Julia Belden Lockwood (June 30, 1881 – January 3, 1976) was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was one of the Lockwood family members who donated family heirlooms to create the Norwalk Historical Society Museum.

Early life and education

Lockwood was from

Norwalk, Connecticut , image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg , mapsize = 230px , map_caption = Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County and ...

, the daughter of Frederick St. John Lockwood and Caroline Ayres Lockwood. Her father, a Yale graduate, was a bank and railroad executive. Her mother attended

Troy Female Seminary The Emma Willard School, originally called Troy Female Seminary and often referred to simply as Emma, is an independent university-preparatory day and boarding school for young women, located in Troy, New York, on Mount Ida, offering grades 9– ...

from 1858 to 1860. Her great-grandfather,

Eliphalet Lockwood Eliphalet Lockwood (1741 – 1814) was a nine-term member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from Norwalk in the sessions of May and October 1790, May and October 1791, October 1794, May and October 1795, May and October 1796. He serv ...

, was a state legislator. She graduated 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 1901. Lockwood was president of the Vassar Athletic Association, and competed as a college athlete in track, basketball, and tennis. She was also an experienced horsewoman. She attended courses at

Connecticut Agricultural College The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

in 1912, and Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1914.

Farming

Lockwood and her partner Mayone Lewis bought a Connecticut farm, Blithefield (or Blythfield), in 1915. They laid out orchards with over 1000 fruit trees, and had fields of corn, rye, buckwheat, turnips, oats, barley, and other crops. They sold tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, peas, cabbage, melons, cucumbers and lima beans during

World War I 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 ...

. "If one has a love for animals and for outdoor life generally," she wrote in 1918, "she can certainly find contentment and happiness on the farm."

California and philanthropy

Lockwood and Lewis toured the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

on horseback, and moved to

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

together in the 1925. They were both active in women's golf tournaments in the 1920s. Lockwood was also active in the Pasadena College Woman's Club, and supported the Huntington Library,

Descanso Gardens Descanso Gardens is a botanical garden located in La Cañada Flintridge, Los Angeles County, California. Descanso gardens features a wide area, mostly forested, with artificial streams, ponds, and lawns. Descanso Gardens has a wide collectio ...

, Pasadena Boys' Club, the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

and

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

, and other organizations with her donations. She traveled, and kept journals of her travels. In 1969, Lockwood and her second cousin Manice deForest Lockwood donated money to create the Norwalk Historical Society Museum, and donated many of the family's possessions to the museum.

Publications

* "The Making of Blithefield Farm” (1918)Lockwood, Julia Belden
"The Making of Blithefield Farm"
''Vassar Quarterly'' (February 1918): 115–119.

Legacy

Lockwood died in 1976, at the age of 94, in Pasadena. The Julia Belden Lockwood Manuscript Collection at Norwalk Public Library contains her correspondence, photographs, journals, and clippings.The Julia Belden Lockwood Manuscript Collection
Norwalk Public Library. The Norwalk Historical Society marked Women's History Month in 2016 with a lecture about Lockwood's life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockwood, Julia Belden 1881 births 1976 deaths People from Norwalk, Connecticut American philanthropists Vassar College alumni