Taxation & Estate Planning

Ernest Hemingway's Parents and the Premarital Agreement

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

Oak Park, Illinois (the town where I live) has had its share of famous residents. But the two most famous* are Frank Lloyd Wright (whose home and studio, along with a number of other houses he designed, are here) and Ernest Hemingway (who was born here and lived here throughout his youth). I've been on numerous Frank Lloyd Wright tours, but until this past weekend had never seen the Hemingway side of Oak Park (perhaps because I'm not a huge fan of his writing).

On Saturday, my family went to the Hemingway Museum as well as the restored Hemingway Birthplace Home. The Home gives nice, 90-minute tours -- it was a slow day for tourism in Oak Park, so we were able to finagle an abridged 30-minute tour, which was perfect for a tour group with a 6-year-old.

Anyway, it was interesting to learn about Hemingway's parents. Hemingway's father was a doctor. According to our tour guide, his mother (Grace Hall Hemingway) apparently was a fascinating woman -- she...

-went blind for a couple of months as a child, from scarlet fever;
-was an opera singer in New York before marrying Ernest's father;
-made Ernest's father sign a premarital agreement;
-made significantly more money than her husband (even though he was a doctor), giving piano lessons and performing concerts in Oak Park; and
-refused to perform what was at the time considered "women's work," such as cooking and cleaning.

I'd love to see a copy of that premarital agreement.

Another interesting tidbit: Grace Hall Hemingway collected the works of an artist named Maud Humphrey (her prints are still available on eBay). Later, Grace's son and Maud's son (an actor) became friends. Maud's son's first name was her maiden name (Humphrey). His last name was Bogart. And, to channel Paul Harvey**, that's... the rest of the story.

*I'm not sure who would come in third in a list of famous Oak Park residents, but it may be Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of the Tarzan books as well as many others.
**Long-time resident of River Forest, the village next to Oak Park.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on February 11, 2008 (boomark / email).