Notes
notes introduction 1. see Paul crume (no. 5). 2. revised entries appeared in the editions of 1942, in which Porter acknowledges her last two marriages (but not the first three), and 1955, in which she talks about her work in progress and her dislike of deadlines. 3. KAP to Porter family, 31 december 1920, Papers of KAP, special collections, University of maryland, college Park, Libraries. 4. KAP, “reflections on Willa cather,” Collected Essays 34. 5. KAP to Kenneth burke, 20 november 1954, Kenneth burke Papers, Pennsylvania state University Libraries. Quoted with permission of barbarathompson davis, trustee, the KAP Literary estate, and Pennsylvania state University Libraries. 6. KAP to James brown (of the James brown and Associates Agency), 24 June 1952, copy in Papers of KAP, special collections, University of maryland, college Park, Libraries . 7. see elizabeth Hardwick (no. 30). Part 1 1. Gay is referring to the trip to indian creek KAP made with her sister baby and their father in 1936, when the Porter house had already been torn down. see Unrue, Porter 161. 2. Harry ray (Harrison Paul) Porter. 3. reverend david Porter, a cousin of KAP’s grandfather Asbury duval Porter, was pastor of the mountain view baptist church from 1872 through KAP’s childhood. He was a frequent visitor at her grandmother’s house. 4. catharine Ann skaggs Porter, KAP’s paternal grandmother. 5. Gay and KAP’s sister mary Alice, also known as “baby.” 6. catharine Ann skaggs Porter hired a series of live-in tutors for her grandchildren, some of whom KAP remembered as down-on-their-luck women her grandmother took in; others were distant relatives. 7. KAP tells a version of this anecdote in “notes on the texas i remember.” 8. A similar scene occurs in KAP’s stories “the fig tree” and “the Witness.” 9. A scene like this appears in KAP’s story “He.” 10.the house was not the same house.the Porters’ log house had been replaced before 268 / notes to Pages 13–23 1936 with the house in which mary mcAden and cora Posey lived. see Gay Porter Holloway to KAP, 14 december 1955 (no. 1). 11. mary mcAden is confused about the order of the Porter children. Johnny was born (and died) before callie’s birth. 12. mary mcAden’s memory is faulty here; callie was only a little past two when she left indian creek after her mother’s death. 13. this anecdote was passed on to stalling by terrell sledge in a letter dated 10 may 1951. After Alice Porter died in 1892, Harrison took his children to Kyle, in Hays county, to be largely reared by his widowed mother, catharine Ann skaggs Porter, widely known affectionately as “Aunt cat” in the region where her nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews exceeded one hundred. 14. Anna Gay was living there with the family, too. 15. cora Posey is confused about the year, which would have been 1904, not 1906. callie, who was calling herself “Katherine” by then, was a student at the thomas school and enthusiastically participating in dramatic productions there. she also took singing lessons at the nearby Lady of the Lake convent. it is true that she had ambitions to go on the stage, and in the summer of 1905 she and her sister Gay played summer stock at electric Park in san Antonio. see Unrue, Porter 33–38. 16. Harrison Porter was sunday school superintendent of the Oswalt methodist church between 1886 and 1892. 17. stalling interviewed cora Posey, the mcAdens, and others who supplied information about the Porter family at indian creek. for an overview of the Porter family’s years at indian creek, see stalling 22–61. 18. the 1900 census taker recorded Anna Gay’s name as “Annie.” 19. Willene Hendrick concludes her essay with a list of some of the factual errors that KAP perpetuated about herself that have since been corrected in the published biographies . 20. elise Weimer (1865–1942) was the schlemmer family’s beloved housekeeper. 21. Amy, miranda’s aunt, is a character in the short novel. 22. “Witch” was the nickname KAP gave herself; it was inspired by her fascination with Joan of Arc, who was accused of being a witch. KAP assigned erna the nickname “fairy.” 23. KAP insisted she never worked for the Dallas Morning News, but Lontinkle, who worked for the paper, was certain she did, as was KAP’s friend Kitty barry crawford. see stalling 62–65. 24...
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