Lucinda Hinsdale Stone

Lucinda Hinsdale was born in Hinesburg, Vermont, September 30, 1814.[4] She was the youngest of a family of twelve children who were born to Lucinda Mitchell and Aaron Hinsdale. The Hinsdale family was from the house de Hinnsdale of France whose records go back to 1170. Their Coat-of-Arms is described in the French records of nobility and were on display in the Astor Library. She was related to Elihu Burritt "the learned blacksmith" and Emma Willard of the Troy Seminary. She was also related, through her mother, to Maria Mitchell, the astronomer.[5]

Early on, she developed a habit of early rising that continued all her life, saying that:— "... the best of any literary work I have ever done, most of the continued study of any language begun in school, many hundreds of articles written for newspapers, foreign correspondence with newspapers, hundreds of letters written to clubs, and almost my entire correspondence, which has been large, has been done in the early morning hours, before anyone else was astir in the house. This time I have felt was mine, and somehow the freshness of those early sunrise hours of my childhood would come back to me in the early morning, and I could not sleep or lose these early hours. When traveling abroad, my exploration and study of cathedrals and most of the remarkable churches in Rome and in various cities of Europe have been made in the early morning. Such places were always open, and it was the most quiet time to visit them, and I have been able to get into many a nook and corner of old churches that I could not have been able to peer into when there were crowds of other visitors there also."[4]

At the age of thirteen, she entered Hinesburg Academy and at fifteen, taught a summer country school, returning to the academy in the fall and teaching again the next summer. The trustees of the academy, recognizing her thirst for knowledge, gave her the then unheard of privilege of entering the classes with the young men who were being fitted for college. She pursued the studies of Greek and Latin with them. She not only kept up with them but studied music and French besides. She did not, however, enter University of Vermont with them.[6] Occasionally, the president or some of the professors of Middlebury College, which was south of her town, and Vermont University at Burlington, to the north, came to preach to her class. School teachers for her winter school were students from one or the other of these colleges.[1]

When about 18, she went away to a ladies' seminary in Middlebury, for a year because this was considered necessary as a finishing process in young women's education. But the ladies' seminary was disappointing to Stone, the teaching not nearly so broad or thorough as that of our academy. In many of the classes, Stone felt that she could have taught quite as well as the students were taught, and in fact, she was often asked to step in in case of illness or absence of the teacher to teach a class.[1]

The Ladies' Library Association and the Twentieth Century Club were the first and the last of the numerous clubs founded by Mrs. Stone in Kalamazoo during her life. The first named, the Ladies' Library Association was founded in 1852 and had its origin in a history class founded by her which after a few years of successful study was merged into a literary club with Mrs. Stone as its president. This association built for itself a building on Park Street in which were gathered choice paintings, statuary and a valuable library. The Twentieth Century Club was the last one organized by Mrs. Stone. Under her care, it grew until the library parlors and hall of her house overflowed, eventually resulting in the construction of the Stone Memorial Building.[12] The various clubs throughout Michigan endowed a perpetual scholarship in Mrs. Stone's name in the University of Michigan for young women desiring an education. The $5,000 was raised and given to the university in the fall of 1905. [13] A portrait of Mrs. Stone, commonly known as "Michigan's Mother of Clubs", was a joint gift of two literary societies founded by her in Kalamazoo, The Ladies' Library Association and The Twentieth Century Club.[14] She also established the Douglas Club of Kalamazoo for African Americans, in whom she had always taken the most active interest.[7]

Returning from her last journey of foreign travel, and at the age of seventy-six, she was appointed to organize Isabella Clubs in the Fourth Congressional District, so that "features of interest in the forthcoming World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 might be better appreciated by its members". She took an unbounded interest in this work, giving regular and personal attention to it. To accomplish this, she traveled several days in each week, which seemed not to weary her greatly. Each Thursday found her in her own library in Kalamazoo with the earnest women composing the Isabella Club of that place gathered about her and it was here that her nature was most clearly noted. This merit was recognized by the University of Michigan when they conferred upon her the degree of Ph.D. in 1891.[11]

The Isabella Clubs throughout the state expired by limitation in the spring of 1893. A large number of them organized anew, retaining their membership and taking other names. It was at this juncture that the Twentieth Century Club of Kalamazoo came into existence, with a large charter membership and Mrs. Stone was chosen as perpetual president, which place she filled until her death seven years later, March 14, 1900, at the age of eighty-five.[12]

In 1983, Lucinda Hinsdale Stone was recognized for her efforts in advancing the cause of women's rights through induction into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.[15] Stone is credited with advocating on behalf of the first female student admitted to the University of Michigan in 1870.[15] The University of Michigan created the Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Senior Faculty Award in recognition of Stone's efforts to earn women admission to the university.[16] One of the chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution is named in her honor.[17]

• Works by or about Lucinda Hinsdale Stone at Internet Archive