Philanthropy Archives - Lighting the Way, Historic Women of the SouthCoast

Alice Virginia Bradford Tobey Jones

Wareham philanthropist Alice Tobey Jones (1873-1922) funded the establishment of Tobey Hospital, an institution that has played a major role in the health and well-being of Wareham and South Coast residents.

Elizabeth Leonard

Philanthropist Elizabeth Leonard (1823-1901) left an insightful legacy to the town of Rochester. In 1876, she donated money for the first Rochester Free Public Library.

Sarah Rotch Arnold

Nineteenth-century New Bedford’s Sarah Rotch Arnold (1786-1860) was dedicated to her community, social reform, religious tolerance, and horticultural beauty.

Rebecca L. H. Taber

Artist, philanthropist, and anti-suffragist Rebecca L. H. Taber (1854-1940) was born in Fairhaven to whaling ship master John S. Taber and Mary Ann (Spooner) Taber.

Sylvia Ann Howland Green Wilks

Like mother, not so much like daughter. Sylvia Ann Howland Green Wilks (1871-1951), daughter of infamously miserly Hetty Green, willed the bulk of her inheritance to libraries, hospitals and other charities. Although she developed many of her mother’s idiosyncrasies, Sylvia’s final philanthropy allowed most of her mother’s fortune to ultimately work for good.

Florence Waite

The humble philanthropist Florence Waite (1861-1946) left the bulk of her estate worth more than $7.5 million in today’s dollars to be carefully distributed among more than 20 hometown organizations, many of which she had helped for decades.

Cara Leland Rogers

Cara Leland Rogers (1867-1939) purchased the waterfront property at Fort Phoenix, presenting it to the town of Fairhaven in memory of her father Henry Huttleston Rogers.

Sylvia Ann Howland

Once described as the wealthiest woman in New Bedford, philanthropist Sylvia Ann Howland (1806-1865) provided a legacy that benefited not only family members, caretakers, and charitable organizations, but also the residents of New Bedford through trusts to support education and business.