Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/583

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
544
Part Taken by Women in American History


of curios gathered during their tours in foreign lands. Much of this was lost at the time of the great earthquake a few years ago.

The entire estate of Mr. Stanford and that of his wife at her death were left to endow this great university. Mrs. Stanford was a generous friend to the many charitable institutions of San Francisco. Though a woman of such strong personality, she had one of the tenderest hearts and the deepest sympathy for those in trouble. To such women the Pacific coast owes much of its development and growth. Mrs. Stanford's death occurred in 1905.

MRS. M. A. HUNTER.

Mrs. M. A. Hunter, widow of Commodore Hunter of the navy, founded the first home for orphans in the state of Louisiana, and perhaps in the South. In 1817 a vessel loaded with emigrants arrived at New Orleans, who were fatherless and motherless owing to the loss of their parents by cholera during the voyage. Mrs. Hunter was then a prominent social leader, but a most charitable, sympathetic woman. She gathered these poor little orphans into her own home until a place could be found for them. A wealthy merchant and planter offered a temporary home and took upon himself the work of erecting a suitable building as an asylum for orphan children, but it was through the interest aroused by Mrs. Hunter and her efforts in this work that the institution exists to-day.

D. A. MILIKEN.

Mrs. D. A. Miliken, of New Orleans, founded a memorial hospital for white children at the cost of $150,000, in memory of her husband, and left it handsomely endowed.

WILLIE FRANKLIN PRUIT.

Born in Tennessee in 1865. Her parents' name was Franklin, and they moved to Texas at the close of the Civil War. She is prominent in the city of Fort Worth, Texas. Most of her poems have been published under the pen name of "Aylmer Ney." In 1887 she married Drew Pruit, a lawyer of Fort Worth; has been engaged in many public and charitable enterprises for civic betterment. Vice-president of the Woman's Humane Association of Fort Worth and through her efforts a number of handsome drinking fountains were placed about the city for the benefit of man and beast.

MARY ELIZABETH BLANCHARD LYNDE.

Was born December 4, 1819, in Truxton, New York. Her father was Azariel Blanchard, and her mother, Elizabeth Babcock. She was the widow of the eminent lawyer, Hon. William P. Lynde. Governor Lucius Fairchild appointed her a member of the Wisconsin Board of Charities and Reforms when he was governor of that state. She was active in the work for the advancement of women and a member of this association and greatly interested in the Girls' Industrial School of Milwaukee.