As head of the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children, Isabella Graham was accustomed to problems, but she found herself faced with an unusually pathetic one. Six of her widows had suddenly died, and except for the dreaded almshouse, there was no place for their children to go. Then one day in March 1806, Manhattan's Mrs. Gra ham had an idea. She summoned nine other ladies, including Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, to a meeting, set up a board of directors of what is now New York's oldest orphanage. Last week, as the Graham School in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. celebrated...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
