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Obituary of Adelaide Matthews 1958:
Adelaide Matthews was born in Kenduskeag Maine on May 18, 1876. She was the daughter of the late Ezra M. and Dorcas A. Wheeldon Matthews. She was graduated from Harwich High School and later attended a dramatic school in New York where she prepared for a career in the theater. She was an author and playwright as well as an actress and toured the US and Canada as an actress before turning to writing plays. "Heart's Desire" was her first production which she wrote in collaboration with Anne Nichols (playwright and author of "Abie's Irish Rose"). This was followed by several other Broadway successes. Some of her plays were also written in collaboration with Martha M. Stanley. In addition to her work in theater, radio and television, Miss Matthews had recently written a book on the life of the famous playwright Richard Brindsley Sheridan to be published in England this spring. Locally, Miss Matthews will be remembered as the author and director of the pageant "These Were My People" given in Exchange Hall by a cast of over 70 performers at the time of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of First Congregational Church of Harwich. The mother of Miss Matthews was a long and active member of this church and the pageant was written in her memory. For many years Miss Matthews had spent her summers in Harwich and was a member of the Harwich Alumni Association and the Harwich Historical Society. Committal Services will be held at Island Pond Cemetery Saturday at 2:30 PM with the Reverend Harvey L. Meyer officiating.Adelaide Matthews is mentioned in an article for the Cape Cod Times (1975) regarding the Cranberry Picking Doll named "Sally Wampus" that was donated to the Harwich Historical Society and had belonged to Helen Robbins Drake (see memorial)..."Adelaide Matthews, New York Playwright who spent summers with Mrs. Drake loved to make doll clothes and dressed most of the doll collection. She made the body for the Cranberry Doll, and dressed it just as the pickers in the old days dressed with a sunbonnet to protect her head, a kerchief around her neck to keep from being bitten by "meesheters." A long-print dress, a long heavy homespun apron, a replica of a six-quart pail made by Scott Ellis and a small bag for tickets on a string around her neck completes her costume."
Many sincere thanks to Janet Lee Haeger for the information and photos on this memorial page for her aunt Adelaide Matthews. The following was written by Janet Lee Haeger: Aunt Adelaide, to a very elegant and funny lady. She was truly a lady in every sense of the word. You are dearly missed. You gave me many hours of delight. You were so humble of heart in what you did always giving a lot of credit to whoever you worked with in the theater, radio and tv. To think you helped write soap operas in the early years of t.v. You never needed the limelight to be a success because who you were inside and out as a person was your true worth in life. That can never be measured in what the world tries to see as success . You were always a SUCCESS TO ME BECAUSE WHO YOU WERE AS A PERSON. I ALWAYS ADMIRED YOUR LOVING WAYS, YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE FOR OTHERS, YOUR CARING HEART ESPECIALLY TO MY Aunt Helen. Thank you, Robert David Westberry for doing this for me. It will be long remembered and appreciated. It was so kind of you to do it. My Aunt and his cousin (Anne Nichols of Abies Irish Rose) lived together in the 1950s maybe earlier in Manhattan together. They wrote some plays together. After my Aunt died Ann came to Harwich, Ma to live with my Aunt Helen. She lived there until about a year before her death. So from the age of about 8 to 17 years ago we became friends. She became part of our family. So these two wonderful ladies I was privileged to know both personally . I always enjoyed their stories of adventures on Broadway and other places around the world. Sweet memories of ladies of the theater. Know I always loved you Aunt Adelaide.
Obituary of Adelaide Matthews 1958:
Adelaide Matthews was born in Kenduskeag Maine on May 18, 1876. She was the daughter of the late Ezra M. and Dorcas A. Wheeldon Matthews. She was graduated from Harwich High School and later attended a dramatic school in New York where she prepared for a career in the theater. She was an author and playwright as well as an actress and toured the US and Canada as an actress before turning to writing plays. "Heart's Desire" was her first production which she wrote in collaboration with Anne Nichols (playwright and author of "Abie's Irish Rose"). This was followed by several other Broadway successes. Some of her plays were also written in collaboration with Martha M. Stanley. In addition to her work in theater, radio and television, Miss Matthews had recently written a book on the life of the famous playwright Richard Brindsley Sheridan to be published in England this spring. Locally, Miss Matthews will be remembered as the author and director of the pageant "These Were My People" given in Exchange Hall by a cast of over 70 performers at the time of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of First Congregational Church of Harwich. The mother of Miss Matthews was a long and active member of this church and the pageant was written in her memory. For many years Miss Matthews had spent her summers in Harwich and was a member of the Harwich Alumni Association and the Harwich Historical Society. Committal Services will be held at Island Pond Cemetery Saturday at 2:30 PM with the Reverend Harvey L. Meyer officiating.Adelaide Matthews is mentioned in an article for the Cape Cod Times (1975) regarding the Cranberry Picking Doll named "Sally Wampus" that was donated to the Harwich Historical Society and had belonged to Helen Robbins Drake (see memorial)..."Adelaide Matthews, New York Playwright who spent summers with Mrs. Drake loved to make doll clothes and dressed most of the doll collection. She made the body for the Cranberry Doll, and dressed it just as the pickers in the old days dressed with a sunbonnet to protect her head, a kerchief around her neck to keep from being bitten by "meesheters." A long-print dress, a long heavy homespun apron, a replica of a six-quart pail made by Scott Ellis and a small bag for tickets on a string around her neck completes her costume."
Many sincere thanks to Janet Lee Haeger for the information and photos on this memorial page for her aunt Adelaide Matthews. The following was written by Janet Lee Haeger: Aunt Adelaide, to a very elegant and funny lady. She was truly a lady in every sense of the word. You are dearly missed. You gave me many hours of delight. You were so humble of heart in what you did always giving a lot of credit to whoever you worked with in the theater, radio and tv. To think you helped write soap operas in the early years of t.v. You never needed the limelight to be a success because who you were inside and out as a person was your true worth in life. That can never be measured in what the world tries to see as success . You were always a SUCCESS TO ME BECAUSE WHO YOU WERE AS A PERSON. I ALWAYS ADMIRED YOUR LOVING WAYS, YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE FOR OTHERS, YOUR CARING HEART ESPECIALLY TO MY Aunt Helen. Thank you, Robert David Westberry for doing this for me. It will be long remembered and appreciated. It was so kind of you to do it. My Aunt and his cousin (Anne Nichols of Abies Irish Rose) lived together in the 1950s maybe earlier in Manhattan together. They wrote some plays together. After my Aunt died Ann came to Harwich, Ma to live with my Aunt Helen. She lived there until about a year before her death. So from the age of about 8 to 17 years ago we became friends. She became part of our family. So these two wonderful ladies I was privileged to know both personally . I always enjoyed their stories of adventures on Broadway and other places around the world. Sweet memories of ladies of the theater. Know I always loved you Aunt Adelaide.
PLEASE DO NOT USE PHOTOS WITHOUT PERMISSION
Obituary of Adelaide Matthews 1958:
Adelaide Matthews was born in Kenduskeag Maine on May 18, 1876. She was the daughter of the late Ezra M. and Dorcas A. Wheeldon Matthews. She was graduated from Harwich High School and later attended a dramatic school in New York where she prepared for a career in the theater. She was an author and playwright as well as an actress and toured the US and Canada as an actress before turning to writing plays. "Heart's Desire" was her first production which she wrote in collaboration with Anne Nichols (playwright and author of "Abie's Irish Rose"). This was followed by several other Broadway successes. Some of her plays were also written in collaboration with Martha M. Stanley. In addition to her work in theater, radio and television, Miss Matthews had recently written a book on the life of the famous playwright Richard Brindsley Sheridan to be published in England this spring. Locally, Miss Matthews will be remembered as the author and director of the pageant "These Were My People" given in Exchange Hall by a cast of over 70 performers at the time of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of First Congregational Church of Harwich. The mother of Miss Matthews was a long and active member of this church and the pageant was written in her memory. For many years Miss Matthews had spent her summers in Harwich and was a member of the Harwich Alumni Association and the Harwich Historical Society. Committal Services will be held at Island Pond Cemetery Saturday at 2:30 PM with the Reverend Harvey L. Meyer officiating.Adelaide Matthews is mentioned in an article for the Cape Cod Times (1975) regarding the Cranberry Picking Doll named "Sally Wampus" that was donated to the Harwich Historical Society and had belonged to Helen Robbins Drake (see memorial)..."Adelaide Matthews, New York Playwright who spent summers with Mrs. Drake loved to make doll clothes and dressed most of the doll collection. She made the body for the Cranberry Doll, and dressed it just as the pickers in the old days dressed with a sunbonnet to protect her head, a kerchief around her neck to keep from being bitten by "meesheters." A long-print dress, a long heavy homespun apron, a replica of a six-quart pail made by Scott Ellis and a small bag for tickets on a string around her neck completes her costume."
Many sincere thanks to Janet Lee Haeger for the information and photos on this memorial page for her aunt Adelaide Matthews. The following was written by Janet Lee Haeger: Aunt Adelaide, to a very elegant and funny lady. She was truly a lady in every sense of the word. You are dearly missed. You gave me many hours of delight. You were so humble of heart in what you did always giving a lot of credit to whoever you worked with in the theater, radio and tv. To think you helped write soap operas in the early years of t.v. You never needed the limelight to be a success because who you were inside and out as a person was your true worth in life. That can never be measured in what the world tries to see as success . You were always a SUCCESS TO ME BECAUSE WHO YOU WERE AS A PERSON. I ALWAYS ADMIRED YOUR LOVING WAYS, YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE FOR OTHERS, YOUR CARING HEART ESPECIALLY TO MY Aunt Helen. Thank you, Robert David Westberry for doing this for me. It will be long remembered and appreciated. It was so kind of you to do it. My Aunt and his cousin (Anne Nichols of Abies Irish Rose) lived together in the 1950s maybe earlier in Manhattan together. They wrote some plays together. After my Aunt died Ann came to Harwich, Ma to live with my Aunt Helen. She lived there until about a year before her death. So from the age of about 8 to 17 years ago we became friends. She became part of our family. So these two wonderful ladies I was privileged to know both personally . I always enjoyed their stories of adventures on Broadway and other places around the world. Sweet memories of ladies of the theater. Know I always loved you Aunt Adelaide.
Obituary of Adelaide Matthews 1958:
Adelaide Matthews was born in Kenduskeag Maine on May 18, 1876. She was the daughter of the late Ezra M. and Dorcas A. Wheeldon Matthews. She was graduated from Harwich High School and later attended a dramatic school in New York where she prepared for a career in the theater. She was an author and playwright as well as an actress and toured the US and Canada as an actress before turning to writing plays. "Heart's Desire" was her first production which she wrote in collaboration with Anne Nichols (playwright and author of "Abie's Irish Rose"). This was followed by several other Broadway successes. Some of her plays were also written in collaboration with Martha M. Stanley. In addition to her work in theater, radio and television, Miss Matthews had recently written a book on the life of the famous playwright Richard Brindsley Sheridan to be published in England this spring. Locally, Miss Matthews will be remembered as the author and director of the pageant "These Were My People" given in Exchange Hall by a cast of over 70 performers at the time of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of First Congregational Church of Harwich. The mother of Miss Matthews was a long and active member of this church and the pageant was written in her memory. For many years Miss Matthews had spent her summers in Harwich and was a member of the Harwich Alumni Association and the Harwich Historical Society. Committal Services will be held at Island Pond Cemetery Saturday at 2:30 PM with the Reverend Harvey L. Meyer officiating.Adelaide Matthews is mentioned in an article for the Cape Cod Times (1975) regarding the Cranberry Picking Doll named "Sally Wampus" that was donated to the Harwich Historical Society and had belonged to Helen Robbins Drake (see memorial)..."Adelaide Matthews, New York Playwright who spent summers with Mrs. Drake loved to make doll clothes and dressed most of the doll collection. She made the body for the Cranberry Doll, and dressed it just as the pickers in the old days dressed with a sunbonnet to protect her head, a kerchief around her neck to keep from being bitten by "meesheters." A long-print dress, a long heavy homespun apron, a replica of a six-quart pail made by Scott Ellis and a small bag for tickets on a string around her neck completes her costume."
Many sincere thanks to Janet Lee Haeger for the information and photos on this memorial page for her aunt Adelaide Matthews. The following was written by Janet Lee Haeger: Aunt Adelaide, to a very elegant and funny lady. She was truly a lady in every sense of the word. You are dearly missed. You gave me many hours of delight. You were so humble of heart in what you did always giving a lot of credit to whoever you worked with in the theater, radio and tv. To think you helped write soap operas in the early years of t.v. You never needed the limelight to be a success because who you were inside and out as a person was your true worth in life. That can never be measured in what the world tries to see as success . You were always a SUCCESS TO ME BECAUSE WHO YOU WERE AS A PERSON. I ALWAYS ADMIRED YOUR LOVING WAYS, YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE FOR OTHERS, YOUR CARING HEART ESPECIALLY TO MY Aunt Helen. Thank you, Robert David Westberry for doing this for me. It will be long remembered and appreciated. It was so kind of you to do it. My Aunt and his cousin (Anne Nichols of Abies Irish Rose) lived together in the 1950s maybe earlier in Manhattan together. They wrote some plays together. After my Aunt died Ann came to Harwich, Ma to live with my Aunt Helen. She lived there until about a year before her death. So from the age of about 8 to 17 years ago we became friends. She became part of our family. So these two wonderful ladies I was privileged to know both personally . I always enjoyed their stories of adventures on Broadway and other places around the world. Sweet memories of ladies of the theater. Know I always loved you Aunt Adelaide.
