Mattapoisett Museum is not only a unique and important south coast institution; it is a repository of letters, diaries, journals, deeds, and documents painstakingly curated and made available to anyone doing research or studying local history. Now two women have pulled back the curtain of time to share with us four “Notable Women of Mattapoisett.” The full, hour-long presentation hosted by the Mattapoisett Museum is available on YouTube.
The old adage of “It takes one to know one” generally has a negative connotation, but not when talking about Carole Clifford, a retired educator and current School Committee member, and Jennifer McIntire, who holds a Ph.D. in Far Eastern Art History and is a past president of the Historical Society Board of Directors.
These two women are in their own right quite successful. Being museum members, they knew about the vast written collections and, through their research, have given life to four well-respected women: Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard (1823-1902), Huybertie Lansing Pruyn Hamlin (1873-1964), Minerva Miller Sparrow (1882-1968), and Florence Eastman (1894-1918).
In McIntire’s presentation, Stoddard comes through as a strong, rather single-minded woman who believed herself to be “an author,” and therefore, shunned housework. Her works caused her to be compared to Balsac and the Bronte sisters. Her novel, The Morgansons, sets Stoddard apart from many of her contemporaries in that not only did she write in a less cumbersome linguistic manner, her female lead is not a victim but a victor. The story allows the character to explore the social norms of the time, including sexuality, and she is successful in breaking economic chains. The leading lady gets to keep her family property. The story is centered in a New England seaside town and is believed to be autobiographical.
While Stoddard may have held strong feminist views, she neither subscribed to nor sympathized with the suffrage movement. McIntire said, “Stoddard was ambitious, not a demure Victorian woman, direct and opinionated.” One could say Stoddard was an enigma. “Motherhood was central to her life.” During a time when women’s roles were almost exclusively domestic, Stoddard gave her female characters multi-faceted personalities.
McIntire also explored the life of Minerva Miller Sparrow, who grew up on Church Street. Sparrow received an education at Mount Holyoke College and other universities and later earned a master’s degree in English. In her later years, she was instrumental in developing the Mattapoisett Historical Society and the society’s acquisition of the former Baptist Church, which today stands as a beacon, a treasure trove, the Mattapoisett Museum.
Sparrow was asked by the attorney handling the closed Baptist Church to set up a board to govern and oversee the building leading up to the donation of the structure to the society and its eventual use as a museum. She was involved with the society throughout her retirement until her passing.
But it was her early years that one could say, through the lens of time, set Sparrow apart. She spent many years as an educator to the under-served, former slaves, and the poor. She began her career teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in Acushnet, then for reasons lost to time, she taught in Jacksonville, Florida. Sparrow then surfaces as a teacher at Rust College (1909-1920), a black institution of higher education, followed by 15 years teaching at Straight College, founded by freed slaves, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The children of Eastern Kentucky and the southern Appalachians also received instruction from Sparrow between 1943 and 1949.
“She was described as the best teacher by her students,” McIntire said of Sparrow. “She took great interest in the whole student, setting high standards for them.”
Clifford explored the long life and achievements of Huybertie Lansing Pruyn Hamlin. Hamlin’s pedigree is that of wealthy Dutch founders and long political connections. She married Charles Hamlin, who summered in Marion. Later, the couple purchased many acres in what is now known as Ned’s Point. Mr. Hamlin was the first chairman of the Federal Reserve, bringing his wife into political and social contact with American royalty such as the Roosevelts, FDR included.
Hamlin documented her life and social interactions in letters and diaries by the droves, much of which is now in the museum’s care and protection. Clifford said that the Hamlins were lifelong members of the Grange and that Mrs. Hamlin found new and important projects that would benefit the community even today.
In 1904, Hamlin became a founding member of the Mattapoisett Improvement Association, a group of like-minded people, mostly women whose works included rubbish collection, a beach bathhouse, tree plantings, cemetery care, and bringing entertainment to town. The group’s garden committee held annual contests for the best vegetables and flowers grown from seed packets distributed to children.
One of Hamlin’s more ambitious efforts was raising money to save Shipyard Park. At the time, the property had seen many decades of commercial use, from shipbuilding to various shops of commerce. Today that space commands an unobstructed, spectacular view of the harbor. All who enjoy the seaside park have Hamlin to thank.
Hamlin lived a long and very productive life. Her writings capture bygone moments in time, such as the hurricane of 1938 in which she wrote the seas were “an angry mountain range coming towards our home.” So close were the Hamlins to the Roosevelts that FDR dispatched the Coast Guard to see if they were safe during the aftermath of the storm.
Hamlin enjoyed having company and was known not only for her civic-minded pursuits but for having fun by way of practical jokes and hosting lavish parties in her seaside home. On the civic side of things, Hamlin was a lifelong Democrat and member of the Democratic Women of New Bedford.
“I wonder, what would she think if she could see Mattapoisett today? I think she would be proud,” Clifford said. “She was a strong woman who made a big difference in the town.”
One of the more famous women to have come from or been associated with Mattapoisett is Florence Eastman. While her life was brief, she has lived on in the hearts and minds of the community in no small part due to the recognition she received from the American Legion Post.
Eastman clearly had a humble beginning compared to the previously noted trio– her father was the last lighthouse keeper at Ned’s Point. Clifford said that Eastman was known for her deep convictions and self-discipline. She wanted to be useful and help others, and so embarked on a career as a nurse. Eastman joined the Red Cross in 1918. When World War I broke out, she was the only woman in Mattapoisett and possibly the surrounding area to volunteer. Soon, she found herself in charge of a military hospital in Long Island, taking care of men who had contracted what was then called the Spanish Flu.
The end of her story is abrupt; Eastman came down with the illness and died. She would be one of 500 million souls who would die from this flu. She was buried with full military honors. Eastman’s drive and desire to make a difference live on. Her cheerful and complete devotion to caring for others has earned her a permanent place in Mattapoisett’s history; the American Legion Post is named after this brave young soul.
McIntire and Clifford touched on the fact that each of the featured women lived during times when many women were lobbying for the right to vote. However, it is interesting to note that very little, if anything at all, defines where this group stood on the topic, with the exception of Stoddard.