Mary Ann Delafield DuBois (November 6, 1813 — October 27, 1888) was an American sculptor and philanthropist. In 1854 she was co-founder of New York Nursery and Child's Hospital, and was the hospital's director.

Early life

Mary Ann Delafield was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on November 6, 1813. She was the daughter of an English mother, Mary (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Roberts) Delafield, and American father, John Delafield (1786–1853), a banker who was in England during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. After her mother died in 1819, Mary Ann moved to New York City,Virginia A. Metaxas Quiroga
"Female Lay Managers and Scientific Pediatrics at Nursery and Child's Hospital, 1854-1910"
''Bulletin of the History of Medicine'' 60(2)(Summer 1986): 194-208. via

JStor JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

where her father remarried to Harriet Wadsworth Tallmadge (1797–1856), a daughter of

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Benjamin Tallmadge Benjamin Tallmadge (February 25, 1754 – March 7, 1835) was an American military officer, spymaster, and politician. He is best known for his service as an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He acted as leade ...

. Among her younger half-siblings were Tallmadge Delafield and Mary Floyd Delafield. Among her extended family were uncles Dr.

Edward Delafield Edward Delafield (May 7, 1794 – February 13, 1875) was an American physician, primarily known as an ophthalmologist, but also for his work in obstetrics and gynaecology. He was the co-founder (with John Kearney Rodgers) of the New York Eye Infi ...

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 ...

Gen.

Richard Delafield Richard Delafield (September 1, 1798 – November 5, 1873) was a United States Army officer for 52 years. He served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy for 12 years. At the start of the American Civil War, then Colonel Del ...

, lawyer

Joseph Delafield Joseph Delafield (August 22, 1790 – February 12, 1875) was an American soldier, lawyer and diplomat. Early life Delafield was born in New York City on August 22, 1790. He was the second oldest of the surviving sons and four daughters born to ...

, and banker

Rufus King Delafield Rufus King Delafield (November 18, 1802 – February 6, 1874) was an American banker and manufacturer. Early life Delafield was born at his father's residence, 16 Wall Street in New York City, on November 18, 1802, and named after Rufus King, t ...

. Her first cousin was Dr.

Francis Delafield Francis Delafield (August 3, 1841 – July 17, 1915)

, who was the father of

Edward Henry Delafield Edward Henry Delafield (December 23, 1880 – December 2, 1955) was a Connecticut politician and prominent landowner. Early life Delafield was born in New York, New York on December 23, 1880. He was the son of Dr. Francis Delafield (1841–19 ...

, a Connecticut politician. She attended the

Litchfield Female Academy The Litchfield Female Academy in Litchfield, Connecticut, founded in 1792 by Sarah Pierce, was one of the most important institutions of female education in the United States. During the 30 years after its opening the school enrolled more than 2,0 ...

in 1825.Ann Wright Brown
"Mary Ann Delafield DuBois"
New York Marble Cemetery."Mary Ann Delafield DuBois"
''The Ledger: A Database of Students of the Litchfield Law School and the Litchfield Female Academy'', Litchfield Historical Society.

Career

During the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abound ...

, DuBois persuaded her father-in-law to open an empty warehouse to accommodate men left homeless by the economic downturn. In 1854 she and a doctor's wife, Anna R. Emmet, founded the Nursery and Child's Hospital, which focused on the needs of poor women and their small children. The hospital fostered foundlings, offered daycare and wet nurses for the babies of working women, and was the first hospital in New York City to admit infants under two years of age. DuBois and Emmet ran the hospital with personal funds and energetic fundraising among her friends and in the wider community, including charity balls, until she successfully lobbied the New York state legislature for support. Her uncle,

, was the first president of the hospital's medical board, and a consulting physician there. She was an active hospital director; in 1870, DuBois fired pediatrician

Abraham Jacobi Abraham Jacobi (6 May 1830 – 10 July 1919) was a German physician and pioneer of pediatrics. He was a key figure in the movement to improve child healthcare and welfare in the United States and opened the first children's clinic in the country. ...

from the hospital, when he published a letter critical of the hospital's policies. DuBois's hospital eventually merged with larger medical programs, and is now considered part of the

New York Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New ...

Weill Cornell Medical Center Weill Cornell Medical Center (previously known as New York Hospital or Old New York Hospital or City Hospital) is a research hospital in New York City. It is part of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the teaching hospital for Cornell University. ...

. Despite the demands of her philanthropic efforts, a large household, and health issues (or perhaps because of her otherwise demanding life), DuBois pursued sculpture as a serious amateur. She was a member of the Brooklyn Art Association. She made miniature cameos, sometimes taught art classes, and was elected to the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

. She was a friend of sculptor Edward Augustus Brackett.

Personal life

In 1832, Mary Ann Delafield was married to Cornelius DuBois (1810-1882), a lawyer and tobacco merchant. Together, they had ten children, born between 1833 and 1852; four of whom died in infancy.Lawrence Van Alstyne, Charles Burr Ogden, eds.
''The Ogden family in America''
(J. B. Lippincott Company 1907): 369. Her husband died in 1882, and Mary Ann died roughly six years later in 1888, aged 75 years, of complications related to

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

. She is interred at the

New York Marble Cemetery The New York Marble Cemetery is a burial ground established in 1830 in what is now the East Village of Manhattan. It occupies the interior of the block bounded by 2nd Street, Second Avenue, 3rd Street, and the Bowery. I ...

Descendants

Mary Ann was a grandmother of physiologist Eugene Floyd DuBois (1882–1959). Another grandson, Delafield Dubois, was the wife of author Theodora McCormick Du Bois."Delafield Dubois Dies, Developed Metabolism Test"
''Hartford Courant'' (January 8, 1965): 4. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

References

External links

An 1845 cameo miniature self-portrait by Mary Ann Delafield DuBois
in the collection of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:DuBois, Mary Ann Delafield 1813 births 1888 deaths 19th-century American sculptors American women artists 19th-century American philanthropists Delafield family Burials at New York Marble Cemetery Sculptors from London