and Mr. Whittier was a sincere mourner be-
cause of the tragic death of Lieutenant Colonel
Merritt.
In recent years Mrs. Gosse has been promi- nent in the list of woman lecturers, her ser- vices being especially sought by clubs and classes in current events. A lecture on "The World and the Newspaper" and various ethi- cal and educational subjects have been among her successes.
Mrs. Gosse is a sincere home lover, and en- joys most of all her cosey home in Roxbury, where she is surrounded by colonial furniture, a profusion df plants and flowers, and several interesting hbusehold pets.
MARY LYNCH OILMAN, a Past Department President of the Woman's Relief Corps of Massachusetts and chairman of the Executive Committee of Arrangements for the National Convention in Boston, 1904, was bom in Bos- ton at the North End, which was at that time a pleasant residential section of the city. Her father, William Lynch, was a man of liberal ideas, active in public affairs and successful in accumulating property.
The girlhood days of Mary Ljoich (Mrs. Oilman) were passed in the vicinity of Copp's Hill and under the shadow of Christ Church. She was graduated ' from the old Hancock School, and is a member of the Hancock School Alumni Association. Her education was com- pleted at a private institution of learning. In 1870 she married John E. Oilman, who was bom December 22, 1844, in South Boston, and has always been a resident of Boston. Mr. Oilman was educated in the primary school on East Street Place and the Quincy and Eliot Grammar Schools. In August,' 1862, he en- listed in Company E, Twelfth Regiment, Massa- chusetts Volunteers, under Colonel Fletcher Webster, and went South to fight for the Union. He was engaged in a number of battles, the last being that of Gettysburg, in July, 1863, where he was severely wounded, a shell striking his right arm and breaking it at the elbow. He was discharged for disability on the 28th of the following October.
Mr. Oilman held different positions in the State House from 1864 imtil 1883. Since that time he has been in the service of the city of Boston, first as settlement clerk in the institutions department and since Apfil 1, 1901, as conmiissioner in charge of the soldiers' relief department. He has been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic since 1868, and is a Past Commander of Thomas 0. Ste- venson Post, No. 26, of Roxbury. He served as Inspector of the Department of Massachu- setts, 0. A. R., in 1895, Junior Vice-Commander in 1896, Senior Vice-Commander in 1897, dele- gate at large to the National Encampment in 1898, and Department Commander in 1899, his administration being one of the most successful in the history of the organization.
Mr. Oilman was a member of the Executive Committee of Arrangements and of other conunittees for the National Encampment of 1904. He takes great interest in all the efforts of his wife in the work of women's organiza- tions, and they have travelled extensively together in all parts of the State and to na- tional gatherings in representing the work of the Grand Army and Woman's Relief Corps. As an eloquent speaker his services are in great demand, and he has often addressed pub- lic and social gatherings of the Woman's Relief Corps, to which organization he is sincerely de- voted.
At the thirty-eighth National Encampment of the 0. A. R., held in Boston, August 15-20, 1904, he was appointed Adjutant-general by the newly elected Commander-in-chief, General Wilmon W. Blackmar.
Mrs. Oilman united with Thomas O. Stevenson Corps, No. 63, of Roxbury, in 1886. As Special Aide to Mrs. Eva T. Cook, of Gloucester, Department President, she performed important duties at the National Convention in Louisville, Ky., having charge of the Massachusetts headquarters at the Gait House.
She held successively the offices of Department Inspector, chairman of the Executive Board, Department Junior Vice-President, and Senior Vice-President, and in 1900 was unanimously elected Department President. In that capacity she had charge of the Massachusetts delegation on the trip to the National Con-
