Elizabeth Van Loon. The Shadow of Hampton Mead. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson & Brothers, 1878.

The Hamptons live an Edenic life on their plantation the western North Carolina. Mrs. Hampton died young, but Mr. Hampton has had the pleasure of watching his children Walter and Norva grow to adulthood. The snake who enters this garden is Norva’s new husband Lawrence Hastings, a man she met in London. Hasting is lascivious and greedy, and his plot to seize the Hampton’s family’s wealth almost succeeds. The novel is thought to be set in Yancey County; the time is the early nineteenth century.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

6 Comments

Filed under 1870-1879, 1878, Mountains, Novels to Read Online, Van Loon, Elizabeth, Yancey

6 Responses to Elizabeth Van Loon. The Shadow of Hampton Mead. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson & Brothers, 1878.

  1. Lloyd Bailey

    The family in this novel is named Hampton, not Mead! The mead is the location of their dwelling, in the county in WNC where I grew up. I have been trying for years to determine the relationship between Elizabeth Van Loon and my Bailey family! Someone help me!

  2. Eileen McGrath

    You’re right, Mr. Bailey, and we have corrected the post. Thank you for pointing out our error. I know that you are a thorough researcher, so there is not likely to be a source on a Bailey-Van Loon connection that I know but you don’t. Perhaps a reader from western North Carolina will chime in with a suggestion.

  3. Betty B. Chandler

    My late grandmother, Elizabeth Frances Bailey, was given a gold baby ring by Elizabeth Van Loon. Pursuant to her wishes, the ring was passed to her first (actually second – first granddaughter was stillborn) granddaughter, Elizabeth Chase Barrett. I, Elizabeth Chase Barrett, was named for Granny Bailey. I passed the ring on to my daughter, Mary Frances (Granny Bailey’s middle name was Frances.). She in turn has passed the baby ring on to her only daughter, Mary Rebecca, who was named Rebecca, for another Bailey grandmother, Rebecca. Mrs. Van Loon’s baby ring was engraved with her name. I’m not certain if it had been hers as an infant, or if she bought it for my grandmother and had it engraved. Aside from my mother, the ring has not and will not be worn except for baptisms. So, to those who wonder, the Elizabeth Van Loon baby ring is safe and well and reposes in a bank vault in Erwin, TN, as my Granny Bailey directed.

  4. Eileen McGrath

    Thank you for sharing the story of your family tradition and connection to Elizabeth Van Loon.

  5. Alice Holmes Adams

    Elizabeth Van Loon is my gg grandmother……… I believe that Mr. Bailey was a friend in NC where she visited. I understand she went by horse and buggy. Much of her travels were included in her books, like Mr. Bailey.

  6. Betty B. Chandler

    Mrs. Adams,
    My grandmother was Elizabeth Frances Bailey, who was given the Van Loon baby ring. All of Lizzie’s children have now passed, my Aunt Hazel Irene Bailey being the last. Prior to her passing, she told me that Elizabeth Van Loon gave my Grandmother (“Lizzie”) a doll. Hazel gave the doll to me, but I am not certain that it is not a later doll. I’m not sure that Hazel actually knew for certain. That doll, origin unknown, also remains in the family.
    Betty Chandler