Today, even in the wealthiest countries, one can often find announcements about fundraising for the needs of one or another single mother. Unfortunately, only a few of those requesting really got into such a difficult situation, as they describe. Most authors of such ads are either outright scammers or simply seek to exploit someone else's sense of pity in order to make their life easier. An American Tasha Tudor can serve as a reproach and at the same time an example for such people. She was able not only to single-handedly raise and put four children on her feet, but also became famous throughout the world as a writer, artist and just an unusual woman. Meanwhile, she lived most of her life on a farm where there was no electricity and running water.
The early years of Tashi Tudor
America's future darling was born in Boston in late August 1915. Her parents were creative people. Father - William Burgess - designed the design of the yachts, and his mother - Rosamond Tudor - was engaged in painting portraits.
Tasha Tudor was the youngest in the family (she had 2 brothers - Edward and Fredrick).
Two creative people, who were Tasha’s parents, could not get along together even after 20 years of marriage. Therefore, when the baby was 9 years old, they divorced.
Due to the remarriage of the father, the children stayed with their mother. However, due to the fact that Rosamond focused on her career as an artist, for a while she sent them to be raised in the village with friends - Gwen and Michael Mickelson.
Life with Aunt Gwen
The following years, Tasha Tudor with his older brother Fredrick (Edward died at the age of 5) lived with Aunt Gwen.
Adhering to the old traditions of education, Gwen and Michael did not send their daughter Rose and adopted children to school, but hired a private teacher for them. He studied with the wards before lunch, and after each child was free to manage the time at his discretion.
Tasha showed a talent for drawing very early. However, in her free time, she not only made graceful sketches, but also composed short stories to them.
Thanks to Gwen, the girl was also interested in needlework. She perfectly sewed and crocheted charming little things, not only for herself, but also for people close to her.
Living on a farm, Tasha Tudor learned to do everything about the house and with all her heart fell in love with this way of life. According to her, the years spent with Aunt Gwen were the best in her life.
Study and first work
Despite the busyness of her career, the mother of the future writer tried to take part in the lives of her children. When Tasha grew up a little, Rosmond Tudor sent her to receive a formal education in a boarding school, and then paid for her daughter's studies at the Boston School of Fine Arts.
Seeing that Tasha is an excellent artist and is able to achieve a lot in this field, Rosamond tried to help the girl make the necessary acquaintances. In addition, the mother often used her daughter as an assistant and model.
Tasha could have settled herself well in this bohemian world, but the girl had a sweeter modest life on the aunt Gwen's farm. Missing all this, Miss Tudor at the age of 19 published an almanac of her drawings by Hitty's Almanac, which presented sketches from rural life. The following year, she published another almanac of her work - New England Wild Flowers. This time it was dedicated to Connecticut flora.
The marriage and career of an illustrator
When Tasha was 21 years old, she met with Thomas McCrade, and after 2 years of dating, the lovers got married. Thomas was the son of farmers, not from the girl’s circle of acquaintances. However, this is precisely what attracted Tasha in him.
After the wedding, young people moved to live on a farm owned by Rosamond Tudor. Unfortunately, unlike his wife, Thomas was not so ardent a lover of rural life. Moreover, marrying the daughter of well-known and wealthy Bostonians, he hoped that this would help him gain a foothold in this city. Instead, McCrady and his wife had to go to the old farm and raise poultry and cows here. Hoping that his wife would get bored of the monotonous life in nature, Thomas began to actively load her with all the "joys" of farm life. To his surprise, the city dweller, the artist-beloruchka, whom he considered her, not only quickly adapted to all the hardships of such a life, but also received considerable pleasure from this. Moreover, in parallel with housework and caring for animals, Tasha still managed to compose fairy tales.
Shortly before the wedding, the future Missy McCrady published her first children's book with illustrations - Pumpkin Moonshine. The main character of the work was baby Sylvia Ann, who dreams of growing the biggest pumpkin. This fairy tale was so liked by the children that soon the writer composed and illustrated 4 more books of the Calico Series cycle.
Soon, two children were born to the spouses: daughter Betani and son Set.
Raising her children, Tasha came up with various entertainments and fairy tales for them, accustoming them to work and helping to develop their imagination. Despite the fact that they grew up on a farm deprived of all the benefits of civilization, this did not stop them from adapting to urban life when they grew up and left their home.
Since 1942, Herbert Dubler publishes a contract with Tasha, and she is engaged in the creation of greeting cards and invitations.
In 1944, Mrs. McCradey, who signed all her works with the pseudonym Tasha Tudor, was invited to become an illustrator of the new edition of Mother Tales of Goose's Tales. The drawings in this book made Tasha famous throughout the world. Moreover, her work began to exhibit famous galleries in the United States.
"Tales of Mother Goose" brought the McCrade family a good income. And since by that time the son Thomas was also born to the couple, they bought a farm with a beautiful old house, which was almost 200 years old. Despite his dilapidated condition, Tasha and her husband tidied the house, arranging everything to their liking, and 4 years after the move, Tasha gave birth to her youngest daughter, Efner.
Despite the fact that by the beginning of the 50s, the artist was in demand in the United States, it was difficult for her family to earn a living. In order to have a constant income, the writer opened her own Ginger and Pickles Store in 1949. Here everyone could buy delicious homemade cakes and pickles, as well as books and postcards drawn by the hostess.
In subsequent years, Tasha illustrated 2-3 books a year. Her amazing drawings were decorated with Andersen's fairy tales, "The Mysterious Garden", "Little Princess", "Little Women" and much more. In addition, during these years, the writer masters various crafts, including basket weaving, calligraphy, learning to weave on a loom, making dolls and doll houses.
However, the growing popularity of Tasha did not please her husband, as he finally realized that his dreams of moving to the city were hopeless. The growing tension between the spouses ultimately ended in a divorce in 1961. All the children remained with their mother, Tasha also went to the farm, and in addition, through court, she managed to ensure that all her children were named Tudor.
Life after a divorce and a new marriage
Left without a husband and with 4 children in her arms, the writer had a hard time. Although they managed to grow almost all the food on the farm, this was still not enough, because the children were growing, and they needed money for their education. Therefore, Tasha tried to take a lot of orders and painted postcards and illustrations all her free time and even at night. The children of Tasha Tudor, seeing how difficult it was for their mother, helped her not only on the farm, but also made various toys for the store.
Hoping to improve her financial situation, Tasha again married Alan Woods. Unfortunately, the new husband could not become a worthy life partner for the artist, and in 1966 they split up. Miss Tudor made no more attempts to arrange her personal life.
Lifestyle "a la Tasha"
The hard work of this woman was not left without a reward: she was able to educate and help her children get on their feet. However, when the youngest daughter left her home, Tasha decided that the farm was too big for her. With the help of Seth's eldest son, she sold it and bought a small rural house in Vermont, not far from her son. Seth helped his mother tidy up a dilapidated home and set up a garden.
Tasha decided to equip her new home in the Victorian style, which she idolized. Despite her considerable age, Miss Tudor refused to conduct electricity and running water in the house. She herself worked in the garden and in the garden, carried water, spun a linen and knitted and sewed clothes for herself.
Every day, she arranged traditional afternoon tea with pastries, to which Tasha Tudor invited relatives and friends. She told tales to all comers at the end of this ceremony, considering the conversation about books to be the best pastime, as well as her beloved writer Jane Austen.
Oddly enough, the surrounding people did not perceive this woman as an eccentric, but as the keeper of American traditions, forgotten in the era of industrialization. Fans began to come to her from all over the world to look at her lifestyle, which is an island of a forgotten past.
Last years
Despite daily physical labor, Tasha lived for 92 years.
The household was helped by the family of the eldest son of Seth, to whom she left most of her property. It is noteworthy that Tasha’s relations with the other children were not so close, most likely this is due to the fact that they all lived far from their mother.
In the 80-90 years. Miss Tudor, already elderly, organized an exhibition of dolls and dresses collected and created by her, as well as old household utensils. In addition, she traveled extensively throughout the United States with lectures on the history of culture and crafts. While the woman had enough strength, she painted pictures and wrote stories to them.
After her death in 2008, her family organized a Memorial Museum, which anyone can visit today.
It is noteworthy that the cards drawn by Tasha are still issued in the USA and are very popular. As for books, because of the many years of legal disputes between children, writers about wills do not yet have the right to publish them, although many publishers would like this very much.
Translations of books into Russian
The domestic reader is little familiar with the work of a writer named Tasha Tudor. Books in Russian are not yet available due to their absence. The fact is that in the days of the USSR Tasha’s books did not correspond to the official ideology, therefore they were not translated or published, but today, due to problems with the heirs, this is problematic. Thus, many who wish are deprived of the opportunity to get to know American culture better, presented in the works of a writer named Tasha Tudor.
All books in Russian are unlikely to be read. As mentioned above, not one of them was translated into it. Therefore, you should not believe the ads on some sites on the Internet that promise to help for a moderate fee to download the complete works of this remarkable writer.
Tasha Tudor: cookbook
Not only children's books were created by Miss Tudor.
She wrote articles about crafts and US history. She also had an amazing collection of recipes for all occasions. Later, Tasha’s grandson, Winslow, collected all the information and published his grandmother’s cookbook. Full name: The Tasha Tudor Family Cookbook: Heirloom Recipes and Warm Memories from Corgi Cottage.
This edition contains about 360 recipes with photos and illustrations. Some of them were invented by the writer herself, others were inherited by her from Aunt Gwen or taken from other sources. By the way, it is worth considering that in her youth Tasha won several culinary competitions, so she clearly knew how to cook deliciously.
