Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/510

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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
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Mrs. Knapp is a prominent December of J. Howard Payne Council of the Home Circle of North Cambridge, and served one term as its leader. She is also a member of the In- dependent Social Club, of the Patriotic Order of America, and the Somerville Lodge, Independent Order of Oikl Ladies, in which she has filled most of the chairs, including that of presiding officer. Mrs. Knapp has two brothers and three sisters, viz.: Joseph M. Adams of Worcester, Adelbert A. Adams of Cambridge, Mrs. Abbie A. Tower of California, Mrs. Clara L. Wiswell of Somerville, and Mrs. Laura E. Mirick of Winthrop.

Her sister, Mrs. Abbie Adams Tower, is a teacher of elocution and physical training, also a lecturer and reader. She is a graduate of the Emerson School of Oratory, of the Teachers' Science Course of Lowell Institute, and is interested in art, science, and philosophy. Among her professional duties is that of teacher of parliamentary law. Mrs. Tower is president of the Ruskin Club of Boston.

Mr. Knapp was born in 1846 in Newburyport, Mass., and is a son of the late Captain Samuel Knapp, of that city. When seventeen years of age he enlisted in the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded by Colonel George H. Pierson, and was mustered into the service as a member of Company B, July 28, 1864, at which time the regiment left Camp Meigs, Readville, for the South. Mr. Knapp is a comrade of Willard C. Kinsley Post, No. 139, G. A. R., of Somerville, is a past leader of J. Howard Payne Council of the Home Circle of North Cambridge and chairman of its Board of Trustees, a member of Franklin Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of Somerville, and of the West Somwville Social Club. He is also a member of the Winthrop Yacht Club.

Mr. and Mrs. Knapp have many friends in various sections of the State. Their only child, Roselth Adams, was born in Somerville, September 1, 1879. She was married September 17, 1902, to Granville Domett Breed, of Cambridge, Mass., a direct descendant of the family once the owners of Breed's Hill, Charlestown. Mrs. Breed is a professional elocutionist. She is a member of the Ruskin Club, an officer in the J. Howard Payne Council of the Home Circle, and a member of the Willard C. Kinsley Relief Corps.


ANNA DOW HINDS CHAPMAN, vice-president since November, 1890, of the Portland McAll Auxiliary, has a national reputation as a worker for the McAll Mission. A resilient of Portland, her native city, she is active in church and philanthropic work, and is also a recognized social leatler.

Her parents, Benjamin Franklin and Adrianna Veazie (Chase) Hinds, were both born in Maine in the thirties of the nineteenth century, her father being the son of Elisha and Ann P. (Dow) Hinds. Benjamin F. Hinds was for over thirty years assistant cashier at the Port- land Custom House. He died in 1897. Mrs. Hinds, Mrs. Chapman's mother, was a woman of great religious faith. This she inherited from her mother, Mrs. Sarah Frances Chase, who was known for her love of the church and her great benevolence.

Anna Dow Hinds was educated in the public schools of Portland and at Bratlford Academy, Bradford, Mass., where she was graduated in 1872. She sub.seciuently taught in one of the grammar schools of Portland. In the fall of 1875 she resigned her position as teacher, and married the Hon. Charles J. Chapman, one of the leading citizens of Portland. Mr. Chapman was graduated from Bowdoin College with high honors in 1868. For many years he was a member of the Portland School Board, a part of the time as superintendent of schools. He was prominent in Republican politics, and was Mayor of Portland in 1886, 1887, and 1888. The latter year he was elected by a largely increased majority, and his administration received the support of both parties. He was a successful merchant and banker. For several years he was president of the Chapman Bank, and he held this position at the time of his death, which occurred suddenly in the fall of 1898. Clear-headed, upright, and progressive, as a business man for more than a quarter of a century, engaged in large mercantile and