The History of Masters' Name

In our search for information on Edgar Lee Masters we sent out e-mails to various schools in the Spoon River area. We got a very useful letter back from Sheryl Lee Hinman. She responded to us on how Masters got his name, and here is her story. Thank you very much Sheryl! Your information was very interesting and helpful.

 

Greetings:

My name is Sheryl Lee Hinman. I am a high school English teacher in Galesburg, Illinois. My grandfather (Walter Lee Hinman), my grandmother (Marcia Helen Hinman), and my father (William Lee Hinman) lived in Petersburg, IL. They were related through marriage to the Masters family who lived very near. In fact, my father tells me that they ate Sunday dinner at the Masters' home at various times. He remembers Edgar vaguely as a man who would come out of a room, fill his plate and return to his room to write or read. My father also remembers elderly aunts who commented that they could not believe that his poems found any following since they "didn't even rhyme" and "brought up nothing but scandal."

The most interesting fact about him, however, was told to me by my grandmother. As you will notice, both my father and I have the middle name of LEE. When I was about eleven years old and already an avid reader, my grandmother told me the story of my middle name and its connection to Edgar Lee Masters. She explained that a cousin of her father had married into the family of Robert E. Lee of Southern military fame. Our side of the family was going to be fighting for the North. Family members decided that the connection would still be recognized through the naming of children in every generation to show the link. The children with that name would be encouraged to sign with that full name. Thus, my father is William Lee Hinman. I am Sheryl Lee Hinman. My nephew is Lee William Chiles. She told me that Edgar Lee Masters came about as part of that tradition.

My great aunt Virginia D. Eastman, also of Petersburg, was a member of the DAR and left us an extensive family tree which shows the family connection to the Lees of Virginia.