# Representative women of New England/Barbara Galpin

​BARBARA GALPIN.— For twenty-five years Mrs. Galpin has been identified with the SomerriUe Journal, which is said to be one of the best and most widely known weekly local papers in the United States, l)eing in a class by itself in the matter of literary excellence, home attractions, and editorial enterprise.
Mrs. Galpin was born in Weathersfield, Vt., daughter of Henry Clay Johnson. Her mother's maiden name was Helen Frances Jones. From four years of age she lived in Claremont, N.H., where she attended the Stevens High School. At sixteen she married Henry Wallace Galpin, a well-to-do citizen, many years her senior. One son, George, was born to them. While she was still in her teens, her husband ​(Wed, and complications in business matters wrecked the estate, and left her dependent upon her own energies.
Coming to Somerville a quarter of a century ago, this woman, now honored in social, fraternal, and professional life, took her place at the compositor's case, where she soon became an expert. Incidentally she held copy, and at her own motion l)egan to edit manuscript, through which editing she first attracted attention. She soon became a proof-reader, and gave the paper its distinction for typographical as well as literary excellence. From this it was a short cut to editorial management, which she combined with promotion of circulation, where her business ability first showed itself. When, sixteen years ago, the proprietor became the treasurer of Middlesex County, Mrs. Galpin assumed the management of the business details, while retaining oversight of the circulation schemes and all literary and special features of the pa])er.
The Woman's Page, which she conducts, and which has been one of the leading features of the paper, has been on as high a level as the work in any of the popular literary weeklies, and would of itself give her distinction in journalism. Her many series of articles on travel, both in America and in Eu- rope, are among the most readable and instructive of their kind in magazine literature. One of the most complete of her series has been issued in book form, under the caption "In Foreign Lands." Her historical articles have attracted even more attention, and one of these has been published by the Somerville Historical Society as its first official issue. As a writer of verse and songs, Mrs. Galpin has won high praise. She has been equally fortunate in public speaking. Her prominence in various lines of activity led to invitations to make addresses before women's clubs, historical societies, and various other associations. Her platform work is as carefully prepared as is the work from her pen,and her reputation as a speaker is well-nigh equal to that in literary effort. Her most important addresses in point of honor were before the Suburban Press Association of New England and the Woman's Congress at the World's Fair in 1893.
Mrs. Galpin has given her son a liberal and professional education. She has a beautiful home on Spring Hill, with a valuable library, and has won a place in the esteem and respect of the citizens rarely won by man or woman in any community. It was an article from her pen that led to the first meeting of the Heptorean Club of Somerville, of which she was one of the organizers. She became a charter member, has been treasurer since the foundation of the club, has been on the Board of Directors from the first, and has had much influence in making this one of the leading women's clubs of the country. Mrs. Galpin was also a charter member of the New England Woman's Press Club, of which she was treasurer for several years.
At the completion of twenty-five years in journalism in one office and under one management, in the fall of 1903, the citizens of Somerville gave Mrs. Galpin a reception and dinner at the Vendome in Boston, as a testimonial of their appreciation of her efforts in all lines of work in the city.
The Mayor, Edward Glines, presented the greetings of the city, and other city officials, noted educators, and celebrated women of the State paid tribute to Mrs. Galpin's work and character.
Notwithstanding her busy life, she has been a leader in many philanthropic and progressive civic movements. Few women have impressed themselves upon the community so effectively in so many ways as has she, and in everything she has undertaken she has been eminently successful. While still in the prime of life, she is winning distinction as a writer and as a speaker, in society and in philanthropy, though her energies are largely devoted to the literary and office direction of a prosperous weekly journal.