In my opinion, the point of historical fiction is to learn about an interesting time in a more entertaining manner than reading the unembellished truth. The very things that make a story come to life, such as the emotions and personal dialogue, are frequently undocumented and therefore have no place in nonfiction. The challenge for the author is to strike a balance between fact and fiction, sometimes bending the truth in order to better tell a story.
In this story, I hoped to shed light on a time very different from the present, though its results are still very much in evidence. The Brooklyn Bridge is an icon, a symbol not only of New York City but a monument of American style and ingenuity known worldwide. Indeed, I rarely spend a day without seeing an image of it in the media.
I hope the reader will view the Brooklyn Bridge with increased insight after reading The Engineer’s Wife and that the very real sacrifices of its builders will never be forgotten. Although the exact toll is unknown, of the more than six hundred workers, at least twenty lost their lives, and scores if not hundreds more suffered severe injuries.
In addition, I wished to shed light on the astounding limitations faced by women of that era, the very long route of suffrage that finally enabled American women to vote nationally in 1920. Women’s fashions of the 1800s, which severely hampered their activities, always interested me, along with the consequences for those who challenged the norm.
For the reader who wishes a bit of a guideline to which story elements are factual, I offer the following:
The timeline of the main characters’ lives and bridge construction are mostly factual, with some exceptions. Emily’s mother, Phebe, died in late 1870. The incident of John and Washington on the trapped ferry, the impetus for John’s idea to build the bridge, reportedly happened in 1853, not 1848 as in the story.
The timeline of the repair work, flooding, and concrete filling of the Brooklyn caisson, as well as other small details, have been altered to better suit the pace of narration. The deadly panic on the bridge actually occurred a week after the official opening, not before.
The Cutty Sark was built in 1869, a bit too late for Washington and Emily to have seen it under construction. However, it is quite logical that they would have visited ships under construction in order to learn about building caissons. I chose the Cutty Sark because she visited New York City in the time frame in the story, she is a fabulous example of the shipbuilding techniques of the era, and because she is now stunningly showcased in a museum in Greenwich, England. One can also visit the nearby Royal Observatory.
Washington and Emily initially lived on Hicks Street in Brooklyn before purchasing the home on Columbia Heights. John Roebling died in the Hicks Street home.
The following characters are, although used fictitiously, based on actual persons and served in more or less the same capacity as in the story: Emily, Washington, John, John Roebling II, Phebe Warren, G. K. Warren, Abram Hewitt, Henry Ward Beecher, Edmond Farrington, C. C. Martin, William Kingsley, Charles Young, Amelia Bloomer, Alva Vanderbilt, and Henry Murphy.
The good-night poem recited by Wash at his son’s bedside is “The Baby’s Star” by John Banister Tabb (1845–1909), a Confederate prisoner of war. It is of some personal significance to me as I found the poem in an old schoolbook, one of my late mother’s few possessions.
There are several collections of Roebling letters, open to the public for research purposes, in various universities (Rutgers, Rensselaer Polytechnic, Princeton) and museums and collections (the Roebling Museum in New Jersey, the Brooklyn Historical Society). Letters in the novel are a combination of their actual writings, interpretations of such, and entirely imagined missives.
The bridge collapse and train wreck on the River Dee are historical, although the characters and details are imagined.
Benjamin Stone and his family are fictitious characters but are compilations of actual persons. Carrie Beebe did indeed write Violets at about this time (first known publishing in 1873) in New York State, but her character is otherwise fictional. The connection was inspired by the violets Emily was reported to have worn at the celebratory party and the curious passage that seemed to echo beliefs about women’s place in the era, especially women who dared to be different.
John Roebling engineered the Cincinnati bridge over the Ohio River, which stands today, and of course also designed the Brooklyn Bridge. His unfortunate accident and resultant death from tetanus are historical.
P. T. Barnum was, of course, a real person, but his role in the building of the bridge and relationship with Emily are entirely imagined. However, there are several parallels to the Roeblings that indicate there could indeed have been a relationship between them.
Barnum was one of the most wealthy and influential men in New York City at the time, and it is entirely possible that he had some role in the financing and planning for the bridge. It is accurate that Barnum had several museums in New York that burned and were eventually replaced and another opened in Brooklyn. However, the exact timeline of his various enterprises, his first wife’s death, and his second marriage have been altered to better fit the pace of the story. Barnum also leased the space for his popular hippodrome, the former train station that later became the first Madison Square Garden. He was one of the first to popularize peanuts as a snack fit for humans.
His museum did display a hat that belonged to Ulysses S. Grant, but the way he obtained it in this story is imagined. General Warren’s contempt for Grant was widely known, and such a donation could have happened. It is also true that Barnum planned a parade, featuring twenty-four elephants, including Jumbo, across the bridge for the opening ceremonies. However, his proposal was rejected, then revived a year later to show the safety of the bridge, as in the story.
There is also the commonality of employing ship riggers for the circus and bridge building. Barnum did live in Connecticut with his large family, but his opinions on immigration patterns are imagined.
Emily did indeed come from a Cold Spring family of twelve children, five of whom were lost in childhood, although the story of Elizabeth’s death is fictitious.
The Civil War stories were inspired by historical events or in some cases, such as the head in the chest tale, were oft-told family tales of questionable verity. O’Brien is a fictitious character, although the death of a worker in the arch collapse, leaving six children fatherless, is factual. General G. K. Warren and Washington Roebling were indeed at Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg. Warren was demoted and then cleared of wrongdoing as in the story.
Emily and Washington met at a military ball while Washington was serving as G. K. Warren’s aide, as in the story. That Washington had a pet water snake that frequently escaped is documented. Its appearance in Emily’s bathtub is thankfully imagined.
The loss of Washington’s college roommate to suicide, following a confession of romantic love, is true. Although his inner turmoil can only be guessed at, it seems to have been significant, as it was not until several years after the incident that he entered into a romantic relationship.
Muriel Mann and Henri are fictitious, but the history and culture of the Mountain People are not. The Borough of Ringwood was not incorporated until 1918. The area went by various names before that, and I used the current official name for simplicity.
Washington’s partial blindness, nervous condition, and general infirmity as a result of caisson disease and his extended absences from the work site are well documented. His sexual dysfunction is undocumented, at least as far as I could research, but is a very common occurrence in the disease, especially at the severity he experienced. Dr. Andrew Smith did not become the site physician until 1872. My research did not reveal who tended Wash’s caisson disease before then.
Emily’s role in the construction was considerable, including design of certain metal parts, as surviving letters attest. Her work began as a messenger for Washington and evolved as she learned more and more. Indeed, there is a plaque on the bridge that honors her efforts, along with her husband and father-in-law. However, her adventures in the caisson and atop the towers are imagined, as I did not find documentation confirming that she visited these areas.
Washington recovered from his injuries and was well enough to run the family wire business in Trenton well into his old age. The stress of the bridge and caring for him seemed to have taken a toll on Emily, as she was fifty-nine when she died in 1903 of stomach cancer. Washington outlived Emily by twenty-three years. Although he remarried late in life, Washington and Emily rest side by side in the Cold Spring cemetery.
For those seeking additional reading, David McCullough’s The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge is a thoroughly researched book, as is Marilyn Weigold’s Silent Builder: Emily Warren Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge, the only biography written on Emily Warren Roebling of which I am aware. In addition, Ken Burns did an Academy Award–nominated documentary titled Brooklyn Bridge in 1981.
Other than these researchable elements, the characters, actions, and events are fictitious.