The Lawton’s
Real-life models for “The Walton’s” in Annie Fellows Johnston’s “Little Colonel” series
Group Photos
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| GENERAL LAWTON’S THREE DAUGHTERS “The children were posed by their father; Frances, the eldest is 10 years old; Katherine 8, and Louise, 4” |
MRS. LAWTON AND HER CHILDREN AT MANILA “A rare picture of the family which was bereaved by a Filipino bullet” |
These pictures and captions appeared in the March 4, 1900 edition of the New England Home Magazine.
They would have been taken in 1899.
Shortly after General Lawton’s death, the family moved to Louisville.
This photo, ca 1900, shows Mrs. Lawton wearing her black mourning dress.
This is the “Walton” family at the time of “The Little Colonel’s Holidays.”
Front row: Louise (‘Elise’), Mary (‘Mrs. Walton’) and Catherine (‘Kitty’)
Second row: Manly (‘Ranald, the Little Captain’) and Frances (Allison)
Photo by Klauber Studios, Louisville
“A group which might have stepped from one of the chapters of the series.”
This includes the ‘Walton’ children, along with the Little Colonel, Miss Allison and Katie Mallard.
(Post card signed and annotated by Annie Fellows Johnston)
ca. 1906-8 Click here for an enlarged, hi resolution picture of the group above
Back of the post card from the The Group Photo of Little Colonel Characters. Here, Annie Fellows Johnston wrote the names of the characters from the Little Colonel Series and matched them with the real life characters they were modeled after.
Samuel Culbertson Mansion Collection
(Caption from a newspaper clipping in an old scrapbook. Source not identified – probably Courier-Journal or Louisville Times. Originally we posted the newspaper photo with its “dotty” resolution. Since then we have acquired what was apparently one of the original post cards by L.C. Page, and this one in fact autographed by Annie Fellows Johnston, as was her custom for fans who visited her home. On the back of the post card, Mrs. Johnston went so far as to write the real names of the characters she used as her models.)
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| “Kitty and Allison Walton” (Catherine and Frances Lawton) at home at Edgewood An enlargement of this photo is on Kitty’s Page |
Allison Walton=Frances Lawton (standing) Kitty Walton=Catherine Lawton & the Little Colonel (seated) ca. 1906-8 enlargement |
Famous Little Colonel characters help plant a tree, 1903
Mom Beck, The Walton’s and the Little Colonel at a tea at Clovercroft
The family attends “Elise’s” Wedding, 1914 (click to enlarge)
Catherine (Kitty) is standing below Mary Craig (Mrs. Walton, grey hair and at the top of the steps) and to the left. She is the first person in the row standing on the step. Francis (Allison) is the last woman to the right. Louise and Oliver are the bride and groom.
Louise married Oliver Walton Bagby, and had two sons, Oliver and Henry Lawton, and a daughter, Mary Lawton, and has several surviving grandchildren Louise lived with her mother in Annapolis for many years. She died in an auto accident in Delaware November 11, 1963. A writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal wrote (1928) that she had met “Elise” around 1918 “and found her to be as charming and of the same type as ‘The Little Colonel,’ save for the brunette coloring.”