Bull, Sara Chapman Thorp, 1850-1911

Sara Chapman Thorpe was born in 1850 in upstate New York. The family moved to Madison, Wis., and became prominent there. Norwegian violinist Ole Bull courted her against her father's wishes, but her mother supported the marriage, and in 1870 took Sara to Europe, where she and Ole were married in secret. She sometimes traveled with her husband on his concert tours, occasionally accompanying him on the piano. In 1879 she moved to Cambridge, Mass., with her daughter and mother, but was with her husband in Norway when he died in 1880. After his death, she wrote Ole Bull: A Memoir (1883), and helped carry out his wish to have a monument to Leif Ericson erected in Boston. She continued to live in Cambridge, becoming a close friend of such people as Celia Thaxter, Julia Ward Howe, and Sarah Orne Jewett. She also initiated and sponsored the "Cambridge Conferences", seminars that from 1897 to 1899 brought together intellectual and cultural leaders for lectures on philosophical, social, and religious topics. In her later years, she became interested in Eastern religions, financially supported their efforts, and eventually joined an Indian sect. She died in 1911.

From the description of Papers, 1830-1910 (bulk 1880-1910). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70974272