A group of 14 extraordinary women
met in St. Paul in March 1896. By November they had formed Articles of Incorporation, set dues, elected a President and were admitted to the National Society of Colonial Dames, among the early non-Colonial states to do so.
Here are their stories.
Ada Walker Adams
Ada Walker [Mrs. John Quincy] Adams was born in Perry City, New York. She was the daughter of a hotel-keeper. Ada married J. Q. Adams, a grain merchant, and they moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where she was involved in a range of charitable activities with others among the newly-formed Dames group. She was descended from William Bradford and Thomas Dudley of Massachusetts, ancestors she shares with many of our current Dames. Learn more.
Hannah Brooks Bovey
Hannah Brooks [Mrs. Charles A.] Bovey was born in 1831 in Eastport, Maine, and moved to Salem, Massachusetts as a child. She married Charles A. Bovey in 1856 and lived in St. John, New Brunswick before moving to Minneapolis 13 years later with their six children. Hannah was one of the founders of the NSCDA-MN, and was also active in the Mayflower Society and Plymouth Congregational Church. Her husband Charles was a prominent lumber businessman, and two of their sons became leaders in the Washburn Crosby Company. Her colonial ancestor is John Alden. Learn more.
Leonora Hall Christian
Leonora Hall [Mrs. George H.] Christian was a descendant of Colonial ancestor Edward Morris of Massachusetts. Born in Wisconsin in 1845 of parents from Vermont, she married George Christian in 1867 in Minneapolis. He was involved in flour milling and the Washburn Crosby Milling Company. George and Leonora founded the Citizen’s Aid Society, which funded the Children’s Sanitarium at Glen Lake. Her involvement with public health included chairing the Health and Hygiene Committee of the Minnesota Federation and serving as treasurer for the Home for Children and Aged Women for over 20 years. Learn More.
Lucy Dunbar Cutler
Lucy Dunbar [Mrs. Edward H.] Cutler was born in Massachusetts. She and her husband Edward Cutler moved to Minnesota, where Edward went into business with brothers Daniel and Charles Noyes, wholesale druggists, and the families were close. Helen and Emily Noyes, sisters who married the brothers, were also founders of the NSCDA-MN. Two of Lucy's daughters joined the Colonial Dames. Lucy's lineage went through Edmund Hobart on her mother's side; her daughters' lineage went through John Alden, Lucy's father's side. Learn more.
Marion Ramsey Furness
Marion Ramsey [Mrs. Charles E.] Furness was the daughter of Minnesota Territorial Governor Alexander Ramsey and lived in Philadelphia for much of her life. She returned to Minnesota after her husband became ill, and she and her three children lived with her parents in what is now known as the Alexander Ramsey House in St. Paul. A founder of the National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of Minnesota, she was also active in the Schubert Club and the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic. Born in 1853, she was descended from Joseph Kirkbride of Pennsylvania. Attached is a letter she wrote to her daughter in 1895. Learn more.
Mary Fletcher Hale
Mary Fletcher [Mrs. Henry] Hale was born in Vermont and married Henry Hale before moving to Minnesota in 1856. One of the founders of NSCDA-MN, shew was also involved in charity events such as St. Luke's Hospital Ball. Henry, the grandson of revolutionary patriot Nathan Hale, died in 1890, leaving a bequest to the city of St. Paul to construct a library. Mary was descended from Colonial Ancestor Thomas Minor. Learn more.
Caroline Isham Lee
Caroline Isham [Mrs. William H.] Lee was born in Connecticut in 1852. She moved to New York with her family and then to Minneapolis with her husband William H. Lee in 1881. She was a charter member of the NSCDA-MN, but died less than a year after the first meeting. She was a descendant of Jonathan Trumbull, governor of the colony of Connecticut and, after the Revolutionary War, the U.S. State of Connecticut. Learn more.
Frances Kingsbury Mason
Frances Kingsbury [Mrs. Edwin C.] Mason was born in Michigan in 1844 and educated at Livingston Park Seminary in Rochester, New York. She married Army officer Edwin C. Mason and followed him to Texas, Washington State, and Minnesota, where he commanded the Third Infantry at Fort Snelling. She was active in the D.A.R. in addition to the NSCDA-MN. After Edwin's death, she moved to Pasadena, California. Learn more.
Julia French Metcalf
Julia French [Mrs. George R.] Metcalf, born in Mexico, New York in 1854, was the sixth great granddaughter of Colonial ancestor Roger Williams of Rhode Island. Julia married George Metcalf, a noted physician and freemason, in 1874 in Syracuse, New York. After they moved to St. Paul, Julia became involved in the Minnesota Historical Society, the Women’s City Club of St. Paul, the Women’s Auxiliary to the World’s Fair Committee of Minnesota, and the Mitford House, a home for working women that was organized by several others in the initial NSCDA-MN founders group. Learn More.
Eliza Edgerton Newport
Eliza Edgerton [Mrs. Reece M.] Newport was recognized as one of Minnesota’s 10 most outstanding women in 1924. Born in Ohio in 1838, she taught school before marrying Reece Newport, with whom she came to Minnesota after the Civil War. Eliza assisted in the organization of the St. Paul Bethel Association and became one of only three women on its board. She was also involved with the Young Women’s Friendly Association, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.). She was descended from Colonial ancestor William Bradford of Massachusetts. Learn more.
Emily Gilman Noyes
Emily Gilman [Mrs. Charles P.] Noyes was born in New York City in 1854. She married Charles Noyes in 1874 and moved to Minnesota. Her sister Helen married Charles’ brother Daniel, and was also involved in early Minnesota Dames work. Emily was a founder and president of the Women’s Welfare League and VP of the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association. She was one of 25 women commemorated on the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Memorial on the grounds of the Minnesota State Capitol. Emily is a descendant of the Honorable John Gilman of New Hampshire. Learn More.
Helen Gilman Noyes
Helen Gilman [Mrs. Daniel R.] Noyes was born in 1843 in Alton, Illinois, daughter of Winthrop and Abia Gilman. Helen married Daniel R. Noyes in Lyme, Connecticut and moved to St. Paul in 1868, where Daniel became a wholesale druggist. Helen was involved in numerous organizations such as House of Hope Church, the Town and Country Club, Women’s Work Exchange, and the St. Paul Society for Relief of the Poor. The first NSCDA-MN meeting was held at her house at 366 Summit Avenue in St. Paul. Helen is descended from Colonial ancestor Honorable John Gilman of New Hampshire. Learn More.
Christine Lawrence Reeve
Christine Lawrence [Mrs. C. M.] Reeve was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1851 and married Charles Reeve in Minneapolis in 1873. Charles was a brigadier general who served in the Spanish American War, and Christine lived with him in Manila after the war. Upon returning to Minnesota, Christine was a founder of NSCDA-MN, and Charles returned to business pursuits. They wintered in Pasadena, California and supported the Red Cross there. Christine was descended from William Bradford of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Learn more.
Ellen Fellows Young
Ellen Fellows [Mrs. George B.] Young was the first President of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of Minnesota, serving from 1897 to 1904. Born on Martha’s Vineyard in 1846, she was a schoolteacher when she married George Young and moved to Minnesota in 1870. George became Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court and attorney to the Great Northern Railroad. Ellen became involved with the Protestant Orphan Asylum, serving as president of its board for eleven years. She is descended from Governor Thomas Mayhew of Massachusetts. Learn more.