Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

elude the natural wood, and beautiful
lacquer colors of the Colonial period, harmonizing
with the fine English fabrics
used for upholstery and hangings. In the
entire history of the industry very little
money has been spent on the sort of pub-
licity to be gained from printer's ink.
Nevertheless, the fame of this beautiful
furniture has reached a wide range, and
it now adorns homes in various European
countries, and even in far-off South
Africa. In 1914 the business was incor-
porated as the Erskine-Danforth Corpora-
tion, with Mr. Erskine as president.
In the social and public life of Stamford,
as well as in the business world, Mr.
Erskine is a prominent and welcome fig-
ure. He is a member of Delta Psi, the
Williams Club of New York, St. Anthony
Club, and Mendelssohn Glee Club. In
his senior year at college he was leader of
the Williams Glee Club, of which he
was a member during the entire four
years' course.
Mr. Erskine married (first) Barbara
Peattie, dughter of R. B. Peattie, of Chi-
cago. She died in 191 5, aged thirty-one
years, leaving three young children
Charles Robert, born July 31, 1907; Malcolm
Edward, born February 8, 1909; and
Ralph Child, Jr., born September 15, 1912.
Mrs. Erskine's mother has been an
author since girlhood, writing under the
pen name of Payne Erskine, novels of
American life. Among these are "When
the Gates Lift Up Their Heads ;" "Joyful
Heatherby;" "The Eye of Dread;" etc.
Perhaps the one which reached the widest
audience was "The Mountain Woman,"
published serially in The Ladies' Home
Journal. A warmly sympathetic picture
of Southern mountain life, it still gives
the world, to an unusual degree, a keenly
interpretative analysis of the true char-
acter of the mountain people—wildly
rugged, like the physical character of their
:
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
268
uncultivated home country; tenacious of
possession, fiercely jealous, yet loyal as
truth itself to the traditions of the hills.
"Payne Erskine," Mrs. Eliza W. Peattie,
was literary editor of the Chicago
"Tribune" for many years, and Mr. Peat-
tie is now the head of the New York of-
fice of that paper. Mrs. Peattie is the
author of a play, "Sunrise," a story of the
North Carolina mountains, which is being
produced by Smith & Goldberg. Her
poems, which have been grouped together
and published, seem to her friends to
breathe her own personality, that rich
essence, which, with every really gripping
novel, is utterly lost in the story.
Mr. Erskine married (second) Margaret
Burbank MacCullen, daughter of Frank
R. MacCullen, a leading clothing mer-
chant of Boston.
Mr. Erskine has always been cordially
interested in the prosperity of the church.
While a resident of Tryon, he was a member
of the vestry of the Episcopal church
there, and also sang in the choir. The
family now attend and support the Epis-
copal church in Stamford, where they
reside.
In such a record as the foregoing it is
difficult to present the personality of the
man whose life is under review. What
he does seems to overbalance what he is.
But after all, the achievement measures
the man, as no other estimate can do, and
with Ralph Child Erskine it is a true
index of the man and his character.
(The Leland Line).
(I) Henry Leland was born in England
about 1625. He married Margaret
Badcock. Coming to America in 1652, he
united with the Dorchester church in
1653
burne, Massachusetts, where he died
; then settled soon after in Sher-
April 4, 1680.
(II) Hopestill Leland, son of Henry