Helen Frances “Fanny” Garrison Villard (December 16, 1844 – July 5, 1928) was an American women's suffrage campaigner, pacifist and a co-founder of

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

. She was the daughter of prominent publisher and abolitionist

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he found ...

and the wife of railroad tycoon

Henry Villard Henry Villard (April 10, 1835 – November 12, 1900) was an American journalist and financier who was an early president of the Northern Pacific Railway. Born and raised by Ferdinand Heinrich Gustav Hilgard in the Rhenish Palatinate of the Kin ...

Early life

Helen Frances Garrison, known to family and friends as "Fanny," was born on December 16, 1844. She was the only surviving daughter of five sons and two daughters (of whom a son and a daughter died as children) born to Helen Eliza Benson (1811–1876) and

(1805–1879). Her brother, William Lloyd Garrison Jr. (1838–1909), was a prominent advocate of the

single tax A single tax is a system of taxation based mainly or exclusively on one tax, typically chosen for its special properties, often being a tax on land value. The idea of a single tax on land values was proposed independently by John Locke and Bar ...

, free trade, women's suffrage, and of the repeal of the

Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law excluded merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplom ...

. Another brother,

Wendell Phillips Garrison Wendell Phillips Garrison (June 4, 1840 – February 27, 1907) was an American editor and author. Early life Garrison was born on June 4, 1840 at Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. He was the third son of the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison ...

(1840–1907), was literary editor of ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'' from 1865 to 1906. Her other two brothers were George Thompson Garrison and Francis Jackson Garrison, who wrote a biography of their father and was named after abolitionist Francis Jackson.

Activism

200px, Fanny Garrison Villard at the International Woman Suffrage Congress, Budapest, 1913. While raising her children, she led a life fairly typical life of a woman in a traditional upper-class marriage. After her children were grown and her husband died in 1900, Fanny Garrison Villard became more active in peace groups and women's rights. She joined the

American Woman Suffrage Association The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) was a single-issue national organization formed in 1869 to work for women's suffrage in the United States. The AWSA lobbied state governments to enact laws granting or expanding women's right to vote ...

along with Anna Shaw and

Carrie Chapman Catt Carrie Chapman Catt (; January 9, 1859 Fowler, p. 3 – March 9, 1947) was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women the right to vote in 1920. Catt ...

. In 1914, she marched against the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. After the winning of suffrage, she founded the Women's Peace Society on September 12, 1919. She was a delegate to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

in 1907, and in 1921 a fraternal delegate to the conference of the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

. Along with her son

Oswald Garrison Villard Oswald Garrison Villard (March 13, 1872 – October 1, 1949) was an American journalist and editor of the ''New York Evening Post.'' He was a civil rights activist, and along with his mother, Fanny Villard, a founding member of the NAACP. I ...

, she was co-founder of

Personal life

In January 1866, she married

(1835–1900) whom she had met during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

when he was a war correspondent. He later became the President of the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whic ...

. Together, they were the parents of: * Helen Elise Villard (1868–1917), who married Dr. James William Bell, an English physician, in 1897, and was a semi-invalid most of her life due to a childhood fall down an elevator shaft at the Westmoreland House. * Harold Garrison Villard (1869–1952), who married Mariquita Serrano (1864–1936), sister of

Vincent Serrano Vincent Serrano (February 17, 1866 – January 11, 1935) was an American actor in plays and silent films. Biography Serrano's best-known role was as Lieutenant Denton in the Augustus Thomas play ''Arizona'', which had its New York opening in Se ...

and daughter of Mary J. Serrano, in 1897. *

(1872–1949), who married Julia Breckenridge Sanford (1876–1962) * Henry Hilgard Villard (1883–1890), who died young. Fanny Garrison Villard died on July 5, 1928, aged 83, at her home, Thorwood Park, in

Dobbs Ferry, New York Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States Census. In 2019, its population rose to an estimated 11,027. The village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a p ...

Descendants

Through her son Harold, she was the grandmother of

Henry Serrano Villard Henry Serrano Villard (March 30, 1900January 21, 1996) was an American foreign service officer, ambassador and author. Life Henry S. Villard was born in Manhattan, New York City March 30, 1900. He was the great-grandson of William Lloyd Garrison, ...

(1900–1996), the

foreign service officer A Foreign Service Officer (FSO) is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U ...

and

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

, and Vincent Serrano Villard, and Mariquita Villard Platov. Through her son Oswald, she was the grandmother of Dorothea Marshall Villard Hammond (1907–1994), a member of the

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs ...

, Henry Hilgard Villard (1911–1983), the head of the economics department at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

and the first male president of

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

of New York City, and Oswald Garrison Villard Jr. (1916–2004), a professor of electrical engineering at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Residences

In the late 1870s, the Villards bought an old country estate known as "Thorwood Park" in

. The home, which featured sweeping views of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

, was redecorated by

Charles Follen McKim Charles Follen McKim (August 24, 1847 – September 14, 1909) was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the partn ...

McKim, Mead and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...

in the early 1880s to Fanny's specifications. In 1884, the Villards hired Joseph M. Wells of the architecture firm

to design and construct the

Villard Houses The Villard Houses are a set of former residences comprising a historic landmark at 451–457 Madison Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by the architect Joseph Morrill Wells ...

, which appear as one building but in fact is six separate residences. The houses are located at 455

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...

between 50th and 51st Street in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, with four of the homes opening onto the courtyard facing Madison, while the other two had entrances on 51st Street. The homes are in the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

style with neo-

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

touches and features elaborate interiors by prominent artists including

John La Farge John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics. La Farge is best known for ...

Augustus Saint-Gaudens Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. From a French-Irish family, Saint-Gaudens was raised in New York City, he trave ...

, and

Maitland Armstrong David Maitland Armstrong (April 15, 1836Armstrong, Maitland. Margaret Armstrong (Ed.) (1920''Day before Yesterday: Reminiscences of a Varied Life''.New York: Scribner, p. 157.May 26, 1918) was ''Charge d'Affaires'' to the Papal States (1869), Ame ...

.Lockhart, Mary (2014), ''Treasures of New York: Stanford White'' (TV) WLIW. Broadcast accessed January 5, 2014. After the Villard's bankruptcy, Villard House was purchased by Elisabeth Mills Reid (1857–1931), wife of

Whitelaw Reid Whitelaw Reid (October 27, 1837 – December 15, 1912) was an American politician and newspaper editor, as well as the author of ''Ohio in the War'', a popular work of history. After assisting Horace Greeley as editor of the ''New-York Tribu ...

, a diplomat and the editor of the ''New York Tribune'', and the daughter of

Darius Ogden Mills Darius Ogden Mills (September 25, 1825 – January 3, 1910) was a prominent American banker and philanthropist. For a time, he was California's wealthiest citizen. Early life Mills was born in North Salem, in Westchester County, New Yor ...

and the sister of Ogden Mills, bankers and financiers.

References

;Notes ;Sources * Marie Louise Degen, ''The History of the Woman's Peace Party.'' Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1939. * Oswald Garrison Villard, ''Fighting Years: An Autobiography.'' New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1939.

External links

*
Spartacus article on Fanny Garrison Villard
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villard, Fanny Garrison 1844 births 1928 deaths American suffragists American pacifists Pacifist feminists NAACP activists Women civil rights activists