By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | April 20, 2019
We encountered previously Miss Sophia Cushing, a Milton Teacher of 1796-05. Here we have a biographical sketch of a Milton teacher of nearly one hundred years later.
Miss Sarah L. Benson taught at Milton’s newly-opened Nute High School, in September 1891. She would have been working with Principal William K. Norton.
Troy, NY
Sarah Louise Benson was born in Troy, NY, April 25, 1865, daughter of Frederick W. and Frances L. (Seabury) Benson. Her mother died several days later, April 28, 1865.
Asa G. Luce, a store [owner], aged thirty-three years (b. Rensselaer), headed a Troy, NY, household at the time of the Second (1865) New York Census (June 21, 1865). His household included his wife, Sarah E. Luce, aged thirty-one years (b. Herkimer), his son, Edgar P. Luce, aged six years (b. Rensselaer), but also Frederick W. Benson, a store keeper, widower, aged thirty-four years (b. MA), and Sarah L. Benson, aged one month (b. Rensselaer). Asa G. Luce was a druggist and his store would have been a drug store.
Sarah’s widowed father married (2nd) in Troy, NY, December 8, 1865, Ann L. Fields. She was born in Michigan, April 8, 1837, daughter of Reuben Fields.
Frederic Benson, a retail grocer, aged forty-three years (b. MA), headed a Troy, NY, household at the time of the Ninth (1870) Federal Census. His household included Anna Benson, keeps house, aged thirty-five years (b. MI), Sarah Benson, aged five years (b. NY), and Walter Benson, aged six months (b. NY). (We hear no more of baby Walter). Frederic Benson had personal estate valued at $4,000.
Sarah’s father, Frederick W. Benson, died in Troy, NY, February 8, 1872. His widow, Ann L. Benson, and John P. Wight received appointments as joint administrators of his estate, February 19, 1872.
Ann L. Benson moved the family east from Troy, NY, to Brattleboro, VT, a distance of about 75 miles, in 1873.
Brattleboro, VT
Sarah attended Brattleboro’s District No. 4 (Centreville) School, i.e., a one-room schoolhouse. She appears in the following account of the Fall 1875 term as one of those students that had been absent, but never tardy. (Note the number of students taught by Miss Warriner: forty-two).
Local Intelligence. Brattleboro. The fall term of the school in district No. 4, (Centreville) taught by Miss F.M. Warriner, closed Nov. 12th. Whole number of pupils 42. The pupils having neither absent nor tardy marks during the term were Ida Strickland, Florence Tenney, Fannie Timson, Myra Timson, Eva Wheeler, Ida Wheeler, Henry Knight, Ira Knight, Frank Fisher, Charles Newton, Willie Alden, Clarence Shepardson, Charles Abbott and Bertie Knight. Not absent, Charles Brown, Walter Matthews, Willie Matthews, John Gaines and Frank Dunklee. Not tardy, Lizzie Franklin, Nellie Strong, Laura Cook, Grace Fisher, Sarah Benson, George Fisher, Charles Cook, Charles Fisher, Bertie Howard, Osmand Loomis, Vcssie Miner, Bertie Fisher and Roy Cook (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), November 26, 1875).
Ann L. Benson, keeping house, aged forty-three years (b. MI), headed a Brattleboro, VT, household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. Her household included her [step-]daughter, Sarah L. Benson, at school, aged fifteen years (b. NY), her son, Oscar Benson, aged eight years (b. NY), and her boarders, Nellie Scott, a teacher, aged twenty-one years (b. NH), Hiland Burdick, works in machine shop, aged forty years (b. VT), John O’Brien, works in machine shop, aged twenty-one years (b. MA), and Fred Fowler, works in machine shop, aged twenty-four years (b. NY).
Sarah Benson graduated from Brattleboro High School with the Class of 1882 (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), June 29, 1907).
Smith College, Northampton, MA
Sarah Louise Benson, of West Brattleboro, VT, attended Smith College, in Northampton, MA. She would have begun her studies there in September 1884. She graduated in June 1888. Smith College was then relatively new: her class was only the tenth one.
SMITII COLLEGE. Colonel T.W. Higginson. the Orator of the Day, with Governor Ames Present. NORTHAMPTON, April 20. The tenth Smith College commencement passed off very successfully. Social Hall was crowded, and Governor Ames and staff, Mayor Hill, George W. Cable and others were on the platform. Governor Ames made a brief, but telling speech, and then Colonel Thomas W. Higginson was introduced as the orator of the day. He spoke about the advantages of the literary profession, and held the close attention of his audience for two hours. His oration was the ablest heard here for many years.
Miss Julia H. Mulliver of the class of ’79, was given the degree of Ph.D., and Miss Elizabeth Blanchard, principal of Mt. Holyoke Seminary. the degree of M.A.
The following are the graduates; Caroline Sprague Austin, Nashua; Kate Clarence Bailey. Claremont. N.H.; Minnie May Bartlett, Attleboro; Sarah Louise Benson, West Brattleboro, Vt.; Daisy Luana Blaisdel. Chicopee Falls: Harriette Holland Boardman, St. Paul, Minn; Adeline Brown, San Francisco; Grace Alice Burrington. Coleraln; Anna Louise Carter. New Hartford, Conn.; Jennie Chamberlain, Ames, Ia.; Mabelle Chase, Hudson; Cornella Chapelle Church. Norwich, Conn.; Mary Frances I)e Voil. Glen’s Falls, N.Y.; Harriet Parkes Doty, Holyoke; Anna Williams Edwards. Northampton; Mary Elizabeth Everett, Dover; Anna Warren Gardiner, Haverhill; Lora E. Guild, Enosburg, Vt.; Fanny Pearson Hardy, Brewer, Me.: Anna Dora Hawker. Northampton; Louise Akerly Husted, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Caroline Cogswell Jameson, Mills; Anna Prindie Kellogg, Northampton; Jane Downes Kelly, Providence, R.I.; Leila Mantha Kennedy, Syracuse, N.Y.; Florence Leonard, Philadelphia, Penn; Helen Stoddard Lincoln, Northampton; Mary Caroline Lord, Hudson, O.; Frances Pease Lyman. Easthampton; May Louise Nicholls, Holliston: Grace Sophronia Packard. Providence, R.I.; Lizzie Southgate Parker, Claremont. N.H.: Martha E. Black, Altoona, Penn.; Mary Palmer Raynor, Springfield; Alice Robinson, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Harriet Chapin See, Northampton; Rachel Sherrison. Syracuse. N.Y.; Alice Thomas Skilton, New Haven, Conn; Alice May Sykes, New Haven. Conn.; Mary Frances Thompson, Northampton; Susie Helen Twitchell, Keene. N.H.; Adelaide Brainerd Ventres, Bloomfield, N.J.; Ellen Long Wentworth, Exeter, N.H.; Grace Churchyard, Buffalo, N.Y.; Lilian Dubois, Hudson, N.Y.; Miriam McGregor Dwight, Hadley; Isabel Eaton, Washington, D.C.; Jennie Sarah Wilcox, Seneca Falls, N.Y.; Jennie Laurie Storrs, Lebanon, N.H.; Mary Esther Cobb, Florence; Mae Appleton Shute, Palmer.
Graduates of the School of Art: Harriet Eliza Duguld, Syracuse, N.Y.; Helena Cherry Evans, Easthampton; Anna Ellen Schreuder, Syracuse, N.Y.; Margaret Olive Whitney, Orleans. N.Y. (Boston Globe, June 21, 1888).
Glenwood Classical Seminary, W. Brattleboro, VT
The Glenwood Classical Seminary was a ladies’ boarding school. It opened in West Brattleboro, VT, in 1860. Professor Henry H. Shaw replaced long-time principal Professor Hiram Orcutt in 1881.
Glenwood Classical Seminary, WEST BRATTLEBORO, VT. HAS three well-prepared courses of study. Pupils completing either will receive diplomas. The best facilities for music on organ or piano, with a daily class in vocal. Drawing and painting by a teacher of large experience. No pains will be spared to make every department thorough and complete. The spring term, of 12 weeks, begins March 22. Terms low; good rooms for self-boarding. For particulars address the principal, H.H. SHAW, West Brattleboro, Feb. 22, 1882 (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), March 22, 1882).
Miss Sarah L. Benson took on the role of preceptress, i.e. assistant principal, at the Glenwood Classical Seminary, in 1889.
West Brattleboro. Miss Sarah L. Benson is preceptress at Glenwood Seminary (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), December 20, 1889).
Glenwood Seminary’s 1891 graduation marked also its tenth year under Professor Henry H. Shaw.
… During this time classes have been graduated each year and the school has been under the personal care of Mr. Shaw. For the past two years he has been ably assisted by Miss Sarah Benson (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), June 12, 1891).
Nute High School, Milton, NH
Milton’s Nute High School opened its doors for the first time in September 1891, with Miss Sarah L. Benson as one of its original teachers.
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah L. Benson returned this week to Milton, N.H., where she is a teacher in the Nute High school (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), January 1, 1892).
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah L. Benson, a teacher in the Nute High school at Milton, N.H., has returned to Brattleboro for the summer vacation (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), July 1, 1892).
NORTH HEATH. Miss Sarah S. Benson from Brattleboro, who is employed at school keeping at Milton N.H., is taking her vacation of a few weeks with her many friends in this vicinity (Deerfield Valley Times (Wilmington, VT), August 19, 1892).
PERSONAL. Among the Christmas visitors in town were Fred Colburn, Nicholas Baker, Joseph Perry and Maurice Austin of Springfield, Mass.; J.C. Bowler and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Bowler and family of Boston; T.J. Doolin of South Framingham, Mass.; Hattie Jones of Boston; John and Patrick Bowler of New Haven, Conn.; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Carey and Patrick Ferriter, the telegraph operator, of New York; Alfred Warren of Florence. Mass.; Samuel Kirkland of Boston and Theodore Kirkland; Elmer Munroe of Worcester, Mass.; Will Smith of Colgate university; Miss Sarah Benson of the Nute High school, Milton, N.H.; Ina Freeman of Watertown, N.Y. ; William Cursor of St. Albans; [Miss Sarah L. Benson’s half-brother,] O.F. Benson of New York: Charles Chapin of Boston: Mr. and Mrs. M.F. Sears of Holyoke; Thomas Scars of Coventry, Conn.; Lieut. Col. and Mrs. James Lillis of Rutland; Evelyn Merritt of Bridgewatcr, Mass. (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), December 30, 1892).
Sarah L. Benson left Nute High School at the conclusion of the 1894-95 academic year. (Bertha M. Terrill, who taught there in 1895-96, may have replaced her). Benson left in order to take up a course of studies at the Framingham Normal School.
Framingham Normal School, Framingham, MA
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah Benson, who has been a teacher in the Nute High school at Milton, N.H, for several years, has gone to Framingham, Mass., where she will take a special one year’s course in the normal school (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), September 13, 1895).
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah Benson returned yesterday to Framingham, Mass., normal school, where she Is taking an advanced course in pedagogics (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), January 3, 1896).
She graduated from the special one-year course at the Framingham Normal School, in Framingham, MA, in June 1896. She was one of seven students that earned Advanced and Special honors (Boston Post, June 25, 1896).
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah Benson attended the 28th annual reunion of the Benson family at Conway, Mass., Wednesday (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), July 3, 1896).
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah L, Benson has recently taken a situation as teacher in the Free Academy at Norwich, Conn, (Vermont Phoenix, September 18, 1896).
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah Benson of South Framingham, Mass., is visiting her mother in Centreville (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), April 2, 1897).
Norwich Free Academy, Norwich, CT
Norwich Free Academy. The Norwich Free Academy, of which Dr. Hubert P. Keep is principal, has issued its thirty-ninth annual catalogue. The pamphlet contains a history of the growth of the institution, the founding of which was a result of Dr. John P. Gallien’s educational movement in 1846. Grateful acknowledgment is made of the generosity of William A. Slater. The school began as a preparatory institution but has greatly broadened. The book contains a description of the Slater memorial building and the Slater museum and an outline of the work in the normal school, model schools, kindergarten and art school. There are 48 seniors, 58 first middles, 71 second middles, 106 junior, 3 graduates; total 284. In the normal school there are 21 pupils and in the art school 58 (Hartford Courant, April 2, 1895).
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah Benson has returned to her position as teacher in the Normal school at Norwich, Conn. (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), September 17, 1897).
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah Benson, who has been at home a large part of the winter on account of ill health, returned this week to her duties as teacher in the Norwich, Conn., academy (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), April 22, 1898).
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah L. Benson, of the Norwich. Conn., Free academy, after spending 10 days at her home, left yesterday for a stay at Old Orchard, Me., and the White mountains (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), July 14, 1898).
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah L. Benson of Brattleboro and C.O. Stockman of Troy, N.Y., are guests at Geo. W. Mandigo’s (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), September 1, 1899).
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah L. Benson, now a teacher in the Norwich, Conn., free academy, is spending the Christmas vacation with her mother, her brother, Oscar F. Benson, spent Sunday and New Year’s at home (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), January 5, 1900).
Sarah L. Benson, a boarder, aged thirty-four years (b. NY), resided in the New London, CT, household of Sarah D. Palmer, aged seventy-two years (b. CT), at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. Palmer kept a boarding-house. Her daughter, Elizabeth D. Palmer, aged thirty-seven years, was a teacher of domestic science. Another boarder, Mary A. Emerson, aged thirty-four years (b. VT), was also a school teacher.
Ware High School, Ware, MA
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah L. Benson went Saturday to Ware, Mass., where she is to teach history in the High school (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), September 7, 1900).
BRATTLEBORO PERSONAL. Oscar F. Benson and Miss Sarah Benson are spending the vacation season with their mother on Western avenue (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), August 14, 1903).
European Tour
Sarah Louise Benson applied for a US passport in Brattleboro, Windham, VT, August 9, 1905. At that time, she described herself as a teacher, aged forty years. She was 4′ 8″ tall. She had light brown hair, a round face with a high forehead, a square chin, and a light complexion. She had blue eyes (with a scar near one of them), a short nose (with large nostrils), full lips, and two moles.
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah L. Benson will leave tomorrow for Boston and will sail from that city next Tuesday on the Saxonia of the Cunard line to spend a year in Europe for travel and study. She will probably be in Oxford, England, a considerable portion of this time (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), September 8, 1905).
Among other sights, Sarah witnessed the April 7, 1906 eruption of the Mount Vesuvius volcano.
LOCAL OVERFLOW. Miss Sarah Benson, who is spending several months in travel in Europe, writes her mother of the glimpse which she and a traveling companion obtained of the great eruption of Vesuvius. The reports being favorable, they made the journey from Rome to Naples, but the conditions were such and the alarm was so great in Naples that they returned immediately. At a distance of 20 or 30 miles from Vesuvius everything was covered with fine white ashes, and the depth of the ashes increased to several inches as the train proceeded. All birds and animals had disappeared. When 40 miles from the mountain the horizon was that of an angry, black thunder storm. A few miles nearer the blue sky disappeared and the effect was lurid and terrifying. “It was like our oft quoted ‘yellow day,’ only ten times worse. It was as if a gray pall hung over everything, while the cloud of dust and ashes above us was fringed with reddish yellow.” “Once in a while we saw a farmer with head protected by umbrella or some broad covering looking over his desolate fields. At one shrine three women were praying, two prostrate on their faces” (Vermont Phoenix, May 11, 1906).
The “Yellow Day” to which she referred was September 6, 1881. The noontime twilight and yellow sky experienced in New England on that day resulted from the Michigan Thumb Fire of September 5, 1881.
BRATTLEBORO PERSONAL. Miss Sarah Benson with Miss Cora Green and Miss Sadie Winchester as guests, went Wednesday to Camp Ellis, Maine, where she has a cottage (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), August 3, 1906).
WEST BRATTLEBORO. Miss Sadie E. Winchester, who has been a guest of Miss Sarah Benson at Camp Ellis, Me., returned Tuesday (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), August 17, 1906).
Nichols Academy, Dudley, MA
EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. MASSACHUSETTS. DUDLEY. Nichols Academy opened September 10. Miss Marcia Smith and Miss Sarah Benson have been re-engaged for the coming year. The academy buildings including the inn and library are soon to be equipped with electric lights (Journal of Education, September 19, 1907).
PERSONALS. Miss Sadie Benson returned to Dudley, Mass., Monday to resume her position as teacher in Nichols academy (Brattleboro Reformer, December 6, 1907).
Brattleboro Local. PERSONALS. Miss Sarah Benson came Saturday to spend several weeks with her mother, Mrs. Ann L. Benson. Miss Benson closed her school at Nichols academy. in Dudley, Mass., last week, and went to Northampton to attend her class reunion at Smith college. On her return home she was accompanied by Miss Jane Hunt, of Granby, Mass, who will spend several days with her (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), June 26, 1908).
PERSONALS. Miss Sarah Benson went Monday to Old Orchard, Me., to open her cottage for the season. She was accompanied by her mother, Mrs. A.L. Benson, and Miss Florence Edwards, who will spend a month there (Brattleboro Reformer, July 10, 1908).
PERSONALS. Miss Sarah Benson has closed her cottage at Old Orchard and is visiting at the home of her mother, Mrs. A.L. Benson (Brattleboro Reformer, September 4, 1908).
HURT BY HIGH SCHOOLS. Academy About to Close After Ninety Years of Existence. Dudley, Mass., June 10. — A career of ninety years seems about to be closed for Nichols academy here. They have announced that because of the dwindling in the number of pupils the academy will not open next year. The use of the buildings has been tendered to the town. The trustees place the cause for the decadence of the once powerful preparatory school to the gradual encroachment of public high schools into its territory. The academy was opened in 1819. It reached the height of its career thirty years ago, when 150 pupils were cared for. Today there are but eight (Portsmouth Herald, June 10, 1909).
Adams High School, Adams, MA
WINDHAM COUNTY. BRATTLEBORO. Miss Sarah L. Benson of Brattleboro has been appointed assistant in the English department of the high school in Adams, Mass. Miss Benson is a graduate of Smith college and is a successful teacher (Vermont Journal (Windsor, VT), May 1, 1909).
Catherine M. Phillips, living on her own income, aged seventy-eight years (b. NY), headed an Adam, MA, household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. Her household included her daughters, Helen Phillips, aged forty-one years (b. MA), and Susan Phillips, a public school teacher, aged thirty-nine years (b. MA); her son-in-law, Peter P. Smith, post-master, aged thirty-seven years (b. MA), her daughter [his wife], Sarah Smith, aged thirty-seven years (b. MA), her grandchildren, Catherine Smith, aged six years (b. MA), and T. Stanley Smith, aged two years; and her boarder, Sarah Benson, a public school teacher, aged forty-three years (b. NY). They resided on Crandall Street.
Miss Sarah L. Brown presented a paper entitled Oxford: Town & Gown before the Brattleboro Woman’s Club, April 13, 1910. Her talk was one of many speeches, talks, concerts, and other events presented over a season that ran from November 1909 through April 1910 (Brattleboro Reformer, September 17, 1909).
LOCAL OVERFLOW. At the next regular meeting of the Brattleboro Woman’s club Wednesday, Miss Sarah L. Benson will speak on personal experiences of Oxford, town and gown. At the close of the program the ways and means committee will conduct a sale of home cookery (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), April 8, 1910).
BRATTLEBORO PERSONAL. Mrs. F.W. Benson and Miss Sarah L. Benson went Saturday to their cottage at Old Orchard, Me., where they will spend the summer. Oscar L. Benson and family went to his cottage there Monday, and Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Mitchell will join them Saturday for a few weeks’ stay (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), July 15, 1910).
BRATTLEBORO PERSONAL. Miss Sarah Benson, who had been at Old Orchard, Maine, for the summer vacation, came Wednesday to the home of her mother, Mrs. Ann Benson, and left Monday to resume her work as teacher In North Adams (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), September 8, 1911).
BRATTLEBORO PERSONAL. Miss Sarah Benson has been at home this week from Adams, Mass., where she is a teacher in the public schools (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), March 1, 1912).
BRATTLEBORO PERSONAL. Sarah Benson, the teacher, has returned from Adams, Mass. (Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, VT), June 28, 1912).
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah Benson has gone to Ware, Mass., to visit a few days before returning to her duties as teacher in Adams, Mass. (Brattleboro Daily Reformer, May 3, 1913).
Lynn, MA
PERSONAL. Miss Sarah Benson, teacher in the high school in Lynn, Mass., is at her home on Oak street for the week-end (Brattleboro Daily Reformer, March 27, 1915).
Sarah L. Benson served on a Boston Playwriter’s Club arrangements committee for a production of three one-act War Relief plays in April 1917. (Her fellow New London boarder of 1900, now Dr. Mary A. Emerson of Boston University, served as the Director) (Boston Globe, April 18, 1917).
Sarah’s stepmother, Ann L. (Fields) Benson, died in Windham, VT, January 6, 1918.
Mrs. Benson Dies. Mrs. Ann Louise Benson, 80, mother of President Oscar F. Benson, of the Valley Fair association, died Sunday noon at her home in Brattleboro. She had been confined to her room for six weeks because of infirmities incident to her advanced age. Mrs. Benson was one of the principal contributors to the support of the Universalist church and was active along various lines of benevolent endeavor. She was a native of Seneca, Mich. She spent her childhood in Troy, N.Y., where she married Frederick W. Benson, a prosperous grocer, who died in 1872. In 1873 she went to Brattleboro. Besides her son she leaves a daughter, Miss Sarah L. Benson, teacher in the classical school in Lynn, Mass. Burial will be in Troy (Rutland News, January 7, 1918).
NUTE CLUB OF BOSTON HAS THIRD ANNUAL DINNER. The third annual meeting and banquet of the Nute Club of Boston, auxiliary to the Nute High School at Milton, N.H., was held last evening at the Thorndike with 50 guests present. Mrs. H.S. Coles presided. Miss Gertrude M. Getchell sang and Mrs. J.J. Buckley played several piano selections. The speakers were: Prof. Clarence E. Kelley of Harvard University, formerly of the Nute High School; Miss Sarah L. Benson, Arthur Barbour of Camp Devens and W.H. Langley of the Charlestown Navy Yard; Miss Mabel Wilbur, Miss Elinor Osborne and Miss Theodora Geraulds. The following officers were elected: Mrs. H. Wilson Ross of Newton, president; Lawrence C. Hayes of the American Expeditionary Forces, now in France, and Mrs. Arthur Thad Smith, vice presidents; Miss Susan P. Haley, Milton, NH., secretary; Arthur D. Brackett, treasurer, and Mrs. Helen M. Cole, Joseph I,. Keller and Walter E. Looney, executive committee (Boston Globe, February 23, 1918).
Alumnae Notes. Class News. 1887. Sarah Benson is teaching in the Lynn Classical High School. Her address is 60 Baltimore St., Lynn, Mass. (Smith College, 1919).
Mary K. Tripp, a widow, aged forty-eight years (b. NY), headed a Lynn, MA, household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. Her household included her mother, Anne M. Kunhardt, a widow, aged seventy-eight years (b. Germany), her housekeeper, Sophie L. Sanford, a private family housekeeper, aged fifty-seven years (b. Canada), and her lodger, Sarah L. Benson, a high school teacher, aged fifty-four years (b. NY). They resided at 11 Baltimore Street.
NUTE HIGH SCHOOL CLUB OF BOSTON MEETS AND DINES. The annual reunion and banquet of the Nute High School Club of Boston, composed of graduates and pupils of the Nute High School at Milton, N.H., took place last night at the Thorndike. Among the 40 guests was Miss Sarah L. Benson of the faculty. Arthur T. Smith was toastmaster. The officers elected are: Mrs. Ora L. Smith of Winchester, president; Lawrence Hayes, Milton. N.H., vice president; Arthur D. Brackett, treasurer, and Miss Susan P. Haley of Rochester, N.H., secretary (Boston Globe, February 21, 1920).
Study Club Hears Miss Sarah Benson An unusually enjoyable meeting was held Saturday afternoon of the Adams Study club at the home of Mrs. Alma Deming of Columbia street. A large number were present and Miss Sarah L. Benson delighted her audience with several stories and verses of her own writing. Miss Benson who was formerly a teacher in Adams High school is now teaching in one of the Lynn schools (North Adams Transcript, October 29, 1923).
[Smith College Class of] 1888. Sarah Benson’s new address is the Chesterfield, 12-1 W. Baltimore St., Lynn, Mass. (Smith Alumnae Quarterly, 1929).
Sarah L. Benson, a high school teacher, aged sixty years, headed a Lynn, MA, household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. She resided in a rented apartment at 12 West Baltimore Street.
Sarah taught at the Lynn Classical High School (rather than Lynn English High School). She was a Lynn librarian in 1935. Both the high school and the city library were close to her residences in Baltimore Street and West Baltimore Street.
Sarah removed to Biddeford, ME, circa 1936-37.
Biddeford, ME
Josephine M. Andrews, aged eighty-seven years (b. ME), headed a Biddeford, ME, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her daughter, Hazel M. Andrews, aged forty-eight years (b. ME), and her lodger, Sarah L. Benson, aged seventy-four years (b. NY). In answer to a question, Sarah L. Benson had resided in Lynn, MA, on April 1, 1935. She had attended college, through a fifth or subsequent year.
Miss Sarah L. Benson died in the Biddeford, ME, home of Miss Hazel M. Andrews (see 1940 census above) on Sunday morning, October 11, 1953, aged eighty-eight years, five months, and sixteen days.
Obituary. Miss Sarah Benson. Miss Sarah Louise Benson died yesterday in Biddeford, Me., at the age of 92. A native of Troy, Miss Benson at one time taught in the schools of this city. Miss Benson was the daughter of the late Frederick W. Benson and Sarah F. Seabury. Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 2 from the Gardiner Earl Memorial Chapel, Oakwood Cemetery. Interment will be in Oakwood Cemetery (Troy Record, October 12, 1953).
Plan Funeral of Miss Benson. Funeral services for Miss Sarah Benson, 87, a member of former well known Troy family who died Sunday, will be held today, at 2 p.m. at the Earl Chapel in Oakwood Cemetery with Rev. Frederick E. Thalman, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, officiating. Interment will be in Oakwood. Miss Benson died at Biddeford, Maine, where she has resided for last 16 years. She was born in Troy, April 25, 1865, daughter of the late Frederick Warren and Sarah [SIC] Seabury Benson. She was a direct descendent of Bishop Samuel Seabury, first Episcopal bishop in the United States. She left Troy as a girl and was graduated from Brattleboro, Vt., High School in 1884, and from Smith College in 1888. She received her graduate degree from Oxford University in 1906. Miss Benson taught school at Milton, N.H., Norwich, Conn., and Adams and Lynn, Mass. She is survived by a half-brother, Oscar Frederick Benson, and a niece, Mrs. Edmund T. Manley, both of Longmeadow, Mass (Troy Record, October 13, 1953).
See also Nute High School Principals, 1891-21 and Miss Benson’s Successors, 1895-14
References:
Lost New England. (2018, June 27). Lawrence House, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. Retrieved from lostnewengland.com/2018/06/lawrence-house-smith-college-northampton-mass/
Wikipedia. (2019). Normal School. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_school
Wikipedia. (2019, January 31). Norwich Free Academy. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich_Free_Academy
Wikipedia. (2019, April 2). Smith College. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_College
Wikipedia. (2018, October 17). Thumb Fire. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumb_Fire
Milton Observer 