Women Philanthropists Born in the 1830's

Women Philanthropists

Born in the 1830’s

Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831-1884) was the Hawaiian great-granddaughter of King Kamehameha who inherited large plots of land in Honolulu.  She left this property in trust to establish the Kamehameha schools, open to children of Hawaiian nobility.

Hetty Green (1834-1916) increased her inherited wealth of about $2,000,000 to become the richest woman in America, worth between $100,000,000 and $200,000,000 through shrewdly buying and selling property, investing in mines and railroads but never speculating.  Her thrift, choice of dress and housing and other actions received much public ridicule; reporters called her “the witch of Wall Street.”  Her gifts received little publicity.  In 1900 she bought an $110,000 bond issue to enable Tucson install a modern water and sewer system.  In 1898 she lends New York City $1,000,000 at
2% when the current rate was 3% or 3.5% and in 1901 lent another $1,500,000.  In mid 1907, when hiring new police officers, salaries for street cleaning and new construction projects were frozen, she lent $1,100,000 to keep the government solvent.  She contributed between $300,000 and $400,000 to construct a boys’ school in New York State at a time sometime after 1907,  “when the poor urgently needed employment.”  In 1913 she sent $5,000 to flood victims in Dayton, Ohio.  In 1904 she gave $500,000 to the Nurses’ Home in New York City and another $50,000 for a nurses’ settlement home. 

After her death her children donated $250,000 between 1923 and 1928 to Wellesley College to build the Hetty H.R. Green Administrative Building.   Her son Ned reported that about 30 families received regular incomes when she was alive and many charities received gifts of $500, $1,000 and $10,000. The “New York Times” editorial pointed out that her behavior and success would not be considered peculiar in a man.  She simply “had enough of courage to live as she chose.”

Matilda Carse (1835-1917) was a firm believer in woman suffrage.  She raised more than $10,000 annually for her charities which included the Chicago Foundling’s Home Aid Society of which she was president.  Soon after becoming president of the Chicago Central WCTU where she served from 1878 to 1917 she established the Bethesda Day Nursery for working mothers, the first in Chicago, 2 kindergartens and a mission for erring girls.  She also succeeded in introducing matrons into Chicago police stations

Nettie McCormick (1835-1923), widow of the inventor of the reaper, led negotiations to form the International Harvester Company in 1884.  During the next 16 years she gave more than 8 million dollars to 40 schools and colleges and supported many projects of the Presbyterian Church.  Her will left a million to educational, religious and medical institutions.  Her example of giving was followed by her daughter-in-law Edith Rockefeller McCormick.

Ellen Scripps (1836-1932) emigrated from England in 1844, was a working partner with her brothers and half-brother in what became the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain, and amassed a sizeable fortune.  In 1903 she and her half-brother established the Marine Biological Association of San Diego which became part of the University of California and was named the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1925.  She set up research projects and supported several schools.  Her interest in recreation resulted in gifts to the Torrey Pines Park and the San Diego Zoo.  She became a director of the National Recreation Association in 1917.  She founded Scripps College for Women at Claremont, California in 1927 to which she contributed more than $1,515,000.  Her will added to this amount.

Anna Richardson Harkness (1837-1926) inherited $50,000,000 when her husband died in 1888.  She continued his donations to churches, giving $3,000,000 to the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York.  She also supported the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor and the State Charities Aid Association.  Other interests included the New York Public Library, museums and the New York Zoo.  She assisted Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons with $4,000,000 in 1922.  With her skillful management her inheritance had grown to $85,000,000 by 1926.

Lizzie Merrill Palmer (1838-1916) and her husband Thomas supported suffrage and prohibition.  Other interests included the Detroit Institute of Art, the SPCA, several hospitals and the University of Michigan. Wealthy in her own right, when widowed in 1913, Palmer sought to use her wealth to improve the quality of motherhood.  She gave more than $3,000,000 to set up the Merrill-Palmer Motherhood and Home Training School in Detroit.  The board of directors, all women, set up a nursery school curriculum and taught homemaking skills and provided guidance services.

Mary Draper (1839-1914) inherited a fortune from her father’s successful real estate business and aided her husband in astronomy observations.  After his death in 1882, she used several hundred thousand dollars to create and support the Henry Draper Memorial which photographed stellar spectra for almost 30 years.  In 1902 she influenced the Carnegie Institution to establish the Mt. Wilson Observatory in California.  Her will included $200,000 for the purchase of books, prints and pamphlets for the Reference Department of the New York Public Library.