Evening star., 1939-05-07
VillageB Built
In 1915 by
Rappites
Fauntleroy Family
Has Beautiful
Home There
Bv Robert 4. Er,s,in.

By Robert 4. Er,Oin.
New Harmony, the historically
famous old town on the banks o!
the Wabash River in Southwestern
Indiana, stands today on the thresh-
old of a restoration to its glories
OF more than a century ago and 9
possible oil boom that may turr
its business wheels for the first
time in decades.
The past and the present lend tt
New Harmony, erstwhile cradle Of
culture and science, the flavor Of
Colonial Virginia, the atmosphere
of its Colonial capital, Williams
burg, and the peace and quiet OF
a country town in the Wabash
Ohio Valley farm belt.
The daughters of one of Virginia's
oldest families, the Fauntleroys, is
playing a leading role in the i'm
pending restoration which en-
visions New Harmony as future
Williamsburg of the West" She
is Miss M. E. Fauntleroy, active
energetic and often dynamic 30
year -old descendant of the Vir-
ginia house.
In New Harmony Miss Mary" as
her many friends know her. is most
closely associated with one of the
towns landmarks, the Old Fauntle-
roy Home, one of the many houses
visited each year by thousands OF
tourists who go there to see his
toric spots and to study its past IN
Q fine library and museum.
Rejected Washington.
Her family name is linked ro-
mantically with George Washing
ton through her second great aunt
Betsy Fauntleroy, famed "Lowland
Beauty" of nearby Virginia, who
rejected the marriage proposal Of
the Father of His Country"
It was from the Fauntleroy family
that Frances Hodgson Burnett de-
rived the title for her famous work
of fiction, Little Lord Fauntleroy,
written in Washington 81 years
ago, In a home at 1919 I street NV.
that now houses commercial
establishment. Miss Mary's version
Of how the book, later play and
q motion picture, got its name will
be told later in this story.
All of this combines to make Miss
Fauntleroy something Of a living
history in herself. She knows the
history of New Harmony backward
and forward, the same with Colonial
and ante-bellum Virginia, and she
has genealogical charts tracing her
family back to the 18th century IN
England when the name was vari-
ously "Enfans le Roi" and Enfans
du Roi"-children of royalty.
. This does not mean, however, that
the peppery, white haired gentle
woman lives in the past. Far from
1t. She is definitely of the present
With amazing driving power for a
person of her years, Miss Fauntle-
roy receives visitors and administers
the affairs of the Old Fauntleroy
Home, now the property of the
Indiana Federation of Clubs, and
works indefatigably for the restora-
ton of New Harmony.
Harmonists.
The old Fauntleroy home, located
a half block off New Harmony's main
street, was built in 1915 by the "Har-
monists" from Germany, also known
as the "Rappites' because they tol-
lowed the leadership OF Father
George Rapp of Wurttemburg, whose
cult. transplanted to America, prac-
ticed his doctrine of celibacy.
A model of early American con-
struction, the home is most famous
as the birthplace OF the Minerva
Society,"" best known of the pioneer
womens clubs in this country, found
ed in 1852 Located on large grounds,
It Is constructed of large timbers OF
hardwood, hickory, walnut and oak,
pegged together in Rapplte style
with well-preserved floors and yellow
popular boarding. One OF
AZ frame houses erected by the Rap
pites. it has inside its walls many
original pieces of furniture made oS
or for its famous occupants.
In this house have lived, in the or
der named, such famous Americana
as Thomas Say, naturalist, conch'
ologist and entomologist, and Oliver
Evans, inventor. and his wife, LOUISE
Neef, Pestolzzian teacher.
Robert Dale Owen, author, diplo.
mat and statesman, son Of Robert
owen, Scotch founder of the over
Community, highly cultured COM
munistic experiment that succeeded
the Rappite colony in New Harmony
by purchase in 1924. Robert Dale
owen is better known as the legisla-
tive father of the Smithsonian In.
stitution in Washington.
David Dale Owen, his brother, the
first United States geologist, whose
old laboratory, home OF the first
United States Geological Survey, is
lust a stones throw away. His wife
was Carolina Neef.
Fauntleroy.
Robert H. Fauntleroy, astronomer
and meteorologist, brother OF Emil!
Carter Fountleroy, who went to New
Harmony from Virginia in 1927 witt
her husband and first cousin, Joseph
their eight children, and her fou
brothers. Robert Fauntleroy mar
ried Jane Dale Owen, daughter o
Robert Owen, and they had lou
children, one Of them Constanc