Born just two years after the town officially changed its name to Wakefield, Eva Gowing was the daughter of Horace and Louisa (Day) Gowing, who had moved here from Wilmington, where the Gowing family name was well known to historians as one of the region’s pioneer families. She grew up in Wakefield and graduated from…
Yale Engine House Quilt Housed in the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History is this magnificent reminder of the volunteer efforts of the women of the town of South Reading (now Wakefield). The quilt was truly the work of many hands and is entitled “Ladies Donation to the Fireman’s Fund/ Yale Engine Co. No. 1/…
For today’s Wakefield’s Women profile, the Wakefield Historical Society will salute one of its own in the person of Miss Ruth A. Woodbury. Born of ancient Yankee stock in 1902, Ruth was the daughter of Dr. Frank Woodbury (who descended from Mayflower settlers) and Mary H. Whittle Woodbury, who traced her own lineage to the…
Women in Wakefield: Rebekah Evans. Today’s Wakefield’s Women’s History Month spotlight is on Rebekah Evans, whose sketch is provided here. She is the grandmother of one of our previous subjects, Harriet Newell Flint, the donor of our Civil War Monument. When searching for some representative women to write about for this series, it is…
As we enter the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War, it seems fitting to dedicate one of our Women’s History Month tributes to the town’s women during that period. The war actually lasted for seven long years, from Concord and Lexington past the battle of Yorktown, but the early period was probably the most terrifying…
Wakefield Historical Society 