Los
Angeles County
Biographies
CAROLINE MARIA SEVERANCE
One of the earliest exponents of
women’s rights, for sixty-five years one of the foremost club women of the
country, a lecturer before women’s organizations from coast to coast and a
potent influence for those things for which she stood, Mrs. Caroline Maria
Severance was one of the best loved women of Southern California. After her retirement from public life her
home became a mecca for the leading men and women of
the country who admired her intellectual gifts, her great service in behalf of
the advancement of women socially and politically, and for her personal charm.
Mrs. Severance was born in
Canandaigua, New York, January 12, 1820, a daughter of Orson and Caroline Maria
(Clarke) Seymour. Her father was a
native of Hartford, Connecticut, and her mother of Buffalo, New York, the
latter born in 1798 and died in 1846.
She was the daughter of Dr. Peter and Maria Clarke. Miss Seymour was educated in the private
school of the Bassett sisters at Auburn, New York, the Bennett School of
Owasso, New York, and was graduated from the Geneva Female Seminary as
valedictorian of her class in 1835, after which she taught in the Auburn Female
Seminary until her marriage in 1840, with Theodoric Cordenio
Severance, who was born in Shelburne Center, Massachusetts, but was a banker of
Cleveland, Ohio. Their children were
James Seymour, born July 5, 1842, now a resident of Los Angeles; Julia Long,
born in March, 1844 and died in 1914; Mark Sibley, born October 28, 1846, and
died in 1930; and Pierre Clarke, born September16, 1848, and died in Boston in
1890. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs.
Severance continued in Cleveland until 1855, when they removed to Boston,
Massachusetts, where they lived for twenty years. It was in the latter city that Mrs. Severance
began to take an active part in the movements to gain definite recognition for
women when she could spare time from her household and family duties. In 1868 she helped to found the New England
Women’s Club of Boston and served as its first president. This was the first women’s club in this
country which was the means of introducing to the world a new form of social
and mental activity for women. She was
an ardent supporter of woman’s suffrage at that early period and delivered many
addresses throughout the country. She
became a close personal friend of such personages as Susan B. Anthony,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Charlotte Gilman, and hundreds of other
prominent women.
In 1875 Mr. and Mrs. Severance came
to California and for a short time stopped in Santa Barbara, then came to Los
Angeles and purchased a home at 806 West Adams Street. Until 1892 the “Red Roof” as it was called, was
blessed by the genial spirit and ready wit of the husband and father, who made
friends of all who came in contact with him.
This home later became known as “El Nido,” and
was visited by eminent men and women of the country and was the rendezvous for
literary people visiting Los Angeles, for leaders in progressive thought, and
for those interested in municipal advancement.
Of “El Nido,” Charlotte P. Gilman wrote in
1905:
“Fair house of peace; green leaves,
sweet rest;
Flowers of garden and of the heart;
A hostess blessing every guest—
We love to meet, we grieve to part.”
In 1882 Mrs. Severance founded the
Los Angeles Women’s Club, the first club in the city composed of women. In 1891 she organized the Friday Morning Club
and served as its first president, and was later honored with the title of
president emeritus. It was in her home
that the Los Angeles Fellowship was organized, and also the Severance Club, an
organization of men and women formed and named in her honor. She was founder and the first president of
the Los Angeles free kindergarten. Madam
Severance was known throughout the country as a pioneer in female suffrage
movements, as a philanthropist, and as The Mother of Clubs. She was a Unitarian in religious belief and
lived up to the teachings of the Golden Rule and stood consistently for “Equal
rights to all, special privileges to none.”
She was a confirmed optimist, had the fullest measure of faith in
humanity, believed that right will always prevail in the end, and that every
person should do his part to promote the cause of righteousness, truth and
justice. She loved Los Angeles, the
people among whom she spent to many happy, useful and profitable years and the
people returned in full measure this admiration. The following verse written by Mrs. Severance
expresses her love for her adopted city:
“Dear city of my later life and
longing,
Nestled mid
vale fair as Italia’s own,
With sons of sturdy will and loyal
hearted,
And daughters dow’red
for all heroic striving—
May thy high future be to lead the race
In the world-struggle for the
loftier rule
Of clear-eyed Justice and of sweet
browed Peace—
The royal consorts of the coming
time.”
Mrs. Caroline Maria Severance passed
away at her home in October, 1914.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 13-15, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN
NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES