# Representative women of New England/Ellen M. Fogg

​ELLEN MARIA FOGG was born in Salem, Mass., in 1828, diuighter of Stephen and Lucinda (Goldthwait) Fogg. From the age of four 3'ears to that of thirteen the sul:iject of this sketch was a pupil at a young ladies' school. From that time until reaching the age of sixteen she attended a school kept by Henry K. Oliver, a teacher of high rank and for many years an esteemed public official (sometime Adjutant-general of Massachusetts militia and later State Treasurer). Miss Fogg excelled in her studies, particularly in mathematics and astronomy. Her proficiency in these branches is evidenced by the fact that when her teacher requested ​ some members of the class to calculate an eclipse, and two of the pupils agreed to calculate an eclipse of the moon, she undertook the more difficult task of calculating the next total eclipse of the sun, her calculation proving correct to a minute.
In after years, as General Oliver lived near her, Miss Fogg used frequently to call on him. Upon one such occasion, as they were talking of old school days, he spoke of the calculation of the eclipse, and asked her whether she still had the paper on which she had worked it out, and what she was going to do with it. She replied that it was rolled up in a box, and she was not going to do anything with it. "Will you give it to me?" he asked. She consented and took it to him, and he thereupon presented it to the Essex Institute in Salem, where it now is.
She had several years of happy home life after leaving school, being active in church work and always keeping up with current literature; and, when her father and mother had passed away, she went abroad for a year. She spent same time in Germany, to perfect herself in the German language, and then, leaving in Germany the friends she had been with up to that time, she visited Russia in company with a young lady whom she had met in Italy, and who had requested permission to join her. This journey was a new and delightful experience. When they arrived in Russia, they took a carriage to the best Russian hotel. There was a fine English hotel, but Miss Fogg preferred when in Russia to see Russian life. It was a fine hotel, and, as they found that German was spoken there, they experienced no difficulty in making themselves understood. But, after partaking of a light lunch, Miss Fogg thought it best, as everything was new and strange, to see the American minister, and asked for a carriage. They were taken directly to his office, and received a cordial welcome. Through his kindly offices their way was smoothed, they found comfortable acconnnodations and ready service, and, when they re- sumed their travels, a courier was provided anil their journey facilitatcil in every possible way. After leaving Russia, Miss Fogg proposed to her friend that they should extend their travels to the nortli, and they therefore crossed over and visited Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. An account of their visit to St. Petersburg and Moscow was prepared by Miss Fogg in tlie form of two lectures, one on St. Petersburg and one on Moscow, which she has read in private parlors several times to large and appieciative audiences.
Miss Fogg has also visited Sorrento, Capri, and the Blue Grotto, and was the last, with one or two friends, to make a partial ascent of Mount Vesuvius just before one of its notable eruptions. An account of these travels, written to a friend, was published, unknown to her, in a New York paper In June, 1883, she had the great pleasure of seeing the Passion Play performed at Brinlegg, in the Austrian Tyrol; and she wrote a full account of it, which was published in the Church Eclectic, covering ten pages. Between her two visits to Europe, Miss Fogg spent several winters in New York, and while there translated for a clerical friend two French theological works, one of which was published. She eilited the Girls' Friendly Magazine as long as it was published in Boston. For several years she also reviewed new books for the Church Eclectic. When she came to Boston, after several winters spent in New York, she was asked to take a class in church history, and consented reluctantly, being doubtful of her own ability; but, with careful study she carried on the class through the winters, giving thirteen lectures, one every Saturday morning, an hour long, to a class of thirty young ladies. Miss Fogg converses about her travels in an entertaining and instructive manner. Her descriptions of scenes bring them vividly before her hearers. She has some beautiful souvenirs gathered from places of note. Her lecture on Russia, a country which so few visit in their trips abroad, written wholly from her own experience, is especially interesting and instructive; and, through the solicitation of students and artists who have travelled abroad, this, with her other lectures, will soon be published.
While in Rome Miss Fogg made a collection of pictures to illustrate her copy of Hawthorne's tale, "The Marble Faun; or, The Romance of Monte Beni," in England published under the