biographical timeline

This brief timeline highlights the major events in the life of Adelaide Crapsey.

1878 - Adelaide Crapsey is born on September 9 in Brooklyn, New York.

1879 - Family moves to Rochester, New York.

1893 - Enters Kemper Hall boarding school in Kenosha, Wisconsin along with her older sister Emily.

1897 - Graduates as valedictorian from Kemper Hall; Enters Vassar College where she was class poet for three years and editor-in-chief of the 1901 Vassarion (yearbook).

1901 - Graduates from Vassar; Sister Emily dies from appendicitis.

1902 - Returns to Kemper Hall to teach literature and history

1904 - Travels to Rome to study at the School of Classical Studies of the American Academy.

1905 - Returned home to attend the heresy trial of her father, Reverend Algernon Sidney Crapsey, an Episcopal minister.

1906 - Teaches at Miss Lowe's School in Stamford, Connecticut.

1907 - Older brother Philip dies of malaria; Accompanies father to the Hague Peace Conference and on a walking tour of Wales.

1908 - Stops teaching at Miss Lowe's due to poor health.

1909 - Returns to Europe spending time in Rome, London, and Kent; Conducts research on metrics at the British Museum; Financial difficulties and health issues.

1911 - Returns from Europe to teach poetics at Smith College; Diagnosed with tuberculin meningitis; Writes first cinquains.

1913 - Collapses and is sent to a private nursing home in Saranac Lake, New York.

1914 - Returns home to Rochester in August; Dies on October 8.

For more information, consult the following biographies:

• Alone in the Dawn: The Life of Adelaide Crapsey (1988), by Karen Alkalay-Gut
• Adelaide Crapsey (1933), by Mary Osborn.