Eva Ingersoll Wakefield
Eva Ingersoll Wakefield | |
|---|---|
| Born | Eva Ingersoll Brown 1892 |
| Died | 1 April 1970 |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, poet, activist, humanist |
| Organization(s) | Vivisection Investigation League, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, American Humanist Association |
| Relatives | Eva Ingersoll Brown (mother), Maud Ingersoll Probasco (aunt), Robert G. Ingersoll (grandfather), Eva Parker Ingersoll (grandmother]] |
Eva Ingersoll Brown Wakefield (1892 – 1 April 1970)[1] was a writer,[2] poet,[3] freethinker, and an authority on the life of Robert G. Ingersoll, her grandfather.[4]
Personal life
Eva Ingersoll Brown Wakefield was born in Dobbs Ferry, New York in 1892, the daughter of Walston H. and Eva Ingersoll Brown.[1] Her mother, Eva Ingersoll Brown, was a suffragist and activist.[6] She was tutored as a child, and later graduated from Columbia University.[7]
In 1917, Brown married McNeal Swasey, but they later divorced.[8] She married Sherman Day Wakefield, an author, editor, and bibliographer, in 1932.[3][9][8] The wedding was performed by John Lovejoy Elliott of the New York Society for Ethical Culture, at the home of her aunt,[10] Maud Ingersoll Probasco.[8] Sherman Wakefield was on the editorial staff of The Humanist and also of Progressive World.[9] Eva herself was a contributor to The Humanist, as well as writing poetry.[3] One of her poems was included in an anthology compiled by Edwin Markham, with whom she studied.[3]
A passionate defender of her grandfather's legacy,[11] Eva Ingersoll Wakefield published The Life and Letters of Robert G. Ingersoll in 1951, and later donated a significant amount of 'Ingersolliana' to the Library of Congress, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and other archives.[12][13] As well as personal collections and copies of letters kept by her mother (Ingersoll's daughter) and aunt, Wakefield gathered correspondence from letters and journals, and from the collection of Harry Houdini.[12]
Activism
Eva Ingersoll Brown Wakefield was one of the earliest members of the First Humanist Society of New York, founded in 1929,[4][14] and later President of the New York Chapter of the American Humanist Association.[3]
During the 1930s, Wakefield was active in the Manhattan Branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.[3] She was also director of the Vivisection Investigation League[3] and a member of the National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York.[3]
In addition to editing The Life and Letters of Robert G. Ingersoll, Wakefield was secretary of the Robert G. Ingersoll Memorial Association.[15][16] which maintained the Robert Ingersoll Birthplace in Dresden, N.Y., as a museum.[3]
Death
She died on 1 April 1970 at the Carolton Hospital in Fairfield, Connecticut.[3] At her memorial service, in lieu of flowers, contributions to the R.G. Ingersoll Memorial Association were requested.[17] Sherman Day Wakefield died the following year.[9]
References
- ^ a b "Mrs Eva Ingersoll Brown Wakefield (1892-1970)". FindAGrave. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ Ingersoll, Robert Green; Wakefield, Eva Ingersoll; Pike, E. Royston, Brown, Eva Ingersoll; Ingersoll, Robert Green (1952). The life and letters of Robert G. Ingersoll. OCLC 877108082.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Mrs. Sherman Wakefield Dies; A Granddaughter of Ingersoll". The New York Times. 1970-04-02. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ a b News; Voices; Commentary; Features; Magazine, The; Entertainment, Arts &; Multimedia; Us, About; Us, Contact (2022-03-24). "On the Trail of Humanism's Hidden Women". TheHumanist.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ Bros, Pach (n.d.). "Robert Ingersoll with Eva Ingersoll Wakefield and Robert G. Ingersoll Brown". www.chroniclingillinois.org. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ "Suffragists At Rally in Home of Robert Ingersoll's Daughter, Mrs. Walston Brown". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ "Mrs Eva Ingersoll Brown Wakefield (1892-1970) -..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ a b c "MRS. SWASEY WED TO S. D. 1AKEFIELD; (Granddaughter of Late. Robert G. Ingersoll Married in Home '". timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ a b c "S. D. WAKEFIELD, BIBLIOGRAPHER, 76". The New York Times. 1971-05-23. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ "I MRS. PROBASCO DIES; INGERSOLL DAUGHTER; Followed Father's Position as an Agnostic -- Also Worked for Suffrage and Peace". timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ Brown, Eva Ingersoll (1911-10-12). "DEFENDS COL. INGERSOLL.; Agnostic's Granddaughter Eulogizes His Character and Creed". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
- ^ a b Ingersoll, Robert Green (1952). Life and letters. George A. Smathers Libraries University of Florida. London,: Watts.
- ^ Treasures of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein. Carbondale. 2014. ISBN 0-8093-3337-6. OCLC 890676005.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Ian Dowbiggin (2002-10-22). A Merciful End. Internet Archive. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-515443-6.
- ^ The Humanist: Vol 8 Iss 2. Internet Archive. American Humanist Association. 1948.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Arch Merrill (1950). Upstate Echoes.
- ^ "Memorial Services". The New York Times. 1970-04-16. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
External links
- The Life and Letters of Robert G. Ingersoll (English edition) at Internet Archive