Spelman Seminary, companionship, Sophia B. Packard, and Harriet E. Giles
Harriet Elizabeth "Hattie" Giles and Sophia Brett Packard in a photograph sometime before 1891. Image from Spelman College Archives and NYPL.
In 1881, Sophia Brett Packard founded Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary with her longtime companion, Harriet E. Giles. The school would later be renamed Spelman Seminary in 1884 in honor of John D. Rockefeller's wife, Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman, who was an active abolitionist and school teacher, since the latter had paid the balance to keep the school open, which opened its doors in 1888. Sophia would continue onward on the school's board of trustees, then as president until her death in June 1891, when there were 464 students and faculty of 34. There's more to this story than the four paragraphs on Sophia's Wikipedia page.
Sophia, my fifth cousin five times removed, was born in New Salem, Massachusetts in January 1824 to Winslow Packard (1790-1852) and Rachel Freeman (1788-1844). She had five siblings: Joseph Fairbanks (1812-1883), Jane (b. 1815), Mary (1815-1838), Hubbard Vaughn (1817-1861), and Rachel Maria (b. 1818). She would graduate from the Charleston Female Seminary in Massachusetts, work at the Connecticut Literary Institution in Suffield, be secretary for the American Baptist Home Mission Society. By the early 1880s she was committed to helping improve education for Black people, specifically Black women, in the South. She would later be described as a "woman of rare executive ability" and having an earnest, strong character. [1]
There is more to be said. You may have noticed earlier that I described Harriet E. Giles as her life-long companion. This is first evidenced by the fact that Sophia died from sickness while on a summer vacation with Harriet, and would be buried in Athol, Massachusetts. Harriet, who lived until 1909, and born in New Salem, Massachusetts like Sophia, would become the president of Spelman Seminary when Sophia died. One writer would call Harriet and Sophia a lesbian power couple, noting that they met each other in the mid-1850s when Harriet was a student at New Salem Academy and Sophia was the preceptor. Both would be buried next to one each other in Silver Lake Cemetery. They would also be described as "close friends and supportive coworkers" by Harry G. Lefever in his article on the early origins of Spelman College. He also noted note the New England-progressive outlook they brought to the school, noting their emphasis on liberal and industrial courses, but employed assumptions about gender roles, which became part of the curriculum while being self-sacrificing and putting others before themselves. At the same time, they never fundamentally challenged social injustices or inequities, either by staying silent about redistribution of land for formerly enslaved peoples, not actively lobbying to end lynching within the South, or having Black people in leadership positions. [2]
Further evidence shows Harriet and Sophia living together in Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut in 1860, within the Mather household, in this below census extract:
Sophia and Harriet are highlighted by a yellow box. Source is 1860 United States Federal Census for Sophia B Packard, Connecticut, Hartford, Suffield, Year: 1860; Census Place: Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut; Roll: M653_79; Page: 667; Family History Library Film: 803079
The same is the case in 1865, when they are living in the same household in Worcester, Massachusetts, along with many other teachers and students. She would still be living in Worcester, Massachusetts until at least 1867. At first I couldn't find her in the 1870 census, and her 1890 passport application does not mention Harriet. However, digging into it more, I found them together in Suffolk, Massachusetts, and it turns out that Harriet submitted a passport application at the same time as Sophia. Additionally, when Harriet died in November 1909 of pneumonia, an obituary in The Sumpter Enterprise at the time described Sophia as Harriet's "friend and co-worker". The Atlanta Constitution would use similar language in their obituary. They were both called "devoted Christian woman" in another article about Spellman, which isn't surprising considering Sophia had worked in a church and what became Spellman was originally in the basement of a church before moving to a new location. [3]
Otherwise, a 1853 student lists for New Salem Academy note that Harriet's father, Samuel, is the secretary of the academy, Harriet as a teacher of music. Sophia is not listed there. However, she is listed as a preceptress in 1855 and Samuel is still secretary of the school, and Harriet is a student in the school's classical department. I also found them together in the 1880 census, boarding on 275 Shawmut Avenue (which is seemingly just an apartment building) in Boston within the Ryder household, along with many other boarders. [8] Harriet would also write a moving eulogy to Sophia, and mentions "loving companionship" which is undoubtedly a way to allude to the romantic relationship they had together, whether it can be called a domestic partnership, romantic friendship, or something else:
It is not necessary to euloigize one so widely known. Her work speaks for her; and the monuments she has erected, will endure from generation to generation, in the lives made better by her influence. How large her bundle of sheaves! How thickly studded her crown with stars for those she has won to Christ! We mourn not for her, but for the work, and the workers who will so greatly miss her loving companionship and wise counsels. Surely "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."
Both also opened the Rollstone School in March 1859 together, which ended after both accepted teaching positions at the Connecticut Literary Institution. They both, would also, teach at the Oread Institute in Worchester from 1864 to 1867, with Sophia as co-principal and Harriet as teacher of ornamentals and music. They also both co-founded the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society in 1877.
"Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles with Spelman Seminary Students" in 1886, via National Alumnae Association of Spelman College
Spelman Seminary would later become Spelman College when its name changed in 1924. Otherwise, one article in The Springfield Daily Republican on November 25, 1939, possibly accessed using one of the libraries here, notes that an oil painting of Harriet was gifted to the Swift River Valley Historical Society. It is likely still in their collections, even though it is strange since the society wasn't incorporated until 1962.
While we don't know everything about Sophia, Harriet, and their relationship, which some have described as an iconic same-sex couple among many others, we can say that their legacy certainly lives on to this day.
Notes
[1] The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 2 (James T. White & Company. 1921), 270-271; "Spelman - Packard" clipping in The Boston Weekly Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, 30 Jun 1891, Page 3.
[2] The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 2 (James T. White & Company. 1921), 271; "Spelman - Packard" clipping in The Boston Weekly Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, 30 Jun 1891, Page 3; "Oread Institute," Lost Womyn's Space, Apr. 27, 2011; Riese Bernard, "16 Lesbian Power Couples From History Who Got Shit Done, Together," Autostraddle, Mar. 31, 2017; Harry G. Lefever, "The Early Origins of Spelman College," The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education No. 47 (Spring, 2005), pp. 60-63.
[3] Massachusetts, U.S., State Census, 1865 for Sophia B Packard, Worcester, Worcester Ward 7, image 4; U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 for Sophia B Packard, Massachusetts, Worcester, 1867, Worcester, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1867, Image 173; U.S., Passport Applications, 1795-1925 for Sophia B Packard, Passport Applications, 1795-1905, 1888-1890, Roll 344 - 01 Mar 1890-31 Mar 1890, Image 368; 1870 United States Federal Census for Hattie Giles, Massachusetts, Suffolk, Boston Ward 08, Year: 1870; Census Place: Boston Ward 8, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: M593_645; Page: 39A; U.S., Passport Applications, 1795-1925 for Harrich Elizabeth Giles, Passport Applications, 1795-1905, 1888-1890, Roll 349 - 09 May 1890-16 May 1890, Image 43; "Harriett Giles obituary - clip 1" in The Sumter Enterprise, Epes, Alabama, 02 Dec 1909, Page 3; "Harriett Giles obituary - clip 2" in The Sumter Enterprise, Epes, Alabama, 02 Dec 1909, Page 3; "Miss Harriett Giles Dead; Was President of Spellman" in The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, 14 Nov 1909, Page 8; "Death notice for Harriett Giles" in The Clayton Record, Clayton, Alabama, 26 Nov 1909, Page 1; "Spellman Seminary" in The Rochester Daily Register-Gazette, Feb. 16, 1898, via Ancestry.
[4] U.S., High School Student Lists, 1821-1923 for Harriette E Giles, New Hampshire, New Salem Academy, 1853, pages 2, 3 (exact source is Catalogue of Trustees, Instructors and Students of New Salem Academy, Massachusetts, for the year ending November 10, 1853 (Greenfield, MA: Charles A. Mirick, 1853), 2-3); U.S., High School Student Lists, 1821-1923, New Hampshire, New Salem Academy 1855, page 3-4, 6 (exact source is Catalogue of Trustees, Instructors and Students of New Salem Academy, New Salem, Mass., for the year ending November 15, 1855 (Greenfield, MA: Charles A. Mirick, 1853), 3-4, 6); 1880 United States Federal Census for Hattie S. Giles, Massachusetts, Suffolk, Boston, 715, Year: 1880; Census Place: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: 558; Page: 62A; Enumeration District: 715.
Note: This was originally posted on May 8, 2023 on the main Packed with Packards WordPress blog (it can also be found on the Wayback Machine here). My research is still ongoing, so some conclusions in this piece may change in the future.
© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.
