Representative women of New England/Mary C. L. Carver
MARY CAFFREY LOW CARVER was born at Waterville, Kennebec County, Me., March 22, 1850, being the second daughter of Ira Hobbs Low and Ellen Mandana Caffrey Low. Her paternal grandparents were Ivory and Fanny (Colcord) Low, of Fairfield, Me., Ivory being the son of Obadiah Low, a native of Sanford, Me. Her mother was a grand-daughter of John Pullen, who came from Attleboro, Mass., and settled in Winthrop, Me., where he married Amy Bishop, daughter of Squier Bishop and his wife, Patience Titus Bishop. John Pullen and Squier Bishop, Jr., a brother. of Amy (Mrs. Pullen), enUsted in the Continental army and served in the Revolutionary War.
Mrs. Carver, after receiving her education in the public schools of Waterville, took a three years' course at Coburn (then Waterville) Classical Institute, under the well-known educator. Dr. James H. Hanson. She subsequently spent one year there as teacher of Greek and Latin, being special assistant to Dr. Hanson in his department, and then entered Colby University for a full collegiate course. She was graduated from that institution with the high- est honors in the class of 1875, being one of the first women in a New England college to take the full prescribed classical, mathematical, and scientific course. After graduation she taught in different high schools and academies of the State. The marriage of Mary Caffrey Low and Leonard Dwight Carver took place in 1877.
Two children have been born of their union, namely: Ruby Carver, now a student at Colby College; and Dwight Carver, who died in 1889. Since leaving college Mrs. Carver has been active in religious and intellectual work. She is a member of Colby Chapter, Phi Beta Kappa; of Koussinoc Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution; of the Unity Club of Augusta; and a life member of the American Unitarian Association. She has written much in the form of essays, lectures, and papers for special occasions, the most notable being her lectures on the "Beauty of the Psalms" and on the "Literature of the Old Testament," which she has read to appreciative audiences in several States. Mrs. Carver is now fully occupied in cataloguing and in special work in the Maine State Library.