Dr. Samuel Foster Damon and Louise Wheelwright

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Husband Dr. Samuel Foster Damon

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            AKA: Samuel Nomad
           Born: 12 Feb 1893 - Newton, Middlesex County, MA
       Baptized: 
           Died: 25 Dec 1971 - Smithfield, Providence County, RI
         Buried: 
FamilySearch ID: L77P-N32
Find A Grave ID: 70561891

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         Father: Joseph Neal Damon {FSID: KZKF-5Q2, FGID: 200029644}
         Mother: Sarah Josephine Wolf (Sallie) Pastorius {FSID: G33L-W3R, FGID: 210717341}

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       Marriage: 4 Feb 1928 - Dedham, Norfolk County, MA

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Wife Louise Wheelwright

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           Born: 29 Oct 1889 - Boston, Suffolk County, MA
       Baptized: 
           Died: 15 Sep 1973 - Providence, Providence County, RI
         Buried:  - Cremated
FamilySearch ID: KG44-9WC
Find A Grave ID: 200056516

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Children

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General Notes: Husband - Dr. Samuel Foster Damon

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https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70561891/samuel-foster-damon

BIRTH
12 Feb 1893
Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
DEATH
25 Dec 1971 (aged 78)
Smithfield, Providence County, Rhode Island, USA
BURIAL
Burial Details Unknown
MEMORIAL ID
70561891

Samuel Foster Damon (1893-1971) was a distinguished writer, teacher, and scholar at Brown for more than 40 years.

He was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on February 12, 1893. In 1914 he graduated from Harvard, where he majored in music and in his last two years was captain of the fencing team. Damon worked in an airplane factory during the first World War, and gave bayonet instruction to student soldiers at Harvard. After the war he was an instructor in the English Department at Harvard, where he wrote and published his book, William Blake, His Philosophy and Symbols in 1924; and where he earned a Master of Arts degree in 1926. In his review of Damon's book, Richard Le Gallienne noted that Damon, with his interest in alchemy and spiritualism, was especially qualified to expound "the esoteric side of Blake's genius," and placed Blake "in his historical earthly setting with true biographical art." Damon became one of the world's leading authorities on Blake, and in 1955 he traveled to London be the guest of honor at the annual William Blake dinner.

Damon came to Brown in 1927 where his cousin, Lindsay Todd Damon, already was teaching. Both of them held positions in the English Department, Foster Damon at first as an assistant professor. In 1930 he was promoted to associate professor and professor in 1936. In addition to his teaching Damon was curator of the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays in the John Hay Library. He was particularly interested in building up its extensive collection of sheet music, and during his more than 40 years as a curator the collection grew from 57,000 books to more than 140,000 volumes, from 8,000 pieces of sheet music to 101,000, and from 400 manuscripts to 27,000. He shared his knowledge in a television presentation, "Styles in Santa Claus," on the "Evening on College Hill" series. Moreover he was interested in the history of square dancing and actively participated in a square dancing group consisting of library employees and others interested persons.

Foster's talents and interests ranged far and wide. He wrote an annual Punch and Judy show for the Sea Fair at Annisquam, Massachusetts, where he spent his summers. His play, "The Witch of Dogtown," which won the Russel Crouse award, was produced in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1955. He also was a founder of the Harvard Musical Review . Damon's verse was published in Eight Harvard Poets , and under the pseudonym "Samuel Nomad" in 1964 he published a book of 66 sonnets entitled Nightmare Cemetery . In the last year of his life he finally published The Moulton Tragedy, a heroic poem with lyrics , on which he had been working since 1928.

In 1968 Brown University published William Blake: Essays for S. Foster Damon , and celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday with a two-day festival. The same year Damon read from his poems, a music professor played his compositions, students performed parts of Damon's play, "Witch of Dogtown," and a seminar on Blake was held.

Damon also received an honorary Litt.D. degree from Brown in 1968, and was awarded with a citation that began: "No citation can summarize adequately the variety of your accomplishments. Your pioneering book, published in 1924, is the foundation for all serious critical study of William Blake conducted since. Your work on Amy Lowell, Thomas Holley Chivers, James Joyce, and many other authors is distinguished. Poet, playwright, composer, pianist, choreographer, gourmet, etc. Few men, even of the Renaissance, have shown your omnipresence in the creative arts, and your sensitivity to all of them." Damon died on December 25, 1971 in Smithfield, Rhode Island.This portrait was painted by Damon's wife Louise Wheelwright Damon in 1924. During their active lives in Providence Louise and Foster Damon were known for entertaining their colleagues and friends, and for their Halloween parties for neighborhood children. In 2005 this painting was treated at the New London, Connecticut, conservation laboratory of Lance Myers & Gay Myers. There a tear in the canvas was mended and losses to the paint were filled.

Family Members

Parents
Joseph Neal Damon 1855–1928

Spouse
Louise Wheelwright Damon 1889–1973

Created by: Linda Mac
Added: 29 May 2011
Find a Grave Memorial ID: 70561891
memorial page for Samuel Foster Damon (12 Feb 1893–25 Dec 1971), Find a Grave Memorial ID 70561891; Burial Details Unknown; Maintained by Linda Mac (contributor 47062703).

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L77P-N32
"Birth • 22 Feb 1893
Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Death • 25 December 1971
Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island, USA"

A.R. Justice, Book: "Wilson and Allied Families", (Philadelphia: 1929), p.76-77
"281. Samuel Foster Damon, 160, son of Joseph Neal and Sarah
Wolf (Pastorius) Damon.
m. February 4, 1928, at Dedham, Mass., Louise Wheel¬
wright, daughter of Edmund March and Elizabeth
(Brooks) Wheelwright.
Edmund March Wheelwright was City Architect of
Boston, Mass., and a descendant of Rev. John Wheel¬
wright, who was associated with Mrs. Ann Hutchinson
whose views did not suit the Boston authorities. The
writer’s ancestor, William Freeborn, and many others were
driven out of Massachusetts by Act of Assembly of March
12, 1638, for supporting their opinions. (“Ancestry of
Jeremy Clarke of R. I. and Dungan Genealogy/’ p. 67, by
Alfred Rudulph Justice.) Dr. Damon was for several
years Professor of English in Harvard University and is
now (1929) connected with Brown University, Provi¬
dence, R. I., in the Department of English. He is a
descendant of Francis Daniel Pastorius, the most distin¬
guished of the German settlers of Germantown. Dr.
Damon has written an account of his family, a copy of
which is in the library of the Historical Society of Penn¬
sylvania."

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General Notes: Wife - Louise Wheelwright

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https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/200056516/louise-damon

BIRTH
29 Oct 1889
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA
DEATH
15 Sep 1973 (aged 83)
Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island, USA
BURIAL
Cremated
MEMORIAL ID
200056516

Cremated at Swan Point Cemetery but not buried there. Married Samuel Foster Damon in 1928.

Family Members

Parents
Edmund March Wheelwright 1854–1912
Elizabeth Boott Brooks Wheelwright 1862–1949

Spouse
Samuel Foster Damon 1893–1971

Siblings
Frederick Brooks Wheelwright
Francis Brooks Wheelwright 1888–1888
Edmund March Wheelwright 1890–1946
John Brooks Wheelwright 1897–1940
Infant Wheelwright 1901–1901

Created by: Jane Cockayne Weaver
Added: 13 Jun 2019
Find a Grave Memorial ID: 200056516
memorial page for Louise Wheelwright Damon (29 Oct 1889–15 Sep 1973), Find a Grave Memorial ID 200056516; Cremated; Maintained by Jane Cockayne Weaver (contributor 48493052).

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KG44-9WC
"Birth • 29 October 1889
Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA

Death • 15 September 1973
Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, USA"

A.R. Justice, Book: "Wilson and Allied Families", (Philadelphia: 1929), p.76

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Notes: Marriage

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https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70561891/samuel-foster-damon
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/200056516/louise-damon

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L77P-N32
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KG44-9WC

A.R. Justice, Book: "Wilson and Allied Families", (Philadelphia: 1929), p.76

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