Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/318

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
239

ability. The work has been an inspiration to me and given me a better knowledge of what has been done through the State on Memorial Day."

In her last report as Dei)artmcnt Chaplain she stated that members assisted in decorating the graves of thirty-four thousand four hundred and fifty-one soldiers in Massachusetts, that flowers were furnished one hundred and twenty-two posts on Memorial Day, and that memorials and floral designs for the unknown dead who sleep in nameless graves were prepared by one hundred and thirty-nine corps. Memorial Day work in the South was aided by one hundred and fourteen corps in Massachusetts.

The number of children who assisted in memorial exercises under the direction of corps was reported as twenty-eight thousand five hundred and fifty-five. An elaborate account of this work throughout the State was prepared by Mrs. Davis, her report containing twenty-one printed pages.

Elected a member of the Department Executive Board in 1902, Mrs. Davis has continued her interest with the same loyal enthusiasm as in other years. She has served as Inspector and on numerous committees. As a delegate to several national conventions she has travelled in many States, and has been recognized by national appointments in the order. Mrs. Davis is a liberal contributor to the various objects of the W. R. C, and takes special interest in its charitable and philanthropic work. She has been a guest of corps in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and in other Southern States. The Andersonville Prison property under the management of the National W. R. C. has received her liberal support, and she has visited these historic grounds in Georgia.

Mrs. Davis is a woman of firm convictions, and is devoted to the principles of loyalty and justice. Her steadfast friendship and kindly deeds are appreciated by her associates. She attends the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lawrence. She is a member of the Charity Club of that city, also of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and of the auxiliary to the Young Men's Christian Association of Lawrence. Her husband was a member of the Masonic lodge in Palmer, and she is therefore interested in the Order of the Eastern Star. Revere Chapter, No. 4, of that city, elected her its first secretary.

For several years Mrs. Davis has been an active member of the Ladies' Aid Association of the Soldiers' Home in Massachusetts. As a visitor, director, and in other capacities she has given time, money, and effort for the welfare of the home. The officials and inmates recognize her faithful work in its behalf. Mrs. Davis, through her great-grandfather Pinkham, above mentioned, has membership in Bunker Hill Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.

Mrs. Davis has one sister living, namely: Sarah Abbie Graves, whose home is in Indiana; another sister, Octavia McFarland, who resided in San Francisco, died June 5, 1893. Her only brother, Sewell F. Graves, resides in Alameda, Cal. He is a sea captain, was in the United States navy during the Civil War, and is now a pilot in San Francisco Harbor.


ELLA LOIS TORREY PECKHAM BALDWIN (Mrs. Charles Clinton Baldwin) was born September 12, 1847, in North Killingly, Conn. Her parents were Fenner Harris Peckham, M.D., who served as a surgeon in the Civil ^^'ar, and his wife, Catherine Davis Torrey. On the paternal side the first American ancestor of Mrs. Baldwin was John Peckham, of Newport, R.I., whose name first appears on the records in 1638. The line is: John'; Stephen"; Stephen,^ of Dartmouth, horn 16S3, and his wife Mary: Stephen,^ of Dartmouth, and his wife, Mary Boss, daughter of Peter and Amy Gardiner Boss; Seth,* of Gloucester, R.I., a Revolutionary soldier, and his wife, Mercy Smith, daughter of John and Mary (Hopkins) Smith; Dr. Hazael," of Killingly, Conn., and wife, Sarah Thornton; Dr. Fenner Harris,' of North Killingly, Conn., anil later of Providence, R.I. Mary Hopkins, wife of John Smith and mother of Mercy, Dr. Peckham's paternal grandmother, was a daughter of Thomas' Hopkins (Thomas'- '). Thomas' Hopkins, her grandfather, one of the first set-