Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/291

218 been given in furnishing a library, and the care of some rooms has been assumed by members who bear all the expense of this pleasant duty."

At the annual meeting twelve directors and twelve visitors are elected, and one of each of these visits the home in some month during the year. In order that the duties may be thoroughly understood, it is required that before being elected to the Board of Directors a member shall serve as visitor. A fair held in Horticultural Hall, Boston, in November, 1900, for the perpetual care of the buri;d-lot above referred to netted three thousand dollars, checks for liberal amounts being received from Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Converse, of Maiden, and generous contributions from other friends.

The Presidents of the Ladies' Aid Association have been Mrs. Caroline King, Mrs. Julia K. Dyer (who served ten years), Mrs. Austin C. Wellington, Mrs. William A. Bancroft, Mrs. Augusta A. Wales, and Mrs. Harriet A. Ralph.

The late Captain John (1. B. Adams, in his last report as president of the Board of Trustees of the Home (July, 1900), mentioning the services at Forest Dale Cemetery, Maiden, on Memorial Day, carried out by Gettysburg Post, of Boston, under the direction of the Ladies' Aid, said: "This association has maintained its interest in the home unabated, and in very many ways has rendered service which could not be otherwise provided. It has been a blessing to us since the incorporation of our board. It surely is, and I trust will ever continue to be, what its name implies, an and association."

Mrs. Ralph is a member of the Broatlway Congregational Church of Somerville, and is deeply interested in religious work. She is also identified with Ivaloo Lodge, Daughters of Rebekah, of Somerville, has served as its treasurer, and declined higher offices that have been tendered her. She is interested in other social and charitable work connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Ralph is a member of the Heptorean Club Auxiliary of Somerville.

The marriage of Harriet A. Myers and William H. Ralph, of Boston, took place in May, 1874 They removed to Somerville, and have continued their residence in that city. Mr. Ralph is one of the leading Odd Fellows in Massachusetts, and has been an officer of the Grand Encampment, I. O. O. F., and is Grand Marshal of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. He was Commandant of Canton Washington, Patriarchs Militant, of Somerville, at the time of the competitive drill at Chicago. This canton there won the second prize, which consisted of a valuable diamond i)in for the commandant and a magnificent banner for the canton. Mr. Ralph was Colonial of the Second Massachusetts Regiment, Patriarchs Militant, in 1891, and was Chief of Staff of the parade when the Sovereign Grand Lodge met in Boston in 1894. He is also a member of the Masonic order.

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph are highly esteemed by a wide circle of friends. They have had three children—namely, Joseph William, born April 11, 1875; H. Florence, born September 22, 1880—both graduates of the Somerville High School, and Charles Warren, born August 17, 1877, who died January 9, 1880. Their eldest son was a young man of talents and ability that gave promise of a successful career. His christian fortitude, his manly bearing and genial companionship, won for him many friends in all circles of society. He passed to the life beyond, SeptcTuber 13, 1903.

LLEN A. RICHARDSON, artist, was born in Portsmouth, N.H., being a daughter of Oren Bragdon and his wife, Anna H. W. Bragdon. We are told that the first Bragdons in New England came over from England in their own vessels about the middle of the seventeenth century, .sailed up York River, and took up their abode in the town of York, Me. Some of the land of which they became the owners has never passed out of the possession of the family, and it is said to be a matter of record that no year has elapsed in which some Bragdon has not been serving the town in public office.

Mrs. Richardson is the wife of A. Maynard Richardson, of Boston. She was educated in public and private schools of Portsmouth, N.H., and the academy at Fryeburg, Me., pursuing special studies in art, in which she made