BLACKWELL FAMILY ALICE STONE BLACKWELL SUBJECT FILE Biographical Papers TributesCopy of clipping from Boston (Mass) Globe September 15, 1932 ARMENIANS HONOR MISS BLACKWELL 75th Birthday reception attended by 300 Alice Stone Blackwell was honored last night at a reception at the International Institute, 190 Beacon Street when her 75th birthday was celebrated. About 300 guests filled the auditorium. Flower banked the reception corner and a large picture of Miss Blackwell stood on an easel behind the speakers' stand. ***** Among those addressed the gathering were Yervent Messiaian, Rev. Saul Halejian, Dr. H. Jelalian, and Rev. Hagop Touaian A True copy. Attest: *** Edna Lamprey Stautial Witness - Judith I Matson Copy of item in Boston Post, Wednesday September 14, 1932 THE OBSERVANT CITIZEN "Congratulations to Miss Alice Stone Blackwell on this her 75th birthday. An extensive writer on woman suffrage, as well as other subjects, Miss Blackwell, at her home in Dorchester, is ever conversant of the current events of the day, as is exemplified by her many interesting letters to the newspapers bearing on these matters." A true copy. Attest: Edna Lamprey Stautial Witness - Judith I Matson Subscribed and sworn to before me this 13th day of June, 1935 Gayle Stautial My Commission Expires March 6, 1942 Notary Public To whom it may concern: I, Alice Stone Blackwell of Boston, Massachusetts, hereby certify under oath that my parents, Henry B. Blackwell and Lucy Stone, were married in West Brookfield, Massachusetts, on May 1, 1855, and that they often told me that I, their only child, was born in Orange, New Jersey, on September 14 1857. As births were not officially recorded in small towns in New Jersey at that time, a birth certificate is not to be had. I was never baptized, and hence I cannot provide a baptismal certificate. However, it is well known that my parents removed from Orange, New Jersey, to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1869, and they have often told me that I was twelve years old at that date. They uniformly told me, and my relatives and friends, that I was born on September 14, 1857. Alice Stone Blackwell COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Suffolk S S. June 12, 1935 Subscribed and sworn to, this day, before me Silas E. Parsons NOTARY PUBLIC I, Florence Blackwell Mayhew, of Chilmark, Massachusetts, hereby certify under oath that I was born in New York City, on November 7, 1856; and that I was told by my parents that my cousin Alice Stone Blackwell, of Boston, Massachusetts, was born on September 14, 1857, and that I have often attended family celebrations of her birthday on the anniversary of that date; and that it was a matter of common knowledge in the family, and often mentioned both by my parents and by hers, that she was about ten months younger than I. Florence Blackwell Mayhew Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bristol SS Mttiboro[?] June 17th 1935 There personally appeared, Florence Blackwell Mayhew, who subscribed the foregoing statement in my presence, and declared the statement therein set forth to be true before me Walter N Thrigg[?] Notary Public my commission expires Feb 25th 1938 no other evidence of birth Paul F Clark Eini h. [?]Certified copy of statement in WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA 1934-1935 edition "Blackwell, Alice Stone, journalist; b.E. Orange, N.J., September 14, 1857; d. Henry B. Blackwell and Lucy Stone; A.B. Boston U., 1881; unmarried. Assisted father and mother on Woman's Journal, Boston 1881-1893; after their death, was editor in chief till 1917, when the Woman's Journal, the Woman Voter, and the Headquarters News-Letter were consolidated as the Woman Citizen, of which was contbg. editor; editor of paper called The Woman's Column, 1886-1905. Extensive writer on woman suffrage. Served as sec. Nat. Am. Woman Suffrage Assn. about 20 yrs.; also served as Pres. N.E. and Mass. Woman Suffrage Assns. Hon. pres Mass. League Women Voters; a presdl. elector for LaFollette in 1924. Has taken deep interest in the Armenians and received Order of Melusine from Prince Guy de Lusignan Also active in Am. Friends of Russian Freedom. Author, Lucy Stone, Pioneer of Woman's Rights, 1930. Editor: The Little Grandmother of the Russian Revolution - Catherine Breshkovsky's Own Story, 1917. Translator and Compiler: Armenian Poems, 1896, 1916; Songs of Russia, 1906; Songs of Grief and Gladness (from the Yiddish) 1908; Some Spanish-American Poets, 1929. Co-compiler: The Yellow Ribbon Speaker, 1911. Home, 3 Monadnock Street, Boston, Mass. A True Copy: Attest: Edna Lauprey Stantial Written Judith C. Matson subscribed & sworn to before me this 13th day of June, 1935 (?) Stantial Notary PublicEvidence of t??e?ALICE STONE BLACKWELL Tribute of Dr. Samuel A. Eliot at the Memorial Service held at the Arlington Street Church, Boston. March 18, 1950. We are gathered here, my friends, to bring our tribute of reverence and gratitude for the life that has been so long and so valiantly lived here among us. If indeed it were possible for each and every one of us to express in some single sentence the feeling that bound us to the life we here commemorate, - then from our separate experiences and our different points of view and of contact there would be added to the silent tribute of your presence the fitting words of appreciation and affection. I'm sure that we all feel that so radiant a life cannot be permitted to pass into the silence without loving praise, while at the same time one who tries to express our common feeling must respect the reserves that are the rights of a gentlewoman. What a rich and abundant life it was! We don't have to force words or pump phrases when we speak of Alice Stone Blackwell. You know the lives of many good and pleasant people seem to lack emphasis. They are sort of negatively good. They do the right things but not so much on their own initiative as because others do them or it is the custom of their set to do them. How refreshing and invigorating to come into contact with a distinctive personality ready to exercise an independent judgment, able to see clearly and imagine vividly and will nobly. Here was a positive and affirmative nature - one that said "yes" more oftne than "no". She never waited for an idea or a movement to become popular. If she believed in it she just set to work to make it popular - and the slowness of the progressive reforms she advocated so perseveringly, the apathy and indifference of people toward the causes that to her were so imperative, never seemed to fret her - at least in public. She may have shown some natural impatience to those nearest her and if so I'm sure that she could express her indignation in sufficiently forcible and appropriate terms - but to us who were her allies and admirers without being her intimates every defeat seemed only to stiffen her backbone and her eagerness to get into the battle again. Alice Blackwell came, as you know, from a sturdy, bold, exceptionally long-lived stock. With her first breath she must have drawn in something of her parents' devotion to the anti-slavery movement and the cause of equal rights for women. She inherited the intellectual and moral equipment that prepared her for the service she was to render to humanity, and she inherited, too, a certain scorn of consequences when she knew she was on the right road. Like her gifted mother - whose biography she wrote - she could speak with fine freedom, force and fluency. She answered every summons of conscience - oh, not with the sort of stoic resignation which is about all that some of us can muster - but with a resolute, contagious enthusiasm. How her penetrating intelligence went right to the heart of any problem or emegency! I don't think she ever knew