|
Gummere Family of the USA Francis Barton Gummere Born 6 March 1855 at Burlington, New Jersey, the son of Samuel
James Gummere and his second wife Elizabeth Hooten Barton. Amelia Smith Mott Born 17 July 1859 at Burlington, New Jersey, the daughter of Richard Field Mott and his
wife Susan Thomas of Burlington, New Jersey. Children:-
Francis came to Haverford aged seven, when his father became professor of mathematics in 1862. He was an intelligent, able boy and entered the college in 1869, aged only fourteen years. He graduated from Haverford in 1872 at the young age of seventeen with a B.A. He then spent a year as a clerk at the Pencoyd Iron Works, followed by a year working in a Philadelphia law office, before going to Harvard in 1874. In 1875 he graduated from Harvard University with a second B.A. degree, and simultaneously graduated from Haverford with an M.A.(1875). He then taught English and Rhetoric at the Friend's School in Providence, Rhode Island (1875-9), spending his vacation time in Europe. After his stint of teaching, Francis studied abroad for two years at Leipzig, Berlin and Strasbourg, gaining a Ph.D. from the University of Freiburg in Germany in 1881 with a dissertation on The Anglo-Saxon Metaphor. That same year he returned to Harvard as an English instructor. Francis married Amelia Smith Mott of Burlington, New Jersey in 1882 - she was one of his pupils at the Friend's School in Providence. He was appointed headmaster of the Swain Free School in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1882, then elected Professor at Haverford in 1887, with a years leave of absence in Europe before taking up his position at the college.
New Buildings at Haverford College, from Rural Pennsylvania by Rev. S.F. Hotchkin, 1897. In their first year at Haverford, the Gummeres lived at "Woodside" at the end of the Serpentine Walk, the home of Rendel Harris and his wife who were in Armenia for the academic year. Housing was short at Haverford, and with a family of three boys the Gummeres felt they needed a permanent home of their own. To solve this problem the college made an arrangement whereby a professor could build a house on college grounds, free of ground rent, and the college agreed to buy the house at an agreed sum when the owner wished to sell, or the owner could sell to another faculty member. Together with Professors Gifford and Hall, Dr. Gummere built a house in a grove of trees on what is now the Circle which rings the cricket field. They moved in in autumn 1890 and were to spend 30 years in that house. Dr Gummere's knowledge of classical literature - English, Greek, Latin and German - was vast, and with his unfailing memory could recall things at will. His lectures were full of vitality and interest, and he managed to present things in a new way. He enjoyed attending the various literature clubs in the city to which he belonged, and being a guest on social occasions, but did not enjoy public speaking and tried to avoid such engagements if he could. Dr. Gummere had a small circle of intimate friends with whom he enjoyed conversing or playing chess. He loved playing golf, and enjoyed the wit and companionship of the "nineteenth hole".
Dr. Gummere published several works - The Anglo-Saxon Metaphor (1881), Handbook of Poetics (1885), Germanic Origins: a Study in Primitive Culture (1892), Old English Ballads (1894), Beginnings of Poetry (1901), The Popular Ballad (1907), Lives of Great English Writers (in collaboration with Walter Swain Hinchman, 1908), Oldest English Epic (1909), Democracy and Poetry (1911), and numerous essays. Like his father before him, Francis wrote poetry, and one of his poems, John Bright, is in E.C. Steadman's American Anthology (1900). In 1901 he was offered a professorship at Harvard University but declined the position. In 1909 Harvard conferred him with a Litt.D. Other universities offered him professorships but he remained at Haverford until his death in 1919 of oedema of the lungs brought on by heart failure at the age of 64 years. His name is chiefly associated with his theory of the communal origin of the English and Scottish popular ballads. Amelia Mott Gummere was also a noted author in her own right. She wrote Friends in Burlington (1884), The Quaker: A Study in Costume (1902), Witchcraft and Quakerism (1908), The Quaker in the Forum (1909), The Journal and Essays of John Woolman (1922). In 1915 she founded the John Woolman Memorial Association which operates a historic house in Mount Holly, New Jersey located where John Woolman’s apple orchard once stood. At the time, historic houses were proliferating in honor of military heroes, and Amelia felt the need for a memorial to a man of peace. John Woolman (1720-1772) was a Quaker who was known for his journal, and his lifelong work to end slavery. She also assisted in writing The Quakers in the American Colonies (1911) by Rufus M. Jones, assisted by Isaac Sharpless and Amelia Mott Gummere. If I have something wrong I would greatly appreciate being corrected, or if you have something to add to the story then please email me . Return to main Gummere page. References:- |
