Georgie Smith Boynton Child (August 8, 1873 – December 10, 1945) was an American efficiency expert, writer, and business manager.

Early life

Georgie Smith Boynton was born in

Woodbridge, New Jersey Woodbridge Township is a township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is both a regional hub for Central New Jersey and a major bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area located within the ...

, the daughter of Casimir Whitman Boynton and Eunice Adelia Harriman Boynton. She earned a bachelor's degree from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

in 1895. Her older sister Louise Boynton was the partner and personal secretary of actress

Maude Adams Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden (November 11, 1872 – July 17, 1953), known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American actress who achieved her greatest success as the character Peter Pan, first playing the role in the 1905 Broadway production ...

, for almost fifty years.

Career

From 1897 to 1903, Child was co-owner (with her sister Louise) and business manager at the ''Perth Amboy Daily Republican'', a daily newspaper. In 1911, she and her family moved into the Housekeeping Experiment Station in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

. Her book, ''The Efficient Kitchen: Definite Directions for the Planning, Arranging, and Equipping of the Modern Labor Saving Kitchen; A Practical Book for the Homemaker'' (1914), was based on the Stamford project. Her advice included tips such as "Keep nothing in the kitchen that is not used every day" and "Have narrow shelves with one row of things on each." She wrote a series of articles for ''

The Delineator ''The Delineator'' was an American women's magazine of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founded by the Butterick Publishing Company in 1869 under the name ''The Metropolitan Monthly.'' Its name was changed in 1875. The magazine was publis ...

'', and gave lectures on household efficiency. Her profession was listed as "household engineer" in a 1914 profile. A new edition of the book was published in 1926, to include more information about electrical wiring, lighting and appliances. In 1932, Child and Louise Boynton published ''The Golden Grains'', a book of economical recipes.

Personal life

Georgie Boynton married mining chemist and metallurgist Alfred Thurston Child in 1903; playwright

Anne Crawford Flexner Anne Crawford Flexner (June 27, 1874 – January 11, 1955) born Anne Laziere Crawford, was an American playwright. Early life and education Anne Laziere Crawford was born in Georgetown, Kentucky, the daughter of Louis G. Crawford and Susan Far ...

, Boynton's friend from Vassar, was matron of honor at the ceremony. They had four children, Alfred Thurston, Jr., Eunice Adelia, Margaret Lyon, and Louise Boynton. She died in 1945, in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, aged 72 years. Her grandson

Richard M. Freeland Richard Middleton Freeland (born May 13, 1941, in Orange, New Jersey) was president of Northeastern University from 1996 to 2006 and served as the Commissioner of Higher Education for Massachusetts from 2008 until 2015. Freeland grew up in Mounta ...

served as President of Northeastern University and Commissioner of Education for Massachusetts.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Child, Georgie Boynton 1873 births 1945 deaths 20th-century American women writers Home economists People from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey Vassar College alumni Writers from New Jersey American women non-fiction writers