‘My Art and My Stetson’

Elizabeth Shindler Stetson, after whom Elizabeth Hall is named, and her second husband, the Count of Santa Eulalia

Most Hatters know that the university was named for its major early benefactor, John B. Stetson, the well-known hat-maker and industrialist. Some may also know that Elizabeth Hall, one of the first academic buildings on campus, is named for John B. Stetson’s third wife, Elizabeth Shindler Stetson. Yet, rare in the Stetson community are those who know much about Elizabeth herself, especially about her life after the 1906 death of husband John Stetson.

The novel, authored by Manuel de Queiroz, reveals the whirlwind lives of the Count of Santa Eulalia and Elizabeth Shindler Stetson following the death of Elizabeth’s husband, university benefactor John B. Stetson.

BY SUSAN RYAN, MLS

Aleixo de Queiroz Ribeiro, aka the Count of Santa Eulalia, was the author’s great-uncle.

A fascinating historical novel, “My Art and My Stetson” (Pleasure Boat Studio: Seattle, Washington, 2021), looks at Elizabeth’s life from 1908 to 1917 — the years of her marriage to her second husband, a Portuguese count, Aleixo de Queiroz Ribeiro, Count of Santa Eulalia.

The novel’s author, Manuel de Queiroz, the great-nephew of the Count, spent years researching the Count’s early life as a sculptor in Europe, his political appointment as the Portuguese Consul in Chicago and his marriage to Elizabeth, a wealthy widow 10 years his senior. Research for the book included extensive input from Lewis Stetson Allen, Elizabeth’s great-grandson with John B. Stetson. Originally published in Portuguese in 2008, the novel “Os Passos da Gloria” was selected for the 2008 Fernando Namora Award short list and published in English with the new title in 2021.

For many years, those of us who worked in Stetson University Archives knew only the outline of a story passed down for decades — that Elizabeth Stetson, widowed at the age of 47, had a marriage of convenience with a Portuguese Count who wanted access to the fortune she inherited upon John B. Stetson’s death. In more recent years, we have uncovered a much different story, first through John B. Stetson IV’s gift of Elizabeth’s 1917 diary and now through the de Queiroz novel.

Left: The Count and Countess were big Stetson news of the day. Below: Part of the time, the couple lived in an estate in Portugal (circa 1912). Bottom: The Count was a sculptor. Among his works was a bronze bas-relief of Henry DeLand, now mounted on the front of Sampson Hall on campus.

The diary reveals Elizabeth to be a concerned and loving wife who has received word that her husband, the Count, is dying in Portugal, and who sets sail across the Atlantic under the threat of German submarine attack to be by his side — only to be heartbroken by arriving too late.

“My Art and My Stetson” gives us the back story leading up to the Count’s death. The novel opens in 1908 Philadelphia on the day before Elizabeth’s wedding to the Count. The author uses a compelling technique of alternating chapters between the “present” (1908-1917) and Aleixo’s past, beginning with his days as a budding sculptor in Paris in 1896. Although the novel is fiction, the author has meticulously researched his subjects and has stayed true to the facts as uncovered. The Count’s life as a sculptor, for example, is well-documented, and the story recounts the successes and the occasional disappointments in Aleixo’s artistic career. While he made several large, commissioned sculptures that can still be found in various locations around the world today, any visitor to the DeLand campus has likely walked by one of Aleixo’s pieces — the bronze bas-relief of Henry DeLand mounted on the front of Sampson Hall.

In this well-written, captivating novel about a little-known offshoot of Stetson history, readers will enjoy seeing Aleixo and Elizabeth, the Count and Countess of Santa Eulalia, brought to life as they deal with gossip, hints of scandal, politics and their own relationship that sometimes endured long separations as they attended to their respective responsibilities in Europe and in Philadelphia.

A match of convenience or love? Judge for yourself as you immerse yourself in this turn-of-the-century bit of the Stetson family story.

Elizabeth and Aleixo were married from 1908 to 1917. The novel begins its storytelling one day before their wedding.

INSIGHTS FROM THE AUTHOR

Excerpts from an interview with Manuel de Queiroz

Q: So much of the book is based on truth and documentation. Besides actual dialogue, are there parts of the novel that are imagined because you did not know exactly what happened?

A: As I wrote in the Note to the Reader that opens the novel, “having thus scrupulously respected the facts, the characters and their circumstances, the author felt free to invent all the rest.” Of course, there are parts, facts and situations that I had to imagine, but I always tried to be faithful to what I believed was the truth of each character. What I can say is that some facts and situations are closer to the truth, or what we believe is the truth, than others. And some others are completely invented.

Q: Did you have access to any of the Count’s papers or records?

A: Yes, I had access to his official correspondence as Portuguese Consul in Chicago, to some letters and postcards to his brothers and sister, and also [to] other people like Rodin, the famous French sculptor. And I could find references, photos and articles in Portuguese, French and American newspapers and magazines about his work as a sculptor. I also found several sculptures made by him, which existence was unknown or that were lost. I identified more than 30 pieces, nearly half of them still existing in different places.

Q: What types of records did Lewis Stetson Allen provide for this novel?

A: Lewis shared with me a great deal of information about his greatgrandmother Elizabeth and also about the Count and their relationship. Most of that information had been transmitted to him by his mother (Elizabeth Stetson Allen), who lived her early years with Elizabeth because her parents separated when she was a child. I had also the privilege to interview Lizzie in 2004 in a rest home near Washington when she was nearly 100 years old but still very lucid. She told me then a few episodes that I used in my novel. But, for me, the most important thing Lewis shared was all the relevant newspaper cuttings about the wedding. That was the decisive factor for me to write the book.

Q: Did you know that the Count and Elizabeth usually spoke French to each other, or is that fiction?

A: I think that it was Lewis who told me that [information]. He said that Elizabeth was fluent in French because she had French ancestors. In fact, in her 1917 diary, she mentions reading books in French. Also, Aleixo lived for seven years in Paris. So, I believe that for him it was much easier to speak in French than in English.

Q: John B. Stetson Jr. seemed to support the marriage of the Count and his mother in your novel. Do you have any evidence of what he thought of the Count?

A: Lewis told me that at the beginning, when they started seeing each other, John and G. Henry [Elizabeth’s two grown sons] were not happy at all with the romance between her mother and this quite mysterious foreigner, sculptor and Count. They even decided at some point to hire a detective to investigate him. However, nothing wrong was found about him. So, after the wedding, they both totally accepted their stepfather as part of the family.

Susan Ryan, MLS, is dean of the duPont-Ball Library and Learning Technologies at Stetson.