New York Clipper, Notable Players of the Past and Present, No. 79, 1911
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Dolman family
The Dolmans
were friends of EJP's long before Hattie married John, and seem to have known John
Nickinson as well.
John
Dolman Sr. (1824/30?-1895) was Hattie's father- in- law.
New
York Clipper, Notable Players of the Past and Present, No. 79, 1911
According to his NY Clipper obituary (July 20, 1895) he'd enlisted in the Marines at 16, served in the Mexican War and went on the stage at Mitchell's Olympic Theatre, New York in 1849, Mitchell's last season as manager. (This must be when he met John Nickinson.)
Afterwards he went to the Holliday Theatre, Baltimore and to Philadelphia (the old National Theatre) and then in 1853 to "the notable Arch Street Theatre under Wheatley and Drew, and Wheatley & Clarke, where he remained until admitted to the bar in 1860. (His wife's family didn't want her to marry an actor.)
He played "nearly all the heavy parts in the Shakespearian plays and old English comedies. In "Hamlet" he usually played the Ghost" and he played Macbeth to Charlotte Cushman's Lady Macbeth [Notable Players of the Past and Present, New York Clipper, July 1, 1911] His funeral was in Philadelphia July 18, 1895
John Dolman Sr. married Ellen Shoch (1837-1907) "Mrs. Dolman in most of these letters.
Their oldest child was John Dolman (1857-1939) who married Hattie Nickinson Christine Harriet Melanie Nickinson (Aug. 24, 1860- Oct. 9, 1946)
Their first child was
John
Dolman " Jack" (May 21, 1888- July 9, 1952)
who married Ethel Schatte (1890-1937). They were the parents of
John Phillips Dolman (1915- )
Robert Effingham Dolman (1917- )
Geoffrey Dolman (1919- 199?), father of
Kathy Dolman Newkirk, who has another
EJP quilt.
and Barbara Dolman Spencer (1913-1988),
who received EJ Phillips's quilt
for her high school graduation.
She and husband John Spencer were the parents of
Susan
Spencer [Misciewicz]
Peggy Spencer
Sue Spencer, Hattie Nickinson Dolman, Barbie
Dolman Spencer c. 1943
Hattie
and Jack c. 1889
Entrekin1313-1315 Columbia Ave,
Philadelphia Pa
Hattie and Johns' second child was Elizabeth Ellen Dolman (May 28, 1891- June 12, 1892) who died of complications of measles in June 1892, described in poignant letters from Hattie and her mother),
and
third Melanie
Nickinson Dolman (1897- 1978)
who married Charles Floyd Seymour (1874-1927). They were the parents of
Charles F. Seymour (1921- ) married Isabel Robinson
Charlie Seymour, Jr.
Our grandfathers
First cousins Jack
Dolman (b. May 1888) and Ted
Nickinson (b. Oct. 1890) were grandfathers to the Dolman (Sue,
Peggy, Kathy, Charlie and others) cousins and Nickinson (Mary Glen, Marjorie,
Beth, Em, Pat and Merritt and others) cousins. The Dolman and Nickinson
cousins are third cousins.
Jack
Dolman and Ted Nickinson c. 1893
Dolman
siblings and siblings -in-law
John
Dolman Jr.'s siblings (and Hattie's brothers- and sisters-in-laws) were
Nellie
Carpenter Dolman Law (1861-1946) lived to be 85, but it isn't clear if
she and her husband Will ever worked out their differences.
Philadelphia,
May 5, 1895 Nellie to go back to Will, I am told but do not know any
particulars. [From an undated 1895 letter, prior to John Dolman Senior's
death: Nellie and Will are reconciled and begin housekeeping again next week].
The house is taken from the 15th (Saturday). I hope the past may prove a
wholesome lesson to them. My opinion is that Will has behaved most
manfully and well and done all he could to make things pleasant.]
Josephine Gertrude Dolman "Josie" (1863-1934) lived to be 71, wrote stories and taught school.
Nellie
[or is this Josie?] Dolman
Naegeli,
46 East 14th. Street, Union Square N.Y.
Walter Scott Dolman (1873-1927) acted in another Lady Windermere's Fan company in his early twenties, before becoming a Philadelphia lawyer, like his father and brother.
James
Perkins Dolman (1859-1891) died at 32 leaving a pregnant widow (whose child
died at birth).
Charles Shoch Dolman (1866-1885) died at 17. He wrote to Albert from
Florida where he'd been taken to try to convalesce.
Edward Coke Dolman (1870-1889) died at 18, and
Mary Allison Dolman "Petsie" (1868-1886) also died at 18.
It is hard to imagine middle-class families now losing 3 teenagers and a 30 year
old in the space of 7 years.
Dolman plot, West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia
Hattie
Nickinson Dolman, EJ Phillips and Jack Dolman circa 1894
Albert
Nickinson in Pensacola with Kathy Dolman c.1946
Bibliography
Dolman Jr., John, The Art of Acting, New
York: Harper & Brothers, 1949.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0837138329/qid=1076907952/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-7351289-1775216?v=glance&s=books
Dolman Jr., John, The Art of Play Production, New York: Harper & Brothers,
1928. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060416823/qid=1076907928/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-7351289-1775216?v=glance&s=books
Dolman, John Jr. The Art of Public Speaking, Harper & Brothers, 1922
Dolman, John Jr. The Art of Reading Aloud, Harper & Brothers, 1956
Players Club of Swarthmore History http://www.pcstheater.org/aboutpcs/history/ with paragraph on John Dolman Jr.
Last updated July 9, 2005