Fervent Calvin

Fervent Calvin is a historical figure in the Melisende Dulac Series.

Biography

Fervent Calvin died while giving birth at the Hensley Asylum for Infirm Ladies and Needful Girls. Her daughter Mary Jane survived, but would fall to the same fate and in the same place only twelve years later.

Born in Portland, Fervent was the daughter of Marilee de Bouton and granddaughter of Eugène de Bouton. As a teen, she was estranged from her mother and father, and returned to Barlow County. While living with her cousin, Eugene Bouton, she was accosted and raped by Delany Buncombe. When she learned she was pregnant, she reached out to her mother for help, who rejected her. Eugene's wife at the time, Sylvia, refused to have a "soiled girl" in her home as well. With no where else to go, she entered the Hensley Asylum.

After he learned of her death, her father Corrin Calvin repented of his and his wife's treatment of Fervent. He came to Barlow County to confront Del Buncombe, who had not been charged with the rape. Buncombe attacked and killed Corrin, and was subsequently arrested and convicted. Buncombe was executed in 1929.

Virginia, Esmée, and Kendra Kinniburgh are descended from Fervent, through whom they have a distant family connection to the Bouton family.

Vital Statistics

Born: 10 September 1910
Died: 29 February 1928

See Family Trees for family relationships.

Appearances

• Memory Garden (historical figure, mentioned only)