This is a transcription of the Mary A. Danforth biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 35.
Mary A. Danforth
NO list of noted New Hampshire women would be complete without the name of Mary A. Danforth born beyond the White Hills, in the town of Colebrook, in 1867. Nature was generous in the bestowal of “good gifts” upon her. She had, and still has, a strong body and a healthy, hopeful mind, with apparently unlimited powers of extension and enlargement. Her education in the higher schools began in the academy of her native town, where she passed through the tangled labyrinths of the sciences and classics with ease and accuracy, where many faltered and fell. She afterward took a course in the New Hampshire Seminary and Female College, from which she graduated in 1884. Nobody who heard her graduating essay—”What Next?”—will ever forget the essay or the writer. It was thoughtful and broad, intellectual and polished, and many then predicted for her the splendid career, something of which has since been realized. After graduation she spent four years at home in study and hard work, occasionally appearing before delighted audiences as lecturer and preacher. Some of her papers before ministerial conventions are still thankfully remembered by all who were inspired and helped by her practical interpretation of every-day gospel. In the autumn of 1888 she sailed for Japan. Here, under hardships and difficulties, she founded the Ladies’ Seminary in Nagoya, and was its successful president for five years. In the terrible earthquakes that during her stay partially destroyed the city, her experiences were hazardous and thrilling. Miraculously escaping from instant death when her boarding house was demolished, through the perilous days and weeks that followed, the hand of God led her, saving her life for her friends and the world. Since returning to her native land she has lectured with much success in New England and the West. And still God ” takes thought” of her life, guides her steps, and makes the world brighter and better for her words and her works.