Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/397

294 business, the managing and conducting of European parties. She says, "Experience has shown me that Americans need to see Europe carefully, particularly where the influence of things seen and studied shall be for the benefit of our own country." In this connection she encourages journalistic work among her patrons, several of whom have achieved therein great success. Rooks of decided merit have grown out of this work. The whole scheme of travel is carried out as if planned for an individual. The growth of her business has made assistance necessary, and several young men of culture and travel are now helping in it. The business is decidedly educational, and through interest in travel and the attending study of art and literature Mrs. Frazar has accunmlated a rich store of knowledge, which makes her a most fascinating and instructive lecturer. Appearing in this capacity before numerous clubs and societies, she has formed strong friendships among club women, and has become an active member of several clubs. Two years ago she was elected president of the Daughters of Maine Club of Somerville, which is made up of four hundred women from the Pine Tree State, and whose work is purely literary. This office she still holds. At the present time she is on the editorial staff of the National Magazine of Boston and of the Somerville Journal, finding time also to do much work for the Boston Transcript.

Mrs. Frazar dwells with much pleasure on a certain incident in her life, which grew out of her own sturdy sense of justice. At one time certain people came to this country from Italy to give addresses upon the political conditions of that country. She felt that gross misrepresentations were made, and came out with a vigorous protest, in the Boston Transcript, correcting statements, and urging that no country has the right to interfere with what another country considers its departments of political justice. The Italians of Boston appreciated this and gave a reception to Mrs. Frazar, at which she was publicly thanked for her generous sympathy, and was presented with a tribute of flowers tied with the Italian colors. These flowers were the gift of one thousand Italians, each of whon contributed one cent, this small sum having been purposely fixed so that the ]ioorest might share in the offering.

Mrs. Frazar has two sons: Gerard, the commercial editor of the Globe, and Amherst Durell, who is connected with the Swift Wool Company.

Whether pacing the deck of an Atlantic steamer as one of her patrons, or interrupting her at her editorial duties, or making known to her some need of charity, one finds in Mrs. Frazar a sympathetic, genuine interest in the welfare of others. Perhaps it is this unselfishness that makes her so universally beloved.

RACE B. FAXON was born in Lynn, Mass., October 21, 1877. Daughter of George and Mary Alice (Boardman) Faxon, she is of the ninth generation of the Faxon family in New England. Her paternal grandparents were George7 Faxon {James,6 5 Richard,4 Thomas,3 Richard,2 Thomas1), born in 1796, and his wife Abigail, daughter of William and Abigail (Newcomb) Baxter and a descendant of John Alden. The ancestral line is given below.

Ruth Alden (daughter of John and Priscilla) married John Bass, Mary Bass married Christopher Webb, Sarah Webb married Seth Arnold, Mary Arnold married John Spear, Prudence Spear married Daniel Baxter, and was the mother of William Baxter and grand-mother of Abigail.

Miss Faxon's maternal grandparents were Israel Putnam Boardman and his wife Caroline Elizabeth, the former a son of Nathaniel and Nancy (Putnam) Boardman. Israel Putnam, father of Nancy, was of the sixth generation of the family founded by John1 Putnam, of Salem Village, from whom he descended through his son Nathaniel.2

Mrs. Caroline E. Boardman's maiden name was Gould. Daughter of Moses and Mehitable (Upton) Gould, she was descended from Zaccheus Gould, of Topsfield, and from John Upton, founder of the New England family