More on the Little Mothers Aid Association and its Use of Hunter's Mansion on Hunter's Island

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In late 1890 or early 1891, a woman named Alma Calvin Johnson founded a charity based in New York City called The Little Mothers Aid Association.  The charity recognized that there were many young girls in the tenements of New York City who were forced to serve as the principal caregivers for their siblings while their parents toiled away at jobs to make ends meet.  Alma Calvin Johnson founded the charity to allow such tiny caregivers to visit the countryside outside New York City and enjoy a time to play and to celebrate the joys of youth. 

By the mid-1890s, the New York City Park Commissioner granted the charity the right to use the old Hunter Mansion in Pelham Bay Park on Hunter's Island and the surrounding estate for the benefit of the "Little Mothers."  The organization named the mansion "Holiday House" and transported girls from New York City on the New Haven Branch Line to Bartow Station from which they were taken by carriage to Hunter's Island.

I have written before about the use of the Hunter's Mansion on Hunter's Island by the Little Mothers Aid Association.  See, e.g. Fri., Apr. 15, 2016:  The Little Mothers Aid Association and its Use of Hunter's Mansion on Hunters Island in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries.

Exterior of Front of John Hunter's Mansion on Hunters Island, 1882. Embedded
Image Not Copied to the Historic Pelham Blog so If the Image is Removed by its
Owner or the Link to it is Changed, It Will No Longer Display Here. Source: 
Digital Version of Albumen Print in Collections of the Museum of the City of
New York, No. X2010.11.10134.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Today's Historic Pelham Blog article transcribes the text of a fascinating article published in 1903.  The reporter who wrote it visited Hunter's Island on a number of occasions one week and even traveled with the young girls selected to enjoy the island and Hunter's Mansion under the auspices of the Little Mothers Aid Association.  The article provides a fascinating glimpse of what it was like for the youngsters who enjoyed the island and its amenities in the first years of the Twentieth Century.

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"OUTINGS OF LITTLE MOTHERS.
-----
EXCURSIONS FROM THE EAST SIDE TO HUNTER'S ISLAND.
-----
Country Pleasures for Little Girls With Younger Brothers and Sisters to Care For -- A Deserted Baby -- A Little Mother Who Believes in Race Suicide.

A place of joy is Hunter's Island, in the Sound, for there the little mothers forget their burdens.

It is a great deal more fun, especially if one is under 12 and frail, to gather golden rod and pick blackberries, to go in bathing and to eat two plates of ice cream for dinner than it is to carry a baby up and down tenement stairs and take care of it all day long in close rooms or the street.  That is why little mothers are so anxious to go to Hunter's Island that they will resort to little subterfuges to get there and to stay as long as possible.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays parties of them, marshalled by the chaperons of the Little Mother's Aid Society, seek the Hunter's Island woods and shore, and it was last Tuesday that one little mother went in spite of obstacles.  She had obtained an outing badge at the society's office in Second avenue, but the trouble was that there was no one save herself to take care of her brother, eight months old, while her mother was away cleaning windows in an office building.  On this account Jennie didn't dare to ask if she might go.

At 7 o'clock on Tuesday morning her mother went to work.  Before 9 Jennie had the baby dressed and fed and lulled to sleep and was herself arrayed in her very best.  She had to hurry in the writing of the little note telling where she had gone, but she reached the starting place in time.

Apparently no one enjoyed more than she did the ride in the cars, and in the stage through Pelham Bay Park and woods on Hunter's Island up to the big house overlooking the Sound.  She went in bathing, ate plenty of dinner and in the afternoon filled her apron with apples to take back to the city.

It was not until Jennie was on the Third avenue elevated train in the early evening and near home that she began to cry.  Then the story of her running away came out.  She was afraid to face her mother.

'Now don't you cry any more,' exclaimed the young woman who had lent a sympathetic ear to Jennie's recital of her troubles.  'I'll go home with you myself, and it will be all right.  You see if it isn't.'

And it was.

'I heard the little tyke a-hollerin' away,' Mrs. Cassidy, who lives on the same floor, remarked in the course of the explanations, 'and I brought him in here, and after I got him quiet I give him a crust, and he ain't hardly been any trouble all day.'

Jennie's mother was appeased by the tactful words of the teacher, and by the apples, which her small daughter had held in her apron as a peace offering.

'Sure, and we'll get four or five messes of apple sauce out of this, anyhow,' was an observation with which she consoled herself for the danger to the baby.

Keen as the little mothers are about getting to Hunter's Island, they are even more anxious to remain when they have felt its charms.  The poorest and most delicate, who are allowed to stay a week, are greatly envied by those who must return to the East Side after a single day of roaming in the woods and along the shore and on the grassy slopes around the fine stone house that is the society's country home.

'Teacher, teacher, Annie ain't here!' called out a shrill-voiced little girl in the train one afternoon when the children were returning from a day's outing on the island.

A hasty and agitated count by the chaperons proved that this was true.  It is difficult to keep track of each one of fifty youngsters on a trip involving changes.  Annie might easily have stayed away unnoticed, and visions of accidents destroyed the peace of mind of those who were responsible for the children.

But they learned that night that Annie was all right.  She was still on Hunter's Island.  When the time had come for her to go home with the others, she had hidden away, but had put in an appearance when the horn blew for supper.

When the stage was about to start for the station on Tuesday a little mother, surrounded by a group of sympathizers, approached the superintendent with tears rolling down her cheeks.

'I -- I came to stay for -- for a week,' she sobbed, 'but I got a mark, and the -- the teacher says I must go home.'

'Well, well,' said the superintendent soothingly, 'that's too bad.  Will you promise me that you'll be such a good girl that you won't get any more marks?'

'Yes'm,' answered this repentant little mother, eagerly brushing away the tears.

'Well, then, you just take off your hat again, and go with the rest out to the swing.  But, remember, I shall expect you to be one of the very best of my girls all week.'

'It is a rule that if a girl gets a bad mark she has to go home,' explained the superintendent; 'but I don't send a girl home once in a month.  They are very easy little things to manage if you take the trouble to put yourself in a sympathetic relationship with them.'

'I like this place just -- just fierce,' remarked Lizzie, settling back in her rocking chair on the porch, with a little sigh of contentment over the fact that she was staying, as she watched a crowd of the others climb into the stage.  Lizzie, who is 12, is busy knitting a woollen jacket for a small sister at home.

'But it seems awful funny at night till you get used to it,' she went on.  'It's so dark all around outside, and the bugs and things in the grass sing so dreary that you feel scary and kind o' wish you was home.  But in the daytime you forget all that.'

Within a few minutes after the children arrive at the house on Hunter's Island in the morning they go running down the grassy hill where small waves lap the sand between the rocks.  As quickly as possible they don the bathing suits furnished by the society, and then the fun begins.

There are duckings and splashings and screams of laughter; a few who live in neighborhoods where there are free baths can swim.  The majority have never been bathing before, and they approach the water gingerly until they gain courage from the example of others.

'Teacher, are you allowed to get your suit wet?' asked one of the first little girls out of the bathhouse the other day.

A little while after the bath is over the horn toots for dinner.  The little mothers, who have heard that there is to be ice-cream, crowd eagerly into the wide hallway, form in a line impatiently, and, to the music of a lively air on the piano, march in to their places in front of long rows of plates with meat and potatoes and stewed corn on them, and glasses of milk with big pieces of bread and butter on top.

After dinner the little mothers go for blackberries in the woods, and gather big bunches of goldenrod and clover and black eyed susans in the meadow, and load their aprons with apples to take home for apple sauce.

'Do you see that round-faced little girl over there swinging?' said a chaperon.  'She looks quite happy, doesn't she?'  She didn't look that way when we first found her, about two weeks ago.  Her mother was in the hospital and her father had disappeared.

'She had been living all alone in the tenement for a day or two when the landlord came along and put the few pieces of furniture on the street and turned her over to a neighbor.  The latter couldn't keep her, and when we picked her up she was sitting crying on the curb, with her little bundle in her arms.'

'Have you any little brothers and sisters, Mamie,' asked the chaperon of a serious-faced child who was sitting near.

'Yes'm.  I have one that high,' answered Mamie, holding her hand on a level with her neck, 'and one that high,' lowering her hand to her waist, 'and the baby.'

'Who takes care of them all?'

'I do, and I do the housework, too.'

'I don't believe in children,' volunteered an ex-little mother who had graduated, as many of them do, from housekeeping in a tenement to work in a department store, and was spending her vacation at Hunter's Island.  'Why not?  That's easy.  Because they cost too much, and you can't tend to them right if you have to work yourself.'"

Source:  OUTINGS OF LITTLE MOTHERS -- EXCURSIONS FROM THE EAST SIDE TO HUNTER'S ISLAND -- Country Pleasures for Little Girls With Younger Brothers and Sisters to Care For -- A Deserted Baby -- A Little Mother Who Believes in Race Suicide, The Sun [NY, NY], Aug. 23, 1903, p. 6, cols. 3-4.

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The Town of Pelham's First Annual Children's Holiday Season Party Held in 1932

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Last Saturday, December 2, Town Supervisor Peter DiPaola and Town staff welcomed more than 150 youngsters and their families to Gazebo Park and the Town Hall grounds for the 2017 Children's Holiday Party and Tree Lighting.  The celebration was joyous with peals of laughter, youngsters chattering and scampering, and a hum of excitement.

Santa and Mrs. Claus welcomed youngsters.  Each child received a small stuffed bear as a gift.  Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Trolls danced among the kids, greeting all with high-fives, dances, and hugs.  There were face painting sessions, balloon animals, a small petting zoo, festive carolers, and much more.  The evening was topped off with the lighting of the Town Tree next to Town Hall with magnificent lighting including a giant star at its very top.

Hundreds of Pelhamites enjoyed the event.  Virtually none, however, knew that the joyous celebration was the continuation of an annual tradition that began 85 years ago in 1932.

In 1932, the Town of Pelham and our entire nation were in the terrible throes of the Great Depression.  Many Pelham families and their youngsters were not looking forward to a joyous holiday season.  The Great Depression had taken its toll.

The entire Town of Pelham came together that year, led by Town Supervisor Joseph H. McCormick and Welfare Commissioner Nellie Admir, to host a giant holiday party for the children of needy families of the Town.  Though the holiday party since has evolved into a wonderful celebration for all children of the Town, the first annual children's holiday party was specifically for needy children of the Town.  

That year, the Town of Pelham oversaw a committee of nearly fifty Pelhamites raised private money and donations to support the big event.  In fact, the group raised so much money from compassionate and concerned Pelham citizens wanting to give a happy holiday season to Pelham youngsters that quite a bit was left over after the celebration.  The excess was placed in a "thrift account" at a local bank to be used the following year to continue the tradition -- a tradition that continues to this day.

When the big day arrived, Santa (played by Town Engineer Harry Phillips) distributed a bag of targeted gifts to each child, assisted by a costumed "Brownie" as Santa's helper (played by Pelhamite James Connolly).  Pelhamite James Lang, who performed professionally as a clown in the Barnum & Bailey Circus, performed as a Christmas clown.  Arthur Spafford and Arthur Walker dressed together in a horse costume that delighted the youngsters.

The event was the culmination of weeks of work.  The Town required families to apply for admission tickets for their children.  Town Welfare Commissioner Nellie Admir then interviewed every family to determine need and the nature of gifts suitable for the children.  Every child received "a bag containing a toy, two suits of underwear, two pairs of stockings, candy, apples, nuts and oranges. "  In addition, during the party (which was held in VFW Hall on Fifth Avenue), refreshments of ice cream and cake were served. 

In addition to the clowning and horse performance, during the party Christmas stories were read to the children during the event.  The special treat of a radio was provided for entertainment during the party as well.  The children sang Christmas carols, led by Mrs. George F. Harman.   

At the height of the Great Depression, the Town of Pelham began a holiday tradition for the children of Pelham that continues to this day.  Hopefully, the tradition will continue a century from now and beyond. 

 

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"BRINGING CHRISTMAS JOY TO NEEDY CHILDREN  Entertainers and

Sponsors of Town Christmas Party Given Yesterday Afternoon for 175

Children of Needy Families.  Left to Right:  James Connolly, Santa's Helper;

Mrs. Nellie Admir, Town Welfare Commissioner, Who Arranged the Party;

Town Engineer Harry Phillips as Santa Claus; Supervisor Joseph H.

McCormick; Alan Eckert, Who Acted as Master of Ceremonies; Jake Lang,

Clown; Arthur Spafford and Arthur Walker Are Impersonating the Horse.

-- Photo by Frutkoff."  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

"It Will Be A Merry Christmas For Children Who Attend Town Party

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Pelham Residents Urged to Help With Program to Be Staged by Public Welfare Officer at Town Hall; Contributions Are Requested.

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Residents of the Pelhams are urged to assist in the first annual Pelham Christmas Party for the children of needy families to be held at the Town Hall on Saturday December 21st.  Santa Clause himself will be there with many assistants who will make sure that all the children who attend will know what a real Christmas is.  Mrs. Nellie Adair, public welfare commissioner of the town is preparing the program.  She is assisted by a large committee of prominent Peham women.  Mrs. A. C. Field, Mrs. Edward C. King, Mrs. Charles M. Russell, Mrs. Grace Logan Lyons and Mrs. Kneeland S. Durham, Jr., joined the committee this week.

The program will be financed by voluntary contributions.  Tag Day will be held in Pelham on Saturday, December 3rd and is expected to provide necessary funds.

Mrs. Adair reports that there has been a generous response to her appeal for contributions and gifts.  The following have contributed during the last week:  Miss Anne Cummins, John T. Brook, C. J. Monro, and Dr. Ken G. Hancher.

Applications for tickets should be made to Mrs. Adair, who will personally investigate every case.  Each child who attends the party will receive two suits of warm underwear, toys, stockings, candy and such clothing which the case shows will be required to keep the child warm during the winter months.  There will be refreshments, music and entertainment.

A radio will be donated for the party by Kolb & Crawford.  The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. has donated many pounds of candy.  Supervisor Joseph H. McCormick has donated 50 suits of underwear.

Mrs. Adair requests that contributions of toys, food, clothing, books, candy, etc., be sent to her office in the Town Hall where members of the committee will sort them and wrap packages.  A list of the needs of every child will be made and special packages will be prepared so that there will be no disappointments.

Women of the Pelhams are urged to join the committee in charge of the program.  During the next few weeks there will be considerable work for all who care to associate themselves with this affair.

Christmas decoration are also needed.  Send your contributions to Mrs. Adair at the Town Hall.  Let's all get behind this party and make it a Merry Christmas for the poor children of the Pelhams,"

Source:  It Will Be A Merry Christmas For Children Who Attend Town Party -- Pelham Residents Urged to Help With Program to Be Staged by Public Welfare Officer at Town Hall; Contributions Are Requested, The Pelham Sun, Nov. 25, 1932, Vol. 23, No. 36, p. 1, cols. 1-2.  

"Santa Claus Distributes Christmas Gifts To Children At Welfare Christmas Party Yesterday

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Christmas joy was brought to the hearts of 175 Pelham youngsters yesterday afternoon at the Christmas party arranged by Mrs. Nellie Adair, town welfare commissioner, for children of needy families of the town.  The affair was held at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall on Fifth avenue, the use of which was generously donated by the Walsh-Marvel Post No. 307.

A gala program was presented with Santa Clause and a number of entertainers.  The climax of the afternoon came when Santa Claus distributed to each of the children a bag containing a toy, two suits of underwear, two pairs of stockings, candy, apples, nuts and oranges.  During the party, refreshments of ice cream and cake were served.

The program opened with the singing of several Christmas songs by the children, led by Mrs. George F. Harman.  Then several games were played and refreshments served.  During intervals, entertainment was presented.  Jacob Lang, who clowned with Barnum and Bailey's circus for years appeared in several amusing constumes that pleased the kiddies.  One of the high spots of the program, judging from the cries of delight, was a bit of action staged by Lang and a horse, impersonated by Arthur Spafford and Arthur Walker.

(Continued on Page 5)

SANTA CLAUS IS AT TOWN WELFARE CHRISTMAS PARTY

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(Continued from Page One)

Mrs. Edwin A. Jimenis told  several Christmas stories, the children gathering about her in a large circle on the floor to listen wide-eyed as she told of Santa Claus.  An orchestra, led by Miss Ruth Fanelli, played music for the games and for the entertainment.  The Misses Alice Brock and Louise Lank were members of the orchestra.

Harry Phillips, town engineer, made the biggest hit of the day as Santa Claus.  Mr. Phillips was cast to perfection in this role, the kiddies climbing over each other to shake his hand and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.  James Connolly, attired as a Brownie, aided Santa Claus in the distribution of gifts.

Alan Eckert acted as master of ceremonies, conducting the games and introducing the various acts.  Austin de Stolfe sang a tenor solo.

Due to the generosity of many local people and business establishments in donating supplies, a portion of the $500 collected on Tag Day was saved.  Supervisor Joseph H. McCormick announced last night that this would be deposited in a thrift account and held in readiness for a similar party next year.  

Assisting on the committee were Mrs. G. F. Harman, Miss Aileen Kelleher, Miss Aileen Giblin, Mrs. J. Roche, Mrs. J. C. Wilberding, Mrs. W. L. Dench, Miss Ann Hammett, Mrs. Albert C. Field, Miss Mary Lou Field, Mrs. Julius Manger, Mrs. Minnie E. Oden, Mrs. Edward A. Brunner, Mrs. R. E. Ramsay, Miss Barbara Ramsay, Mrs. G. L. Russell, Mrs. T. W. Van Twisk, Miss Marion Russell, Miss Florence Harman, Mrs. A. J. Sweeney, Mrs. J. Pickard, Miss Estelle Christofferson.

Mrs. Kneeland S. Durham, Jr., Mrs. W. F. Goeltz, Mrs. D. J. Kennedy, Mrs. J. C. Brown, Mrs. E. J. Dutschler, Mrs. Harry Phillips, Mrs. E. J. Bayle, Mrs. L. B. Smith, Mrs. William Bradley, Mrs. William Taich, Mrs. John D. Groves, Mrs. Edward C. King, Mrs. James Black, Mrs. Theodore J. Deuscher, Alan Eckert, James Connolly, Austin de Stolfe, William Burnett, James Mullins, Commander John J. O'Sullivan of Walsh-Marvel Post, and Gorham Head."

Source:  Santa Claus Distributes Christmas Gifts To Children At Welfare Christmas Party Yesterday, The Pelham Sun, Dec. 22, 1932, Vol. 23, No. 40, p. 1, cols. 3-5 & p. 5, col. 7..

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Pelham Manor Firemen Helped Their San Francisco Brethren After the Great Earthquake in 1906

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Most were asleep when disaster struck that day.  At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a massive earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of XI (Extreme) virtually destroyed the City of San Francisco.  More than 80% of the city was destroyed and about 3,000 people were killed.  It was, of course, one of the deadliest earthquakes in United States History.  

Though the earthquake caused terrible damage, the fires that followed were even more destructive.  According to one source:

"It has been estimated that up to 90% of the total destruction was the result of the subsequent fires.  Within three days, over 30 fires, caused by ruptured gas mains, destroyed approximately 25,000 buildings on 490 city blocks.  One of the largest of these fires was accidentally started in a house on Hayes Street by a woman making breakfast for her family.  This came to be known as the 'Ham and Eggs Fire.'  Some were started when firefighters, untrained in the use of dynamite, attempted to demolish buildings to create firebreaks.  The dynamited buildings themselves often caught fire.  The city's fire chief, Dennis T. Sullivan, who would have been responsible, had died from injuries sustained in the initial quake.  In all, the fires burned for four days and nights."

Source:  "1906 San Francisco Earthquake" in Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia (visited Oct. 29, 2017).

Though many San Francisco firemen suffered personal losses, including the death of their beloved Fire Chief who was killed in the initial quake, they battled fires for four days to limit the damage as best possible under brutal circumstances using rudimentary fire fighting equipment.  Their valor did not go unnoticed.

Three thousand miles away, their brethren in the Pelham Manor Fire Department felt their pain.  From such a distance in such a day of limited travel means and speeds, there was little Pelham Manor firefighters could do except offer their prayers, their condolences, and money to help their fellow firefighters in San Francisco. Thus, on Friday, May 11, 1906, Pelham Manor firefighters hosted a grand fundraiser in the old Manor Club clubhouse (predecessor to today's Manor Club building).

Pelham Manor was, of course, an affluent New York City suburb.  The Pelham Manor Fire Department was known at that time as the "Millionaire Volunteer Fire Department" because it was composed of wealthy lawyers, brokers, businessmen, captains of industry, and other professionals.   

The lovely old Manor Club clubhouse was decorated with flowers including Dogwood blossoms.  Wives and friends of members of the Department assisted with the decorations and the refreshments for the grand ballroom dance.  Eight members of the Department oversaw the fundraising event.  They were:  Robert Beach (a civil engineer), Foreman;  Witherbee Black, First Assistant and a real estate speculator who was one of the wealthiest men in Westchester County; George Breckenridge, a successful attorney and Second Assistant; John Peck, treasurer for the event; Henry Dey, clerk and long-time associate editor of The New York Evangelist; mega-millionaire Martin Condon who was President of the American Tobacco Company; and W. P. Brown and Edmund Seymour. 

According to a local news account of the grand event:  "It has probably been some time since there has gathered such a body of prominent men as the fire fighters in a ball of the kind that was held last night.  The men wore full dress suits and the ladies appeared in handsome gowns.  The sight was one of unusual beauty."

The event raised several hundred dollars (roughly $8,700 in today's dollars) for the benefit of San Francisco firefighters who had suffered in the Great San Francisco earthquake of 1906.  Pelham was continuing what even in 1906 was already a long tradition of charitable giving.  

 Old Manor Club "Manor House" Where the Fundraising Ball Was Held

on Friday, May 11, 1906.  Image Published in 1892.  Source:  Manor

Club "Memory Book."   NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"PELHAM MANOR.
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FIREMEN'S DANCE
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For the Benefit of the San Francisco Sufferers Last Night.
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The 'Millionaire Volunteer Fire Department,' of Pelham Manor, so-called, held a ball in the Manor club house last night, for the benefit of the San Francisco firemen.  This department is composed entirely of New York business men, lawyers, brokers, and other professional men, who live in and own handsome residences in the Manor.

The club house was handsomely decorated with dogwood blossoms and other flowers.  Several hundred dollars were realized from the benefit.  The patronesses were the wives and friends of the members of the department.  The gathering was a large one.

The officers having in charge the ball were as follows:  Robert Beach, foreman; Witherbee Black, first assistant; George Breckenridge, second assistant; John Peck, treasurer; Henry Dey, clerk; together with W. P. Brown, Martin Condon and Edmund Seymour.

Mr. Beach is a well known civil engineer with offices at 32 Broadway.  Mr. Witherbee Black, the first assistant, is a member of one of the wealthiest families in Westchester county; George Breckenridge, the second assistant foreman, is a New York lawyer, and is representing the Pelham Manor property owners in their fight against the proposed route of the New York, Boston and Westchester railroad.  Martin Condon is president of the American Tobacco company, and Edmund Seymour is a brother of Ed. Seymour, the Republican leader of the west side of New York.

It has probably been some time since there has gathered such a body of prominent men as the fire fighters in a ball of the kind that was held last night.  The men wore full dress suits and the ladies appeared in handsome gowns.  The sight was one of unusual beauty."

Source:   PELHAM MANOR-- FIREMEN'S DANCE -- For the Benefit of the San Francisco Sufferers Last Night, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], May 12, 1906, p. 5, col. 3.

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Pelham Hall Shelter for "Erring Girls" Was Established in August 1895

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For more than a decade I have written about one of the grandest charitable endeavors of the late 19th century established and supported by Pelham women.  It was known by various names.  Most frequently it was known as "Pelham Hall Shelter."  It was formed by Mrs. Emily Hall Hazen, the headmistress of Pelham Hall, otherwise known as Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls located in Pelham Manor between Esplanade and Edgewood Avenue at Boston Post Road.  For one example, see:  Wed., Sep. 06, 2006:  Pelham Hall Shelter, a "Refuge for Erring Girls", Founded by Alumnae of Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in Pelham Manor.  

Mrs. Hazen worked with representatives of her many loving alumni in 1895 to create a shelter for "erring girls."  The shelter opened in August, 1895.  While it might be easy today to imagine such a charity to help only those young women who had strayed with their young beaus, that would be entirely off the mark.  

In 1895, Pelham Manor's "Mrs. Hazen" joined forces with then-famed Rebecca Salome Foster ("Mrs. Foster").  Mrs. Foster was a missionary and prison relief worker known as the "Tombs Angel" because she helped women imprisoned at The New York Halls of Justice and House of Detention (otherwise known as "The Tombs").  To learn generally a little more about Rebecca Foster, see "Rebecca Salome Foster" in Wikipedia -- The Free Encyclopedia (visited Sep. 3, 2017).  

"MRS. FOSTER."

Source:  GOOD IS THEIR AIM -- NEW YORK WOMEN WITH PRACTICAL

CHRISTIAN METHODS -- "The Angel of the Tombs," as Mrs. Foster Is Known

-- How She Assists Poor Girls -- Many a Pathway Is Brightened --  New

York Letter, The Daily Chronicle [De Kalb, IL], Apr. 11, 1896, p. 4, cols. 4-5.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Mrs. Hazen mustered the alumnae of her nationally-renowned girls preparatory school in Pelham Manor to create and support "Pelham Hall Shelter" located at 31 Webster Avenue in New Rochelle.  A directory of "Reformatories for Women" published in 1897 described the institution as follows: 

"Pelham Hall Shelter (estab. 1895), 31 Webster Ave., New Rochelle, N. Y.  A refuge for erring girls between 15 and 25 years old who evince a sincere desire to reform.  Founded and supported by the alumnae of Mrs. Hazen's School, Pelham Manor.  Capacity for 8 girls, who are taught to do housework, and are instructed in other branches of useful employment.  Effort is made to find homes for them in the country and situations best suited to their various needs and ability.  Girls are received from N. Y. City.  The Home is an effective aid to Mrs. Foster in rescue work at the N. Y. City courts and prisons.  Mrs. J. C. Hazen, Pres. and Treas., Pelham Manor, N. Y.; Mrs. S. N. Morse, Matron." 

Source:  Charity Organization Society of the City of New York, New York Charities Directory. - A Classified and Descriptive Directory to the Philanthropic, Educational and Religious Resources of the City of New York Including the Boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Richmond, p. 217 (NY, NY: The Knickerbocker Press 1897).

The shelter was tiny.  It sheltered eight to ten young women often plucked from the black-hearted Tombs in New York City where, occasionally, a young woman was wrongly imprisoned or terribly wronged, at least as Rebecca Foster perceived things.  According to one account:  

"It is not the intention of the Shelter to care for women of bad reputation or those who have lived a constant life of sin and crime, but to help some of the many girls who have grown up in the midst of temptation with no means of learning occupations to take them from it, and are driven by excessive poverty to theft and other wrong doing, as seemingly, the only way to obtain the necessities of life."

Mrs. Hazen, her alumnae, and women of Pelham who supported the shelter worked incessantly to help the young women who cycled through the shelter.  They considered time in the Pelham Hall Shelter to be educational.  They educated their young charges in "sewing, housework, or whatever they may seem to be best fitted for.  They are allowed to follow their own religious tendencies, and the only religious services held regularly in the house are the morning and evening prayers."  

"MRS. HAZEN."

Source:  GOOD IS THEIR AIM -- NEW YORK WOMEN WITH PRACTICAL

CHRISTIAN METHODS -- "The Angel of the Tombs," as Mrs. Foster Is Known

-- How She Assists Poor Girls -- Many a Pathway Is Brightened --  New

York Letter, The Daily Chronicle [De Kalb, IL], Apr. 11, 1896, p. 4, cols. 4-5.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

As one might expect, the Pelham Hall Shelter was managed by a board of trustees.  Mrs. Thomas P. Field was president in the early years of the organization.  Other members at the same time were:   Mrs. Alice Drake, Mrs. John A. Foster, Mrs. Martin J. Keogh, wife of Supreme Court Justice Keogh; Miss Marie Harrison of New Rochelle, and (of course) Mrs. John Cunningham Hazen and her daughter, "Miss Hazen," of Pelham Hall.  

The work of the important charity shelter was supported by the "entrance fee and annual dues of the school society" for which it was named and also by the proceeds of entertainments, subscriptions and contributions of clothing, and money from friends.  

"MRS. FIELD."

Source:  GOOD IS THEIR AIM -- NEW YORK WOMEN WITH PRACTICAL

CHRISTIAN METHODS -- "The Angel of the Tombs," as Mrs. Foster Is Known

-- How She Assists Poor Girls -- Many a Pathway Is Brightened --  New

York Letter, The Daily Chronicle [De Kalb, IL], Apr. 11, 1896, p. 4, cols. 4-5.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

The lengthy article transcribed below records much about the history of Pelham Hall Shelter and the nature of the young women whom the charity helped at the time.  It is important and fascinating reading for anyone interested in the history of philanthropy in our little Town of Pelham.  


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"GOOD IS THEIR AIM.
-----
NEW YORK WOMEN WITH PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN METHODS.
-----
'The Angel of the Tombs,' as Mrs. Foster Is Known -- How She Assists Poor Girls -- Many a Pathway Is Brightened.
-----
New York Letter.

THE charity and rescue work carried on by Mrs. Foster, who is called the 'Tombs Angel,' is of a practical sort.  There is no singing of hymns, reading of tracts, or preaching to the unfortunates with whom she deals, but, in her own language ,she simply aims to do what one woman would do for another who was in trouble.  It must not be imagined that Mrs. Foster is not a religious woman, but she does not believe in forcing religion upon the unfortunate women to whom she offers her aid.  Mrs. Foster was formerly a paid missionary of the Presbyterian City Mission society, but she found herself in a position where she could afford to give up the salary, and now what she does for the unfortunates that drift into the criminal courts is without desire of remuneration.  She has received several offers to act as the paid representative of missions in other cities who are anxious to take up the rescue work as practiced by her in the Tombs, but she has declined them because she loves New York, her native city.

She deals with the women who find themselves in trouble through having, in a moment of desperation or temptation, committed some crime which puts them behind the prison bars, and she works among them without regard to race, color, creed or nationality.  For instance, the other day she took up the case of a woman who had been locked up in the Tombs charged with abandoning her baby.  The woman was awaiting the action of the grand jury on the complaint on which she was awaiting the action of the grand jury on the complaint on which she was held in the police court.  Mrs. Foster in her daily rounds of the prison, talked with the woman and learned that it was through absolute ignorance of how to provide food and shelter for herself and the baby that the woman was tempted in a moment of despair to leave it on the doorstep of a dwelling in the hope that it would be taken care of by the persons who found it.  Mrs. Foster learned from the woman that she had spent nine days in the Harlem hospital. She had struggled along as best she could to earn her own living, until finally she was taken ill and had to go to the hospital she had no relatives or friends in the city, and had to walk the streets day and night with her baby.  She finally became so exhausted that she thought if she kept the baby with her any longer it would die, and she abandoned it, not because she wanted to desert it, but simply because she had no means of providing for it.  She was anxious to have the baby with her, but was unwilling to sacrifice its life.  Mrs. Foster, after hearing her story, appeared before the grand jury.  She told members of that body the circumstances of the case, and the grand jury dismissed the complaint on Mrs. Foster's assurance that she would see the mother and baby taken care of.  Mrs. Foster sent the woman to a place where she can earn a living by taking care of another baby, and after a year's service she will be at liberty to go away and leave her own baby, paying a nominal sum for its support.  This was rather an exceptional case for Mrs. foster to take charge of [sic].

Her ideal work is rescuing young women who fall into the hands of the police for the first time.  She prefers to take the cases of girls who are left without natural protectors and need a woman's care.  The reason the judges and others in authority in the criminal courts are willing to condone petty offenses, or even those that might be regarded as of a graver nature, on Mrs. Foster's plea, is that they are certain that she can do what no amount of imprisonment or other punishment could accomplish.

Mrs. Foster is enabled to provide a home and the means of making good women out of wayward girls through an organization known as the Pelham Hall league.  The league has a quiet little country home at New Rochelle that is known as the Pelham Hall Shelter for Homeless Girls.  It is supported entirely by the pupils and alumni of Mrs. J. C. Hazen's school at Pelham Manor.  The home was opened last August.  Since the league took up the work Mrs. Foster has saved many young women from prison and started them on the road to earn their own living and look out for others dependent upon them.

The cases which she takes up are something like the following:  A young woman who was living out with a family and supposed to be receiving $6 a month was arrested charged with stealing a dress belonging to her mistress.  She was locked up in the Tombs and Mrs. Foster, upon investigating the case, learned that the mistress owed her a month's wages, and the dress which she was accused of stealing was an old skirt which she had taken and altered to fit herself.  Mrs. Foster advised her to plead guilty, saying that she did not want her to add the crime of perjury to her other fault, and got the judge to suspend sentence.  She took the girl to her home, where she was taught how to do good housework, and then got her a situation.

Another girl whose case she took up was a cook who became addicted to drink.  She could not control herself, and twice got into the hands of the police.  Mrs. Foster took her to the Pelham home, and under the refining influence of the women there, the girl soon lost her appetite for alcoholic stimulant.  She became so that she was able to resist temptation, and is now serving in a private family in the city.  Another case which Mrs. Foster had some months ago was that of a girl who was a servant in a family up town on the West side.  She became jealous because the other servants were better dressed than she, and as most of her wages went to support her aged father, she had little left to vie with them in the matter of clothes.  In a moment of weakness she stole a watch belonging to her mistress and kept it for several days.  Then her conscience reproved her, and she acknowledged having stolen the watch when her mistress asked her about it, and brought it back at once.  She was arrested, nevertheless.  Mrs. Fowler investigated her past career and found that she was a good girl, and that it was simply a desire to dress well that induced her to take the watch.  She took charge of her, and ever since the girl has been an honest and excellent servant in a situation which Mrs. Foster got for her.  

A case in which Mrs. Foster did excellent work was that of Nellie Hathaway, a woman who was arrested in a Bayard street dive charged with being an accessory to murder.  Mrs. Foster secured her release and has made a decent woman of her.  There is one class of cases which Mrs. Foster never has anything to do with, those of immoral women.  She has been known, however, to help such women along while in prison.

In the home at New Rochelle the inmates are allowed to come and go at will.  They receive good food and good clothes, and are educated during their stay in sewing, housework, or whatever they may seem to be best fitted for.  They are allowed to follow their own religious tendencies, and the only religious services held regularly in the house are the morning and evening prayers.  The home looks like a private residence.  The work is conducted on a rather limited scale at present, but eight or ten girls are being taken care of constantly.  The main object is simply to afford a quiet, healthful shelter.  The work is managed by a board of directors of which Mrs. Thomas P. Field is president.  The other members are:  Mrs. Alice Drake, Mrs. John A. Foster, Mrs. Martin J. Keogh, wife of Supreme [Court] Justice Keogh; Miss Marie Harrison of New Rochelle, and Mrs. J. C. Hazen and Miss Hazen of Pelham Hall.  The work is supported just now by the entrance fee and annual dues of the school society for which it is named, by the proceeds of entertainments, subscriptions and contributions of clothing, and money from friends.  Mrs. Hazen, in speaking of the work, said:

'It is not the intention of the Shelter to care for women of bad reputation or those who have lived a constant life of sin and crime, but to help some of the many girls who have grown up in the midst of temptation with no means of learning occupations to take them from it, and are driven by excessive poverty to theft and other wrong doing, as seemingly, the only way to obtain the necessities of life.'  

Mrs. Fowler is the widow of the late Gen. John A. Foster, who won distinction in the civil war and was a conspicuous New York lawyer.  Mrs. Foster is the only woman who enters the criminal courts and intercedes with the judges for prisoners with any degree of success."

Source:  GOOD IS THEIR AIM -- NEW YORK WOMEN WITH PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN METHODS -- "The Angel of the Tombs," as Mrs. Foster Is Known -- How She Assists Poor Girls -- Many a Pathway Is Brightened -- New York Letter, The Daily Chronicle [De Kalb, IL], Apr. 11, 1896, p. 4, cols. 4-5.

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