Greenville Trailblazers: The Lives & Legacies of Notable Women

Mary Judson, from the `1918 Entre Nous yearbook.

MARY JUDSON

Mary Judson was born in Clinton, Connecticut on June 27, 1828 to Charles Judson and Abi Sherman. Education played a vital role in Mary Judson’s life. She was sent to a private school at the age of 14 and continued to study with tutors after her family moved to New Haven. Judson could speak Greek, Latin, and French. She studied math and was an avid reader. Her brother, Charles, taught at Furman University, and in 1857, she joined him in Greenville. She was the Lady Principal of the Johnson Female University in Anderson until 1859.

Judson taught English and French at Blythewood Academy near Columbia during the Civil War. As General Sherman’s forces began to invade the area, Judson returned to Greenville. She then returned north and taught at schools in New York and Pennsylvania.

Greenville Female College, circa 1906.

Her brother asked her to return to Greenville in 1874 after enrollment at the Female College had drastically decreased. She became Lady Principal of the Female College in 1878. During her tenure, she taught a variety of subjects including English, astronomy, physiology, logic, and French.

She formed the Judson Literary Society, a debate club for the students. Under her leadership, the Judson Literary Society founded the school’s first library. Members paid 25 cents per term to help fund the library. The money was used to purchase volumes of poetry and literature. The library was later named in Judson’s honor.

Though she retired in 1912, Judson lived at the college until her death in December of 1920.

Mrs. M.P. Gridley, President, Woman's Bureau; Greenville Civic and Commercial Journal, vol. 2 no. 1 p. 16.

MARY PUTNAM GRIDLEY

Gridley was born in Massachusetts in 1850. She was the eldest of four daughters. She graduated from the Boston Normal School and worked as a teacher for three years until 1873. Her family eventually relocated to South Carolina. After moving to Greenville, she married Isaac Gridley in 1876. He died just two years after they were married.

Her father, George Putnam, started working in manufacturing and purchased the Batesville Mill. Soon after her husband’s death, Gridley began working for her father as the mill’s secretary and bookkeeper. After his death in 1890, she became the mill president. She was the first woman in the state to hold this position. Mindful of the way society viewed women in the workplace at the time, she signed correspondence as “M.P.” so she did not reveal her gender to her colleagues. She served in the position for 22 years and sold the mill in 1913.

Mrs. M.P. Gridley listed as 1st Vice President of Woman's Bureau, Issue 17; Greenville Civic and Commercial Journal, vol.2, no. 4, p. 12.

Gridley’s influence in Greenville extended far beyond the business world. In 1889, Gridley formed the Thursday Club with her mother and sister. The Thursday Club was a women’s study club, one of the first of its kind in the state. The women would discuss a variety of subjects and were expected to present a paper on a topic twice a year. Under Gridley’s leadership, the Thursday Club became one of the charter members of the South Carolina Federation of Women’s Clubs.

Gridley was a champion of many other causes as well. She encouraged women to work for the right to vote and helped organize the Equal Suffrage Club. In 1921, she became the secretary of the Woman’s Bureau of the Chamber of Commerce. Gridley worked to help bring tourists to Greenville during her time with the Chamber. She also advocated for the building and installation of playgrounds.

As the president of Associated Charities, she worked to raise money to establish a retreat for people suffering from tuberculosis. In 1915, she formed the Hopewell Tuberculosis Association with Mrs. Harry J. Haynsworth. The Hopewell Tuberculosis Sanitarium opened on Rutherford Road in 1930.

Gridley died in Greenville in December of 1939.

Hattie Logan Duckett. From the 1996 South Carolina African- American History Calendar, p.14.

HATTIE LOGAN DUCKETT

The eldest of eight children, Hattie Logan Duckett was born in Greenville in 1885. She attended the Union School for Black Children and went on to earn her Bachelor of Arts degree at Claflin College. Shortly after, she began teaching first grade at Union School. After marrying her husband, Gilbert Duckett, the couple relocated to Florida. However, Gilbert died just ten days after they were wed. She returned to Greenville in 1911. She oversaw the city canteen and club for African-American soldiers stationed at Camp Sevier.

Duckett’s path was forged after visiting her friend Jane Hunt in Cleveland, Ohio. Hunt had started a center for Black youth. Though Hunt offered Duckett a job, she returned home to Greenville to replicate the Cleveland center’s efforts and mission.

Phillis Wheatley Center, Elrod Collection, Greenville County Historical Society.

In 1919, Duckett raised $3,500, purchased a small house on the corner of East McBee Avenue, and established the Phillis Wheatley Center. The building was named after the first Black female published poet in America. The center was intended to be a residence for young Black women, but began offering services for men and women.

The costs became too much for Duckett and the community to cover, so she joined forces with businessman Thomas Parker. Together, they raised $65,000 for a new center. They purchased a lot on East Broad Street and the building was dedicated in 1924.

The Phillis Wheatley Center offered a variety of services including sewing classes, choral groups, games, meeting rooms, and more. During the Great Depression, the center provided beds, food, and bags of coal for those in need. In 1939, Duckett reported 20,596 people had visited the center.

Though she died in 1956, Duckett’s legacy is carried on through the continued work of the Phillis Wheatley Center. She is buried in Richland Cemetery.

Images featured in "Greenville Trailblazers: The Lives and Legacies of Notable Women" are from the Greenville County Library System's South Carolina Room Collection except for the image of the Phillis Wheatley Center (page 12).