visit, Greene wrote “And now upon the ground-site of that house in which Henry Thoreau lived nearly 30 yrs. ago, I now sit writing up this diary of today. – It’s a beautiful place! The book, “Walden” telling of his life here – first notified me of its author & his writings – That formed an epoch in my life.”

He again visited the Alcott household and, sadly, missed a second chance at meeting Louisa.

“We returned via Mr. Alcott’s, took tea with the family & stayd till nearly 9 O.C. The older daughter Louise was away from home but I met her sister, May there. She is quite an artist, bright, active, a good talker, somewhat forward & reminded me of some shrewd sprightly young man . . . “

By this time, Thoreau’s mother had died and Sophia was living in Maine. 

It was to be Greene’s last visit to Concord, the home of his cherished literary hero.

Greene died on Oct. 30, 1898. He, his wife, Esther, son, W. Harvey, and daughter-in-law, Carrie, are all buried in a family plot in Mount Avon Cemetery.

In an obituary titled “Another Pioneer Gone” published in The Truth Seeker on Nov. 19, 1898, and referenced by Rosemergy, it states that at age 82, Greene “was resting on a couch listening to his wife reading. After some time his wife spoke to him, and receiving no answer, discovered that he was dead. The shock to Mrs. Greene was severe, for they had lived together for 56 years.”

The notice went on to state that Greene "probably possessed the largest collection of anyone concerning Thoreau. His love of Thoreau's work was largely because of the New England philospher's sturdy advocacy of liberty of thought and living . . . "

What Greene's legacy means to Rochester

Calvin H. Greene's correspondence with one of America's most renowned writers and thinkers, as well as his friendships with other notable literary figures, is a remarkable story and one that adds to the rich historical tapestry that is Rochester, Michigan.

The fact that Greene made this small, but thriving "backwoods" community of 1850s America known to Thoreau and his contemporaries spoke volumes about the intelligence, character and resourcefulness of its citizens. 

Rochester impressed Thoreau. It continues to impress the world over.

Additional sources reviewed for this article:

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/
• American Transcendentalism Web: http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/
• The Walden Woods Project: http://www.walden.org/Thoreau
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden