Representative women of New England/Alice W. Emerson

by Mary H. Graves

ALICE W. EMERSON

ALICE WAKEFIELD EMERSON, teacher, was born in Oakham, Mass., May 19, 1840, daughter of Horace Poole and Abigail (Pratt) Wakefield. She comes of good New England ancestry. Her paternal grandfather. Deacon Caleb Wakefield, son of Timothy and Susanna (Bancroft) Wakefield, was born April 18, 1785, at Reading, Mass., and died in that town, March 4, 1876. He married, first, Matilda, daughter of Jonathan and Ann (Bancroft) Poole, who was born in Reading, Mas.s., June 2, 1786, and died December 21, 1822. Her mother, Mrs. Ann Ban- croft Poole, was sister to the Rev. Dr. Aaron Bancroft, father of George Bancroft the his- torian. Deacon Caleb AVakefieUl married, sec- ondly, November 8, 1S23, Nancy Temple, who was born in Reading, October 21, 1794, and died there November 18, 1873. Caleb Wake- field was Captain of the military comi)any; Selectman, 1830-40; Representative, 1833-36; Justice of the Peace, 1845-51 and in 1865: and was chosen Deacon of the Okl South Church, Reading, August 23, 1821. A man of independent thought, persistent in his positions when once taken, he was pn^gressive, ready to receive information, and endowed with strong moral force. His firmness of attitude on most questions was due to the care with which he had formed his opinions; once convinced of their error, no man knew better how to give up or when to drop the old and take on the new. It is said that probably for fifty years no one man did more than he to shape the in- terests of the connnunity and aid and lead in the financial, educational, moral, and religious growth of the town. A good neighbor, wise in counsel, he was often called to be the adviser of orphans, young men, and widows; and as the executor of sacred trusts he often stood between the living and the dead, well earning the affectionate remembrance in which his name is held.

Horace Poole Wakefield, M.D., son of Deacon Caleb Wakefield by his first wife and father of the subject of this sketch, was ])orn in Reading, January 4, 1809. He was graduated at Am- herst College in 1832. Receiving his medical degree at Dartmouth in 1836, he first prac- tised medicine at Oakham, Mass., where he was Selectman and Town Clerk, and was twice elected to the Legislature as Representative. In 1844 he returned to Reading. He was chosen State Senator in 1862; held the offices of Cor- oner, Justice of the Peace, Inspector of Alms- houses at Tewksbury, where also he was phy- sician; was Superintendent of the State Primary School at Monson, Mass., for several years; and chairman of the Reading War Committee in the Civil War. In 1833 he was a member of the convention in Philadelphia at which the American Anti-slavery Society was formed, and he placed his name on the "Declaration of Sentiments" next to John G. Whittier. He was a tlefender of woman's rights and woman suffrage at the outset of that movement. He was a councillor of the Massachusetts Medical Society, president of the Middlesex East Dis- trict Medical Society, and ex ofjirio vice-presi- dent of the Massachusetts Medical Society, be- fore which he delivered the annual address in 1867, an honor given but once in the life of an individual.

Dr. Wakefield was also president of the East Hamptlen Agricultural Society, and a member of the State Board of Agriculture from 1873 to 1882; president of the Palmer Savings Bank and director of the Palmer First National Bank. It was said of him that he had the ability to s?rve the public, was active, energetic, positive, progressive, with great mental and physical strength, rare wisdom and foresight in planning, and persistency in carrying out whatever he undertook. The bluff manner and blunt speech which he sometimes assumed covered but never concealed his genuine kindliness of heart. In A])ril, 1879, he bought the notetl "Stonewall Farm" in Leicester, Mass., and remained there till, his death, which occurred August 23, 1883. Dr. Wakefield married, first, March 1, 1838, Abigail Pratt, of Reading, daughter of Thaddeus B. and Susan (Parker) Pratt, and, secondly, Mary B. Christy, of Johnson, 't.

Alice Wakefield (Mrs. Emerson) was educated at the Reading High School, Mount Holyoke Seminary, and Abbot Academy, Andover, Mass., from which last named institution she was graduated in 1862. On September 30, 1863, she was married to the Rev. Rufus Emerson, a Congregational clergyman of Haverhill, Mass. Their first home was in Grafton, ^'t., where their only child, Mary Alice, was born.

Mr. Emerson was educated at Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass., and at Amherst College and Andover Theological Seminary. After leaving Vermont his pastorates were in Massachusetts, sometimes in the city and sometimes in the country. He was a practical idealist, and,

"As a bird each fond endearment tries
To tempt its new-tiedged offspring to the skies,
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
Allured to brighter worlds and led the way."

In perfect sympathy with her husband, Mrs. Emerson was of invaluable help to him in all his intellectual and spiritual work. After his death, in 1885, she taught school for several years in Reading, Monson, Somerville, and in the day and evening schools of Boston. In 1897 she was graduated from the Emerson College of Oratory, Boston, and in 1900 she accepted her present position as preceptress of Emerson College.

Mrs. Emerson's character is marked by high ideals and quiet but persistent aspiration. From her father and grandfather she inherits that faculty of judgment which enables her quickly to read individual character, a calm manner and firm will, with executive ability, through which she has handled many a difficult situation without friction or injustice, as plainly shown in her discipline in the grammar schools in which she taught. In her present position she has made herself both respected and loved, and is consistently known for the tonic quality of her sympathy, which holds the young people always to their best. Two other characteristics have helped to make her the confidante of young and old—the ability to keep a secret and her care not to give unsought advice. While she never fails to speak to the point when she does speak, it is often laughingly said of her that "she knows how to keep silent in seven languages." Like many other reserved people, she writes more easily than she talks. When time hermits, she lectures on subjects connected with elocution and physical culture, and writes short stories.

Mrs. Emerson's modest reserve, coupled with a natural dignity, might give a stranger the impression that she is possessed of a cold and indifferent nature, but this impression is dissipated by a glance at the merry eye and kindly mouth, even before one comes to note her many kindnesses.

Physically sturdy and active, intellectually keen and progressive, and spiritually wholesome and sweet, she is a type of the best product of New England womanhood, fostered by plain living and high thinking.

Mrs. Emerson is a member of the Congregational church, attending Berkeley Temple, Boston. Mrs. Emerson's daughter, Mary Alice, born in Grafton, Vt., August 3, 1865, is now a teacher in the State Normal School at Bridgewater, Mass.

SARAH BROWN CAPRON was born in Lanesboro, Mass., April 24, 1828. Her name until her marriage was Sarah Brown Hooker. Her paternal grandfather was Thomas Hooker, of Rutland, Vt., who was a lineal descendant of Thomas Hooker of Connecticut. Her grandmother, Mrs. Sarah Brown Hooker, was a daughter of Lieutenant Colonel John Brown, of Pittsfield, Mass., who retired from the army because he distrusted Benedict Arnold, but who afterward died in service at Stone Arabia, in New York, in 1780. Her father was the Rev. Henry Brown Hooker, D.D., a minister of the Congregational church in Lanesboro, afterward in Falmouth, Mass., greatly honored and beloved. He was a member of the State Board of Education, receiving his appointment from Governor George N. Briggs. His last work was as the secretary of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, where he was engaged up to the close of a useful life. Her mother, whose maiden name was Martha Vinal Chickering, resided in Boston before marriage.

Miss Hooker's education was received in Wheaton Seminary, Norton, Mass., and in the State Normal School at West Newton. In her vacations she taught two sununer terms and two winter terms in the district schools of Falmouth, on Cape Cod. The State Normal School was then in charge of Eben S. Stearns, the well-known and loved Electa N. Lincoln, now Mrs. George A. Walton, being the able assistant. Nathaniel T. Allen, afterward long identified with the Classical School of West Newton, was the principal of the Model School, and the pupils of those days well remember his generous estimate of their abilities as they passed under his three weeks' training. Lucretia Crocker was then a student at the Normal