Charlotte Wellman

Frederick Creighton Wellman (1873-1960) was an American physician specializing in tropical medicine, who also pursued careers as a scientist, author, playwright, artist, and engineer. His life was marked by extensive travel, including significant periods in Portuguese West Africa and Brazil, and a colorful personal history that earned him the nickname "the Casanova of Tropical Medicine." Wellman utilized pseudonyms, notably Cyril Kay-Scott and Richard Irving Carson, for his literary works. He received education in medicine and public health from institutions in the United States and London. His career included teaching tropical medicine at Tulane University and establishing an art school in Santa Fe. Wellman's literary output included novels and an autobiography, and he was the father of several notable authors, including Paul and Manly Wade Wellman.

Born in Missouri in 1873, Frederick Creighton Wellman pursued a diverse educational path, studying medicine at the University of Kansas and later tropical medicine and hygiene in London, earning a diploma in 1904. He also engaged in studies of natural science, social science, and theology. His medical career took him to Portuguese West Africa in 1896 as a medical missionary, where he spent nine years. During this time, he reportedly "went native," a departure from the norms of the missionaries he worked with. He later conducted scientific exploration related to the Benguela railway and researched tropical medicine, publishing numerous papers and corresponding with the American Society of Tropical Medicine. His expertise in entomology also gained him recognition.

Wellman held a professorship in tropical medicine in California from 1909 to 1911. Following his divorce from his first wife, Lydia, with whom he had four children, he married Edna Willis. In 1911, he was appointed chair of tropical medicine and hygiene at Tulane University, playing a role in the establishment of a new school of public health. However, his tenure was cut short when he eloped in 1913 with Elsie Dunn, the daughter of a friend, adopting the aliases Cyril Kay-Scott and Evelyn Scott. This event led to their fleeing to London and subsequently to Brazil, where they lived in poverty for six years. During their time in Brazil, Wellman worked in various positions, including as a bookkeeper and later an auditor, and their son Creighton Scott was born.

In Brazil, Wellman completed his novel "Blind Mice." Upon returning to New York, he and Elsie lived as artists in Greenwich Village. Despite critical acclaim for his novels, they were not commercially successful, leading Wellman into debt. He later took up watercolor painting, encouraged by artist Owen Merton, while simultaneously having an affair with Elsie. After a period of estrangement and further studies in Paris, where he also had a romantic involvement, Wellman returned to the United States. He legally dissolved his common-law marriage with Elsie and established an art school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, eventually becoming the director of the Denver Art Museum and Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Denver. He married author Phyllis Crawford, but they later divorced. Wellman's later years included work with the Works Progress Administration and the publication of his autobiography, "Life is Too Short," before his death in 1960.