Hester Jane Mercer was born in Readville, Massachusetts in 1877 to Joseph and Mary Ellen (Cullen) Mercer. She graduated from Windham High School in Willimantic, Connecticut in 1899 and attended Brown University, earning an A.B. in 1903. She then…
Hettie Gray Baker was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1881 and completed a “special course” in Library Science at Simmons sometime before 1907. She worked at the Hartford Public Library and then as a legal librarian at the Hartford Bar Library…
When clothing manufacturer John Simmons died in 1870, he left provisions in his will “to found and endow an institution to be called Simmons Female College.” The necessary funds were not secured until almost thirty years later, but when Simmons…
Julia Eleanor Moody was born in Canton, New York in 1869 to Harnel and Adelia (Hewett) Moody. She attended Mount Holyoke College, earning a B.S. in 1894 and then an M.A. in 1909 and writing her master’s thesis on the anatomy and embryology of…
June Richardson Donnelly was born in College Hill, Ohio, to John Marshall Donnelly and Anne (Moore) Donnelly. She attended the Cincinnati Public Schools, graduating from Hughes High School. She went on to earn a B.S. in biology in 1895 from the…
Katharine Lent (sometimes spelled Lente) was born in Copake, New York in 1853 to Marvin Richardson Lent, a Methodist minister, and Hannah (Louzada) Lent. She attended Amenia Seminary in New York, graduating as valedictorian in 1875. She went on to…
Household Economics student Katherine Hobart, of Cleveland, Ohio, was president of the Simmons Ohio Club and was in charge of costumes and props for the Dramatics Club during her senior year. A poem appearing on her 1916 yearbook page declared that…
Louise O’Malley was born in Clifton, Ireland and immigrated to New Hampshire as a child. During her time as a Household Economics student at Simmons, she taught settlement classes for children and was known among her classmates to be “always right…
Mabel Wheeler Daniels was born in Swampscott, Massachusetts around 1878 to George F. Daniels, a successful shoe manufacturer, and Maria (Wheeler) Daniels. The entire Daniels family was musically inclined; both of Mabel’s grandfathers were church…