This is part of a series of
Hamilton and Wenham, Massachusetts, oral histories of the towns, produced by
William Heitz and Edmund Josephs from 1986 through 1995. It was originally
taped on July 2, 1990. It was converted to .m4v format by library
volunteer Robyn Luna and uploaded to the Internet Archive by Sarah Lauderdale,
Head of Reference at Hamilton-Wenham Public Library, on Monday, November 30,
2015. Our thanks to William Heitz for permission to upload this content
to the Internet Archive. Sarah Lauderdale’s description of the interview
is provided below.
Summary:
Edmund Josephs introduces the topic
of Hamilton local writer and thinker Gail Hamilton, with guest speakers Eleanor
McKey and Blanche Day. Mary Abigail Dodge was born on March 31, 1833 in Hamilton, MA;
family members and some genealogy of the Dodge family; life, schooling and
church attendance in Hamilton; some of Gail Hamilton’s quoted writing about her
childhood; her education at the Ipswich Female Seminary, where she graduated in
1850 and also worked as a teacher; further information about the Ipswich Female
Seminary; her work at a female seminary in Hartford and the Hartford Seminary
for Boys; tutor to the Bailey children; hostess in the home of James Blaine in
Washington D.C.; confidant of both James Blaine and his wife, who was her
cousin; father’s purchase of property on Bay Road in 1859 and the home that
used to be there, where Hamilton lived with her sister Hannah Augusta when in
Hamilton; walks through town and to the Wenham Depot; Gail Hamilton’s
description of her schedule while at home in Hamilton; anecdote about Gail
Hamilton and the Wenham Depot, later renamed Hamilton-Wenham Depot; quotations
from Gail Hamilton regarding her thoughts on life as an unmarried woman and the
institution of marriage; her many notable friends and acquaintances; memorials
donated in her memory, such as a stained glass window tribute from her sister
Hannah Augusta Dodge, who also made a thousand dollar donation for a Gail
Hamilton Reading Room in the Hamilton town library; “Gail Hamilton’s Life In
Letters,” and many books and works by Gail Hamilton, with discussion of her
writing for children, her poetry, and passing reference to “A Battle of the
Books.”
Keywords:
The following names and terms were used in this interview: Gail
Hamilton [Mary Abigail Dodge], Hamilton Congregational Church, Hamilton
Cemetery, James Dodge, Hannah Dodge, Hannah Augusta Dodge, Dodge genealogy,
Gail Avenue off of Highland Street in Hamilton, West School, Ipswich Female
Seminary, Hartford School for Boys, Mary Lyon, the Bailey children, James
Blaine, Mrs. Blaine [Harriet (Stanwood) Blaine], “Letters of Mrs. Blaine”
[“Letters of Mrs. James G. Blaine”], Hamilton home on the property at 484 – 514
Bay Road, Wenham Depot, Kathryn Nickerson, Hamilton-Wenham Depot, John
Greenleaf Whittier, Harriet Prescott, Harriet B. Spofford, Lucy Larcom, Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Grace Greenwood; Charles Street in Boston, James Lowell, Oliver
Wendell Homes, Julia Ward Howell, Henry James Sr., Hawthorne [Nathaniel
Hawthorne], Una Hawthorne, Sophia Hawthorne, memorials, stained glass window,
“A Sister’s Tribute to the Memory of Mary Abby Dodge,” Hannah Augusta Dodge
trust fund, town library in Hamilton, Hamilton Town Hall, Gail Hamilton Reading
Room, Treasurer’s Office, Town Clerk’s office, Main Road, Jean Buckley,
Hamilton Historical Society, “Gail Hamilton’s Life In Letters,” “Our Young
Folks,” J.T. Trowbridge, “A Battle of the Books,” “The Building of the Railroad,”
“Red-Letter Days in Applethorpe,” “Child World.”
“We now conclude
the first episode of a two part program featuring the life and times of Gail
Hamilton from her growing up days on Gail Avenue to when she attended the old
West School on Highland Street and on Sundays would walk through the wooded
paths to the Congregational Church on what is now called Bay Road, to her
Ipswich Female Seminary Days. We have
attempted to recreate her early stages of development. We see her going off to Hartford and
eventually to Washington DC, where she met and worked with so many of our
nations image makers, including her close association with James Blaine. And so when we return for Part 2, Eleanor
McKey will continue to review her many fine books and miscellaneous writings.”
