Carrie Farnsworth Fowle

Carrie Farnsworth Fowle (November 27, 1854 – December 26, 1917), born Caroline Palmer Farnsworth, was an American missionary, born in Turkey.

Carrie Farnsworth Fowle
A middle-aged white woman, hair drawn back and up, wearing a high-collared lace-trimmed dress.
Carrie Farnsworth Fowle, from a 1918 publication.
Born
Caroline Palmer Farnsworth

November 27, 1854
Cesarea, Turkey
DiedDecember 26, 1917(1917-12-26) (aged 63)
Baltimore, Maryland
OccupationMissionary

Early life and education edit

Caroline Palmer Farnsworth was born and raised in Cesarea, Turkey, the daughter of American missionaries Wilson Amos Farnsworth and Caroline Elizabeth Palmer Farnsworth, and the first American child born at Cesarea.[1] Her sister Harriet married into the Gulick family of missionaries in Hawaii.[2][3]

Carrie Farnsworth spoke and understood Turkish fluently. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1877, and earned a master's degree in music at Wellesley College.[4][5]

Career edit

Carrie Farnsworth Palmer returned to Turkey as a young bride soon after completing her studies at Wellesley. She had eight children while serving as a missionary with her husband at Cesarea and Talas.[6] She conducted women's prayer and study groups, worked on building schools, supported an economic development project for Armenian refugee women to sell their lace and embroidery,[1] and wrote about her work in Turkey for American publications,[7] including The Century Magazine.8[8] She retired from the mission field in 1911, and lived in Baltimore in her later years.[4]

Personal life and legacy edit

Caroline Farnsworth married missionary James Luther Fowle in 1878;[9] they had eight children born between 1879 and 1896. Her parents died in 1912 and 1913; her daughter Mary died in Turkey in 1916,[10] and James Fowle died in May 1917.[11] Carrie Farnsworth Fowle also died in 1917, a few months after her husband, aged 63 years.[1][4]

The Fowle Family Papers at Williams College Archives include correspondence and other materials related to Carrie Farnsworth Fowle and her extended family. Records associated with her son Luther Richardson Fowle[12] are in the American Research Institute in Istanbul [13][14] and another collection at Williams College.[15] In 1974, the Farnsworth-Fowle Fund was established by the overseas mission board of the United Church of Christ.[16]

Fowle's granddaughter and namesake, Carolyn Fowle Green (1921-2011), was an aeronautical engineer during and after World War II.[17] Another grandchild, Farnsworth Fowle (1915-2016), was a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and Time magazine.[18]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Dwight, Adelaide S. (March 1918). "Mrs. Caroline Farnsworth Fowle". Life and Light for Woman. 48: 107–109.
  2. ^ "The Boys, and Girls, of Summer: The Pioneering Camps of the Upper Valley". Valley News. August 10, 2013. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  3. ^ Clark, Carl C (2001). Descendants of the three Farnsworth sisters, Carrie, Harriet, and Charlotte, of Thetford, Vermont, born 1854, 1864, and 1866. United States: Carl C. Clark. OCLC 145946272.
  4. ^ a b c Fowle Family Papers, Williams College Archives & Special Collections.
  5. ^ "Alumnae Notes". Wellesley Magazine. 2: 271. 1893.
  6. ^ "Fifth Generation in Mission Work". The United Opinion. 1966-08-25. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-11-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Fowle, Carrie Farnsworth (December 1916). "The Message of Christmas". Life and Light for Woman. 46: 522–523.
  8. ^ Fowle, Carrie P. Farnsworth (March 1893). "The Kindergarten in Turkey". The Century. 45: 796.
  9. ^ Clark, Joseph Sylvester; Dexter, Henry Martyn; Quint, Alonzo Hall; Langworthy, Isaac Pendleton; Cushing, Christopher; Burnham, Samuel (October 1878). "Ministers Married". The Congregational Quarterly. 20: 647.
  10. ^ "Mary Carolyn Fowle 1903". One Hundred Year Biographical Directory of Mount Holyoke College 1837-1937. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  11. ^ "Rev. James L. Fowle Dies at the Newton Hospital". The Boston Globe. 1917-05-18. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-11-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Hewitt, John Haskell (1914). Williams College and Foreign Missions: Biographical Sketches of Williams College Men who Have Rendered Special Service to the Cause of Foreign Missions. Pilgrim Press. pp. 628–630.
  13. ^ "Personnel records for Luther R. Fowle". Digital Library for International Research Archive. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  14. ^ "Memorial records for Luther R. Fowle". Digital Library for International Research Archive. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  15. ^ Fowle, Luther Richardson. "Luther Richardson Fowle papers". Williams College Special Collections. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  16. ^ "UCC Fund Honors Family Originally From Vermont". Bennington Banner. 1974-02-09. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-11-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "In Memoriam ~ Carolyn Elizabeth Fowle Green (1921 - 2011)". It's Time. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  18. ^ Jurgens, Rick (January 17, 2017). "A Life: When He Wasn't an International Correspondent Covering WWII and Other Issues, Farnsworth Fowle Called Thetford Home". Valley News. Retrieved November 28, 2020.

External links edit