IRB Media Summary of Justin Martin's Genius of Place

Annotation

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 John and Charlotte Olmsted welcomed a baby boy named Fred in 1822. He was the first child for John, age thirty, and Charlotte, age twenty-one. He was named after Frederick Olmsted, John's older brother who had died a few years earlier.#2 John Olmsted was a soft man who was capable of real sweetness toward those he loved. He was a seventh-generation descendant of one of the city's founders, James Olmsted. Fred's mother, Charlotte, died of an overdose of laudanum six months after the birth of her second child.#3 Following his mother's death, John Olmsted briefly stopped writing in his diary. He then picked back up with: No a/c kept of expenses from February 24 to March 12. He left the care of his two young sons to a live-in nurse.#4 Fred's parents took him to a school that used a curriculum based on the work of Hartford residents. The first Puritan settlers had been fervent about education, believing that if they taught their children to read and reason, their principles might be passed along to subsequent generations.