Lotta Mignon Crabtree

This is for SeriousFrolic who was hoping I might find a bit of scandal amongst the mill-working, Ebenezer Baptist-worshiping  Crabtrees.


Well I have found something. Actually I found it a few years ago when I had another burst of family history research and was astounded to find I was related to a very early American superstar, often known as the Nation's Darling, and I remember being very impressed that Californian blipper Wildwood had heard of her.


Okay, here’s the story - are you sitting comfortably, then I will begin:
My great great grandfather Samuel Crabtree had a brother John who was a waste dealer in the cotton mills. Probably not a very exotic job but a lucrative one. His son, also called John, didn't fancy the mills and became an apprentice book keeper. That didn't hit the spot either and in the early 1840s he emigrated to New York where he met and married Mary Ann Livesey and they had three children in quick succession. . Pretty soon after that John was enticed to California by the lure of the gold rush, Anne and the children following sometime afterwards. I don't think John found any gold and it sounds as though he was a wastrel and drunkard but Anne was made of sterner stuff and was a hardworking and astute business woman. She opened a boarding house for miners which did very well and soon had a special attraction. Her young daughter Charlotte, aged around 6, was found to have a huge talent for singing and dancing and playing the banjo and she loved to entertain the miners and they loved to be entertained by her. They showed their appreciation with money (and gold) which Anne would hastily collect in her apron!  By the time she was in her early teens, Lotta Mignon Crabtree, as she was now known, was making quite a name for herself touring the wild west singing and dancing, all the time chaperoned by her mother.  She also added acting to her repertoire and as her reputation grew, she became known as Miss Lotta the San Francisco Favorite. Soon she had her own touring company and was making huge amounts of money. Her mother, not trusting banks, kept it in a large leather bag and then in a steamer trunk, .By the 1880s Lotta was the highest paid actress in America! 
At around this time her father, with drink taken, tried to steal her money and was violent with both her and her mother. He was hastily dispatched to the UK where he lived in comfortable but shameful exile, recorded as a gentleman in the censuses. 
Lotta meanwhile flourished. She was described as winsome, saucy and possessing infectious gaiety and charm and although she had many beaux, never married and kept clear of scandal, always with her mother by her side, who was now even shrewder and investing Lotta’s money in real estate, horses and bonds!  On her retirement, Lotta painted, travelled the world and was very active in philanthropic and charitable work. When she died in 1924, she left an estate valued at $4 million. It seems my family's side hoped some of that might be coming to them but no, Lotta left it all in trust for veterans, aging actors and animals! She was also very partial to a cigar! What a woman!


 Probably cheating massively today but SeriousFrolic made me do it! The photos are in the public domain and I slaved over the collage and it's very indicative of my day so I reckon it counts!