Representative women of New England/Helen C. Beedy
HELEN COFFIN BEEDY was born in Harrington, Washington County, Me., November 9, 1840, the daughter of John B. and Ruby (Strout) Coffin. Her maternal grandparents, Benjamin and Joanna (Roberts) Strout, were pioneer settlers of Harrington. Benjamin Strout was a man greatly respected for his sterling integrity. He traced his descent from a long line of English ancestors. His wife Joanna, a native of Portland, Me., was a famous housekeeper. Her receipts and her instructions, her children say, have never been improved upon by the inventions of modern domestic science. She was also much given to works of charity.
Mrs. Beedy's father, John B. Coffin, by occupation a ship-builder, was one of the leading citizens of Harrington in his day. He used to .solemnize marriage, and he often represented the town in the State Legislature. In politics he was a Democrat. Both Mr. and Mrs. Coffin were members of the Baptist church. Many of his ancestors and their kindred were Quakers or Friends, and Mrs. Beedy is proud to be allied to Lucretia Mott and the Rev. Phœbe Hanaford. The Coffin lineage in America extends back to Tristram Coffin, who came to New England in 1642, and died in Nantucket in 1681.
Mrs. Beedy's mother. Ruby Strout Coffin, was from early girlhood highly religious. Her diary gives a record of her many interest- ing experiences as a teacher, which profession she adopted at the early age of .seventeen. She describes her long journeys on horseback through the woods to her school. After her marriage Mrs. Coffin became the first president of the Martha Washington Society at Harrington, and in one of her addresses, the paper of which is now yellowed with time, we find she advocated the founding of a village library—advocated it so pertinently that it was soon in operation, being housed for some years in the homes of the members, who alternately assumed the obligation.
Mrs. Beedy's early training was of the best. Her mother's religious teaching took deep root in her heart, and her father's counsels were for her practical good. He frequently .Slid: "Helen, you have neither beauty nor wealth. If you accomplish anything in the world, you must work for it." And work she did. By her grandmother Strout, with whom she went to live at the age of nine, after her mother's death, she was taught skilled housekeeping. Being a vigorous child, she kept constantly at school in her native
town, later attending the academy at Cherryfield, Me., as well as that at East Machias. In 1863 she was graduated from the Bridgewater Normal School, and afterward she studied French, German, and painting under private instructors. She was a member of Professor Agassiz's school at Penikese during the two years of its existence. She subsequently took the full Chautauqua course, and at Radcliffe College in the year 1897 she took a special course in English composition. She is still a student, and, except when the press of duties forbids, is never long away from her books. In the Farmington State Normal School she is remembered as a conscientious and enthusiastic instructor, one whose personal interest in her pupils extended beyond the walls of the class-room.
The marriage of Miss Helen Coffin and Mr. Daniel Beedy took place in 1875 at Castine, Me. For a number of years Mr. Beedy was one of the more prominent citizens of Farm- ington, where they made their home, and where since Mr. Beedy's death, in 1889, Mrs. Beedy, when not travelling abroad, has continued to reside.
Mrs. Beedy has been president of the Franklin County W. C. T. H. ever since its organization. She is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, has been officially connected with the State Suffrage Club and the State Federation of Clubs, and has served as president of the National Dorothea Dix Memorial Association since its inauguration in 1899. But her duties as president are but a small part of her work along this line. She has written, spoken, and travelled, arranged fairs, interested people to contribute; and has appeared in Congress to plead specially for an appropriation toward erecting a monument to the memory of Miss Dix.
A comprehensive volume, entitled "Mothers of Maine," bears Mrs. Beedy's name upon the title-page. The compilation of facts was a long but delightful task to her, and so well did she succeed in her work that this history of remarkable Maine women covers a period of more than two centuries.
Thus author, educator, lecturer, philanthropist, may all be written after Mrs. Beedys name. And to such as know her there will come to mind unwritten achievements of daily life which stand for true courage and integrity.
Note.—As this article was about to go to press, we received the news of Mrs. Beedy’s death, which occurred June 14, 1904.