Happy Birthday Hadley!

On this day, 120 years ago, our friend Hadley Richardson was born. Her given name was Elizabeth Hadley Richardson but she was called “Hadley” early on (and later, Hash and feather kitten). The name Hadley came from her maternal grandparents. She had a very interesting life, and her willingness to jump into her marriage with Ernest and all of its subsequent adventures has given us all so much pleasure.

In honor of her birthday, I’ve made a a brief chronology of Hadley’s life below:

November 9, 1891 – Elizabeth Hadley Richardson is born

February 7, 1903 – Hadley father kills himself (Hadley is 13 years old)

August 1911 – Hadley’s sister Dorthea dies in a fire

Fall, 1911 – Hadley attends Bryn Mawr, withdrawing in May of 1912

August 19, 1920 – Hadley’s mother dies after a lengthy decline in health

Fall of 1920 – Hadley meets Ernest in Chicago and their courtship begins. (Ernest proposed sometime between meeting and December of 1920)

Winter of 1920 & 1921 – Ernest and Hadley continue their courtship through the mail and in visits. They make plans to marry and to go to Europe.

March 11, 1921 – Ernest comes to Saint Louis by train to meet Hadley’s friends and family

June 14, 1921 – An engagement party is held in Saint Louis

August 1921 –Hadley visits Chicago on her way to Michigan for the wedding.  She and Ernest sleep together for the first time.

September 3, 1921 – Ernest and Hadley are married in Horton Bay, Michigan and they live in Chicago for a few months.

December 8, 1921– The newlyweds, Ernest and Hadley, set sail for France on the Leopolda

December 20, 1921 – The Hemingways arrive in Havre, France and take a train to Paris.

January, 1922 – Ernest and Hadley rent a small apartment on the left bank.  They discover Shakespeare and company bookstore and sign up for a 3-month subscription to the lending library.  The Hemingway’s spent two weeks in Chamby Switzerland skiing.

March 8, 1922 – The Hemingways meet Gertrude Stein.

May 24, 1922 – Ernest, Hadley and Dorman-Chink meet in Chamby and hike over the mountains into Italy.

June 11, 1922 – Ernest and Hadley explore Italy, visiting some of the places Ernest saw in World War 1

July, 1922 – Ernest and Hadley frequent the horseraces and racetracks in Paris.

August 4, 1922 – Ernest and Hadley fly to Strasbourg and hike in the Black Forest.

September 25, 1922 – Ernest goes to Constanople to write about the Greco-Turkish war, against Hadley’s wishes.

October 26, 1922 – Hadley renews the subscription to Sylvia Beech’s lending library for 1 year.

November 21, 1922 – Ernest goes to Lausanne, Switzerland to cover the peace conference.

December 2, 1922 – Hadley loses Ernest’s manuscripts while on a train to meet Ernest in Switzerland.

December, 1922 – The Hemingway’s go back to Chamby for winter fun

February, 1923 – Ernest and Hadley visit Ezra Pound in Rapallo, Italy and stay in Cortina until May.

March, 1923 – Hadley tells Ernest she is pregnant

June & July, 1923 – Ernest and Hadley go to Spain and see the fiesta and bullfights in Pamplona.

August, 1923 – Three Stories & Ten Poems is published and the Hemingways set sail for Canada where their baby will be born and Ernest will work for The Toronto Star.

October 10, 1923 – John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway is born before before Ernest is able to get to the hospital.

January 10, 1924 – The Hemingways head back to Paris.  During this year they will meet Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Sara and Gerald Murphy, Duff Twysden, Pauline Pfeiffer and more.

July, 1924 – Ernest and Hadley return to Pamplona for the fiesta of San Fermin

December, 1924 – Ernest and Hadley go to Shruns, Austria for part of the winter

March, 1925 – the Hemingways meet Pauline Pfieffer

July, 1925 – The Hemingways return to Pamplona for San Fermin and are joined by many of their Paris friends. The trip is tumultuous.  After the festival, Ernest begins writing The Sun Also Rises.

December, 1925 – The Hemgways go to Shruns for the winter and are joined by Pauline.  Ernest ends his contract with Liveright.  He travels to New York to meet with Max Perkins and then Paris where he stays with Pauline.

May, 1926 – Hadley realizes that Ernest and Pauline are having an affair. Hadley takes Bumby to Antibes to stay with the Murphys to recover from whooping cough while Ernest is in Madrid to see bullfights.

July, 1926 – Another group of friends, including Pauline, join the Hemingways in Pamplona. 

August, 1926 – Ernest and Hadley return to Paris to live separately, their marriage is over.  Ernest dedicates The Sun Also Rises to Hadley.  Ernest also gives Hadley all of the royalties from this book and the movie.

September, 1926 – Hadley agrees to a divorce if Pauline and Ernest stay apart for 100 days.  She relents in November.

January, 1927 – Hadley’s divorce from Ernest is final.  She gets full custody of Bumby.

April 29, 1927 – Hadley and Bumby leave for New York.  They travel to Saint Louis and California visiting friends including Ernest’s parents in Oak Park

May 10, 1927 – Pauline and Ernest are married

October 8, 1927 – Hadley and Bumby return to Paris

Winter, 1927 – Hadley begins to spend time with Paul Mowrer

April 1929 – Ernest visits Paris and Hadley asks his advice about her future with Paul.

July 3, 1933 – Hadley and Paul are married in London.  They move to Chicago shortly after their wedding.

September 1, 1939 – Hadley and Paul see Ernest in Wyoming.  It is the last time Hadley sees Ernest.

1942 – Hadley sends Ernest a packet of letters written between them, which may have been the beginning of A Moveable Feast.  Jack Hemingway, (Bumby) joins the army.

October, 1944 – Jack is declared missing in action and then captured in France.

He is a prisoner of war for six months.

April 1945 – Hadley and Paul visit Paris after the war, finding it much changed.

June, 1949 – Jack (Bumby) is married in Paris

1949 – Hadley and Paul move to New Hampshire after Paul’s job at the New York Post ends.  Hadley and Paul make many friends there and Hadley works part time as a librarian

1961 – Ernest calls Hadley to ask her about her memories of Paris.  On July 2, Ernest kills himself.

1962 – Hadley begins working with Carlos Baker on Hemingway’s biography, a project that took many years to complete.

1964 –  A Moveable Feast is published.

April, 1971 – Paul Mowrer dies at age eight three.  Alice Sokoloff begins to record her interviews with Hadley for her biography, Hadley:  The First Mrs. Hemingway

1973 – Alice’s book is published.

January 23, 1979 – Hadley dies in a nursing home at age eighty-seven.  She is buried with Paul in New Hampshire.

November 9th, 2011

Filed under: Hadley

18 Comments

1. Joe
2. What a tumltuous, wonderful, exciting but yet never boring life! Happy Birthday, Hadley! Can’t believe it is 120 years. I do recall her dying in 1979.
3. Nikon
4. Very nice to have this chronology!
   Thank you.
5. Kris Heywood
6. My burning question is–did Hadley ever find the manuscripts she lost on the train? Did Ernest have copies or did he have to rewrite from scratch? Was he mad at her or did he laugh it off?
7. Allie BakerNo, unfortunately, Hadley never found the valise containing the manuscripts, which were the only copies of Ernest’s writing from those early years. The whereabouts of the valise gives us all something to speculate about for years to come – you would be surprised by how often this scene shows up in fiction and in Hemingway scholarship. There are even theories that Hadley lost them on purpose to sabotage Ernest’s career, which, for Hadley, would be so far out of character that it can’t even be considered. Ernest understood how devastated Hadley was by this event and forgave her on the surface, but some feel that it signaled “the beginning of the end” of their marriage. Even in her late seventies, Hadley still felt bad about it. I think Ernest was able to eventually rewrite most of what was lost.
8. Thanks for reading! Allie
9. Hi Kris –
10. NathAnyway, Happy Birthday, sweetie Hadley
11. I don’t know why, but I think that I agree a little bit with this part “but some feel that it signaled “the beginning of the end” of their marriage”.
12. Matt
13. Happy Late Birthday to Hadley! It’s cool that her legacy still lives on this blog; thanks Allie!
14. Margaret
15. Allie are a few entries where the dates are out of order, maybe just misprints, because the events seem in order. 12/24 is followed by a 3/24 then 7/25 and then 12/23. Would you please look at these. I’m so interested in getting them in order. Thanks
16. Allie Baker
17. Hi Margaret, thank you for letting me know! I just adjusted them this morning, let me know if you see anything else — Allie
18. pat ridgePat Ridge
19. Happy Birthday Hadley,
    I loved her devotion to Ernest and that she found enduring love with Paul. I find her most intriguing…
20. Debra DeLaVega
21. I just finished listening to the audio version of “The Paris Wife”. Before this I never even heard of Hadley! I tried to read Ernest’s books in the past and found them difficult. Now that I’m older I’ll try again. Anyway, I so enjoyed “meeting” Hadley. She was exceptional and I believe without her Ernest most likely would not have made it “big” the way he did. He seemed to draw a lot of strength and sustenance from her.
22. Allie Baker
23. I think so too Debra, I think she gave him the emotional stability and the confidence to become a real writer during those years. Hadley was a remarkable woman –
24. Lindsey
25. Great chronology– Hadley’s father committed suicide in 1903 though, yes?
26. Allie BakerThank you for writing – you are right, thanks for pointing that out, I’ve corrected it!
27. Allie
28. Hi Lindsey,
29. Donna Welly
30. Dear Allie, I have just finished reading The Paris Wife. What a remarkable and well written book. I plan to read more about the Hemingways.
31. SusanHow did it come to be that Hadley was in a nursing home in Lakeland, FL at the time of her death? A city I lived in for many years, but not a locale which is mentioned as a place she or her family ever had any connection to.
32. Thanks!
33. Hi Allie,
34. Allie BakerHadley and Paul went to Canal Point,FL for to get away from the cold New Hampshire winters. Hadley and Paul rented a cottage there on Lake Okeechobee, which was 40 miles inland from Palm Beach.
    In April of 1971, Paul died while they were on a road trip heading back to their house in New Hampshire. After spending the summer of 71 in New Hampshire, Hadley moved to Lakeland, Florida to be closer to her niece. Her niece said that this was a nice time for Hadley, who was well liked by everyone. During this time, the conversations between Alice Sokoloff and Hadley were recorded. The process of creating the book with Alice made Hadley very happy.Allie
35. It’s great to hear from you, thanks for reading the blog!
36. Hi Susan,
37. Connie D
38. I am also from Lakeland FL. Hadley had a family in Lakeland FL? Would you know their name? I did not make this connection until I read The Paris Wife and found your blog. What a treasure.
39. Allie BakerAll the best, Allie
40. Dear Connie, thank you for writing, and thank you for reading the Hemingway Project! Hadley and Paul went to Florida later in life, and as far as I know, Paul’s sons were already grown and gone. (same with Bumby). I am not sure who would be left in Lakeland, but I would guess that the “Mowrer” name would be where to start. Let me know what you find out!