John Bidwell did not like dealing with domestic staff problems. Running the home smoothly — that was Annie’s job. But when Annie took one of her months-long trips to Washington, D.C., handling servant problems fell to him.

Bidwell Mansion could not run without servants, usually a cook and one or two maids and sometimes a houseboy. The turnover was frequent and the problems could be frustrating. Here is an excerpt from my new book, Tower in the Trees: the Story of Bidwell Mansion, by Dave Veith and Nancy Leek. The year is 1884 and the problem is a young woman named Nellie.

In October Bidwell wrote to Annie that “Nellie was out till 10 ½ o’clock without asking me” and Lizzie (the other maid) had her doubts about Nellie’s reliability. A month later Bidwell wrote saying, “Last night, as I was about to start for town to hear the political powwows [it was an election year], I went into the dining room to get a drink of water. There sat Nellie and a man, whom I suppose to be one of her paramours! I did not say a word. This morning I asked Lizzie who he was? She thought his name was Spencer, but knew nothing about him. I told her I could not stand that – they were sitting too close together. Lizzie said, that was nothing new – that Nellie had always done so, not to one, but to numbers when they come to see her.”

Nellie must have had quite the reputation in town.

Bidwell acknowledged that Nellie was efficient, punctual, neat, and careful with the dishes, but this was behavior he could not allow. He reported to Annie the next day. When Nellie “failed to show any desire to do differently,” he discharged her.

“She asked me if I expected to keep her shut up here like a nun? And not let her see anybody? . . . I told her that she must not bring her friends here – that her intimacy with them was not proper – and I could not put up with it.” And that was the end of that. In his diary Bidwell wrote: Settled with Nellie Harbin & she left.

You can look forward to more tales of domestic troubles when the new book comes out. Soon!