Object Lesson

Portrait of a Woman

By Karen Parsons

Loomis Chaffee History Teacher & School Archivist

The embroidered Victorian riding jacket. The leather gloves. The diamond bling. That bustle! There’s no mistaking the social position and status of the woman depicted in this portrait. Her painting hung in the front stair hall of her home; The Chicago Daily Tribune described this as “one of the finest residences on the [city’s] Lake Shore Drive.” While the elegant image communicates the privilege of Mary Hunt Loomis, other narratives from across her lifetime contribute to a more complex biography of an independent-minded, resilient woman during times of adventure, personal tragedy, and local and national crises. Mary was an early Trustee of the Loomis Institute and spouse of Founder and fellow Trustee John Mason Loomis. Highly visible on the late 19th-century Chicago social scene, Mary attended dinners with two U.S. presidents; entertained countless guests at her at-home teas, dinners, and dances; and worked to support city residents in the aftermath of the Civil War and the 1871 Great Chicago Fire.

Born in Sherburne, New York, Mary met John in Milwaukee, and they married in 1849. Settling first in Wisconsin and then Chicago in 1852, the couple welcomed their only child, Mary, in 1855. As was all too common in the Loomis family, the young girl succumbed to childhood illness at age 5. A year later, John raised a Civil War regiment of local men and received appointment as colonel to the 26th Illinois Infantry. When the 26th left for Union Army barracks in Hannibal, Missouri, Mary went too, leading a group of nurses. At a time when the nursing field and training were not organized nor specialized for battlefield medicine, it’s hard to know if Mary had specific skills. More likely, she, like many women, may have accompanied her husband purely out of companionship and patriotic duty. Perhaps they both welcomed a focus away from bereavement.

By 1863, Mary was living temporarily in Milwaukee; she noted in a letter that her plans were “somewhat indefinite,” possibly referring to a fire that had destroyed their Chicago house. Daily, she awaited news from John or about his regiment, describing this in a December 1863 letter she wrote to one of her brothers: “I know your anxiety Dear brother to hear from John … last night I … watched the mail in vain… with an eagerness beyond expression.” After John’s safe return in 1864, Mary turned to philanthropy. She was instrumental in a local Sanitary Fair held after the war’s end to aid unemployed ex-soldiers and widows and orphans. After the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871 destroyed the homes of 90,000 residents, Mary served as president of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, working to establish an innovative program in which unemployed women earned money by sewing clothing that was then distributed to those who had been left destitute by the fire.

Mary and John were members and regular visitors at the Jekyll Island Club in Georgia, where women were encouraged to partake in outdoor sports, hunting, and horseback riding. And as many wealthy Americans were trading their horse-drawn carriages for more fashionable cars, Mary retained her longtime coachman until her own passing in 1910 because, as one city newspaper reported, Mrs. Loomis “would not trust her life to an automobile.”

The Boston Globe named Mary’s 1910 bequest to The Loomis Institute the second largest philanthropic gift by a female donor in America that year. Mary’s will also named 35 relatives and friends who received treasured personal objects or financial gifts. Six members of her staff received at least $1,000 each, including Nellie Finnan, head cook and 32-year employee in the Loomis household. The Chicago Tribune reported that with this gift of $5,000, Nellie was inclined to open a confectionary business and entertain her own dreams of becoming independent.

To see other artifacts and photographs from Mary Hunt Loomis’s life, from the Loomis Chaffee Archives, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.