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Meet Grace Elizabeth McNair


Photo of Grace Elizabeth McNair | 1899

Discovering Grace...

I have to confess I have an absolute bias and admiration for Grace E.Mcnair ... she strikes me as inquisitive, outgoing, and incredibly progressive. 

Miles and Elizabeth Melendy's two daughters ... Frances & Grace ... are wonderful bookends to paths societal women could take in the Victorian era.

In contrast to Grace's ongoing education and exploration, Frances was a seemingly ideal legislators's wife. I have been gathering multiple clippings of organizations she volunteered and served, events she hosted, and society announcements on her and Charles' comings and goings. 

Undoubtedly ... Frances was a Woman of Society.

Grace strikes me as more precarious. An intellectual. A progressive, and perhaps rebellious within Victorian era constraints in women's "roles."

Where as Grace was a Suffragette, Frances was a Daughter of the American Revolution.

While Frances moved and settled in Wauwatosa, and is buried in her husband's family plot ... Grace was an intellectual who appears to have lived at Sunnyside, or stayed close to her parents' home.

Elizabeth Melendy passed away at Frances' home in 1910, and from what I can see ... Grace was here in Brodhead with her father at his time of death.


Grace McNair was a Suffragette & prominently active in women's causes.

Chronicles of Grace...

The following are key dates in Grace's life that I was able to pull together: 
  • 1877 ... birth
  • 1897(?) ... graduated Brodhead High School
  • 1898 ... Graduate Scholarship in European History
  • 1898 ... B.L (Letters and Science) from the University of Wisconsin
  • 1899 ... L.M. from the University of Wisconsin
  • 1899 - 1900 ... Assistant in History at Brodhead High School
  • 1900 - 1901 ... Bryn Mawr College - Fellow in History
  • 1902 - 1904 ... Assistant in Latin, German, and History at Brodhead High School
  • 1945 death

Grace's Interests...

I also found a few reports of Grace's interests that she self identified as:
  • Member of Brodhead’s Women’s Club
  • Favors Women’s Suffrage
  • Congregationalist

Newspaper Clippings...

The following are just a few clippings I found on Grace, with much more coming in future posts when I can better organize them.



Next Steps...

In piecing together more information on Grant and Frances, I am finding absolute fascination with the three McNair children. They lived diverse lives, and appeared to be quite active and impactful in society.

I also am going to circle back and start fleshing out a bit more about Elizabeth M. McNair, as I'm so curious to learn more about the woman who raised these three interesting people.


Sources 


*as Lap of Legends documents ongoing research, please utilize the post "tags" for the most recent and accurate information 

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