Mary Fletcher Wells
Wells from A Woman of the Century
Born
Villenova, New York
Occupationeducator
Known forTrinity School

Mary Fletcher Wells (died September 14, 1893) was a philanthropist, educator, and founder of the Trinity School.[1] Wells was unable to formally matriculate at Michigan University and instead studied there under private tutelage.[1] She taught in high schools and seminaries in Indiana.[1]

Wells was born in Villenova, New York to Roderick Wells and Mary Greenleaf, the sixth of ten children.[1]

After the Civil War, she was determined to educate formerly enslaved people and their children, and relocated to Athens, Alabama, initially to care for wounded Union soldiers as a Baptist missionary.[2] She founded the Trinity School.[3] The school was sponsored by the Western Freedmen’s Aid Commission and the American Missionary Association, located in a Baptist church in 1865.[4]

Wells initially taught under the protection of armed guards.[5] It was the only high school for black students in the county and the first school in the northern half of the state offering kindergarten for black children.[6][4] The school had an integrated faculty by 1892.[7] Wells would teach, can fruits and vegetables for the winter, and return north to raise funds for the school in the summers.[4] She remained at the school for twenty-seven years.[1] Trinity was closed after court-ordered desegregation in 1970.[4]

While teaching at Trinity, Wells made the acquaintance of Patti Malone and Alice Vassar LaCour who performed with the Fisk Jubilee Singers.[4] She traveled with the singers for the first four months of their US tour.[1] She retired back to her summer home in Chautauqua, New York, where she was an early member of the Chatauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Willard, Frances Elizabeth (2016-10-23). "A woman of the century; fourteen hundred-seventy biographical sketches accompanied by portraits of leading American women in all walks of life". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  2. ↑ "Preserving history: Fulton talks Trinity history". The News Courier. March 29, 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  3. ↑ "Trinity Cistern". Markers. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Trinity School, Athens, Alabama: Dare To Make a Difference". Library and Instruction Services. 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  5. ↑ "Trinity-Fort Henderson". Athens Alabama business and news directory. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  6. ↑ "Athens Alabama February news". Visit Athens Alabama. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  7. ↑ "UAH spotlight event with author Charlotte S. Fulton". The University of Alabama in Huntsville. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
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