DOWD, Miss Mary Alice, poet and educator, born in Frankford, Greenbrier county. W. Va , 16th December, 1855. Her parents were school-teachers of Puritan descent, their ancestors having landed in New England about the year 1630. In both families were found officers and privates of the Revolutionary army. On her father's side she is related to the well-known family of Field and the old English family of Dudley. She was the youngest of four children Her early home was among the Berkshire Hills, whence her parents removed to Westfield, Mass., a town noted for its schools. Alice was a delicate child, and her parents scarcely dared to hope that ?he would be spared to
MARY ALICE DOWD.
years of maturity. Shy and reserved, she early showed a great love of nature and a deep appreciation of all natural beauty. She was educated at home and in the public schools of Westfield. She was graduated from the English and classical departments of the high school, taking the two courses simultaneously. In the normal school she studied optionals with the prescribed branches and composed a class hymn sung at her graduation Since that time she has been constantly employed as a teacher. During the past eleven years she has held her present position of first assistant in the high school of Stamford, Conn. Of scholarly attainments, she has helped many young men to prepare for college. She has taken several courses in the Sauveur Summer School of Languages and has especially fitted herself to give instruction in German. In the greatest sorrow of her life came to her in the sudden death of her mother. She has published one volume of verse, "Vacation Verses" (Buffalo, 1891).