1900-1917 Autograph Album of Pauline Sumner Howard of Mattapan, Massachusetts

1900-1917 autograph album that belonged to Pauline Sumner Howard of Mattapan, Massachusetts.

The album was found with two other autograph albums from the 1870s, albums that belonged to Pauline's mother Mary Ellen (Sumner) Howard.  One of those albums is featured here, and the other is featured here.

Pauline's album measures approximately 7" x 4-1/4" and contains the sentiments of over 50 of Pauline's relatives, friends and classmates.  Some indicated they were attending Boston University, and others, S.N.S., which I presume was Salem Normal School, so named at the time.

A few of the pages appear to have been collected as the autographs of "celebrities", such as a professor at the Smithsonian Institute, whose name I can't decipher, and the Governor of New Hampshire, Henry B. Quinby, among others.

From online research, hopefully correct:  [corrections and additions welcome!]

Pauline Sumner Howard was born 30 October 1888 at Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Frederic Theodore Howard and Mary Ellen (Sumner) Howard, who were born at Boston, Massachusetts, and Brookline, Massachusetts, respectively.

One page was signed Mother, but also has the name Alice Carey, who signed the page at Milton, presumably, Massachusetts, on January 5, 1908.  Pauline's mother Mary Ellen (Sumner) Howard was still alive at this time.  Perhaps Alice was a housemother or the mother of a close friend.  The flowers in plastic pasted on the left facing page have a notation that they were acquired at Letham, Scotland, in 1901.

Another page was signed by Hazel E. Howard, who called herself Pauline's "Sister".  I didn't find that Pauline had a sister, so perhaps these two young women were related otherwise or just found themselves, with the same surname, at the same school and affectionately called themselves sisters.

On 20 October 1917, at Milford, New Hampshire, Pauline married Raymond Edward Stimson, son of Edwin/Elwin C. Stimson and Genieve/Geneva H. (Pickering) Stimson.  Raymond was born 3 August 1883 at Hinsdale, New Hampshire.  It appears that Pauline had moved to Amherst, New Hampshire, to teach.
They had, I believe, one child, a daughter.  It was the daughter, I presume, who gave the Mother's Day card that's pasted in the album.

The album has several pages signed by members of the Weatherbee family of Milton, Massachusetts.  These were Lillian Geneva (Howard) Weatherbee, Pauline's paternal aunt, and her husband Frank T. Weatherbee and children Elmer H. Weatherbee; and E. Earle Weatherbee.  They all signed at Milton, Massachusetts, in 1905.

Another interesting feature of the album is that six pages have photographs of the signers pasted on them, either from the beginning by the signer or added as an embellishment by Pauline.  Loella L. Farmer signed a page on May 26, 1913.

The page signed by Edna Weaver on June 12, 1906 has two little head shots, dated April 28, 1909, pasted on later, either by Edna herself or Pauline.

A photograph of signer W. B. Garvin was cut into a heart shape; wonder if there's a story there?   He signed his page on June 13, 1913.  If you can decipher his middle name, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  Note:  As you can see from the comments section, a reader has found that the signer was Walter Burns Garvin of Richford, Vermont.

Joseph H. Plant of Lyndon Center, Vermont, who signed on June 10, 1911, pasted a bouquet on his page.

If you have corrections and/or additions to the information above, or information on any of the signers listed below, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  Thanks!

Surnames in the Album  [Some appear multiple times.]

Arcos                                                              
Blood
Boaz
Burgess
Carey
Cook
Corson
Davis
de Sloovere
Ellis
Farmer
Fink
Flanders
Flanley
Gair
Garvin
Graham
Hadley
Hadlock
Hale
Hallowell
Haskell
Hayden
Henry
Hogan
Howard
Kirkton
Krim
Larned
Lord
Lyons
MacVeagh
Macy
Merrill
Nelson
Pingree
Plant
Quinby
Reid
Rice
Rock
Weatherbee
Weaver
Whipple
Wiggin

List of signers:   [Note: Given names within a specific surname may not be in alphabetical order.]

• Ruth
• R. E. S., signed on August 28, 1914
• Can't decipher the name, but the signer was a professor at Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., and signed the page at Newport, Rhode Island, on November 30, 1908
• Will, perhaps of Notre Dame, Indiana, signed on October 27, 1909
• Lucia Arcos, 18 de Septembre 563, Quito, Ecuador, S.A.
• Marion Helena Blood of Derry, New Hampshire; "S.N.S. '10"
• Muriel M. Boaz of Richford, Vermont, signed on August 15, 1913
• Margaret G. Burgess, signed on May 16, 1907; "your loving B.U.C. L.C. friend"
• Alice Carey; also mentions "Mother", signed at Milton [no state written, but presumably Milton, Massachusetts], on January 5, 1908
• Mabel L. Cook; Pauline's classmate
• Murle Augusta Corson of Farmington, New Hampshire; "S.N.S. '10"
• Jessie M. Davis of Stratford Hollow, New Hampshire, signed on November 28, 1910
• Mary Constance de Sloovere of Webster, Massachusetts; W.H.S. '09
• Mildred Louise Ellis of Onset, Massachusetts, signed on August 23, 1906
• Loella L. Farmer, signed on May 26, 1913.  She pasted a photograph of herself on the page.
• Jacob A. Fink, or Jacob H. Fink, signed at Lyndon Center [presumably Vermont], L.S.A., on June 29, 1913.  He pasted on a little photograph of himself.
• Leona Flanders, signed at S.N.S. in 1910
• Mary Esther Flanley, signed at Boston University on May 20, 1907
• Beatrice M. Gair, signed at Boston University on May 16, 1907
• W. B? Garvin, member of the Class of 1913 at R. H. S., signed on Friday June 13, 1913.  He pasted a little photograph of himself on the page, cut out in a heart shape.
• C. S. Graham of Fall River, Massachusetts, signed on August 22, 1906
• Mary E. Hadley, signed at Milton, Massachusetts, on November 21, 1904
• Grace M. Hadley of Mattapan, Massachusetts, signed on February 16, 1905
• Guy Hadlock, signed on December 13, 1905; someone wrote his death date on the left facing page: January 15, 1944.  His name was pasted on the left facing page, but is in a distinctly different handwriting
• Amy E. Hale, signed on March 19, 1916
• Henrietta T. Hallowell, signed at Milton [no state written, but presumably Massachusetts], on June 19, 1906
• Ella Florence Haskell, signed at Boston University in 1910
• Olive L. Hayden; she pasted a photograph of herself on the page.
• Margaret Lee Henry of New Canaan, Connecticut, signed on October 27, 1909; "S.S.N.S. '10"
• Marie G. Hogan of Dorchester, Massachusetts, signed at S.N.S. on October 19, 1909
• Pauline S. Howard of Brook Road, Mattapan, Massachusetts, signed in 1900; album owner
• Hazel E. Howard, "Your loving 'Sister' ", signed on December 7, 1913
• Ethel B. Kirkton, signed on November 1, 1905; Pauline's classmate
• Harry Krim; pasted a photograph of himself on the page.
• Lisbeth Larned, signed at Milton [no state written, but presumably Massachusetts], on October 31, 1904
• Marian Dean Lord of Harrington, Maine; "S.N.S. '10
• Catharine Lyons of Westerly, Rhode Island, signed on June 22, 1917
• E. E. MacVeagh, signed at Knollwood House, Dublin, New Hampshire.  She was the wife of Franklin MacVeagh, Secretary of the Treasury at Washington, D.C., in 1909
• E. L. Macy, signed at Richford [presumably Vermont] in 1913.  Also mentions Montreal and Corpus Christie
• Phoebe E. S. Merrill, signed at Lyndon Center, Vermont, on August 5, 1913
• Louise Nelson, signed at Boston University in 1910
• Pingree, first initial either M. or W., signed on December 7, 1913
• Joseph H. Plant of Lyndon Center, Vermont, signed on June 10, 1911.  He pasted a dried flower arrangement on the page.
• Henry B. Quinby, Governor of New Hampshire 1909-1910
• Bertha M. Reid of Windham, New Hampshire, signed on April 9, 1905
• ? Rice, possible S. F. Rice, or L. F. Rice, signed at Westerly, Rhode Island, on March 19, 1916
• Sadie R. Rock of Turners Falls, Massachusetts
• E. Earle Weatherbee, signed at Milton, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1905
• Elmer H. Weatherbee, signed at Milton, Massachusetts, on January 15, 1905; Pauline's cousin
• Lilian G. Weatherbee, signed on January 20, 1905; Pauline's aunt
• Frank T. Weatherbee, signed at Milton [no state written, but presumably Massachusetts], on January 20, 1905
• Edna Weaver, signed on June 12, 1906.  She added two little photographs of herself to the page on April 29, 1909 and she or someone added "Reedley, Cal."
• Helen I. Whipple, signed on May 20, 1907
• Lelia Wiggin, signed at Westerly, Rhode Island, on June 21, 1917; S.N.S. 1912

Mattapan, Massachusetts

View Larger Map

Thanks for stopping by!