The Miss Etta Cones, the Steins, and M'sieu Matisse: A Memoir

CONE SISTERS OF BALTIMORE WERE MY AUNTS. They, like my father, were members of what an irreverent young cousin calls The Thirteen Original Cones the American-born children of my German-Jewish grandparents Herman and Helen Cone (in Germany, Kahn). Actually, the Originals considered themselves only twelve since one had died in infancy. That left nine boys and three girls, whose birthdates, from Moses, the first-born, to Frederick, the "baby," spanned twenty-one years, 1857 to 1878. The natural hierarchy thus created was honored by the younger group, who never spoke to or about one of their seniors without prefixing "Brother" or "Sister" to the given name. Thus, to Aunt Etta and my father, Aunt Claribel was always "Sister Claribel," but she could address them simply as Etta and Julius. Baltimore knew the sisters as Dr. Cone for Aunt Claribel