Representative women of New England/Jane W. Hoyt

by Mary H. Graves

JANE W. HOYT.—Among those who, in the early part of the nineteenth century, anticipated by personal application to study the later movement for the higher education of women was Miss Jane W. Hoyt. She was born in Phillips, Franklin County, Me., August 26, 1827, the youngest of a family of nine children. Her parents, Samuel and Elizabeth (Tower) Hoyt, were of early New England stock, her father, a native of New Hampton, N.H., being a lineal descendant of John' Hoyt, one of the original settlers of Salisbury, Mass., and her mother belonging to the family founded by John¹ Tower, who came from Hingham, England, and settled in Hingham, Mass., in 1637. From John¹ Tower the line continued through Ibrook,² Richard,³ Elisha,⁴ Elisha,⁵ all of Hingham, Mass., to Sylvanus,⁶ born in 1766, who married Mercy Card, settled in Farmington, Me., and was the father of Elizabeth⁷ (Mrs. Samuel Hoyt) and her brother Daniel.

As a child, Jane Hoyt evinced a love for study which grew with her years. This was gratified in her native town and at Farmington, which was then, as now, the educational centre of the county. She afterward was graduated with honor from the New Hampton Literary Institution, in New Hampton, N.H., and became a successful teacher and principal of some of the higher schools then open to women, as the Maine State Seminary at Lewiston, the semi- nary at Olneyville, R.I., and Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Mich., where she was dean of the women's department. In 1871 and 1872 she took an extended trip to Europe, and made a special study of German under private teachers and in the schools of Hanover. On her return she was elected to a professorship in Center College, Pennsylvania, and later was at the head of a boarding and day school in Goshen, N.Y. In 1874, her health becoming impaired, she resigned the position and returned to Farmington. Here her home life was exceptionally happy, her brother Daniel, her sister Ann, and herself making a most hospitable household. The death of the brother in 1899 was a great grief to the sisters; but, dwelling not on their own sorrow, they sought to comfort others. Though fond of books and much engaged with pupils, Miss Hoyt was ever ready to give her time and strength to aid neighbors and friends. Soon after her return to Farmington and be- fore taking her much needed rest, she sought two friends and proposed the formation of aa women's club. This was in the very early days of clubs for women: in all New England there were only a few. The new club entered at once upon its work, and continued for many years one of the oldest women's clubs in Maine. In its origin it was true to the German proverb, "All good things go in threes": it had but three members. That there might be no favoritism, each member was to bear the Pickwickian title P. P. Miss Hoyt was made Perpetual President, and the two remaining members were made Perpetual Poet and Perpetual Penman. There was no treasurer, as there were no club dues. As the membership was at first exclusive, one who was not invited to join remarked that she thought the ladies were rather "hifalutin." The term so pleased the members of the club that they concluded to adopt it; and the Hifalutin Club, with an increase of membership, continued until Maine agitated the federation of its women's clubs, when the Every Monday Club of Farmington was organized, and the Hifalutin fell asleep. It was the original idea of the club to read at home and discuss the matter read in the club. It was in every sense a working club; every play and many of the sonnets of Shakespeare were studied, also Spenser's "Faerie Queene," Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Milton, Dante, and other classic writers. With a retentive memory and vivid imagination. Miss Hoyt delighted to review for the benefit of the club the leading fiction of that day. The writer recalls "Uarda" and "The Egyptian Princess" and many other books thus graphically portrayed. Miss Hoyt believed in keeping abreast of the times, and was a wise reader of the daily newspapers. The consideration of current events formed an important feature in the Hifalutin Club.

On May 18, 1901, there came a hush over the village of Farmington, when it was announced that Jane W. Hoyt was dead. For twenty-five years she had lived her useful, unostentatious life in that community, loved and respected by all classes of society. As a private tutor she had given direction to the college life of many young men and women by imparting to them an enthusiasm for work. They lingered long over their recitations, that between the lines they might catch glimpses of the spirit that actuated her. Few of her pupils will fail to remember the talks on practical ethics and moral philosophy which she loved to interweave with the higher mathematics, Latin, French, and German. In addition to her labors as a teacher Miss Hoyt carried on other literary work. She wrote for the press, and was much sought after as a lecturer before women's clubs and the Chautauquan assemblies, especially those at Ocean Park. Her church affiliations were with the Free Baptist denomination.

Miss Hoyt was a woman of unusual mental powers and of a highly spiritual nature. She had rare literary taste and an ability to assimilate knowledge that gave her abundant resources. The excellent school advantages of her early days were supplemented by constant application to study throughout her life. European travel still further broadened her mental scope. Her love of study was not confined to secular subjects: she devoted a great deal of attention to the Bible, and lived much in the contemplation of things that are unseen and eternal.