1842–1928

Introduction

Born: Oc­to­ber 5, 1842, Ver­non, New York.

portrait

Biography

Mary was the daugh­ter of Sam­uel and Lor­i­am Phin­ney. She mar­ried twice: to Ed­ward P. Humph­rey (1862) and Dr. Em­o­ry Stans­bu­ry (1872), who, like her, was lat­er a trust­ee at Law­rence Uni­ver­si­ty.

She ma­tri­cu­lat­ed at Law­rence Uni­ver­si­ty, Ap­ple­ton, Wis­con­sin, in 1853 and gra­du­at­ed in 1859, the young­est gra­du­ate in Law­rence his­to­ry. Af­ter gra­du­a­tion, she taught in Law­rence’s prep­a­ra­to­ry de­part­ment for a year.

She went on to con­trib­ute po­ems and short sto­ries to ma­ga­zines, in­clud­ing Scrib­ner’s, The Youth’s Com­pan­ion, and the Cot­tage Hearth.

She was one of the first wo­men trust­ees at Law­rence (1874–80). Stans­bu­ry The­a­tre in the Music-Dra­ma Cen­ter is named af­ter her.

Her po­ems in­clude The Sur­prise at Ti­con­der­o­ga and How He Saved St. Mi­chael’s.

Works

Lyrics

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