Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/80

Rh through the immigrant's son John,’ who mar- ried Mary Rogers in 1664; Benjamin,' who married Martha Crocker; Zaccheus,’ born in 1720, who married Susan Davis; to Benjamin," born in 1744, father of Elias."

Mary Rogers, wife of John^ Phinney, was a daughter of Lieutenant Joseph" Rogers, of Dux- bury, Sandwich, and Eastham, who came over with his father, Thomas' Rogers, in the " May- flower" in 1620 ("Mayflower Descendant," vol. iii. p. 254).

In 1823 Elias Phinney settled on a farm in Lexington, which he brought to a high state of cultivation. For many years and till his death, in 1849, he was Clerk of the Mitldlesex County Courts. He married in 1809 Catherine, daughter of Dr. Josiah and Elizabeth (Call) Bartlett, of Charlestown, Mass. Her paternal grandfather, George Bartlett, a sea-ca]jtain, was a native of Devonshire, England.

Mary Phinney grew to womanhood in her native town, improving her opportunities for learning by attending an academy, and long after leaving school continuing her studies, especially of modern languages, till she became familiar with French, German, and Italian. She likewise cultivated her native talent for original work in drawing, becoming also an expert in embroidery. At the School of Design for women, started in Boston about the year 1852, of which she was one of the early pupils, "she was considered the best designer in the class," being numbered in subsecjuent years with Ellen Robbins and Margaret Foley as among those who had "distinguished themselves in art." This is the testimony of Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney in her "Reminiscences," re- cently published, she having been Miss Little- hale, secretary of the school committee.

For some years she was employetl as designer of prints in one of the large cotton-mills in Manchester, N.H. A German political exile, a baron named Von Olnhausen, was a chemist in the same mill. He had been connected with one of the great German universities, and Theodore Parker designated him as " the most profound scholar he had ever known." His feudal castle, which had been the home of his ancestors from the time of the Crusades, and has been described as "one of the most pictur- esque castles in Saxony, crowning a hill and overlooking the town of Zwickau," had passed into the hands of an alien line. Miss Mary Phinney and Mr. Gustav A. Von Olnhausen were married in Boston by the Rev. Theodore Parker, May 1, 1858. The union was a happy one, but not of long duration, the death of the Baron (to give him his rightful title) occurring September 7, 1860.

Only a few months later began the great Civil War, arousing the patriotism of women and testing the heroism of men. Mrs. Von Olnhausen, deciding to enlist as an army nurse, received a commission through the efforts of Governor Andrew, but was required to pay her own travelling expenses to the South, as the United States government at that time had not sufficient funds for the transportation of additional army nurses. During the four years' conflict she rendered faithful services as a hospital nur.se under the direction of Dorothea L. Dix.

It may here be mentioned that in 1873 she was appointed first superintendent of the train- ing-school for nurses in the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, a position that she ably filled.

Sailing for Germany in 1870, shortly after the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War, she offered her services to the military authorities there, who were not at first disposed to approve her appointment. After persistent efforts, how- ever, she received a commission as arniy nurse. In this capacity again she had many thrilling experiences, and her services were appreciated as invaluable.

The first of March, 1871, found her in charge of thirty wounded men in a hospital in Orleans, France. Peace had been declared, and an order had been issued for the German soldiers to evacuate France. Some of the wounded, however, were unable to be moved. When the thirty in charge of this faithful nurse no longer neeiled her care, she thought that her duties then were completed, and accordingly made arrangements to depart for Berlin. As she was entering the diligence en route for that city, a surgeon came running from the hospital and entreated her to remain, as sixteen wounded men had just arrived. She did not hesitate,