Mary S. Caswell

Mary S. Deering Caswell (1847 – February 11, 1924) was an American educator and writer, founder of the Marlborough School in Los Angeles.

Mary S. Caswell
An older white woman, her white hair in a bouffant updo. She is wearing a high-collared dark dress or blouse.
Mary S. Caswell, from a 1913 publication.
Born
Mary S. Deering

1847
Paris, Maine
DiedFebruary 11, 1924
California
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Educator, writer
Years active1880s-1920s

Early life

Mary S. Deering was born in Paris, Maine in 1847 (some sources give 1850), the daughter of Mark Deering and Alice Bailey Deering.[1] She had two sisters, Georgianna and Sarah.[2] She was quite young when her parents died, and she was educated at various schools, including the Freehold Young Ladies Seminary in New Jersey.[3] Her Deering cousins in Maine founded the Deering Harvester Company, which was a precursor of International Harvester.[4]

Career

Caswell founded a girls' school in Portland, Maine in 1883, and sold it in 1888, to move to southern California, for her daughter's health and her own prospects. She founded and ran the Marlborough School in Los Angeles, a private school for girls.[5][6] "There are absolutely no rules at Marlborough," noted a 1902 report, "but at the beginning of each year the principal makes known to the twenty-five girls in the family their privileges and their obligations; explains to them certain laws of cause and effect," and "shows them that she will do all in her power to help them."[7]

While still in Maine, Caswell published several books, including Loring, Short & Harmon's illustrated guide book for Portland and vicinity (1873), An Average Boy's Vacation (1876),[8] Phil, Rob, and Louis, or Haps and Mishaps of Three Average Boys (1878), and Letters to Hetty Heedless and Others (1880).[9] She co-wrote The Marlborough Course in Art History (1919) with Anna McConnell Beckley.[10]

In Los Angeles, she was vocal in her "vehement" opposition to women's suffrage,[11][12] saying the vote would "rob women of privileges they currently enjoyed and impose responsibilities they did not want."[13] She also lectured on art history to community groups.[14][15]

Personal life

Mary Deering married George A. Caswell in 1878; he died in 1880.[1] Caswell died in California in 1924, in her seventies.[16] Her grave is in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Her daughter, Georgia Caswell Overton, was headmistress of the Marlborough from 1948 to 1962. The Marlborough School still exists, and is the oldest independent girls' school in Southern California.[3]

References
  1. Porter, Florence Collins; Trask, Helen Brown (1913). Maine Men and Women in Southern California: A Volume Regarding the Lives of Maine Men and Women of Note and Substantial Achievement, as Well as Those of a Younger Generation Whose Careers are Certain, Yet Still in the Making. Kingsley, Mason & Collins. p. 23.
  2. Lapham, William Berry; Maxim, Silas P. (1884). History of Paris, Maine: From Its Settlement to 1880, with a History of the Grants of 1736 & 1771, Together with Personal Sketches, a Copious Genealogical Register and an Appendix. authors. p. 581.
  3. "Trailblazer Mary Caswell leaves legacy at Marlborough School". Larchmont Chronicle. October 2, 2014. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  4. "Deering Family". Deering Estate. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  5. "Vision & History". Marlborough. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  6. Starr, Kevin (1990-04-12). Material Dreams: Southern California through the 1920s. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-992327-4.
  7. "Los Angeles Schools for Girls". Los Angeles Herald. May 1, 1902. p. 9. Retrieved May 24, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  8. Caswell, Mary S. Deering (1876). An Average Boy's Vacation. Dresser, McLellan.
  9. Caswell, Mary S. (1880). Letters to Hetty Heedless and Others. W.H. & O.H. Morrison.
  10. Caswell, Mary S. Deering; Beckley, Anna McConnell. The Marlborough Course in Art History ...
  11. "The Other SIde of Suffrage Tale". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1912-04-03. p. 24. Retrieved 2020-05-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Suffragists Will Swoop Down on State Solons Today". The Fresno Morning Republican. 1911-01-16. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-05-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. Smith, Jack (1988-10-02). "Suffragette City : 'We're Fighting for Women,' Insisted L.A.'s Foes of Voting Rights for Females". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  14. "Golden Legend of Madonna". Los Angeles Evening Express. 1894-05-19. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-05-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "The Art of Greece". Los Angeles Herald. October 29, 1894. p. 8. Retrieved May 24, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  16. "Rites Today for School Founder". The Los Angeles Times. 1924-02-14. p. 20. Retrieved 2020-05-24 – via Newspapers.com.
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