Woman of the Century/Mary Virginia Spitler Hammond

MARY VIRGINIA SPITLER HAMMOND. HAMMOND, Mrs. Mary Virginia Spitler, World's Fair Manager, born in Rensselaer, Jasper county, Ind., 12th March, 1847, where she has always resided. She is a member of the Board of World's Fair Managers of Indiana, a member of the committee on machinery and manufactures, and secretary of the committee on woman's work. Her father, Col. George W. Spitler, was a pioneer settler and prominent citizen of Jasper county, and during his life held many positions of trust and honor. The rudiments of her education were obtained in the common schools in her native town. She attended the seminary in Crawfordsville, Ind., under the superintendency of Miss Catherine Merrill, and then spent a year near the early home of her father and mother, in Virginia. She next became a student in St. Mary's Academy, near South Bend, Ind., then under the charge of Mother Angela. She was graduated in that institution with the highest honors of her class. Her husband, Hon. Edwin P. Hammond, was in the Union service during the Civil War, before its close becoming Lieutenant Colonel and Commandant of the 87th Indiana Volunteers. He is an ex-judge of the supreme court of his State and is now serving his third term as judge of the thirtieth circuit. Their family consists of five children, four daughters and a son. She is a typical representative of the intelligent cultured Hoosier wife and matron. Her heart is always open for charitable work and deeds of benevolence. She takes great interest in the work of the World's Fair. Her acquaintance with general literature is broad.