Announcing a new book: Daughter of Adena

Margaret Worthington's Personal Papers - Chillicothe, Ohio - 1836 - 1839
Edited and with an introduction by Charlotte W. Wells with Laura R. Prieto and Jennifer C. Davis

The design of Adena and its extensive grounds was in the eighteenth century tradition of colonial Virginia. While serving as one of Ohio's senators in Washington in 1805, Thomas Worthington commissioned Benjamin Latrobe, now considered the father of American architecture, to design the mansion.

From the time they first occupied Adena, the Worthingtons entertained many prominent people such as the great Shawnee chiefs Tecumseh and Blue Jacket, as well as President James Monroe and Mrs. John Pope, sister-in-law of President John Quincy Adams. Adena has undergone many changes since Margaret's time, but was freshly restored to its nineteenth century appearance in time for Ohio's bicentennial in 2003.

Adena
The words in white ("my beloved home") on the cover photo are from Margaret's diary entry of May 19, 1836.
Historic Adena is owned and maintained by the Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio; visit Ohio History.
Page Updated April 29, 2005.

Readers will be interested in Margaret's accounts of social life among her circle of Chillicothe friends, sometimes brushing elbows with notables of the period. Daughter of Adena also opens a window into Margaret's private life, revealing how she was torn between her desire to marry and her reluctance to leave Adena and her mother. She often confessed that her faith was tested by anxiety. Her novel-like story culminates in 1839 with her marriage to Edward D. Mansfield, Cincinnati newspaper editor and writer.
The picture of Adena on the book's cover is a photo of an original 1908 painting owned by Charlotte W. Wells.

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