University of Virginia Library

French Creole

In that location, surrounded
by tenements, such an
imposing structure was
definitely unusual. The interior
design was also unusual for a
family dwelling, containing
seven bedrooms, each with a
separate bath. Mr. Chamberlain
thought that such a house
could only have been intended
as a boardinghouse or in the
capacity in which Marguiretta
used it.

Of Marguiretta herself, even
less documented information is
available. One gentleman who
knew her, yet wished to remain
anonymous, supplied some of
her background.

Though popularly known
to Charlottesville and now
the world by the Anglicized
version of her name,
Marguerite, her correct full
name was Marguiretta
B-Crescioli.

She was born in 1897,
according to her obituary, in a
prairie schooner in the
Midwest. Her father, an
American Indian, died shortly
after her birth, so Marguiretta
was taken by her French
Creole mother to her original
home in Quebec.

Charlottesville residents
remember Marguiretta as a
"date, correct, proper type
of person." Quiet and reserved,
she walked with dignity, yet,
according to Mr. Chamberlain,
"she was not terribly affable or
congenial with people."