Evelyn Tilton Glover photo

Evelyn Tilton Glover, c. 1887–88. P00827. H. G. Smith, Photographer. Courtesy of The Mary Baker Eddy Library.

Mary Baker Eddy had five grandchildren, all the offspring of her son George Washington Glover II and his wife, Ellen H. Glover. The youngest girl, and the middle child of the five, was Evelyn Tilton Glover. Born January 12, 1880, she grew up with her family in what is today Lead, South Dakota.

Despite the distance from Boston to Lead, Eddy had great love for her three grandsons and two granddaughters. She cherished their letters to her and the family photographs they gave her. The Glovers visited Boston in late 1887 and stayed for approximately six months. During this time the photograph of Evelyn was taken, as well as a family portrait of the Glovers, both at the same studio.

From left to right: Mary Glover, George Glover, Ellen H. Glover, Evelyn Glover, and Edward (Gershom) Glover; Studio portrait of George Washington Glover II family; c. 1887–88. P00841. H. G. Smith, Photographer. Courtesy of The Mary Baker Eddy Library.

Eddy’s love for her grandchildren included a deep desire for them to receive a better education than was offered at that time in the Black Hills of Dakota. In an 1892 letter to her son, she suggested:

Now I do wish you would send Mary, at least, and Evelyn when older, away from home to a boarding school where she can have the opportunity to be in the company of educated people. She would learn a thousand times faster and more practically books, manners, language, orthography [spelling] and music. ¹

It’s likely that Eddy’s feelings about the schooling Evelyn received in Lead were based on a letter she had received from Evelyn in April 1892. In her response the following month, Eddy wrote:

Now dear one, I am delighted to hear you say you are attending School. But allow me to say your teacher is not attending to your spelling as it ought to be attended to. In your letter to me you misspelled seventeen (17) words, and only wrote about one page!… Now dear, I enclose your letter and have marked the words misspelled. Will you not look up these words in the dictionary and then send them all to me spelled rightly, and written by your own dear little hand.²

Still, it’s clear that Evelyn and her grandmother cared deeply about each other. Evelyn wrote to Eddy in 1892: “Roses are red, and violets are blue, and sugar is sweet and so are you. And if you love me you will answer this letter.”³ In Eddy’s corrective letter of May 1892 she added: “Your Grandmother loves you too much to let this [misspelling] pass without naming it to you, for she knows how bright and intellectual and beautiful you were when she saw you….”⁴

Unfortunately, Evelyn’s attempts at schooling were consistently hampered “on account of her health.”⁵ This was a disappointment to all, given her interest in education and learning. Evelyn died in 1903 at the age of 23, about a year and a half after her 1902 marriage to bridge contractor Warren S. Schell. On the back of the cabinet card in our collection is pasted another card with words written in Eddy’s hand: “My darling granddaughter – passed on.”

Studio portrait of Mrs. Warren Schell (Evelyn Tilton Glover), c. 1902–03. P01581. Unknown photographer. Courtesy of The Mary Baker Eddy Library.