How Chawton Came to Be Austen’s Home

Chawton House is technically not Jane Austen’s “ancestral home” (“Sandy Lerner, in Your Face,” by Renee Tawa, March 1). Austen and her siblings were born at Steventon Rectory, where her father was a poor but gentlemanly rector. Chawton House was part of the Knight family estate.

Thomas and Catherine Knight, distant cousins of Austen’s father, George, were childless, adopted Austen’s brother Edward and made him their heir. Edward acquired the cottage in Chawton village for his widowed mother, Cassandra, and his two spinster sisters, Cassandra and Jane. Both Cassandras are buried at the Chawton church on the Knight family property.

Jane is buried at Winchester Cathedral, where her burial plaque makes no mention of her as the author of those wonderful novels we love so much.

Sharon Locy, professor of English

Loyola Marymount University

Los Angeles

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Janeites in the U.K. and her Chawton neighbors may be opposed to Lerner’s endeavors, but the Jane Austen Society of North America has been very supportive. Last October, the group presented Lerner with an award at its annual meeting in San Francisco.

The library will be a great contribution to women’s studies; the institute would have been, too. Perhaps another site can be found.

Lynda A. Hall

Department of English and Comparative Literature

Chapman University

Orange*