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Lot 190
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George Armstrong Custer’s Widow’s Journal and Address Book, Many References to Her Husband
George Armstrong Custer’s Widow’s Journal and Address Book, Many References to Her Husband
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Description:

Elizabeth B. Custer
New York, NY, ca. 1926
George Armstrong Custer's Widow's Journal and Address Book, Many References to Her Husband
Diary/Journal
ELIZABETH B. CUSTER, Address Book with many addresses and other notations, ca. 1926. 190 pp., 4.75" x 7.5", 61 pp. with Custer's handwriting. Partial separation of rear cover; some scuffs and stains to cover; light toning to interior; very good.

Notable Entries include:
- Mrs. Grace Custer Bugbee, Hastings, Fla., "A's cousins"
Grace F. McCormick Bugbee (1872-1959) operated a florist shop in Hastings, Florida. She was the daughter of Caroline Amelia Custer (1846-1910), a second cousin of General George A. Custer.
- Flora E. Brewster, "Cousin of Custer"
- "J. A. Shoemaker, Secty of the Custer Memorial Association, 22772 Belmont ave Seattle, Mont."

Much of the popular legend surrounding the dashing figure of George Armstrong Custer came from the pen of his devoted wife, Elizabeth. Married to the young army officer for only a dozen years, Elizabeth "Libbie" Bacon Custer traveled with her husband to his frontier army assignments and later wrote three books on her experiences. She lived as his widow for more than fifty years. When not traveling, Custer divided her time between New York City and Daytona, Florida, during the early twentieth century.

This address book records "Libbie" Custer's interests and connections in the mid-1920s. It includes information about some of her husband's relatives, memorial organizations, and women's literary organizations, reflecting her role as an author

James A. Shoemaker (1866-1930) of Billings, Montana, was appointed secretary of the National Custer Memorial Association in 1925 to coordinate the observance of the semi-centennial of the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1926. He came to Helena, Montana, in the 1890s, where he managed the water company, served as sheriff of Lewis and Clark County and a member of the legislature, and managed many civic events and celebrations.
- Bruce Custer Monroe
- "Eugene Wessinger. Supt. Of Custer Battle Field Nat Cemetery Crow Agency, Montana"
Eugene Wessinger (1851-1938) served as superintendent of the Custer Battlefield National Monument from 1913 to 1929.
- Women's University Club
- The Custer Observatory, Southold L.I. (Charles W Elmer)
The Custer Observatory was founded in 1927 by Charles Wesley Elmer and other amateur astronomers. It was named to honor his wife, Mrs. May Custer Elmer, the grand-niece of General George A. Custer.
- Daytona Bethune Cookman School (Colored)
African-American educator Mary McLeod Bethune founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Girls in 1904 in Daytona Beach, Florida. In 1927, it combined with a local institute for boys to form Bethune-Cookman Collegiate Institute, which later became Bethune-Cookman University.
- Adams Memorial Hall, Deadwood, South Dakota
Wiliam E. Adams (1854-1934) established the Adams Memorial Hall Museum in Deadwood in 1930.
- The Seville, 211 South St. Daytona, Fla.
- Genl Luther B. Hare, 7th Cav. Sherman, Texas
Luther B. Hare (1851-1929) graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1874 and served in the Seventh Cavalry for 25 years, including the expedition to the Little Bighorn River. At the time of the battle, he and another lieutenant were on detached service. During the Spanish-American War, he served as colonel of the Thirty-third U.S. Volunteers.
- Indian Museum—B-way & 155th st.
- "Dora, care of Major E. V. Simpson / Fort Santiago, Manila, Philapene Islands."
- "Mrs. Marian Leland, Pres. Am. Pen Womans Club"
Founded as the League of American Pen Women in 1897 by Marian Longfellow O'Donoghue and others, the organization became the National League of American Pen Women and boasted 5,000 members by 1921.
- Red Book Magazine (Arthur McKeogh, Ed.)
- Daniel H. Newhall – Rare books cor of Park Pershing Square
- Pen & Brush club Miss Ida Tarbell, Pres 16 W 10th st
Ida M. Tarbell (1857-1944) was an American writer, investigative journalist, and biographer. One of the leading muckrakers, Tarbell is best known for The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904), and her biographies of Abraham Lincoln. She was the president for thirty years (1913-1943) of the Pen and Brush Club, an international organization of professional women, writers, and artists, founded in 1894.
- Mrs Otis Skinner / Miss Cornelia Otis Skinner 135 E 66th
- Kansas Woman's Journal – Topeka / Mrs Lilla Day Monroe
Lilla Day Monroe (1858-1929) was a Kansas journalist who founded and edited The Kansas Woman's Journal, which published reminiscences of pioneer Kansas women.
- Nat. Woman's Country Club – 1108 – 16 st Washington / Washington D.C

Excerpts
"Rocking Chair – 1931
Mahogany – red velvet cover
1 Judge Daniel S. Bacon
2 Emanuel H. Custer
3 Nevin J. Custer
General G. A. Custer
G. A. Custer 2nd
G. A. Custer IV
Armstrong IV
G. A. Custer V
Now in possession of Elizabeth B. Custer / 71 Park av. / N.Y."

"‘This bible was brought over on the Mayflower by Samuel Cleft who was one of the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Dec 21st 1620
copied from the leaf in the possession of Elizabeth Bacon Custer / Aug 25, 71 Park ave 1925"

Historical Background
When Elizabeth "Libbie" Bacon's mother and three siblings all died before she was thirteen years old, her father Daniel Bacon, a wealthy and influential judge and state representative in Monroe, Michigan, doted on his only surviving child. He enrolled her in the Young Ladies' Seminary and Collegiate Institute, a boarding school in Monroe. She spent four years there under the tutelage of the Reverend Erasmus Boyd, the principal, and his wife Sarah. Intelligent, serious, and competitive, Libbie Bacon excelled as a student and she graduated at the head of her class in June 1862.

She met Captain George Armstrong Custer in November 1862 at Boyd's seminary, and initially both she and her father were unimpressed. He had a reputation as a womanizer, gambler, and drinker, and her father wanted his only daughter to marry someone of the same social status.

At age 23, in June 1863, Custer was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and took charge of the 1st, 5th, 6th, and 7th regiments of the Michigan Volunteer Cavalry Brigade. The following month, he led his cavalry brigade against Confederate Major General J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry during the Battle of Gettysburg, handing the famed Stuart his first taste of defeat. With his new accomplishments and status, Custer received Judge Bacon's permission to write to his daughter. They were engaged in December 1863, and married on February 9, 1864, in Monroe.

Elizabeth "Libbie" Clift Bacon Custer (1842-1933) was born in Michigan as the daughter of influential and wealthy Judge Daniel S. Bacon (1798-1866) and Eleanor Page Bacon (1814-1854). She graduated from a girls' seminary at the head of her class in June 1862. She first met George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876) in the autumn of 1862, but her father thought Custer was beneath her, and he wanted her to have a better life than that of an army wife. After Custer received a promotion to brevet brigadier general in 1863, Judge Bacon was more approving and allowed Elizabeth to marry Custer on February 9, 1864, in Michigan. Both George and Elizabeth Custer were ambitious and stubborn, and their dozen years of marriage were tumultuous. She followed her husband to every assignment, refusing to be left behind in comfort. After the war, Brevet Major General Custer reverted to his Regular Army rank of lieutenant colonel and held a series of frontier assignments in Texas, Kansas, and the Dakota Territory. In 1876, he left his wife at Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory to pursue Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and other Sioux and Cheyenne. After Custer's death at the Battle of Little Big Horn, President Ulysses S. Grant publicly blamed him for blundering into a massacre. Elizabeth Custer quickly defended her husband's image, aiding his first biographer and writing articles and books of her own praising Custer. Her version prevailed in popular culture for decades. She never remarried and was a widow for more than a half-century before she died in New York City. She was buried next to her husband in the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery at West Point.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 4.75" x 7.5"
  • Medium: Diary/Journal

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