Oregon Experience: Opal Whiteley

Timeline

This Timeline of Opal’s life is taken from the book Play of Colors: The Legend of Opal Whiteley, by Germaine A. Cross. A few additional world events have been added that may have influenced Opal and her story.

1872

Lewis Carroll publishes Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland. The final chapter includes a poem that uses acrostics to reveal the full name of the real Alice - Alice Pleasance Liddell.

1897

Opal is Born December 11th in Colton, Washington. She was the first daughter born to Ed and Lizzie Whiteley.

1900

Our Babies Bible ABC is published. The author is listed as "an Angel Mother." It is among Opal’s papers at the University of Oregon.

1901

Henri, Duc d’Orléans dies in Saigon.

1902

Opal is 4 and her family moves to Walden, east of Cottage Grove.

1903

Opal enters school and immediately skips two grade levels.

1906

The Whiteleys are living in Star, Oregon just east of Cottage Grove.

1911

Opal is 13 and begins lecturing in Star, Oregon.

1912

Tarzan of the Apes first appears as a magazine publication.  It first appears in book form in 1914, and film in 1918. It is the story of Tarzan, the child of royal parents who die leaving him stranded in the African jungle to be raised by apes. He teaches himself to read by studying English primers left by his parents.

1912

The RMS Titanic sinks. 1,500 passengers are killed.

1914

Empress of Ireland sinks. Over 1,000 passengers are killed.

1915

Lusitania sinks. Nearly 1,200 passengers are killed.

1915

Opal is 17 and elected State Superintendent of the Junior Christian Endeavor. Opal’s great-grandmother, Mary Ann Scott dies.

1917

In May, Milton Scott and Lizzie Whiteley both die. Opal changes her middle name to Stanley. Opal founds the Phusis Philoe club for young women. U.S. enters World War I.

1918

In February, Opal is 20 and moves to Los Angeles, California. She self-publishes The Fairyland Around Us. World War I ends.

1919

The Young Visitors is published to critical acclaim.  Daisy Ashford wrote the story as a 9-year old girl and published it as an adult complete with juvenile spelling and punctuation.

1919

Opal is living at 712 San Ferando Blvd in Los Angeles, California. Opal is 21 and hospitalized at St. Vincent Hospital in Los Angeles. In July, she heads to Boston, Massachusetts and reassembles her journal in neighboring Brookline.

1920

Anna Anderson tries to commit suicide in Berlin. She claims to be the Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, believed killed with the rest of her royal family in 1918. In 2007 DNA testing proves she was a Polish factory worker with a history of mental illness.

1920

Opal is 22 and her journal is serialized in the Atlantic Monthly. By September, The Story of Opal: Journal of an Understanding Heart is published.

1923

Opal is 25 and self publishes The Flowers of Stars. On July 7th, she leaves the U.S. for England.

1924

In September, Opal travels to Udaipur, India.

1926

Opal is 28 and travels to Rome, Italy and Vienna, Austria.

1928

Opal is 30 and returns to England.

1929

Opal resides at 42 Emperor’s Gate, in Kensington, England. Opal is 31 and The Story of Unknown India is published in the London magazine, The Queen.

1932

Opal is living in Hampstead, outside of London, England. Achsah Scott passes away.

1935

Opal is 37, and becomes a ward of London, England.

1940

On October 9th , Opal is 41, and The Queen publishes The Greatest Hoax in History. In September, London begins to be heavily bombed by the Germans. Opal spends her days dangerously rummaging through gutted buildings, looking for literature.

1941

Opal is 42 and writes to the chairman of Putnam’s asking to borrow money.

1944

Opal’s grandfather, Leonidas Constantine Scott dies.

1948

On October 14th, Ed Whiteley passes away. Opal is 49 and found starving in a flat on South Hill Road on Haverstock Hill, in Hampstead. She is found to be unable to care for herself and involuntarily placed in Napsbury Hospital in St. Albans.

1949

Ellery Sedgwick tries to raise money to help Opal.

1977

The Court of Protection sells Opal’s belongings that were kept in storage for 29 years.

1992

On February 17th, Opal dies at Napsbury Hospital at the age of 95. Her death certificate lists her name as “Françoise Marie de Bourbon D’Orléans, a.k.a Opal Whitely.” She is buried at Highgate Cemetery in London, England.