Representative women of New England/Mary J. Parkhurst

by Mary H. Graves

MARY JANE PARKHURST, a past president of Colonel Allen Woman's Relief Corps, of Gloucester, Mass., and prominent member of several fraternal organizations in that city, is a native of Cape Ann, and comes of old Essex County colonial stock. The daughter of Nathaniel and Martha (Brooks) Lowe, she was born in Rockport, August 22, 1843. The death of Mrs. Martha B. Lowe when Mary was only two weeks old led to the child's adoption, without change of name, by John Woodward and Sarah (Stanwood) Lowe, of Gloucester. Tenderly and carefully nurtured by her foster-parents, whose memory she cherishes with filial affection and gratitude, Mary J. Lowe grew to maturity amid pleasant surroundings MARY J. PARKHURST and under home influences favorable to the development of sterling qualities of womanhood. She was educated at a private school in Gloucester and at Abbot Academy, Andover, Mass., where she was a student, boarding at Smith Hall, for three years, 1856-58. In her first year the principal of the academy was Maria Brown; in her second and third, Emma li. Taylor, sister to Samuel Taylor, LL.D., of Phillips Ajidover Academy. One of her classmates and chums was "Georgie Stowe (youngest daughter of the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," then residing in Andover), a slender, fair-haired, attractive girl, "looking, it was said, "so much like Eva!" in her mother's famous story, but whose (assumedly) naive drolleries rather suggested the character of Topsy. Another fellow-pupil at the academy for a short time was Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, of whom it is remembered that her very early school-girl compositions, while always prepared with neatness and care, gave no evidence of unusual literary ability.

On account of the serious illness of her mother, Mrs. Sarah Stanwood Lowe, Mary left the acad- emy in 1858, without completing the full course of study, as she otherwise would have done. Mrs. Lowe died September 4, 1862. She was a daughter of Captain Theodore Stanwood, of Gloucester, and sister to Amelia Stanwood, the wife of the Rev. Andrew Bigelow, D.D.

John Woodward Lowe, a native of Ipswich, Mass., was for many years a merchant in Gloucester and a highly esteemed citizen. He died in 1867.

On the 22d of March, 1864, Mary J. Lowe was married to Charles Edward Parkhurst, son of Charles and Elizabeth (Andrews) Parkhurst. Mr. Parkhurst is a prosperous business man of Gloucester, being a proprietor of marine rail- ways. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. Parkhurst have one daughter, Mamie Bessie. She was educated in the public schools of Gloucester, and in recent years has travelled extensively with her mother. Mamie B. Parkhurst is a member of Lucy Knox Chapter, Daughters of the Revolution.

Mrs. Parkhurst has been a member of Colonel Allen Relief Corps, No. 77, auxiliary to the Colonel Allen Post, No. 45, G. A. R., of Glouces- ter, since December, 1886, when the corps was organized.

She has held various positions of responsi- bility in the corps, and in 1894 was elected president, performing the various duties of that office with efficiency. The office of de- partment aide has several times been conferred upon her by department presidents; and she has also been an assistant inspector, serving in that official capacity in Ipswich, Salem, and Danvers. In 1899 she was department press correspondent for the National Tribune. She has written many articles for the papers. Mrs. Parkhurst has attended nearly all the State conventions of the Woman's Relief Corps during the past fifteen years, and has serv^ed in official positions and on committees during the ses- sions. She has several times been elected a delegate by the Department of Massachusetts, W. R. C, to national conventions of the order; and she was a participant in the national con- vention held at Indianapolis, Ind., in 1893, at the one held the following year in Pittsburg, Pa., also at Louisville, Ky., in 1895, at St. Paul, Minn., in 1896, and at Chicago, 111., in 1900. In February, 1903, she was elected a delegate to the national convention in August, 1903, in California. On account of illness she was unable to attend that convention. Referring to her patriotic work, she says, "My interest in the soldiers' cause is unabated."

Mrs. Parkhurst is a charter member of the Whitney Club, a social organization composed of members of the Grand Army of the Republic, Woman's Relief Corps, and other friends, who journeyed together to the National Encampment, G. A. R., at Indianapolis in 1893, and thence to the World's Fair in Chicago. Semi-annual reunions of this club have since been regularly held.

Mrs. Parkhurst is actively interested in fraternal and charitable objects of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a Past Noble Grand of Sea-shore Lodge, Daughters of Rebekah. No. 14, of Gloucester.

The United Order of Independent Odd Ladies is an organization that has received her hearty support. She has been elected to all the principal offices of the Golden Rod Lodge, No. 35, of Gloucester, and as a Past Senior representative is entitled to membership in the State body. This order is entirely independent, and not connected with the I. O. of O. F., although its objects are similar. It is one of the oldest women's societies in New England, having been instituted at East Boston, July 14, 1845. Mrs. Parkhurst also has membership in the Order of Pocahontas and in the Ladies of the G. A. R. in Salem, Mass. She is also a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and is in full accord and sympathy with the work of this organization.

She has a numerous circle of friends, and entertains many guests at her home, a spacious dwelling on Middle Street, in a most hospitable manner.

She is a member of the Congregational church in Gloucester and of the Abbot Academv Club, which holds its meetings in Boston. Kind-hearted, liberal, and public-spirited, Mrs. Parkhurst is a worthy representative of loyal New England womanhood.