Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee and Alice Keezar

The relationship between Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee and Alice Keezar is defined by a rupture that Peaslee attributed not to his ordinary life or ancestry but to an outside force that displaced his mind. Their marriage began before that interruption and ended legally during it; even Peaslee’s return to himself did not restore their family life.

Marriage and Family

Peaslee married Alice Keezar, who was from Haverhill, in 1896, after he had returned to Miskatonic University as an instructor. Their children were Robert K., born in 1898; Wingate, born in 1900; and Hannah, born in 1903. Peaslee describes his life before the amnesia as smooth and happy, establishing the marriage and family as part of the normal life that the sudden change would divide.

The Change and Alice’s Response

On May 14, 1908, Peaslee collapsed while teaching and remained unconscious to his former faculties for five years, four months, and thirteen days. The person who awoke the following day had a different mind, voice, and facial expression. Alice responded with extreme horror and loathing: she believed that an alien had usurped her husband’s body. Her rejection was not limited to the period of his altered state; after Peaslee recovered his normal identity in 1913, she still would not see him.

Divorce and Lasting Separation

In 1910, while Peaslee’s original self remained displaced, Alice obtained a legal divorce. Her estrangement continued after his return, leaving the recovery of his own identity distinct from any repair of the marriage. Peaslee also states that his elder son and young daughter shared Alice’s fear and that he never saw either of them again. In contrast, his second son, Wingate, maintained faith that his father’s proper self would return and sought him out after it did. The relationship’s ending is therefore not reconciliation but a family divided by the continuing consequences of an inward change.