Edith Claire Cram

Edith Claire Cram[1] (née Bryce; May 6, 1880 – February 28, 1960) was an American peace activist and heiress. She founded Peace House, which produced anti-war and peace movement lectures, newspaper advertisements, and other propaganda to promote peace. She was a benefactor for the War Resisters League.

Edith Claire Cram
Born
Edith Claire Bryce

(1880-05-06)May 6, 1880
New York, New York
DiedFebruary 28, 1960(1960-02-28) (aged 79)
New York, New York
NationalityAmerican
Other namesMrs. J.S. Cram
Edith C. Cram
Edith Bryce Cram
Occupation(s)Philanthropist, pacifist
Known forFounder of the Peace House, New York City
SpouseJohn Sergeant Cram
Children3
Parent(s)Lloyd Stephens Bryce
Edith (née Cooper) Bryce

During World War I, she expressed her pacifist views in newspapers in Chicago, New York, and Washington. She wrote an open letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, in which she asked him to mediate. She also promoted women's rights, specifically advocating for birth control. She was on the Advisory Council at Cooper Union for women's educational fields.

Early life

Edith Claire Bryce was born on May 6, 1880, in New York County, New York.[2] Her parents were General Lloyd Stephens Bryce, the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands, and Edith (née Cooper) Bryce,[3] the only child of New York City Mayor Edward Cooper, the son of prominent industrialist Peter Cooper.[4][5][lower-alpha 1]

The family home, Bryce House, was located in Roslyn on Long Island, New York. Her mother, a millionairess, died on April 29, 1916, leaving a large estate to her family in her will.[4][5] The main beneficiaries were her brother and her father.[4] Her father died on April 2, 1917,[6] and according to the will, the bulk of the estate, calculated at $6,667,136 in 1918, went to her children and grandchildren, with Peter the main beneficiary. Edith inherited $957,645 (equivalent to $11,570,000 in 2021).[7]

Her sister, Cornelia (1881–1960),[8] was married to conservationist Gifford Pinchot (1865–1946), the first Chief of the United States Forest Service under Theodore Roosevelt, in 1914.[9][10] Her brother, Peter Cooper Bryce (1889–1964),[11] married Angelica Schuyler Brown (1890–1980), of the Brown banking family, in 1917.[12]

Pacifist
A World War I-era female peace protester

During World War I, she became a pacifist and used the print media to promote her views. She created advertisements and content for religious pages of Chicago, New York, and Washington newspapers.[6] After the French and Belgian invasion of the Ruhr, Albert Einstein expressed his displeasure of the League of Nations' response. She sent a telegram to him in Berlin on April 12, 1923, thanking for his "stand for peace" and offered him a trip to the United States, with expenses paid by two peace societies.[13]

A leader in the pacifist movement,[6] she founded Peace House, dedicated to the advancement of peace.[14] Also engaged in anti-war activities, it was established in 1923 in New York City. The organization conducted plays, lectures, and exhibits. It counseled conscientious objectors. The War Resisters League, of which she was a benefactor, helped her with anti-war advertisements and peace propaganda.[15] Funded totally by her, the Peace House reached millions as the result of its propaganda campaigns. A common message on posters was "Too young to vote but not too young to be killed." During World War II, she advocated for complete neutrality in the armed conflict. She held a meeting at Carnegie Hall in 1939 where senators and representatives of Congress, who wanted to lift the arms embargo, addressed calls for peace.[16] During World War II, she wrote an open letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt asking him to be a mediator for a peaceful resolution. It was published as an advertisement.[6] Devoted to the pursuit of world-wide peace, she was called a "one-woman campaign for peace".[16] In 1946, the Peace House property was sold.[6]

Women's rights and education

Like her sister Cornelia Bryce Pinchot, she was interested in women's rights, particularly birth control.[17] At Cooper Union, she was on the Advisory Council for the Woman's Art School, School of Secretarial Training, and the School of Telegraphy for Women.[18]

Personal life
Childe Hassam, Sunday on Fifth Avenue, 1891

She married John Sergeant Cram (1851–1936)[2][lower-alpha 2] on January 17, 1906.[3][14] He was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee,[16] president of the Dock Board, and the Public Service Commissioner. The Tammany Hall leader, Charles Francis Murphy, was a political intimate.[6]

They had three children. Henry Sergeant Cram (1907–1997) married Edith Kingdon Drexel (1911–1934), the granddaughter of Anthony Joseph Drexel Jr. and George Jay Gould, in 1930.[19] Cram later married Ruth Vaux, a granddaughter of Richard Vaux, after his first wife's death.[20] Their second child, Edith Bryce Cram (1908–1972), married Arthur Gerhard in 1950.[21] Their third child, John Sergeant Cram was born ca. 1910.[22]

She was a member of the Tuxedo Club.[6] In 1920, the Crams were listed in the New York Social Register. They lived in Old Westbury on Long Island[23] and at their residence on Fifth Avenue (across from Central Park) in Manhattan.[22][lower-alpha 3] Her husband died in New York City on January 18, 1936.[2] She lived on East Eighty-fourth Street in New York City, where she died on February 28, 1960.[6][lower-alpha 4] She was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.[25]

Notes
  1. She is related to Colonial Governor Robert Brooke Sr. through her father's family.[2]
  2. John Sergeant Cram was born in the same year as her father.[6]
  3. The Cram family had seven servants, including a governess, butler, maid, cook, waitress, nurse, and housekeeper.[22]
  4. Her date of death is February 28, 1960 according to The New York Times and the New York City Department of Health.[6][24] The lineage of Colonial Governors book states that she was born on February 29.[2]

References
  1. Known after her marriage as Edith C. Cram, Edith Bryce Cram and Mrs. J. S. Cram
  2. Thurtle, Robert Glenn (June 2009). Lineage Book of Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-8063-5087-5.
  3. "A Day's Wedding; Cram -- Bryce". The New York Times. January 18, 1906. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  4. "Mrs. Bryce's Estate Left to Family". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 7, 1916. p. 8. Retrieved October 18, 2015 – via Newspapers.com (clipping).
  5. "Mrs. Bryce Left $3,000,000. Husband and Son Principal Beneficiaries Under Will". The New York Times. June 7, 1916. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  6. "Mrs. J.S. Cram of Peace House Founder of Pacifist Group Dies". The New York Times. February 29, 1960. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  7. The Spur. Angus Company. 1918. p. 12.
  8. "Mrs. Gifford Pinchot Is Dead; Widow of Governor Was 79; Ran for Congress Twice - Sought Husband's Post in Pennsylvania in 1934". The New York Times. September 10, 1960. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  9. "Gifford Pinchot Weds Miss Bryce; Progressive Senatorial Nominee Marries Daughter of Gen. and Mrs. Lloyd S. Bryce". The New York Times. August 16, 1914. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  10. "Cornelia Bryce Pinchot (1881-1960)". fs.usda.gov. United States Department of Agriculture | Forest Service. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  11. Redmon, Michael (July 28, 2009). "The Bryce Estate". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  12. "Her Wedding is Hastened by War; Miss Angelica Schuyler Brown Marries Peter Cooper Bryce of Squadron A." The New York Times. April 8, 1917. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  13. Einstein, Albert (1987). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Volume 14: The Berlin Years: Writings & Correspondence, April 1923–May 1925 - Documentary Edition (in German). Princeton University Press. pp. 36, 786. ISBN 978-0-691-16410-6.
  14. Life and Labor Bulletin, Vol 5, No. 6, Serial no. 52 (May 1927), p. front
  15. "Collection: Peace House (New York, New York) Collected Records". TriCollege Libraries - Archives & Manuscripts. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
  16. "Famed Peace Advocate, Mrs. J. Sergeant Cram, Devotes All to Cause". The Brooklyn Citizen. October 7, 1939. p. 2. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  17. Johnson, Joan Marie (2017-08-04). Funding Feminism: Monied Women, Philanthropy, and the Women's Movement, 1870–1967. UNC Press Books. pp. 181, 264. ISBN 978-1-4696-3470-8.
  18. Art, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and (1917). Annual Report. pp. 8, 17.
  19. "Edith Drexel Weds H. Sergeant Cram; Members of Two Prominent Families Married in St Bartholomew's". The New York Times. May 6, 1931. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  20. Special To The New York Times (October 8, 1936). "Henry Cram to Wed; Miss Ruth Vaux. Son of Mrs. J. Sergeant Cram of New York Is Affianced to Philadelphia Girl". The New York Times. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  21. Special To The New York Times (March 26, 1950). "Edith Bryce Cram is Wed in Chapel; Descendant of Peter Cooper Bride of Arthur Gerhard at Church of Heavenly Rest". The New York Times. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  22. "Edith C. Cram, wife of John S. Cram, 1067 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New York", 1920 Federal Census, Enumeration District 1092, Manhattan Assembly District 15, Washington, D.C.: National Archives
  23. Social Register, New York. Social Register Association. 1920. p. 158.
  24. Edith Cram, birth about 1880, Manhattan, New York, New York: New York City Department of Health, February 28, 1960
  25. "Burial Search: Edith Cram 1960". Green-Wood Cemetery. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
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