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Chapter Eight – Alexander D. Henderson III
remembered playing with the gardener's children. His grandmother was sick, and lived in the upstairs room with a ventilator to help her breathe. She would sometimes bring her grandchildren to her home in Suffern for visits. Alex was impressed by the farmland and Ice pond. Tallman, New York (1929-1934)
In 1929, at age 5, Alex and his family moved into a large two-story country home in Tallman, New York, because it was out in the country, with more room than the Suffern cottage. The house included a servant quarters where a husband, wife, and daughter lived and worked for the household. They lived in Tallman for four years. Alex’s father kept his polo pony "Ginger" in the barn. He had served in the Calvary during World War I, so had a passion for riding. The Polo Club, where Alex’s father played polo, was only a half-mile away from the house. Alex remembers seeing the light brown polo pony. The five-acre property had an apple orchard and birch trees. Grandmother Anthony (Laura Josephine Frontgous), Nonny’s mother, had a lovely cottage on the property behind the orchard. Alex remembers his grandmother living in the cottage. The family had a red Irish setter named "Ciders," chickens, and some rabbits, and Alex received a baby white goat for one of his birthdays. His father would go out to the back pasture and hit golf balls. He was an enthusiastic golfer. If he wasn’t working, he was playing golf. When the Hendersons moved to New York City, grandmother Anthony stayed with her other daughter, (Nonny’s sister) Eleanor Gardner, in Marblehead, Letter from Mary-Ella Henderson Griswold