Here's something that makes me go hmmmm ....

OK, say Carlisle has been at one hospital for 20 years in which he hasn't aged a bit. So it's time to move on to another hospital. Does he have to go back through Med school to get his MD with a new "age" on it? I mean, he can't currently use a license to practice medicine with a 1943 year on it and look like he hasn't hit 30 yet!

I think he just forges a new medical school diploma and license to practice with updated years on them. And SM said that Edward has gone to Harvard Med twice and Rosalie to Columbia Med once to update Carlisle on the latest teachings and practices.

I hadn't thought about forging the medical certificates/licenses. I did recall that Edward & Rosalie went to med. school to help Carlisle out w/advances in technology. Thanks for the reply!

No problem, Lacrosse Mom! SM said that there is a large room on the third floor of the Cullens' house where they do all of their forging - I've always found that so funny. They have a room specifically devoted to forgery, lol!

You took the thoughts right out of my head How great would it be to be able to move that fast when doing the housework? It would be fantastic!

Remember in NM when Alice says she doesn't have time to forge a passport? They have a whole system set up to sustain their existence.

As for Edward just pointing the room out as Alice's, my first impression was that it was a "Alice is your friend, and here's her room" kind of comment. Jasper has been hanging back out of the way, while Alice and Bella have started to interact.

Here's my hmmmm: When young Jacob tells the story of the cold ones, he says that they are the same ones (the Cullens) and that they were here before "your people". Since Rosalie and Emmit were with them, this couldn't have been before 1930s. So was Forks established after that, or does he mean Bella's immediate people, like Charlie/Renee?

Lacrosse Mom wrote:


This might clear things up; it's from the Lexicon:

I've wondered about that very thing, Lauralee. We need to check the Forks website to see when it was established.

Have you also wondered how many sojourns Carlisle has spent in the area, before he had family? There really wouldn't have been anything to stop him traveling there prior to the opening of the West or the advent of the railroads, etc. He might not have landed in Forks (or what later became Forks) but I do wonder how much time he has actually spent in the Pacific Northwest.

How and when did Carlisle first discover the area? What if he first entered what became Washington from the north instead of from the east, as I've always assumed?

I always assumed he came to the New World to practice medicine (as opposed to hiding out in the wilderness, say) so he must have lived in populated Eastern areas; but once he had family it became harder to hide what everyone was, so they moved around to all the rainy and/or less populated areas where they could still live and work but also remain in disguise, with the Northwest being a favored destination.

I suppose it's just as possible Carlisle originally came to America from a different direction, and worked his way east or south. Edward tells us that Carlisle came to the New World after a few decades with the Volturi, dreaming of finding others like himself. "He didn't find anyone for a long time. But, as monsters became the stuff of fairy tales, he found he could interact with unsuspecting humans as if he were one of them. He began practicing medicine."

That certainly makes it sound like his medical practice came some time after his arrival in the Americas, and that he may have lived separately from people at the beginning. Since he was searching for others like himself, why wouldn't he have traveled the wilderness which is where vegetarian vampires were more likely to go?

So, I had vaguely assumed he came to America in the usual way (by ship) but that might have proved difficult for a vampire to accomplish without discovery. Maybe he came over the top of the globe from Europe and then down into Alaska, or by traversing Russia...or maybe he swam from Ireland to Canada, which would be the shortest and probably easiest route for him.

Has Stephenie said anything about how Carlisle arrived in America?

Well, according to Wikipedia Forks was incorporated in August 28, 1945.

I'm going for the theory that Carlisle came from the east because he was working in Chicago when he found and eventually changed Edward.

Where was Esme from? I don't have my books-loaned them out! *aaaak* Wasn't it west of Chicago? I always had the impression it was west of Chicago and they were moving slowly west.

I'm not really questioning where Carlisle was during the late 1800s-early 1900s. I believe he did come to Chicago from the Eastern U.S. What I want to know is how he first came to the North American continent--by what route and method--and how he spent his initial years here, prior to setting up his medical practice and living among humans. There is only cryptic information in the books, but enough to see there's a lot more scope for the imagination than at first meets the eye.

So we know Forks was incorporated as a city in 1945, eh? (Assuming Wiki has it right). That's interesting, thanks for finding that. I wonder how long it was a town beforehand? I think one of my summer projects will be to search out a history of the whole area. That'll help alleviate (or else greatly add to!) my disappointment over not going to Forks this summer.

Holy smokes! And people have accused me of over analyzing!!!

I think we should have a TM field trip to Forks!

Shimmer, Here's what I found in TW page 341.

After spending a few decades with the Volturi, Carlisle tired of spending time trying to dissuade their diet choice. "At that point, Carlisle decided to try the New World. He dreamed of finding others like himself. He was very lonely, you see." This puts his move in the 1700's? Maybe early 1800's at the latest?

This might answer a few of your questions!

From the Lexicon Personal correspondence #4: http://www.twilightlexiconblog.com/?p=37

Q: Do they ever revisit an area they once lived in after enough time has past? Note – this was a silly question once I saw the answer. She pointed out when Jacob told Bella about the cold ones living in the area a long time ago. Duh. But Stephenie did make a few interesting additions.

A: So the answer is yes. In the late 1930s, Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Rosalie and Emmett lived a few hours south of Forks in Hoquiam. Before Edward joined him, Carlisle had already been through the area.

and from Personal correspondence #1: http://www.twilightlexiconblog.com/?p=34

A: To understand how Carlisle and Esme fell in love, you have to know Esme’s story.

So you’ve seen a little be of Esme’s life above–it wasn’t so great. Her marriage was all but arranged by her parents. She wasn’t in love with the man she married, though she was willing to give it a try. She wanted very much to fall in love with anyone, but she’d never met anyone that measured up to an encounter she had when she was sixteen. I’d better describe that a bit:

In 1911, Esme broke her leg falling out of a tree she’d climbed. Her family lived on a farm on the outskirts of Columbus. The local doctor was away, and it was after dark by the time they got her to the small hospital in Columbus. She was treated by a Dr. Cullen. It was his last month in town (he was already claiming to be 35). She never got over the experience.

Esme was the last of her friends to marry (they got married earlier back then). She was thinking of moving West to be a schoolteacher, but her father didn’t think it was respectable for a lady to live alone in the wilds. The son of a family friend, a man with good prospects, wanted to marry her, and her father pressured her to accept. She was indifferent towards Charles Evenson, but not opposed to him. She married him, and quickly found that this had been a bad decision. Charles’s public face was very different from his private face; he abused her. Her parents counseled her to be a good wife and keep quiet. When he was drafted, it was a huge relief to her. When he came back, it was terrifying.

The pregnancy was Esme’s catalyst to escape. She knew she wasn’t letting a child be brought into that home. She ran to a second cousin that lived in Milwaukee, and then moved further north when word of her whereabouts leaked to her parents. She blended in easily, pretending to be one of the many war widows. She taught school in a small community outside Ashland. When her baby died (lung infection) just a few days after he was born, she had nothing left. She had no idea that Carlisle was working in the little hospital in Ashland when she jumped off the cliff outside the town. Carlisle remembered her, of course, remembered her as the happy girl she had been at sixteen. He didn’t want her to die.

So you can imagine what she thought when she opened her eyes, in all that pain, and saw the face that she’d never forgotten in a decade.

Hopefully that gives you some insight into how quickly and easily Esme and Carlisle’s relationship formed. She was not really that upset to find out she was a vampire–she didn’t take it as in stride as Emmett, but she was just happy to be with the man/vampire of her dreams. She did always have that maternal ache, and, as the physically oldest of the Cullens, she fell into a mothering role.

Thanks for posting this. It was very enlightening. To think of Carlisle as her angel, like Bella and Edward.

My pleasure! I love reading any backstory info I can find on the Cullens. I love the image of Esme waking up and the first thing she sees is Carlisle's face. It reminds me of when Edward opens his eyes and sees Bella in Italy and thinks they're in the afterlife. I wonder if Esme thought the same thing at first.