Women are like tea bags; you never know how strong they are until they’re put in hot water.
Eleanor Roosevelt
The Women Who Made Their Mark
Women throughout history were known to stay home to take care of the family and do domestic work around the house. But not many people back then knew what women can do outside of their expectations. Learn how these women "made their mark" around their communities in the Wissahickon Valley Region.
The Female Heirs of Abraham Dawes
Abraham Dawes came to the Pennsylvania colony in the early 18th century, and purchased 419 acres in what is now known today as Whitpain Township in 1728. He built the Dawesfield estate in 1736 where all of his descendants live. Most of the heirs who took over the family home were female.
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It started after Abraham Dawes passed away, Dawesfield was passed down to his daughter Elizabeth who married James Morris. Later on, Dawesfield continued to be owned by the daughters of their ancestors until the second half of the 20th century. They were the wives of a prominent doctor and a military general from the Civil War.
Whitpain Ladies' Aid Society
Ladies' aid societies were formed to provide supplies for the soldiers who were fighting in the American Civil War. It all started with Elizabeth Blackwell who founded the Women's Central Association of Relief (WCAR) that helped train nurses to care for the wounded soldiers, and pressured the US government to establish the U.S. Sanitary Commission (USSC). As a result, the USSC enlisted women from the local aid societies to collect cash donations and supplies. The Whitpain Ladies' Aid Society was formed on November 3, 1862 with 43 members.
Four Sisters As Principals of a School
Elizabeth, Lavinia, Sarah, and Cordelia Knight were the daughters of George K. Knight, a prominent resident in Ambler during the late 19th century. While their father was doing business in Ambler, the four sisters ran a school in Ambler.
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​It was the oldest daughter Elizabeth who founded the Sunnyside Academy in 1869, with the help from Lavinia. During their tenure as principals, they held their first classes in an old frame building by the railroad tracks until moving into the building on the corner of Butler Avenue and South Main Street. After the two sisters passed away, Sarah and Cordelia took over as the next principals of Sunnyside Academy.
A Request to Create a Home for Disabled Clergymen
In 1885, Ann Jane Mercer wrote in her will in hopes an organization would take over her husband's estate with the funding of $100,000 to create a home for disabled clergymen of the Presbyterian faith. The home was named in honor of her husband, John C. Mercer.
Ambler's Woman's Chrisitan Temperance Union
The Women's Christian Temperance Movement was established by Frances Willard whose influence grew significantly in the movement. Its mission was to prohibit the manufacturing and sales of intoxicating liquors as a beverage.
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The movement became so popular it spread outside the cities. The movement in Ambler was founded in 1888 by Henry Keasbey's wife, Anna Keasbey, months before Ambler was incorporated.
A Town Named in Her Honor
Mary Ambler became a household name in the Ambler community because of her heroism and kindness to the victims of the 1856 train wreck that happened near the Fort Washington station. Not many people thought a frail woman like Mary would go out of her way to step into a chaotic scene to save those who needed help. After her death, the officials of the North Pennsylvania Railroad Company named the train station in her honor. Her name was later adopted by the village that we know and cherish.
A Mecca For Factory Girls
Imagine being a young woman who was working in a busy factory in the city, and needed to find a place to stay at to get some rest before the next day. That was when Anna M. Drayton, the wife of Henry E. Drayton, came up with the idea of creating a home by the Wissahickon Creek for these factory girls to stay at and take to train to the city to work.
Maud Ballington Booth and the Rainbow House
Maud Ballington Booth and her husband Ballington Booth immigrated to America in 1895 after years of their efforts in England as leaders of the Salvation Army. After becoming US citizens, they co-founded the Volunteers of America.
Maud got involved with helping the prisoners and their families find homes by creating "Rainbow Homes." In 1911, she reused the home that housed "convalescent" children that was founded by some families of Lower Gwynedd.
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A Whitpain Nurse Helps Her Country
Anna Dean Murphy was the daughter of a farmer in the Centre Square section of Whitpain Township. After graduating from Whitpain High School in 1911, she went on the attend Chestnut Hill Hospital School of Nursing and the University of Pennsylvania where she studied anesthetics. Instead of becoming a nurse locally, she volunteered in the US military as a nurse for the Red Cross in France during World War I.
Mary B. Russell and the Ambler Public Library
Mary B. Russell began the movement to establish a public library in Ambler on Valentine's Day, 1923. She supported the library by raising funds and adding more books to the collection. With the emergence of the old Union Library or Upper Dublin, they became the Ambler Public Library. It was chartered in 1934. It wasn't until years later the Ambler Public Library would be built and merged with Whitpain and Lower Gwynedd to form the Wissahickon Valley Public Library.
The Ambler Historian
Dr. Mary P. Hallowell Hough was one of the graduates of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. She married a fellow doctor, and moved to Ambler to raise their family. After retiring as a doctor for 50 years, Mary began to research about the early history of Ambler. In 1936, her book Early History of Ambler: 1682-1888 was published, the same book I used and referenced in my own research. Her research about the community was published in Ambler Gazette titled Ambler, Yesterday.
Marjorie Haines' Olympic Fairy Tale
Marjorie Haines grew up loving horseback riding at her father's farm when she was a young girl. She was 24 years old when she qualified for the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. For her training, she was given a horse named the Flying Dutchman that she used in her Olympic events. Little did she know she would be the first woman to represent the USA in the equestrian team.
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The Knight Family