Father Hearn

Young Charles Hearn about the time he met his first wife: Rosa Kassimatis

Charles Bush Hearn: 1818-1866.
Father of Lafcadio and James Daniel Hearn

Husband to Rosa Cassimatis, the brothers mother

The green shores of County Armagh, Northern Ireland, Hearn’s isle of birth

Major Hearn deploys to the Island of Lafkada, Greece with the 76th English Regiment of Foot 1848. by FotorAI
Marriage registry Lafcadio and Rosa Kassimatis
1849 Marriage registry of Rosa Kassimatis, Charles Hearn and their son, Lafcadio
Charles Bush Hearn and Rosa Cassimatis wed in the Adriatic island of Kythera, Greece 1849. by FotorAI
Major Hearn deployed to the West Indies in 1850. where he is injured.
Major Hearn's Regimental Badge of the 76th Regiment of Foot
Major Hearn's Regimental Badge of the 76th Regiment of Foot
Major Hearn presents divorce paper the the court
Major Hearn presents divorce paper in English court 1857

“Then I remember this: –  Then a lady came down [the stairs] to meet us, all white-robed, with very bright hair – quite slender. I thought her beautiful as an angel, perhaps partly because she kissed me and petted me, and gave me a beautiful book and a toy gun … She was the woman who after-ward became my father’s second wife and died in India.” >Lafcadio Hearn

1857 JUL 18 Marriage Solemnized Charles B Hearn and Alicia A Crowford
July 18, 1857, Marriage Solemnized Charles B Hearn and Alicia A Goslin

In 1857 Hearn and his second wife, Alicia Goslin, deploys with the English Army 1st Royal Regiment of Foot to Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, when he was 39 years old.

Major Hearn's Regimental Badge of the 76th Regiment of Foot
Surgeon Major Charles Bush Hearn attends to patient in India about 1860

Charles Bush Hearn’s adult children by his second wife, Alicia Goslin

portrait-Posey-Gertrude-Hearn-half-sister-fotor-20231230101923
Posey Gertrude Hearn Half Sister of Lafcadio and James Daniel Hearn
portrait-Minnie-Hearn-Atkinson-half-sister
Minnie Hearn Half Sister of Lafcadio and James Daniel Hearn
portrait-Lilla-Hearn-half-sister
Lilla Hearn Half Sister of Lafcadio and James Hearn

lands and lives

Trials and Tragedies

Both brothers, Lafcadio and James Daniel, were born in Greece. Their mother was Greek and their father Irish. Both brothers lived for a time in Ohio. Yet their adult worlds became as far apart literally as East is from West, or as Japan is from Michigan. 

Both brothers longed for an image of their estranged mother. But their father was rarely home. Surgeon-Major Charles Bush Hearn, of the 76th Regiment in the  British Army, traveled extensively. He was stricken with malaria in India. In transit from India to England, Hearn finally died 1866 on board the screw steamer SS Mula during his traverse through the Gulf of Suez.

Brothers Bain: painfully few paternal memories

Surgeon Major Charles Bush Hearn-fotor-20240102101713
Their Father: Surgeon-Major Charles Bush Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn 1873
"I can remember seeing father only four times – no, five. He never caressed me; I always felt afraid of him, He was rather taciturn, I think." > Lafcadio Hearn
James Daniel Hearn in 1874 AI Enhanced
"I never saw father but twice in my recollection. I was almost a waif and Lafcadio was the same." > James Daniel Hearn