The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-12-19
HER E|GHTY-FIFFH
ANNIVERSARY
COMES TODAY
Miss Anna C. Park Quietly
Observes Event
HAS HAD ACTIVE. BUSY LIFE
Taught School in Many States and
Has Travelled
Extensively


her S5th birthday anniversary today
but not in the usual manner. II has
been her annual custom to invite to
her home on Pleasant street num-
Der of the women residents Of the
village who have passed the allotted
limit Of three score and ten but so
many of those who have been her
guests in previous years have crossed
the great divide that the usual plan
was not carried out today.
Miss Park, who is a native of Ben
nington and who traces her ancestry
to Richard Park of England, one of
Mass. is sister of the late Trenor
w. Park, the we'll known Bennington
ian who achieved a national reputa-
ton as member of the famous San
Francisco law firm of Hallock,
Peachy, Billings & Park in the stir
ring days following the discovery of
gold in California and who in later
years developed the Panama railroad
which he, as president, sold to the
DeLesseps company which began the
great canal at present being com
pleted BY the United States govern
ment. During the years of her young
womanhood and middle life Miss
Park was a teacher Of languages and
she held positions not only in Yer
mont and other New England states
but also in New Orleans and San
Francisco She was the first woman
teacher in the high school of the lat
ter city.
Miss Park has been an extensive
traveller in this country and in Eur
ope. Her journeys to the old world
were made in a leisurely manner so
that her enthusiasm as collector
Of curios was given full rein. AS
result many of the rooms in the old
fashioned brick house in which she
resides on Pleasant street look more
like departments of a museum than
apartments OF a dwelling. In the
cabinets that obscure the walls are
collections Of mineral and geological
specimens from all parts of the
world Shelf after shelf is filled with
! labeled curios from the ruins of an
cient Greece, Rome and Egypt, from
/ the Holy Land and from India. Book
cases are almost as numerous as cab
( inets and some of the volumes are
centuries old
Q One of the most strikingly beautiful
collections consists of a double wall
cabinet devoted exclusively to the
corals, shells and other marine spec
: linens which Miss Park secured from
B the Gilbert and Marshall islands.
j Of .ttff =. II
able journeys was cruise OF near
( ly a year among the islands OF the
Central Pacific in the year 1874 on
board the missionary schooner, Morn
I ing Star Today, Notwithstanding
advancing years, she retains her men
tai and physical vigor to an unusual
degree and her memory, touching mp
on the incidents OF this tour OF two
important island groups made near
ly 40 years ago. is still clear.
Many of the happenings during this
stirring period Of her life that did
not make lasting impression at the
time can, however, be easily recalled
by reference TO the daily journal
that she kept beginning with the date
on which the Morning Star sailec
from Honolulu in the Hawaiian Is
land and closing with the return OF
the schooner 10 that port. The
journal consists OF nearly 400 close
ly written pages and Is illustrated
with sketches OF the inhabitants and
scenes in that faraway corner OF the
world.
II was while visiting relatives In
Honolulu that Miss Park accepted an
invitation 10 accompany the mission
aries, Hiram Bingham, Jr.. and Mrs
bingham. on one OF their annual voy
ages with the Morning Star. The
schooner on which Miss Park had hei
unusual experience was Morning
Star No g. The original vessel Of
that name was built In 1858 iron
funds raised by Sunday school chill
dren throughout the country and SEN
for that particular purpose TO II,
board OF foreign missions. The
schooner was launched az Boston ant
left that port for the central Paoih'
in November Of that year. Hiram
Bingham, who was the son OF mis-
sionary and who was also born n
the Hawaiian Islands, sailed In N.
, little packet on It's Journey aroun,
, Cape Horn TO Honolulu and after
ward he was for many months AZ
time with the schooner In the worl
OF the missionary board In that hel'
in which he passed his entire llft
He was n second cousin Of II. s
/. Bingham OF this village and in n
early autumn Of 1908 he visited a
> the Bingham homo here while on hi
|. way from Honolulu TO New York I
|. attend a national missionary meetin
4 While here he was taken IN wit
Z pneumonia but In spite OF his AZ
/ made a partial recovery and was ca
A ried to New York on n stretchpr /
q Continued on ith page