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Fanny et Louis Stevenson: deux biographies romancées - AADM#6
12020-02-12T19:25:39-05:00Alexandra Nobiled4dc53c2daf9cdc220dc0cdcd959c4623bb76c3f191Lisez-moi ! ♡ ERRATUM: Fanny et Louis se marient en 1880 et non en 1980... Evidement ! Oh que je suis contente de vous retrouver pour vous parler de Fanny ...plain2020-02-12T19:25:39-05:00YouTubeÀ l'Abordage des Mots2018-02-13T16:49:03.000ZN9jZ-Dnq2cEAlexandra Nobiled4dc53c2daf9cdc220dc0cdcd959c4623bb76c3f
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12020-02-12T19:28:25-05:00Fanny Stevenson8plain2020-02-12T19:46:03-05:00 Fanny Vandegrift was born in Indianapolis, the daughter of builder Jacob Vandegrift, and his wife Esther Thomas Keen. She was something of a tomboy, and had dark curly hair. At the age of seventeen she married Samuel Osbourne, a lieutenant on the State Governor's staff. Their daughter Isobel (or 'Belle') was born the following year.
Samuel fought in the American Civil War, went with a friend sick with tuberculosis to California, and via San Francisco, he ended up in the silver mines of Nevada. Once settled there he sent for his family. Fanny and the five-year-old Isobel made the long journey via New York, the isthmus of Panama, San Francisco, and finally by wagons and stage-coach to the mining camps of the Reese River, and the town of Austin in Lander County. Life was difficult in the mining town, and there were few women around. Fanny learned to shoot a pistol and to roll her own cigarettes.
The family moved to Virginia City, Nevada and it was whilst living here that Samuel began to be unfaithful to Fanny. In 1866 he headed off gold prospecting in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains, and Fanny and her daughter journeyed to San Francisco. There was a rumour that Sam had been killed by a grizzly bear, but he returned to the family safe, and a second child Samuel Lloyd was born in 1868. But Samuel continued philandering and Fanny returned to Indianapolis.
The couple were reconciled again in 1869, and lived in Oakland where a second son, Hervey, was born. Fanny took up painting and gardening. However, Sam's behaviour did not improve, and Fanny finally left him in 1875 and moved with her three children to Europe. They lived in Antwerp for three months, and then to allow Fanny to study art, they moved to Paris where Fanny and Isobel both enrolled in the Académie Julian. Hervey, sick with scrofulous tuberculosis, died on 5 April 1876, and was buried in a temporary grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery.