Ellen (Nellie) Alexander

1875-1938

Heteronym popular in 1900

            Why is a sheet of blotting paper no good?
because it is an ink-lined plane and an inclined plane is a slope up"
and a slow pup is no good.


My mom told me this stupid heteronym over and over again when I was a kid.  She had apparently heard it from her mom Nellie but I'm sure there was much more she had to say about her mom than this.  The significance of slow pops evades me but in the early part of that century it must have meant something funny. 

Not much else was passed down to me about Nellie except that Allegra, my mom, did not seem to like her very much.  Allegra felt that Nellie had prevented her from going to college, excessively favored the two boys and had her sister committed to an institution for hearing voices and for marrying out of the church.  In short there was no great degree of love lost between the two women.

Ellen was born in Southampton, Ontereo and was bedridden the last 10 years or so of her life, dying in Bellingham, WA in 1938.  I'm not sure about the rest.  She had red hair and was not bad looking.

She was buried at Bayview Cematery in Bellingham.


 

 

Here's Nellie taken when she was younger.

Ellen (Nellie) Alexander O'Rouark

and Nellie with James and the family.  this was while she was pregnant with her youngest Daughter

Nellie with her kids.  this was while she was pregnant with her youngest Daughter

and here with the entire family.

Allegra Catherine O'Rouark , James Edward O'Rouark, Ellen Alexander O'Rouark, Douglas James O'Rouark, Gerald Alexander O'Rouark (Standing in back), Elaine in Dad's lap