|
Part of the American
History & Genealogy Project |
Elizabeth Boardman Otis 1796 ~ 1873
Among the women conspicuous by their leadership during the '40's
and '50's none are more entitled to mention than Mrs. Harrison
Gray Otis, of Boston, who after several years' residence abroad,
undertook the task of lifting the social life of Boston from its
old ruts of pretentious formality and exclusiveness, breaking up
its stiffness and bringing the social life to a more enjoyable
and democratic status. Only such an independent and courageous
spirit as Mrs. Otis possessed would have dared such an
undertaking. Mrs. Otis was the daughter of one of Boston's
richest merchants.
Her name before her marriage was Elizabeth Boardman, and her
husband, Harrison Gray Otis, was a nephew of James Otis and of
Mercy Otis Warren. Several years after her marriage she was left
a widow with three sons. At this time she became a social leader
and it is said among her many admirers were Daniel Webster and
Henry Clay.
In 1835 she went to Europe to educate her sons, and while there
studied and became a ready conversationalist in several
languages. The experience of these years in the flexible,
lively, stimulating; intellectual circles of Europe had given
Mrs. Otis convincing proof of what a woman might accomplish for
a community if she handled the social circle with brains and
independence. So, on her return to Boston, she set out at once
to build up in her home a social circle where naturalness and
simplicity should rule. At that time, elaborate heavy dinners
were considered the proper social entertainment for elders and
balls for the younger set.
There was very little informal visiting. Mrs. Otis swept all of
this out of the way and ignored functions, banquets and balls,
but instead opened her house every Saturday morning and every
Thursday afternoon to her own set and many more invited guests.
No aspiring worthy young writer, singer or artist of talent who
fell in Mrs. Otis's way but was welcome in her circle. A big,
wide-awake informal circle was soon about her, and instead of
the previous form of entertainment, she substituted simply tea
and cakes. No matter what the occasion, "tea and cakes" were all
her guests received, and when entertaining even President
Fillmore, Lord Elgin and many other dignitaries, tea and cakes
were the only refreshment at the affairs given in their honor.
But her innovations were founded on good sense and genuine love
for people, and therefore they were a success from the
beginning. Her book "The Barclays of Boston" embodies her ideas,
and is a valuable document on the manners and customs of Boston
in her time. The results of Mrs. Otis's stand were altogether
beneficent and stimulating. Mrs. Otis's great passion was the
life and character of George Washington.
On February 22nd her house was always thrown open and she
entertained elaborately. It was her work that made that date a
legal holiday in Massachusetts and gave the strongest impulse
toward making it a national day. It was natural that she should
take a leading part in the enterprise of buying Mr. Vernon for a
national monument, and the money which completed the purchase of
Mt Vernon was raised by a ball engineered by Mrs. Otis and given
in the Boston
Theatre on March 4, 1859. She was also one of the leading
spirits in the ball to raise the money for the completion of the
Bunker Hill Monument. The success of this affair was due largely
to a woman, Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, the best-known editor at
that time among American women.
Women of
America
Source: The Part Taken by Women in
American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle
Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.
|