Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/292

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FELTON.
FERREE.

one of Georgia's lady managers of the World's Fair. When the board met to organize, Mrs. Felton was selected as their temporary president, and under her ruling, the permanent president, Mrs. Potter Palmer, was elected. Her later life has been one of continual triumph, and her struggle for truth, justice and reform is bearing sweet fruit in the reverence and love of her people. Of her early life she writes: "With a snow-white head and the sun declining to the West, I believe I can honestly say that a free, happy life in childhood is the best solace of old age." In appearance Mrs. Felton is distinguished and impressive, in speaking she is eloquent, and her ringing, sympathetic voice goes to the hearts of her hearers.


MARY GALENTINE FENNER. FENNER, Mrs. Mary Galentine, author, born in Rush, Monroe county, N. Y., 17th May, 1839 Her grandparents were among the first settlers of the Genesee Valley and traced their lineage back to sturdy Hollanders. From the time of reaching his majority, her father, John Galentine, occupied a prominent place in his native town. At a very early age Mrs. Fenner wrote for the "Rural New Yorker." She was educated in Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, N. Y., where she was graduated in 1861, one month before her marriage to Rev. F. D. Fenner. a graduate of Rochester University. Among her school essays are several written in blank verse, but she never gave the full expression of her thought in a satisfactory manner to herself until the revelation of her power of poesy came to her at a time of weakness and suffering. Her first published poem, "In Memoriam," dedicated to her mother on the anniversary of her father's death, in 1873. was written while she could not raise her head from her pillow. She then became a prolific versifier. Her home is now in North Manlius. N. Y., where, among people of her husband's parish, she finds her most delightful work. She has published one volume of poems.


FERREE, Mrs. Susan Frances Nelson, journalist and reformer, horn in Mount Pleasant, Ia.. 14th January 1844. She is a daughter of John S. Nelson, who was a lineal descendant of Thomas SUSAN FRANCES NELSON FERREE. Nelson, the founder of Old York. Va., where his mansion still stands. His oldest son, William, was at one time president of the king's council. William's oldest son, Gen. Thomas Nelson, was the most illustrious of his race one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the war governor of Virginia, and a very brilliant member of that body of great men who distinguished the country's early history Mrs. Ferree is a fitting representative of her noble line of ancestors. Educated and refined, her influence is always on the side of kindness and right. At the age of one year she, with her parents removed to Keokuk, which was her home for many years. Her home at present is in Ottumwa, Ia., where she is the center of a large and interesting family of children Her husband is a successful business man of that city. Mrs. Ferree is a great lover of poetry, of which she has written much, but she excels in journalism. Some of her newspaper correspondence from Washington, D. C., is exceptionally fine. She is an untiring worker for temperance and for the advancement of woman. She is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, Woman's Relief Corps, the Iowa Woman's Suffrage Assocation, and the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and a communicant of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, of Ottumwa.


FICKLEN, Mrs. Bessie Alexander, born near Frederickburg, Va., 10th November, 1861. Her maiden name was Bessie Mason Alexander. Her mother's maiden name was Mason. On her father's side she is of Scotch descent Her great-grandfather, a graduate of Edinburgh, emigrated from Scotland to America in Colonial days. He settled in Georgia and served as a surgeon in the