Virginia Thrall Smith

Virginia Thrall Smith was educated at the Suffield Institute, Hartford Female Seminary, and Mount Holyoke Seminary. In 1857, she married William B. Smith, a tailor and clothier. They lived in…

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Patricia Kingsley Ritter

Patricia Kingsley Ritter was a graduate of the University of Iowa. She attended Yale Divinity School and received her master’s degree from the Yale School of Education. Activist In 1936,…

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George Ritter

George Ritter was a graduate of Rutgers University and Yale Law School. His law school education was interrupted by his service in World War II. He was a staff sergeant…

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Anne Tracy Morgan

Born in New York, Anne Tracy Morgan was the daughter of financier J. Pierpont Morgan and his second wife Frances Tracy Morgan. Although she grew up amidst wealth and social…

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Gertrude Lewis

In 1880, in her senior year of high school, Gertrude Lewis arranged for leading animal welfare advocate, George T. Angell, to lecture in Hartford. A lawyer and philanthropist, Angell formed…

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Betty Knox

Born in Hartford, Betty Knox graduated from city schools, Miss Wheeler’s School in Providence, and the Yale School of Drama. World War II During World War II, she opened a…

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John Hooker

Born in Farmington, John Hooker was a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. Early Life Hooker attended Yale, but after two years fell ill with typhoid fever. To…

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Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Beecher was born into the prominent Beecher family. She was the daughter of Rev. Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet. Her older half-sisters included the author Harriet Beecher…

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Reverend Francis Goodwin

After graduating from Hartford High School, Francis Goodwin worked for dry good merchants Howe, Mather & Co. of Hartford and Morton & Grinnell of New York City. His interest in…

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