Mary Blanchard Lynde
Mary Blanchard Lynde (December 4, 1819 – June 26, 1897) was an American philanthropist and social reformer, active in all of the progressive women's movements in Wisconsin. She was the co-founder of the Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls, and the first woman in Wisconsin to receive a state office appointment. Biography. Mary Elizabeth Blanchard was born in Truxton, New York, December 4, 1819. Her father was Azariel Blanchard. Her mother was Elizabeth Rabcock, a native of South Kingstown, Rhode Island. She was educated principally in the Albany Female Academy, where she was graduated in 1839, taking  the first prize medal for composition, which was presented by the governor of the State, Hon. William H. Seward. After marrying Hon. William Pitt Lynde, she spent most of her married life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The couple had at least two children, a son, S. A. Lynde, and a daughter, Mrs. Montgomery Meigs. In the 1850s, Lynde was a co-founder of Milwaukee's Ladies' Benevolent Society and in the beginning of the following decade, of the soldiers' aid society. In the 1880s, Lynde was a national leader on the issue of prison reform. She was appointed a member of  the Wisconsin State Board of Charities and Reforms, while Governor Lucius Fairchild was in office. She was the first woman to hold such a position. She spoke much in public, chiefly before legislative committees in behalf of charitable institutions, but also before State conventions of charities. She read papers in the meetings of the Association for the Advancement of Women in Chicago and Boston, and her ideas were so practical and forcible as to attract unusual attention. She was engaged in looking after the general interests of the Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls. She was also a member of the  Woman's Board of Managers from Wisconsin to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Lynde died at her home in Milwaukee, June 26, 1897.