Sunday, March 16, 2014

1880s Autograph Album of Caroline A. Maynard, "Lina", of Lowell, Massachusetts, while at Lasell Seminary for Young Women


1880s autograph album that belonged to Caroline Augusta Maynard, "Lina", of Lowell, Massachusetts, compiled while she was a student at the Lasell Seminary for Young Women at Auburndale, a village in the City of Newton, Massachusetts.  The Seminary is now known as Lasell College.


See another post that features the 1870s/1880 autograph album of Frank E. Bramhall, whom Lina would marry on 3 June 1885 at Lowell, Massachusetts.

Lina's album measures approximately 7" x 4-1/2" and contains the sentiments of over 70 of Lina's friends and classmates.  An alphabetical list of the signers appears at the end of this post.

Many of the signers belonged to a sorority or group called "S.D."  The students came from all over the United States, with several from St. Joseph, Missouri, and enough from Michigan that they formed the "Michigan Grotto".

From online research, hopefully correct:  [corrections and additions welcome!]

Caroline Augusta Maynard, "Lina" - some records say Augustus - was born 17 February 1861 at Lowell, Massachusetts, the daughter of Caleb J. W. Maynard and Augusta Caroline (Davis) Wheeler, who were both from Temple, New Hampshire.

As noted above, on 3 June 1885 at Lowell, Massachusetts, Lina married Frank E. Bramhall, son of John and Hannah (Platt) Bramhall.  Frank was born 20 September 1858 at Lowell, Massachusetts.  The couple lived at Lowell, Massachusetts, and had at least three children, two daughters and a son.  Frank was in the printing business.

Here is the page that Frank signed in his own album [link above].


Lina died in 1928, and Frank in 1935.

If you have corrections and/or additions to the information above, or information on any of the signers listed below, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  Thanks!

Below, a few of the pages.

Facing pages were signed by roommates Leora G. Haley of Boston, Massachusetts, and Lizzie C. Stockwell, possibly of Worcester, Massachusetts.  They shared Room 38.  Lizzie dated her page May 14, 1880.



Fannie S. Nason of Rockland, Massachusetts, sketched a pair of shoes hanging from a fence.


The page below was sketched on May 22, 1881, possibly by someone with the initials M.R.H.  If you can decipher the wording, please leave a comment.


Two of the pages had photographs attached.  It appears that there were more photographs at one time that became dislodged.  One such page was that signed by Emily E. Peabody of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Grace B. Fridley of ?, Ohio.  Grace would marry Harry B. Pennell and move to Portland, Maine.  Whether the photograph shows Emily and Grace, or Emily, or Grace, with Lina, I don't know.



The other page with a photograph attached was signed by Sophie White of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, who inscribed her page in May of 1881 at Lasell.



It's possible that the women were Sophie and Lina.

And my favorite page, sketched at Lasell in 1881 by A. E. L.



Surnames in the album           [Four appear multiple times; a few surnames can't be determined.]

Allen
Alling
Baker
Bartlett
Benyon
Best
Bicknell
Bragdon
Briggs
Brown
Bullens
Colson
Congdon
Converse
Edwards
Fisher
Flagg
Foote
Fribley
Frost
Garland
Gilbert
Griffith
Griggs
Haley
Harvey
Hax    [2 signers]
Higby
Hills
Jones
Libbey
Lorimer      [2 signers]
Macmillan
Mason       [2 signers]
Maynard
McCord     [2 signers]
McDonald
Mills
Moore
Nason
Newcomb
Orrell
Peabody
Prentiss
Ransom
Reed
Sargent
Shiff
Sibley
Smith
Stedman
Steele
Stockwell
Suell
Taylor
Thomas
Turner
Wadhams
Wallace
Watson
Watts
Webber
White
Winslow

Signers in the album   [Given names within a specific surname may not be in alphabetical order.]

?
  • P. V. or P. U.?
  • Crumb, 1880
  • Sketch of a man and woman drawn [possibly by M.R.H.] on May 22, 1881 at Lasell Seminary for Young women.  Can't decipher the title of the sketch.
  • Minnie Marie; possibly Minnie Marie Higby, who signed facing pages in the album
  • Wonderful sketch of two frames, one of a child wondering why a cat having such a hard time scaling a fence and the other from the other side of the fence where a crab is grabbing the cat's tail.  Sketched by A. E. L. at Lasell Seminary for Young women in 1881.
A
  • Carrie L. Allen of North Brookfield, Massachusetts, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 11, 1880
  • Susie Alling of Birmingham, Connecticut, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 3, 1881
B
  • Signed by two people: 1) Lizzie B. Frost of Evanston, Illinois, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 3, 1880; 2) Fannie L. Baker of Toledo, Ohio, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 18, 1881
  • Annie E. Bartlett of Nottingham, New Hampshire, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 11, 1880
  • Gertrude E. Benyon, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women, at Auburndale, Massachusetts, on May 14, 1880
  • Louie F. Best, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 14, 1880
  • Jennie L. Bicknell of Staffordville, Connecticut, signed on May 13, 1880
  • Annie R. Bragdon of New York City, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women.  "The girl that looks like you."
  • Annie L. Briggs of Newtonville, Massachusetts, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 12, 1880
  • Roberta C. Brown of Jersey City, New Jersey, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 11, 1880
  • May Bullens of Chillicothe, Missouri, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on March 5, 1881
C
  • Mamie A. Colson of Somerville, Massachusetts, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 14, 1880
  • Mamie G. Congdon of New York City, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 20, 1881
  • Nellie L. Converse of Winchendon, Massachusetts, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women in 1881; presumably Ellen L. Converse
E
  • Carrie A. Edwards of San Francisco, California, signed on June 6, 1881
F
  • ? M. Fisher of Cincinnati, Ohio, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women in 1880.  Might possibly be Annie M. Fisher but it looks as though there's a first letter before the a.
  • Page signed on May 3, 1881 by two students at Lasell Seminary for Young Women: 1) Hattie M. Webber of Holyoke, Massachusetts; 2) Lily Flagg of Holyoke, Massachusetts
  • Ida M. Foote of Clinton, New York, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 7, 1881
  • Page signed by Grace W. Fribley of ? Ohio, and Emily E. Peabody of Cincinnati, Ohio.  "The next door neighbors", so presumably roommates next door to Lina at Lasell Seminary for Young Women.  There's a tintype pasted on the page, presumably of Emily and Grace, or Emily and Lina or Emily and someone else.  Grace would marry Harry B. Pennell and move to Portland, Maine.
  • Signed by two people: 1) Lizzie B. Frost of Evanston, Illinois, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 3, 1880; 2) Fannie L. Baker of Toledo, Ohio, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 18, 1881
G
  • Grace A. Garland of Biddeford, Maine, signed on May 26, 1880; "a raving Maine-iac", "One of your friends at Lasell"
  • Cordelia A. Gilbert of Charlestown, Massachusetts, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 12, 1880
  • Jennie E. Griffith of Danby, Vermont, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on April 25, 1881
  • Kittie A. Griggs of Chicago, Illinois, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 23, 1880.  Straddling the top of the facing pages: "Chummies".  The signer on the right facing page was Mattie L. Lorimer, also of Chicago, who signed her page a day earlier on May 22, 1880.
H
  • Leora G. Haley of Boston, Massachusetts; signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 14, 1880.  Stradding the top of this page and the right facing page: "Room Mates No. 38". The right facing page was signed by Lizzie C. Stockwell at Worcester, Massachusetts, on May 14, 1880.
  • Lulu L. Harvey of Summit, New Jersey, presumably signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women
  • Emma L. Hax of Saint Joseph, Missouri, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 10, 1881.  She would marry H. L. Smith on October 8, 1884 at Buchanan, Missouri.
  • Emma L. Hax of St. Joseph, Missouri, signed at Lasell Seminary for Women on May 24, 1880.  Her sister Bertha C. Hax signed the right facing page.  Emma signed two pages in the album.
  • Bertha C. Hax, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 24, 1880.  Her sister Emma L. Hax signed the left facing page.
  • Left of facing pages signed by Minnie Marie Higby of Charlotte, Michigan, at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on March 2, 1881.  I believe it was Minnie Marie Higby who signed a page later on in the album as Minnie Marie.
  • J. A. Hills, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 11, 1880
J
  • Etta L. Jones of East Douglas, Massachusetts; she sketched a bonneted girl playing croquet
L
  • Nettie M. Libbey of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 6, 1881
  • Edith E. Lorimer of Chicago, Illinois, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women; presumably Edith Elizabeth Lorimer who later married Gilbert E. Porter in 1888 in Cook County, Illinois.
  • Mattie L. Lorimer of Chicago, Illinois, signed on May 22, 1880.  Straddling the top of the facing pages: "Chummies".  The signer on the left facing page was Kittie A. Griggs, also of Chicago, who signed her page at Lasell Seminary for Young Women a day later on May 23, 1880.
M
  • Jessie J. Macmillan of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, signed on May 14, 1880
  • Josephine Mason of Washington, D.C., signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 13, 1880.  She sketched a kitten in a slipper.
  • Sephie G. Mason of Boston, Massachusetts, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on March 8, 1881.  An 1884 Lasell publication has a note from Sephie that she was studying Latin, Italian and music and residing at 407 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California; it also notes that her father had recently died and that he had been in business at one time at Fall River, presumably Massachusetts.
  • Lina A. Maynard, album owner.  She collected the sentiments in the album while she was a student at Lasell Seminary for Young Women at Auburndale, Massachusetts.
  • H. Jessie McCord of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 9, 1881
  • A. Susie McCord of Saint Joseph, Missouri, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women in 1881
  • Mattie McDonald of Saint Joseph, Missouri, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women in 1881
  • Cora E. Mills of Clinton, New York, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 9, 1881
  • Gertrude C. Moore of Nashua, New Hampshire, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 16, 1880
N
  • Fannie S. Nason of Rockland, Massachusetts; presumably Sarah Frances Nason who would marry Frederic O. Baker at Rockland, Massachusetts, on 18 September 1894.  She drew an interesting sketch of two hanging shoes: "The down-trodden, uplifted or the weary souls (soles) at rest."
  • C. Maude Newcomb, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 12, 1880
O
  • Lulu C. Orrell, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 2, 1880; "Michigan Grotto".  The 1880 Census of Newton, Massachusetts, gives Lulu's birth state as Michigan.  Lucy C. Orrell of Flint, Michigan, born 16 September 1863, applied for a US Passport in 1889
P
  • Page signed by Emily E. Peabody of Cincinnati, Ohio and Grace W. Fribley of ? Ohio.  "The next door neighbors", so presumably roommates next door to Lina at Lasell Seminary for Young Women.  There's a tintype pasted on the page, presumably of Emily and Grace, or Emily and Lina or Emily and someone else.  
  • Clara J. Prentiss of Holyoke, Massachusetts, signed on March 10, 1881
R
  • Mattie E. Ransom of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 10, 1880
  • Margie H. Reed of Brooklyn, New York, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on March 7, 1881
S
  • Mattie Sargent of Haverhill, Massachusetts, signed at Lasell Seminary on June 4, 1880
  • Tessie A. Shiff of New York City, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 11, 1881; Theresa A. Shiff
  • Ida M. Sibley of Warren, Massachusetts, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 3, 1881
  • Jennie M. Smith of Flint, Michigan, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 26, 1880.  "Michigan Grotto"
  • Ella B. Stedman of Warsaw, New York, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women in May 1881
  • Roberta F. Steele of Omaha, Nebraska, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 13, 1880; not positive of middle initial and surname, but there was a Roberta Frank Steele from that era in Omaha, Nebraska.
  • Lizzie C. Stockwell of Lasell Seminary for Women, signed at Worcester, Massachusetts, on May 14, 1880.  Straddling this page and the left facing page: "Room Mates No. 38". The left facing page was signed by Leora G. Haley of Boston, Massachusetts, at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 14, 1880
  • Lottie E. Suell of Herkimer, New York, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 8, 1881
T
  • Mary L. Taylor of Waltham, Massachusetts, or signed there, a student at Lasell Seminary for Young Women
  • Nettie C. Thomas of Collinsville, Connecticut, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 11, 1881
  • Abbie R. Turner, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 11, 1880.  "Michigan Grotto".  Presumably the Abbie R. Turner who was born in Michigan about January 1862, the daughter of James and Marian (Monroe) Turner and who married Franklin L. Dodge.  They lived at Lansing, Michigan.
W
  • Lillie F. Wadhams of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women in June 1881
  • Carrie H. Wallace of Rochester, New Hampshire, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on June 2, 1880
  • Meda B. Watson of Delaware, Ohio, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women on May 27, 1880.  She would marry S. Rienzi Thomas of Delaware [presumably Delaware, Ohio, but possible Delaware the State.]
  • Minnie Ring Watts of Boston, Massachusetts, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young woman in 1880
  • Page signed on May 3, 1881 by two students at Lasell Seminary for Young Women: 1) Hattie M. Webber of Holyoke, Massachusetts; 2) Lily Flagg of Holyoke, Massachusetts
  • Sophie White of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women in May 1881.  Photograph of two young women attached, one of them presumably Sophie.
  • Helen T. Winslow of E. Pepperell, Massachusetts, signed at Lasell Seminary for Young Women



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