Pond Parents
Arabelle and Rufus Pond are named figures in the Eden Pond Series.
Biography
Arabelle and Rufus Pond were the parents of Eden, Harry, and Merton Pond. Though they died well before the events of the Eden Pond books, their presence was felt through the memories of Merton and Eden.
The two were married in 1897, when Arabelle was seventeen and Rufus thirty-two. Though there was a significant age difference, their marriage was a happy one. Rufus continued to work as a logger, while Arabelle kept house and took in sewing. She gave birth Merton in 1899, but after their second child was stillborn in 1901, they came to believe they would not be able to have more children. They were content raising Merton, a reserved but pleasant boy. It was much to their surprise that Arabelle became pregnant in 1916, and even moreso when she gave birth to twins the following year.
The effect of a pregancy at age thirty-eight left Arabelle with compromised health, which may have contributed to her death from Spanish Flu. Rufus, fifteen years her senior, also became ill and succumbed to the disease two days after she did. Merton was in France when his parents died, having volunteered with the American Expeditionary Forces. The twins, just a year-and-a-half old, were cared for by the family of Tillie Larkin until Merton returned.
Arabelle was of mixed heritage, her father being of primarily Scots-Irish descent and her mother a member of the Clatsop tribe. She never had a strong association with her Native roots, having grown up in Astoria, though she suffered the effects of prejudice. Eden apparently got her dark hair and eyes from Arabelle.
Rufus was Breton and English via the Island of Jersey. He worked as a logger and fisherman. Before he and Arabelle wed, he bought a house in Garibaldi which remained the family home after he and Arabelle died.
Vital Statistics
Arabelle Date of Birth: 13 April 1880 1918
Arabelle Date of Death: 10 November 1918
Rufus Date of Birth: 3 August 1861 Rufus Date of Death: 12 November 1918
Character Affiliations
- Merton Pond, older son
- Eden Pond, daughter
- Harry Pond, younger son