Person Page - 140

Elinor Bettina Frost was born in Derry, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire, on 18 June 1907.^1,2

Elinor died on 21 June 1907 in Derry, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire.³

Elliot Frost was born in Lawrence, Essex Co., Massachusetts, on 25 September 1896.^1,2,3,4
The siblings Elliot and Lesley were listed in the 1900 US census at 67 Prospect St in Methuen, Essex Co., Massachusetts, in the household of their parents, Robert Lee Frost and Elinor Miriam White.⁵

Elliot died on 8 July 1900 in Methuen, Essex Co., Massachusetts, at age 3 of cholera.^6,7,3

Irma Frost was born in Derry, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire, on 27 June 1903.^1,2
The siblings Lesley, Carol, Irma and Marjorie were listed in the 1910 US census in Derry, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire, in the household of their parents, Robert Lee Frost and Elinor Miriam White.³
The siblings Lesley, Carol, Irma and Marjorie were listed in the 1920 US census at Mason St in Amherst, Hampshire, in the household of their parents, Robert Lee Frost and Elinor Miriam White.⁴

She married John Paine Cone in Franconia, New Hampshire, on 15 October 1926.⁵

Irma was divorced from John Paine Cone in 1947.⁶

Irma died on 12 April 1981 in Moretown, Vermont, at age 77 of cardiovascular disease.⁷

Jeanie Florence Frost was born in Lawrence, Essex Co., Massachusetts, on 25 June 1876.¹
The siblings Robert and Jeanie were listed in the 1880 US census at 729 California St in San Francisco, San Francisco Co, California, with their parents, William Prescott (Jnr.) Frost and Isabella Moodie.²
She was listed as the sister of Robert Lee Frost in the 1900 US Census at 67 Prospect St in Methuen, Essex Co., Massachusetts.³

She was listed in the 1910 US census as household head at James St in Long Branch City, Monmouth, NEW Jersey; she was a public school teacher and was accompanied by Louie MERRIAM, also a teacher.⁴
She was listed in the 1920 US census, boarding with Quincy NASH and wife Ardella in Sullivan, Cheshire, New Hampshire; she was teaching and Louie MERRIAM was a fellow boarder.⁵

Jeanie died on 7 September 1929 in Augusta, Maine, at age 53.

Lesley Frost was born in Lawrence, Essex Co., Massachusetts, on 28 April 1899.^1,2
The siblings Elliot and Lesley were listed in the 1900 US census at 67 Prospect St in Methuen, Essex Co., Massachusetts, in the household of their parents, Robert Lee Frost and Elinor Miriam White.³
The siblings Lesley, Carol, Irma and Marjorie were listed in the 1910 US census in Derry, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire, in the household of their parents, Robert Lee Frost and Elinor Miriam White.⁴
The siblings Lesley, Carol, Irma and Marjorie were listed in the 1920 US census at Mason St in Amherst, Hampshire, in the household of their parents, Robert Lee Frost and Elinor Miriam White.⁵

She married James Dwight Francis in Manhattan, New York, New York, on 6 September 1928.⁶

Lesley was divorced from James Dwight Francis circa 1932.

Lesley's second marriage was to Joseph William Ballantine on 23 August 1952 at Greenfield Hill Congregational Church in Fairfield, Connecticut.⁷

She was widowed at age 73 on the death of her husband Joseph on 29 January 1973.⁸

Lesley died on 9 July 1983 in Fairfield, Connecticut, at age 84.^9,10

Marjorie Frost was born in Derry, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire, on 29 March 1905.^1,2,3
The siblings Lesley, Carol, Irma and Marjorie were listed in the 1910 US census in Derry, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire, in the household of their parents, Robert Lee Frost and Elinor Miriam White.⁴
The siblings Lesley, Carol, Irma and Marjorie were listed in the 1920 US census at Mason St in Amherst, Hampshire, in the household of their parents, Robert Lee Frost and Elinor Miriam White.⁵

She married Willard Edward Fraser in Billings, Yellowstone Co., Montana, on 3 June 1933.⁶

Marjorie died on 2 May 1934 in Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota, at age 29.^2,7,3

Frost's father, William Prescott Frost, Jr., was a journalist with ambitions of establishing a career in California, and in 1873 he and his wife moved to San Francisco.¹ Robert Lee Frost was born in San Francisco, San Francisco Co., California, on 26 March 1874.^2,3,4,5
The siblings Robert and Jeanie were listed in the 1880 US census at 729 California St in San Francisco, San Francisco Co, California, with their parents, William Prescott (Jnr.) Frost and Isabella Moodie.⁶

His father's death from tuberculosis in 1885 prompted his mother to take her two children, Robert and Jeanie, to Lawrence, Mass., where they were taken in by the children's paternal grandparents. While their mother taught at a variety of schools in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Robert and Jeanie grew up in Lawrence, and Robert graduated from high school in 1892. A top student in his class, he shared valedictorian honours with Elinor White, with whom he had already fallen in love.¹

Robert and Elinor shared a deep interest in poetry, but their continued education sent Robert to Dartmouth College and Elinor to St. Lawrence University. Meanwhile, Robert continued to labour on the poetic career he had begun in a small way during high school; he first achieved professional publication in 1894 when The Independent, a weekly literary journal, printed his poem "My Butterfly: An Elegy." Impatient with academic routine, Frost left Dartmouth after less than a year.¹

He married Elinor Miriam White at Lawrence, Essex Co., Massachusetts, on 19 December 1895.⁵

Frost resumed his college education at Harvard University in 1897 but left after two years' study there. From 1900 to 1909 the family raised poultry on a farm near Derry, N.H., and for a time Frost also taught at the Pinkerton Academy in Derry. Frost became an enthusiastic botanist and acquired his poetic persona of a New England rural sage during the years he and his family spent at Derry. All this while he was writing poems, but publishing outlets showed little interest in them.¹

He was listed in the 1900 US census as head of the family at 67 Prospect St in Methuen, Essex Co., Massachusetts, with his wife Elinor; they were both school-teachers. Their children Elliot and Lesley were listed as living with them, as was Robert's sister Jeanie and mother Isabella.⁷

He was listed in the 1910 US census as head of the family in Derry, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire, with his wife Elinor; he was working as a teacher and the household included Elinor's parents Edwin White and Henrietta A Cole. Their children Lesley, Carol, Irma and Marjorie were listed as living with them.⁸

By 1911 he was fighting against discouragement. Poetry had always been considered a young person's game, but Frost, who was nearly 40 years old, had not published a single book of poems and had seen just a handful appear in magazines. In 1911 ownership of the Derry farm passed to Frost. A momentous decision was made: to sell the farm and use the proceeds to make a radical new start in London, where publishers were perceived to be more receptive to new talent. Accordingly, in August 1912 the Frost family sailed across the Atlantic to England. Frost carried with him sheaves of verses he had written but not gotten into print. English publishers in London did indeed prove more receptive to innovative verse, and, through his own vigorous efforts and those of the expatriate American poet Ezra Pound, Frost within a year had published 'A Boy's Will' (1913). From this first book, such poems as "Storm Fear," "Mowing," and "The Tuft of Flowers" have remained standard anthology pieces.

'A Boy's Will' was followed in 1914 by a second collection, 'North of Boston', that introduced some of the most popular poems in all of Frost's work, among them "Mending Wall," "The Death of the Hired Man," "Home Burial," and "After Apple-Picking." In London, Frost's name was frequently mentioned by those who followed the course of modern literature, and soon American visitors were returning home with news of this unknown poet who was causing a sensation abroad. The Boston poet Amy Lowell traveled to England in 1914, and in the bookstores there she encountered Frost's work. Taking his books home to America, Lowell then began a campaign to locate an American publisher for them, meanwhile writing her own laudatory review of 'North of Boston.¹'

The outbreak of World War I brought the Frosts back to the United States in 1915. By then Amy Lowell's review had already appeared in 'The New Republic', and writers and publishers throughout the northeast were aware that a writer of unusual abilities stood in their midst. The American publishing house of Henry Holt had brought out its edition of 'North of Boston' in 1914. It became a best-seller, and, by the time the Frost family landed in Boston, Holt was adding the American edition of 'A Boy's Will'. Frost soon found himself besieged by magazines seeking to publish his poems. Never before had an American poet achieved such rapid fame after such a disheartening delay. From this moment his career rose on an ascending curve

Frost bought a small farm at Franconia, N.H., in 1915, but his income from both poetry and farming proved inadequate to support his family, and so he lectured and taught part-time at Amherst College and at the University of Michigan from 1916 to 1938. Any remaining doubt about his poetic abilities was dispelled by the collection 'Mountain Interval' (1916), which continued the high level established by his first books.¹

He was listed in the 1920 US census as head of the family at Mason St in Amherst, Hampshire, with his wife Elinor; he was a teacher at Amherst College. Their children Lesley, Carol, Irma and Marjorie were listed as living with them.⁹

His reputation was further enhanced by 'New Hampshire' (1923), which received the Pulitzer Prize. That prize was also awarded to 'Frost's Collected Poems' (1930) and to the collections 'A Further Range' (1936) and 'A Witness Tree' (1942).¹

He was listed in the 1930 US census as head of the family at Brier Hill in Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont, with his wife Elinor; he gave his occupation as Professor.¹⁰

He was widowed at age 63 on the death of his wife Elinor on 20 March 1938.^11,4,12

His other poetry volumes include 'West-Running Brook' (1928), 'Steeple Bush' (1947), and 'In the Clearing' (1962). Frost served as a poet-in-residence at Harvard (1939-43), Dartmouth (1943-49), and Amherst College (1949-63), and in his old age he gathered honours and awards from every quarter.¹

He was listed in the 1940 US census as Head of Household at Main St in Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont; he gave his occupation as writer/lecturer. His son Carol was listed as living with him, along with his wife Lillian and their son William Prescott Frost.¹³

Robert died on 29 January 1963 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 88.^14,4,5 He was buried at the Old Bennington Cemetery, Route 9 in Old Bennington. This gravestone also carries the names of his wife, Elinor Miriam White, and their children Marjorie Frost Fraser, Carol Frost, Elliot Frost and Elinor Bettina Frost. It is unclear if they are all buried here but Robert Frost did purchase 2 plots at this site.⁴

Robert Lee Frost was born on 25 October 1952.¹

Robert died on 26 March 2011 at age 58.¹

He married Judith Colcord in USA.

William Prescott Frost was born in Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont, on 15 October 1924.^1,2
He was listed as grandson of Robert Lee Frost in the 1940 US Census at Main St in Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont, with his parents Carol Frost and Lillian Edna Labatt.¹

He married Phyllis Marie Gordon in Dade Co., Florida, in 1947.³

William died on 7 January 1989 in Ashland, Jackson, Oregon, at age 64.⁴