Representative women of New England/E. Josephine C. Beeman
E. Josephine Collins Beeman, teacher of elocution and public reader, was born in Cambridgeport (a part of Cambridge), Mass., November 17, 1874, being the youngest of the four children of P. D. Collins and his wife, Anna (Murray) Collins. On the maternal side she is a descendant of John and Mary Murray, farmers, of Canton, Mass., the latter of whom was noted in that locality as an herb doctor, being very successful in healing the sick. One of her remedies is still in use.
Mrs. Beeman obtained her education in the public schools of Cambridge and Hyde Park, Mass. While still in school she studied dress-making, which she began to teach at the age of sixteen. Possessing strong artistic instincts, she was not contented to remain at this occupation, but in 1893–94 taught a public school in Western Massachusetts, having previously become a student at the New England Conservatory of Music. Later, at the age of twenty-one, she entered the Emerson School of Oratory. Graduating with honors from that institution after the usual course, she accepted a position there as teacher of music, physical culture, and elocution, which she held for several years. She has since introduced physical culture and oratory into the public schools in the vicinity of Boston, devoting a great part of her time to the instruction of teachers in this work, with the approbation of the school authorities. Her labors in this direction have also included Dr. Sargent's Normal School in Harvard Square, Cambridge, and the Dorchester Club. Mrs. Becnian is fond of outdoor sports, such as rowing, swimming, bicycling, horseback-riding and golf.
Her husband, Jerome Van Ness Beeman, to whom, as E. Josephine Collins, she was united September 25, 1900, is a descendant of the early Dutch settlers of New York, in which State he was born and brought up.
In the winter of 1903-1904 Mrs. Beeman resumed her classes (for some time suspended) among the school teachers in the vicinity of Boston, and is carrying on this work at present. She has also from time to time written articles for various papers, including the Dorchester Beacon and the Boston Transcript. She is a prominent member of the Ruskin Club and the Emerson Alumni Association. She is well read, and has improved her education and broadened the scope of her knowledge by travel, having visited a number of the largest cities and .seen the principal rivers and mountains of this country and Canada.