Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/445

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410
Part Taken by Women in American History


in Pittsford, Monroe County, New York, and her mother Charlotte Clark Peck, who was born in Tallmadge, Summit County, Ohio. Her mother's ancestors all came from New England, where they had lived for generations. Her father's family settled in Pittsford (7 miles from Rochester) in 1790, and the original farm on which her great-grandfather settled is still in the possession of the family. The Acers were originally from Holland but her great-grandmother was Dorothy Adams, a kin to John, John Quincy and Samuel, as well as to Judge Otis and other early New England settlers.

Mrs. Barnum was graduated from Vassar College in 1886. Since that time she has studied abroad in France and Germany and has done research work in Boston and New York. In 1893 she came to live in Pittsford, her father's old home, where she was married in June, 1907, to Nathaniel C. Barnum, whose ancestors settled in Rochester in 1794.

Mrs. Barnum was for four years secretary of the National Vassar Students' Aid Society and was for ten years the president of the Rochester Branch of the Vassar Students' Aid Society. At present she is treasurer of the Century Club of Rochester, chairman of the committee of the state of New York of the Society of School Patrons of the National Education Association, and on the executive committee of the Society of School Patrons of the National Education Association, representing on the executive committee the Association of Collegiate Alumnae.

MRS. ELIZABETH LANGWORTHY.

Mrs. Elizabeth Langworthy was born in October, 1837, in Orleans County, New York. Her father was one of the heirs of the Trinity Church property in New York. Her mother was descended from a prominent French family. In 1858 she became the wife of Stephen Langworthy of Dubuque, Iowa, whose parents were among the early pioneers of that state. In 1861 Mr. and Mrs. Langworthy made their home in Monticello, Iowa, and here she was instrumental in founding the public library of that city. Later, in the city of Seward, Nebraska, where their home was established, she served as president of many societies for local improvement and also of the Seward History and Art Club, and it was through her suggestion and instrumentality as a member of the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition, that the hammer was presented to Mrs. Potter Palmer, then president, with which she drove the last nail in the Woman's Building. Mrs. Langworthy raised the fund for this purpose.

ELIZABETH F. PIERCE.

Miss Pierce is the daughter of the late Charles W. Pierce, a business man of Boston, and a niece of Mrs. J. Ellen Horton Foster, and was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She is noted in her native city for her earnest religious and philanthropic work, especially in the Foreign and Home Missionary Societies of the Methodist Episcopal Church. After the death of her father, she and her mother, Mrs. Foster's sister, removed to Washington. Miss Pierce immediately identified herself with her church, and its wonderful work along many lines. She has been