I stumbled upon Langdon Elwyn Mitchell (1862-1935), a playwright from New York who settled in Spring House in the late 1890s, while scanning Google Books. With so much curiosity, I decided to dig deeper into who this playwright was, and how he got to live in the rural community in Lower Gwynedd.
Langdon Elwyn Mitchell
Langdon was born in Philadelphia on February 17th to neurologist doctor Silas Weir Mitchell, a graduate from the Jefferson Medical College who invented the "rest cure" for nervous women. He also served as a contract surgeon for the Union Army during the Civil War. His grandfather, Dr. John Kearsley Mitchell, was also a physician.
Langdon was educated at the St. Paul's School in Concord, NH, and later went to schools in Dresden and Paris.
Unlike his father and grandfather, he attended law schools at Harvard and Colombia, and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1886. Ironically, he never practiced law, and decided to turn his career into writing poems and plays.
During his writing career, he used the pen name "John Philip Varley." He wrote his first play in 1893 called "In the Season," and it was produced at the St. James's Theatre in London. His most successful comedic play was written in 1907 called "The New York Idea."
When I was writing the play, I had really no idea of satirizing divorce or a law or anything specially temperamental or local. What I wanted to satirize was a certain extreme frivolity in the American spirit and in our American life—frivolity in the deep sense—not just a girl's frivolity, but that profound, sterile, amazing frivolity which one observes and meets in our churches, in political life, in literature, in music; in short, in every department of American thought, feeling and action. The old-fashioned, high-bred family in 'The New York Idea' are solemnly frivolous, and the fast, light-minded, highly intelligent hero and heroine are frivolous in their own delightful way—frivolity, of course, to be used for tragedy or comedy. Our frivolity is, I feel, on the edge of the tragic. Indeed, I think it entirely tragic, and there are lines, comedy lines, in 'The New York Idea,' that indicate this aspect of the thing.
- Langdon Mitchell, Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: The New York Idea
NOTE: Some time in his career he met and worked with Alice Kauser, a fellow playwright who emigrated from Hungary and later became Langdon's agent. You can view the letter Langdon wrote to Alice HERE from 1901 (Courtesy to the University of Wyoming).
In 1928, Langdon gave a series of lectures at the University of Pennsylvania where he later accepted the invitation to become the professor of playwriting in the university's English Department. He retired in 1930.
"The Apples" Estate
Some time after his marriage to actress Marion Lea, he moved his family to Spring House where he owned an estate called "The Apples" on the corner of Welsh and McKean Roads.
Fun Fact #1: Marion Lea appeared in London as Mrs. Thea Elvsted in Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler in 1891.
I was able to discover evidence regarding the location of the home, and whom they sold their house to.
And even after selling his home, he still ended up going back and rented people's properties in Lower Gwynedd.
Thankfully, the College of Physicians' Historical Medical Library contains more information about his home from a 1900 article in the Evening Bulletin newspaper.
According to the article, it was stated that with the help of skilled builders, Langdon was able to transform the barn into an elegant home. Instead of tearing down the barn that existed on their property, they renovated it. The property and the barn belonged to different owners during the 19th century until it was handed over to Langdon and his family. According to the headline, he made his wife's dream come true to have a country home in the Philadelphia suburbs. She was given credit for the idea to renovate the old barn house.
It is confirmed that he bought this property around 1898, and was completed in September two years later. In the article, the couple noticed how small the rooms were after purchasing the property. After transforming the barn house, the home contained large hallways, airy and well-lighted rooms, open fireplaces, and window seats. Specific rooms in the home were used for rehearsals for Langdon's plays and as a social hall. He had a huge study room on the top floor of the home.
Interestingly, he was not able to finding anything interesting about the history of the barn house. But, I was able to find information about his property through the Ambler Gazette archives. It was said that the barn he purchased dates back to 1789 when the farm was first built. Prior to that, Edward Roberts owned a large tract of that land from 1701 to 1716. The land was owned by the Roberts family for 70 years! It was until 1775 the family sold it to John Sperry for 272 acres. It was the year 1789 when John sold his land to Ezekiel Shoemaker for 120 acres. The Shoemakers owned the land for 85 years!
There were different ownerships since then until Langdon purchased the property for $5,000.
Bibliography
Correspondence - Alice Kauser 1903-1907 (To and From), Box 8, Langdon Elwyn Mitchell Collection, 3051, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv182359.
"From Nerves To Neurosis." Science Museum. Last modified June 12, 2019. https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/nerves-neuroses.
"Langdon Elwyn Mitchell papers, 1883-1936." The New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts. Accessed October 20, 2021. https://archives.nypl.org/mss/2022.
"Local History. Properties in Lower Gwynedd Written Up by 'E.M'--Some Familiar Names and Old Places." Ambler Gazette. August 16, 1900. Page 7. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/2207/rec/1.
"Marion Lea (1861-1944) American actress who appeared in London as Mrs Elvsted in Ibsens Hedda Gabler in 1891." Alamy. Accessed October 20, 2021. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-marion-lea-1861-1944-american-actress-who-appeared-in-london-as-mrs-57446727.html.
Marion Lea (Mrs Langdon Elwyn Mitchell) by W. & D. Downey, published by Cassell & Company, Ltd, NPG Ax16150, The Cabinet Portrait Gallery, National Portrait Gallery. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw193169.
Mitchell, Langdon Elwyn. Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: The New York Idea. (New York: Project Gutenburg, 2008): 601. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25565/25565-h/25565-h.htm.
Morris, William E. Map of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania : from original surveys. 1849.
MSS 2/241-03 Series 3.15 Folder 5 Item 8, Clippings, 1892-1923, The Silas Weir Mitchell Papers, The Historical Medical Library of the College of Physicians. https://mitchell.cppdigitallibrary.org/s/mitchell/item/6460#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=1&xywh=939%2C3863%2C1979%2C1220.
Mueller, A. H. Atlas of the North Penn Section of Montgomery County, Pa., Plate 25, 1916.
"Silas Weir Mitchell." National Museum of Civil War Medicine. Last modified January 29, 2017. https://www.civilwarmed.org/mitchell/.
"Wissahickon Valley Public Library's Ambler Gazette Collection." POWER Library: Pennsylvania's Electronic Library. Accessed October 19, 2021. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/wivp-gazett.
Worley, Mary A. "Alice Kauser, Playwright, A Woman of Ideas." Los Angeles Herald. February 8, 1903. Page 7. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19030208.2.318.65&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1.