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 WILLIAM CLEMENT PUTNAM 
 
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Elm Grove. 
 
MARY LOUISA DUNCAN PUTNAM 
 
. 
 
MARY LOUISA DUNCAN PUTNAM. 
 
 A MEMOIR. 
 
 BY ELIZABETH DUNCAN PUTNAM. 
 
 Mary Louisa Duncan was born on September 23rd, 1832, in 
 Greeneastle, Pennsylvania. She was the second child and eldest 
 daughter of Joseph Duncan and Elizabeth Caldwell Smith. The 
 family home was in Illinois, but Mr. Duncan was in Congress from 
 1826 to 1834. When the epidemic of cholera broke out in Wash- 
 ington in 1832 Mrs. Duncan sought refuge in Greeneastle, where 
 some Scotch cousins lived. Shortly after the birth of their daugh- 
 ter Mr. and Mrs. Duncan returned to Washington, D. C, their 
 home for the next two years. 
 
 Both heredity and environment had a marked influence on the 
 life of Mary Duncan. She was descended on both sides from 
 Scotch and Huguenot ancestors. 
 
 Her father was the son of Major Joseph Duncan of Virginia, 
 who in 1790 moved to Paris, Kentucky. The handsome s one 
 house that he built still stands on the old square in Paris. Here 
 his son Joseph was born in 1794. Major Duncan died in 1806, 
 leaving a widow and six children. Joseph was the third son, but 
 when he was twenty-one he was appointed guardian for his 
 younger brothers. When the war of 18 12 broke out he enlisted 
 as an ensign. He was a man of great physical strength and brav- 
 ery, and these qualities were often severely tested during the war. 
 One time he was the bearer of dispatches to the Army of the 
 Northwest and was obliged to go through the trackless forests, 
 where he had man}- narrow escapes, as the Indians were friendly 
 to the English. He aided in the defense of Fort Stephenson, at 
 Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, Ohio, in 18 13. Orders had pre- 
 viously come from General Harrison to Major Croghan, the com- 
 manding officer, to abandon the fort. A council of war was called, 
 
 1 
 
and Duncan, as the youngest officer, was first asked to express 
 his opinion. He answered decidedly in favor of defending the fort, 
 ' ' the order to the contrary notwithstanding. ' ' The majority were 
 of like mind, and the small band of one hundred and forty men 
 held the fort against several thousand British and Indians. The 
 officers were court-martialed for disobeying orders, but were 
 acquitted; and in 1834, Congress presented Major Croghan with 
 a medal, and Duncan and the other officers with gold-mounted 
 swords. The defeat of the British at this period had an import- 
 ant effect upon the war, preventing their occupancy of the south- 
 ern shore of the lakes and reaching the supplies at Cleveland. 
 
 A few years after the war, Joseph Duncan retired from the army 
 and settled in Illinois. He was soon made Major-General of 
 Militia, and later became a member of the State Senate. While 
 serving in the legislature he introduced and secured the passage, 
 in 1824, of the first law establishing free public schools in Illinois. 
 He was elected to Congress in 1826 as the sole representative from 
 Illinois and remained in the House of Representatives until his 
 election as Governor of Illinois in 1834. He then returned to 
 make Jacksonville his home, building a large house after the 
 model of his Kentucky home and naming it "Kim Grove." He 
 served as Governor for the next four years and advocated many 
 progressive measures, some of them in advance of his times. 
 
 The mother of Mary Duncan was Elizabeth Caldwell Smith, 
 the youngest daughter of James R. Smith and Hannah Caldwell. 
 Mr. Smith came to this country as a poor Scotch lad, and by his 
 own exertions became a wealthy merchant in New York City. 
 He married Hannah, the second daughter of the Rev. James Cald- 
 well, who was one of the patriots of the Revolution. The Cald- 
 wells were a Huguenot family who fled from religious persecution 
 in France to Scotland, and thence came to Virginia. James Cald- 
 well was a graduate of Princeton College and in 1761 was ordained 
 a Presbyterian minister. He embraced the cause of liberty with 
 intense earnestness, preaching to the troops from the baggage 
 wagons, and sometimes with pistols on his pulpit, so strong ran 
 party feeling in New Jersey. He became a marked man to the 
 British. His wife, a daughter of John Ogden, was shot by a 
 British soldier as the troops marched through Connecticut Farms, 
 New Jersey. She was sitting by her window, surrounded by nine 
 
 2 
 
children and holding her baby in her arms. Shortly after this, 
 Mr. Caldwell was shot by an American sentry who was supposed 
 to be in the employ of the British. The nine orphan children 
 were adopted by friends of the family, General Lafayette taking 
 one of the boys back to France and educating him in his family. 
 
 It is easy to realize the earnestness and strong religious views 
 of children with such a heritage. Hannah (Mrs. Smith) was a 
 woman of great force of character. She died when her daugh- 
 ter, Elizabeth, was eighteen. The father having died some 
 years previously, the home in New York was broken up and Eliz- 
 abeth lived with her sister, Mrs. Matthew St. Clair Clark, in 
 Washington, D. C. Mr. and Mrs. Clark were noted entertainers 
 and in their home Miss Smith met all the most delightful society 
 of Washington. It was at a dinner given by John Quincy Adams 
 at the White House that Miss Smith met her future husband, 
 Joseph Duncan. Henry Clay, who sat next her at dinner, spoke 
 in the highest terms of young Duncan. They were married in 
 1828 and immediately started for the West. Brought up in the 
 luxurious homes of the East, Mrs. Duncan was impressed by the 
 crudeness and hardships of life in the West, and has left some 
 amusing accounts of her experiences. Later, when she came to 
 live in Jacksonville, she became deeply attached to the people and 
 the life in Illinois. She was a small, frail woman, with intense 
 religious feeling and great refinement of manner and speech. 
 Mrs. Putnam, in the last year of her life, spoke with feeling of 
 all she owed her mother, of the unconscious influence of her 
 simple, perfect manners and strong religious views upon the 
 young, impulsive girl. 
 
 The hospitalit}' of the Duncan home in Jacksonville was un- 
 bounded. There were no hotels, so all the weary travellers and 
 politicians were made welcome at "Elm Grove." Here, in 1837, 
 came Daniel Webster and his wife, and a great barbecue was held 
 in the grove near the house. 
 
 Mr. Duncan was devoted to Mary, who was his eldest daughter, 
 and made her his constant companion, teaching her to ride and 
 taking her hunting with him. Every incident left an indelible 
 impression upon the mind of his daughter, as the days of their 
 companionship were few. Governor Duncan died suddenly on 
 January 15, 1844, when his daughter Mary was but eleven years 
 
 3 
 
old. Later, she never wearied of telling to her children her fath- 
 er's experiences of frontier life and impressing upon them his 
 strong love of truth, sincerity, and courage, and his motto, of 
 which her own life was a constant example, "True politeness is 
 kindly feelings, kindly expressed. ' ' Through a correspondence of 
 nearly fifty years with members of her family, no anniversary of 
 his birth or death is forgotten, and the Christmas season always 
 recalled the joyous carols the children used to sing in the old hall 
 at ' ' Elm Grove ' ' and the rapturous opening of the stockings with 
 original toys made by Governor Duncan. 
 
 After Governor Duncan left politics, he engaged in many large 
 business enterprises. Unfortunately, he signed the bond of a man 
 who proved a defaulter. This happened just before his death. 
 Had he lived he could have met his obligations easily, but, as it 
 was, a large portion of his estate was sacrificed, immense tracts of 
 valuable Illinois land selling for twelve and one-half cents an acre. 
 
 Mrs. Duncan was left with seven children, but she courage- 
 ously tried to meet every obligation. The family owned a large 
 house and considerable land, which came from Mrs. Duncan's 
 estate and could not be sold until the 3^oungest child was of age, 
 but there was little ready money. During her girlhood Mary 
 Duncan learned to do everything necessary in the economy of a 
 large household. It was in the days when neighbors helped in 
 all times of trouble. We read in one old letter, quite as a matter 
 of course, of the girl of fourteen "sitting up" all night with a 
 friend's child who was ill. Dater in life this training was most 
 valuable and she was always a wonderful nurse. 
 
 Jacksonville was an unique town. There was a delightful min- 
 gling of the best New England settlers brought there by the 
 founding of Illinois College, full of enthusiasm for a simple, intel- 
 lectual life, and of a small colony of Kentuckians, with their cor- 
 dial hospitality. It produced a society which has preserved its 
 charm to this day. The fine elm-lined streets remind one of New 
 England, but many of the houses have a distinctly Southern air. 
 
 A warm personal friend of Governor Duncan was Colonel John 
 J. Hardin, who was killed at the battle of Buena Vista in the 
 Mexican War. Colonel Hardin, one of the foremost lawyers in 
 Illinois, was able to save the trust fund belonging to Mrs. Dun- 
 can's estate, and administered the property so that there should 
 
 4 
 
be money for the education of the children of his friend. The 
 girlish friendship between the two daughters, Ellen Hardin and 
 Mary Duncan, was continued through the many vicissitudes of 
 their lives. It was at the home of this friend, who married a son 
 of Chancellor Walworth of New York, that Mary Duncan met 
 her future husband. Mrs. Walworth is still living in Saratoga 
 Springs and last year spoke of their girlhood in Illinois. School 
 books were a great luxury and one copy sufficed for several girls. 
 There was intense earnestness in all they did. The uncertainties 
 of life in those early days taught them to value every opportunity, 
 and a deep religious feeling, shown in the old yellow letters that 
 Mrs. Walworth still prizes, permeated the simple, health}- life of 
 the girls. It was an outdoor life. The girls had their saddle- 
 horses and rode nearly every day. Both of them, later in life, laid 
 great stress on the benefit, physically and mentally, of this feature 
 of their life. 
 
 When Mary Duncan was thirteen she accompanied her mother 
 in May, 1846, on a trip East. It was a serious undertaking in 
 those days. They visited Mrs. Clark in Washington, who lived 
 in a beautiful home on Lafayette Square, opposite the White 
 House. The house is still standing, one of the stateliest of the 
 old 'mansions. On the corner nearby lived " Dolly Madison," 
 the widow of President Madison. Writing in 1892, from Wash- 
 ington, Mrs. Putnam recalls incidents of her earl}' visit, dinners at 
 the President's and at Daniel Webster's, and the ceremonious life 
 at her aunt's; "Yet all this grandeur did not fill me with a desire 
 for its long continuance, for I remember thinking silently that the 
 freedom of my prairie home was much sweeter. But I was enrap- 
 tured with Mrs. Madison,— lovely Mrs. Madison! It was a delight 
 to us young people to pay our respects to her very often, when she 
 received us in turbaned cap, with the dignity of a princess, and 
 with the urbanity of a truly loyal American woman. We do not 
 see such a type of womanhood now-a-days. Another pleasant 
 memory of Washington, on a later visit, was watching the sculptor, 
 Mills, who was making the equestrian statue of Jackson now in 
 the park. I was also interested in the finely-trained horse that 
 was his model, which I used to see put through its paces, in the 
 Smithsonian grounds, as I walked across them to my uncle Josiah 
 Caldwell's." 
 
There is a characteristic letter of her's written during her. visit 
 of 1846, to her youngest sister, describing a May ball she attended. 
 It shows her keen observation and interest in people even at that 
 early age. She writes: "I was introduced to about 9 boys and 
 10 girls and I talked to 7 girls that I did not know from Adam." 
 Then, with the naturalness which was always her great charm, she 
 advises her sister to be good, adding, "I am very sorry I was not 
 more obedient to Cousin when I was at home. I would have felt 
 so much better now I am away." She always spoke of this visit 
 as marking an epoch in her life. It aroused her ambition to 
 study and prepare herself to take her place in the world that 
 always interested her. She was ever a believer in travel as a 
 means of broadening one's view of life. 
 
 In 1847 came another trip to Washington. Mary Duncan 
 describes the journey in a letter. "We went in the cars to 
 Naples, which was entirely inundated. After spending a terribly 
 long day there, we proceeded on board the 'Prairie State,' the 
 finest boat on the Illinois, and arrived in St. Louis just in time 
 to take the boat for Cincinnati. Every one was pleasant on 
 board, and we had good company within ourselves. ... A severe 
 attack of fever prostrated me on the second day of our leaving 
 Cincinnati ; ' ' but she was better ' ' two days later when we arrived 
 at Pittsburg and took the Brownsville boat. In the stage across 
 the mountains there were many pleasing incidents that occurred 
 that day; but I defer detailing them till I see you face to face. 
 We arrived at Washington Saturday night as usual, but what was 
 our disappointment at finding Aunt Anna Clark breaking up 
 housekeeping and going to board. So of course our visit to her 
 was knocked in the head. We are happily situated with Cousin" 
 [wife of Col. Hamilton of Bladensburg, Maryland]. "There are 
 more negroes collected here than I ever saw in my life." Then 
 comes a characteristic touch: "I have promised 30 girls to write." 
 She was always sociable! 
 
 In 1850 Mary Duncan went with friends to New Orleans, 
 where she remained some weeks for a very gay visit with some 
 Caldwell cousins. 
 
 Mary Duncan received her school education at Jacksonville 
 Female Academy. The number of studies were few, but they 
 were learned with a thoroughness rare now-a-days. She was for- 
 
 6 
 
tunate in having for a teacher Miss Eucretia Kimball, now Mrs. 
 Kendall, who came from an Eastern home to instruct these minds 
 of which "neither age nor poverty could blunt their intense 
 desire for knowledge." Mrs. Kendall is still living, honored by 
 her pupils to whom she brought not only love of the best litera- 
 ture, which she read to them out of school hours, but a deep 
 religious faith. Mrs. Putnam attributed much of the success of 
 her life to the high aspirations inspired by the rare personality of 
 her beloved teacher. Mrs. Kendall, in speaking of her former 
 pupil, said it was given to but few teachers to see the beginning, 
 the fulfillment, and the completion of such a full life. 
 
 Marj' Duncan was graduated from the Jacksonville Female 
 Academy in 1851 and in September visited, with her mother, in 
 Chicago, having entertainments given for them by Mrs. New- 
 berry, Mrs. Kinsie and Mrs. Blatchford. The winter was spent 
 in nursing a beloved sister, Elizabeth, who, in spite of all that 
 devotion could do, died in June, 1852. This loss was followed 
 two months later by the death of Hannah, a younger sister. 
 The family now consisted only of Mrs. Duncan and three child- 
 ren, Mary, Julia, and Joseph. In April, 1853, they went East, 
 visiting Washington, West Point, and Saratoga Springs. At the 
 latter place Mary Duncan met Charles E. Putnam, and they 
 became engaged. Mr. Putnam had expected to practice law in 
 New York City; but as Mary Duncan had inherited her father's 
 strong love for the great rolling prairies of Illinois, and belief in 
 the future of this country, she persuaded Mr. Putnam to visit the 
 West. He located in Davenport, Iowa, in the spring of 1854. 
 They were married December 9, 1854, at "Elm Grove," Jackson- 
 ville, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Putnam arrived at Rock Island on 
 Saturday, January 9, 1855, too late to cross the river to Daven- 
 port. They came over Sunday morning and attended church 
 twice that day. It was characteristic of Mrs. Putnam that she 
 presented her letter to the pastor and was admitted to the First 
 Presbyterian Church the following Sunday. She never wasted 
 any time in indecision. Mr. Putnam was a partner of Judge 
 Mitchell, a prominent lawyer; but the times were hard and their 
 income, for the first few years, of the smallest. The first winter 
 the young couple boarded, and their home consisted of one room. 
 Mrs. Putnam, though she had left a home filled with fine old 
 
 7 
 
mahogany furniture, writes most cheerfully: "You don't know 
 what a beautiful table I have made me, covered with red calico. 
 Charlie and I sit beside it each night and read and sew." This 
 first winter they read Milton's life and works and Addison's 
 works. Mr. Putnam was not fond of general society, but to the 
 intimate friends who knew him in his own home, he was the most 
 genial and delightful of companions. The custom of spending 
 the evenings in reading aloud was continued throughout their 
 married life of thirty-three years. As the family grew, the child- 
 ren brought their work, drawing, models of ships, or whatever it 
 might be, around the large tables, and worked, while Mr. Putnam 
 read from the standard authors in one of the richest and most 
 melodious of voices. 
 
 On July 30, 1855, Mrs. Putnam writes of an event fraught with 
 great consequences to Iowa: "The first locomotive that has ever 
 puffed its steam into the State of Iowa has just passed by. You 
 don't know what an excitement there was all along this street, 
 and indeed all over Davenport, last week when the 'Antoine L,e 
 Claire' made its first visit. The track is only laid down a little 
 way — that is, five miles now, but not a mile then, — and it is truly 
 an era in the town and state. You see, the engine is named for 
 one of our citizens, and his likeness, cast in bronze, is on either 
 side. This, with a visit from the Indians, has added new life and 
 spirit and something to talk about the last three weeks." 
 
 At this time Mr. and Mrs. Putnam were keeping house in a 
 small house on Fifth street between Perry and Rock Island streets. 
 On October 18, 1855, their eldest son was born at "Elm Grove" 
 and named Joseph Duncan, after Mrs. Putnam's father. The 
 next few years were devoted to the care of her rapidly increasing 
 family. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam's letters reflect her interest in public events. A 
 letter written to her mother, January 27, i860, shows strong 
 feeling: " You ask what I think of our country? Read Seward's 
 speech in the Senate — 'them's my sentiments;' but still I do not 
 fear war. God is a God of mercy as well as justice. Oh, if each 
 one of us would pray as we ought — lead the lives we ought in all 
 things — God would avert his judgments. Let us strive each to 
 be as peaceable and forbearing with each other as we can. No 
 wonder nations quarrel when families and countries don't agree. 
 
 8 
 
God have mercy on our country, have mercy, have mercy! He 
 is our only help in this our sorest time of need!" 
 
 When the war was inevitable, Mrs. Putnam worked with her 
 usual enthusiasm to aid the soldiers. A letter written September 
 26, 1861, says: "We have established a Soldiers' Aid Society 
 today, and in my absence they appointed me secretary. I feel 
 very incompetent to do my duty to such an office and attend to 
 my little family, but Charlie insists on my taking it and promises 
 to assist me all he can. . . I have almost knit a sock for the 
 soldiers since Tuesday night, by just picking it up when riding, 
 nursing the baby, or giving orders in the kitchen." On February 
 3, 1862, is the first mention of any lecture entertainment Mrs. 
 Putnam ever undertook. In the light of her successful work of 
 later years, it is amusing to read of the door receipts of a lecture 
 by Dr. Fisher, for the benefit of the Soldiers' Aid Society — cer- 
 tainly a worthy cause — being but $18, while the expenses were 
 $24. "But he was generous enough not to let the Soldiers' Aid 
 Society lose that. I had to work very hard to get even this 
 money out. . . I had to see to all things regarding the lecture 
 myself and, depend upon it, I will never have anything to do with 
 such an affair again." 
 
 But when Mrs. Putnam's interest was once aroused it was im- 
 possible for her not to go on. In February there is a report of a 
 battle and "Mr. Powers has just been here and brought me $50 
 from the gentlemen. They raised over $600 yesterday for the 
 relief of our wounded. I've been out this morning, seeing what 
 I could get. We will have an extra meeting tomorrow and next 
 day, and work all we can. Mrs. Rogers, our treasurer, is sick; 
 Mrs. Newcomb, our president, out of town; so all the responsi- 
 bility falls on me." 
 
 Mrs. Putnam's interest in the Academy of Sciences grew out 
 of the love of her eldest son and was so interwoven with the cur- 
 rents of her family life, that a true picture of her could not be 
 drawn without emphasizing her life as a mother. Her work for 
 the Academy was the outgrowth of a mother's love such as is 
 rarely seen. She herself, in alluding to a proposed life of her 
 father, says: "If you would write little home incidents, some 
 home characteristics, they after all make up the greater part of a 
 man's character and add much to the interest of a history." 
 
 9 
 
Her own letters give the most vivid picture of her life. Janu- 
 ary 8, 1863, upon receiving the New York Observer, she writes: 
 "I read every word of it and all that could interest the children. 
 The red ants seem to take Duncan. Oh, mother! what a luxury 
 to have boys old enough to appreciate what you read to them ! I 
 have so much pleasure in watching the development of Duncan's 
 mind. My whole days are spent in instructing, playing with, and 
 keeping the children clean. I sew scarcely a stitch and fear my 
 industry will flag; however, I never was so busy in my life — or 
 more happy." Mrs. Putnam fitted up a school room in her house 
 and for several years taught the older children each morning. 
 
 The summer of 1863 was spent in Saratoga Springs. Mrs. 
 Putnam had recently become interested in the works of Froebel 
 and began giving the children object-lessons from nature. On 
 January 11, 1864, she writes: ' ' Duncan astonished his father and 
 me by his questions. I fear to have him learn to read, — still let 
 him say his lessons to me daily. Indeed, I do little else but teach 
 manners, morals, reading, spelling, geography, and Bible from 
 morning till night. . . I feel rewarded, as I go around and seal 
 the foreheads with a mother's sacred kiss, for all my toil and 
 care, and would not exchange my lot for that of the most idle 
 woman in the world. A young lady visiting here said I had the 
 most delightful home in Davenport. I felt it was indeed the 
 truth." 
 
 And again, on March 9, 1866: "There is not an hour I spend 
 with my children, in their instruction and improvement, that I 
 am not triply rewarded. ... I had 28 to dinner last Saturday. 
 We had our bees robbed one night last week and the boxes 
 broken up and the little helpless things scattered everywhere. I 
 gathered them up next day and was badly stung for my pains. 
 I suffered very much, but could I have saved my bees, I would 
 not have cared. They are all dead." 
 
 On February 27, 1864, L,ouis Agassiz lectured in Davenport. 
 Mrs. Putnam writes of spending the morning in reading about 
 glaciers. It was characteristic of her to the end of her life to pre- 
 pare herself so as to appreciate and understand any new subject. 
 She availed herself of all the opportunities that came to her. 
 She, with her son Duncan, had the pleasure of meeting Agassiz 
 later at Mr. Hirschl's. 
 
 10 
 
In May, 1863, the family moved to a beautiful country home, 
 " Woodlawn," about two miles from the center of the town, on 
 a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. The place of eighteen 
 acres was laid out by Mr. Mackenzie, an Englishman, in a com- 
 bination of lawn and wild woods. Both Mr. and Mrs. Putnam 
 became interested in horticulture, their enthusiasm being shown 
 by the purchase of technical books as well as by the planting of an 
 orchard, garden, and vineyard. Here was founded an ideal home. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam led an active outdoor life superintending the gar- 
 den and grounds, encouraging her sons to be interested in all the 
 affairs of the place. She was their companion in all things. She 
 learned to swim, with five of her sons. For some years Mr. and 
 Mrs. Putnam attended a class in a gymnasium in town, often walk- 
 ing the four miles there and back in the evening. This outdoor 
 life was what gave her the strength to carry out her plans and 
 accomplish her great work in life. 
 
 On Thanksgiving Day, 1865, Mrs. Putnam writes: ' ' To one and 
 all the dear ones at home I send greetings on this our first great 
 Thanksgiving Day, the grandest day of thanks our country has 
 ever known; freedom in the letter as well as in the spirit; uni- 
 versal hope and renewed hope and renewed life to our land. 
 Proud am I that I am American-born, proud to have six sons to 
 claim this glorious country as their native land; while my heart 
 swells with pride of land and country, my hands are busy about 
 the ordinary affairs of life; and while my heart yearns over my 
 children and their future, their present wants of bread and butter 
 and clothing press heavily upon me, and I cannot spare the time 
 even to jot down all my thoughts and aspirations for them." 
 
 The years passed swiftly in the home life, and in attending to a 
 large household, with many guests coming and going. The sur- 
 plus of the large garden was sent to friends. Neighbors tell of 
 how Mrs. Putnam would stop and distribute flowers and fruit to 
 the children as she drove to town. There was no pleasure to her 
 in having things unless shared with others. Even in the first year 
 of their housekeeping, in 1855, Mrs. Putnam writes of supplying 
 the whole neighborhood with fresh vegetables from their tiny 
 garden; and again in September, 1872, she writes: "We have 
 so many pears and grapes that I want every one to come and 
 enjoy the place, the fruit, and every thing, while I have so 
 
 11 
 
much. I have entertained, I believe, one hundred people at least 
 this summer, a few at a time." 
 
 These years were probably the happiest of Mrs. Putnam's life. 
 She writes in 1871: "I am sitting in my conservatory, sur- 
 rounded by my beautiful flowers, God's special gifts. . . . Life 
 seems so gay and beautiful." 
 
 In 1872 came a terrible scourge of scarlet fever; eight children 
 were ill at one time, and the eighth son, Hamilton, died. This 
 was the first break in the family circle. 
 
 The next winter, 1872-3, a printing press was purchased, and 
 the older boys began printing a magazine, The Star of Woodlawn, 
 and other papers. A finely equipped carpenter shop facilitated 
 the making of canoes and sailing boats. Theatricals were given 
 during the winter for several years, on a regularly equipped stage, 
 with drop curtain and all the accessories. There were historical 
 societies, where original papers were read every week, a stamp 
 company, and a juvenile savings bank. Everything was done to 
 encourage the children to develop plans and carry them out suc- 
 cessfully. The parents believed also in recreation and provided 
 a billiard table, riding horses, and all the outdoor sports. Mrs. 
 Putnam writes, in July, 1873, urging her mother to visit her and 
 "let a little of the full glow of happiness that so fills my heart 
 and life to overflowing flow into yours, and feel the full influence 
 of the buoyant young life that so fills this household." 
 
 In the fall of 1873 the eldest son, Duncan, returned from an 
 expedition to the Yellowstone under the command of Captain 
 Jones. It had been thought that the outdoor life would strengthen 
 him so that he could go to Harvard; but he returned with a severe 
 cold, which, during the next winter, developed into tuberculosis. 
 It was the beginning of a long battle for life, lasting eight years. 
 Out of the shadow of this sorrow, Mrs. Putnam came a stronger 
 but an older woman. The gay and joyous note of the letters has 
 gone to return no more. 
 
 The letters tell their own story, December 1, 1873: "The 
 Doctor says Duncan is not able to study or go to college for 
 years, if ever. We have talked the matter over deliberately, my 
 husband and I. I feel that we must make every sacrifice to 
 accomplish [his restoration to health]." 
 
 January 1, 1874: "Tomorrow night the children will go 
 
 12 
 
through their play of William Tell. Mr. Putnam insists on mak- 
 ing the home lively and pleasant for Duncan as long as he is with 
 us. It will be absolutely necessary to send him away from home, 
 and very soon. He had a hemorrhage in the street the day before 
 yesterday, which alarmed us all very much." 
 
 January 21, 1874: "I leave Duncan scarcely a moment night 
 or day. His father sits with him sometimes while I do some 
 errands. I don't know what to do with him. If he sits still he 
 reads Huxley and Darwin and all the other brain-splitting books 
 you ever heard of — says histories are almost as heavy and stupid 
 as novels. He was actually relieved when we 'were through 
 David Copperfield. I suppose while he lives he will work." 
 
 January 30, 1874: "Duncan is anxious to go with Dr. Parry 
 to Utah next summer, as it is on the desert and near the mount- 
 ains, so he can catch all kinds of bugs. Oh, that God would 
 spare his life that he may fulfill his great promise. . . I've been 
 setting type to-day. George and I run races which can distrib- 
 ute the fastest. I am learning lots about printing and becoming 
 fascinated with the work." 
 
 February 4, 1874, a letter to her mother: "Duncan has been 
 very ill. I have had no heart to write. To-day he is back in his 
 bug room which makes him and me more cheerful. This is the 
 fourteenth hemorrhage in six days. I have not left Duncan a 
 moment day or night; how long I can hold out I don't know. 
 Pray for me and mine, dear mother. 
 
 "Your loving child, Mary." 
 
 February 15, 1874: "Yesterday I took Duncan to spend the 
 day with Mr. Pratt; he afterwards went to the Horticultural 
 Society, and they made him Secretary pro tern. I went up for 
 him there. He was such a boy, writing the minutes of the meet- 
 ings, surrounded by gray-headed men. He the only child in the 
 midst and doing the hardest work. However, it interested him 
 and I cannot see that it hurt him any." 
 
 March 5: "... I have been setting type to-day, so has Dun- 
 can. The boys have printed off my piece — I set every word of it 
 myself." 
 
 On March 18, 1874, the eleventh child and tenth son was born. 
 A few weeks afterwards, when Mrs. Putnam was driving with 
 her son Duncan, the horse became frightened and ran. Mrs. 
 
 13 
 
Putnam was thrown out, striking the sciatic nerve. She was 
 unable to move for weeks, and never fully recovered from this 
 injury. In September of this year she joined her son in Colo- 
 rado. A month was spent most delightfully in camping in a log 
 cabin at Empire City. Five children were with her and five were 
 left in Davenport. Two botanists, Dr. Engelmann and Dr. Parry, 
 were collecting in the mountains. They, with their wives and 
 Mr. and Mrs. Ballord of Davenport, made a pleasant party that 
 gathered nightly around the fire of pine knots in the cabin. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam returned home in September, leaving Duncan to 
 spend the winter in Canon City. During this winter Mrs. Put- 
 nam read all his lessons to her third son, John, whose eyes began 
 to trouble him. It was through her eyes that he was enabled to 
 graduate with honors from the High School. One wonders where 
 she ever found the time to accomplish all she did. Her house- 
 hold cares were always arranged so that there was time to be 
 with the children, when out of school. She had the great gift of 
 realizing what was the most important thing to be done. She 
 wasted no time over the non-essentials. 
 
 On February 4, 1875, comes a record of the first effort to raise 
 money for the Academy of Natural Sciences, the beginning of 
 almost exactly twenty-eight years of work for the association. At 
 the time Mrs. Putnam was forty-three years old, the mother of ten 
 living children, and with the multiplied cares of a large family 
 and a wide social circle, she would have been entitled to retire 
 from active work. But the voice of her eldest son, an exile for 
 his health, came to her, urging her to do something "to make 
 the Academy popular." She writes to a friend, speaking of 
 one subscription already received: "If all the patrons of the 
 library were as liberal to the Academy, I will not have more to 
 do to get my $500 than I can do with my hands thus tied with 
 my sick children. Why should not the two institutions work 
 side by side and be one in spirit as they are in fact, each strug- 
 gling for the advancement of knowledge in our midst, each help- 
 ing on to the investigation of truth, could they not be made a 
 crown of. glory to our town?' ' A hope which is at last being 
 realized. 
 
 On February 11, 1875, her youngest child, Berthoud, died. 
 This loss was deeply felt by Mrs. Putnam. She writes of how 
 
 14 
 
empty her life seemed, the first time for twenty years that there 
 was not a baby in the house, to be the first consideration. Those 
 who knew Mrs. Putnam can see how naturally grew her interest 
 in the Academy, which she would sometimes laughingl) T call her 
 twelfth child. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam was elected a member of the Davenport Academy 
 of Sciences June 2, 1869, at the same time her son Duncan, a boy 
 of thirteen, was elected. He had been interested in the Academy 
 almost from its beginning and insisted that his mother must 
 become a member at the same time. She was the first woman 
 member. The Academy had been organized on December 14, 
 1867, by four men. The meetings had been held in various offices 
 until, in 1868, a "very liberal offer was received and accepted 
 from the Young Men's Library Association to have the Academy 
 deposit its cabinet and hold its meetings in the Library rooms, 
 corner of Second and Brady streets." It may be noticed that the 
 singular noun covers the extent of the museum. Here the "cab- 
 inet" remained in a dark corner until the fall of 1872, when the 
 meetings were held for some time in the law office of Putnam & 
 Rogers. Mrs. Putnam never made any pretense to being a sci- 
 entist herself, but she frequently accompanied Mr. Pratt and Dun- 
 can on their Saturday excursions for shells and insects. 
 
 In March, 1875, Mrs. Putnam, assisted by other ladies, furn- 
 ished the bare Academy room with matting, shades, and cases. 
 A letter of June 2, 1875, to Mrs. Parry, tells of further work : 
 ' ' Duncan and I attended together the Academy meeting the other 
 evening. . . There was a large attendance, and Duncan seemed 
 wonderfully pleased with the looks of things and the large 
 donations sent in. . . I presented eleven ladies' names [for mem- 
 bership] the other night; this will make twelve. The cases look 
 so nice, and many other things are waiting to be arranged; Dun- 
 can's collection fills one-half a case." Then, with a prophetic 
 look to the future, she continues: " I wish we had a fire-proof 
 building. . . I wish the Doctor could induce some of those rich 
 societies East to send us $1,000 as a nest egg to secure some prop- 
 erty here for that purpose; now while the enthusiasm is freshly 
 awakened we must not let it die out until something is done. I 
 like the plan of endowing the institution so as to secure some one 
 to spend all of his time there, making exchanges, etc." 
 
 15 
 
On September 2, 1875, Mrs. Putnam writes: " Duncan thinks 
 the Academy has at last done something in that it has sent Dr. 
 Farquharson to Detroit. Well, I, too, have found anew interest 
 in the Academy in that it has resolved itself into a Home Mis- 
 sionary Society. There is an old man, Captain Hall, very much 
 interested in the Academy, who goes up and down the river in 
 his boat every day and he has a locker in there filled with Sunday 
 School books for the little children all along the shore, and when 
 the}' see him coming they run down to the shore with their stone 
 axes and arrows and give them to Uncle Hall — so he brings in 
 many things every few days to the Academy, and for these he 
 has distributed 460 books to the children in the last three months. 
 Now, my dear mother, where can you find a nobler work? All 
 the parents of these children are going to visit the Academy thro' 
 Fair week and we expect to interest them to bring in many 
 more things," a hope which was realized, for on October 31st 
 there is mention in a morning paper of a long list of donations to 
 the Academy. For years afterwards Mrs. Putnam collected 
 Bibles, old school books, illustrated papers, money, and groceries 
 to give to Captain Hall. It is largely due to his efforts that the 
 Academy has one of the finest collections of Mound-builders' 
 relics and ancient pottery from the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 The country was deeply interested in the Centennial celebra- 
 tion, which was to occur in 1876. Women were urged to send 
 samples of their handiwork to the " Woman's Pavilion " at Phil- 
 adelphia. The enthusiasm of the women of Davenport was 
 diverted into a new channel, which has had ever widening influ- 
 ences and has been of inestimable benefit to the town. We read 
 of the beginning of the Centennial Association in a letter from 
 Mrs. Putnam to Mrs. C. C. Parry, written September 17th, 1875: 
 " . . We had a most enthusiastic meeting yesterday of the ladies. 
 I was so tired last night I could not sleep, what with shopping, 
 making calls in the morning, arranging about my grapes, send- 
 ing to Rock Island for the young ladies, having them to tea, 
 going up immediately after to a lecture on the Mind ... I won- 
 der I don't feel more tired today, but I don't. Our Academy 
 rooms look lovely. Mrs. Silsbee, Mrs. Price, and Mrs. Clark sent 
 flowers. ... It seems to have been well understood that the 
 meeting was called in behalf of friends of the Academy and most 
 
 16 
 
noble was the response and enthusiasm. Mrs. Potter took the 
 chair, and I made a speech about the necessities of the Academy, 
 and its great work. I think it was a little 'stumpy,' but upon a 
 vote being taken whether such an organization for the Centen- 
 nial, having the Academy as its legitimate finale should be had, 
 a most enthusiastic 'aye' was responded. . . . About 30 ladies 
 were present." The effects of this meeting were far-reaching in 
 the history of the Academy. The Ladies' Centennial Association 
 published the first volume of Proceedings. 
 
 We can realize the interest women were taking in the Aeademy 
 when out of a list of eighty-three new members this year, we find 
 forty-three were women, all personal friends of Mrs. Putnam, so 
 it is not difficult to see how their interest originated. She was 
 succeeding in " making the Academy popular." 
 
 On November 26, 1875, J. Duncan Putnam introduced a res- 
 olution at a meeting of the Academy to publish the Proceed- 
 ings, giving the following reasons: "1. It will preserve much 
 material that might otherwise be lost. 2. It will furnish greater 
 incentive to our members to make original investigations. 3. It 
 will increase the library by means of exchange with other socie- 
 ties and publishers. 4. It will place us on a creditable footing 
 with the other societies of the world." It was voted to publish 
 them, and on December 20, 1875, the offer of the Indies' Centen- 
 nial Association to print the Proceedings was accepted by the 
 Board of Trustees. 
 
 To raise the money necessary was a serious undertaking in 
 those daj T s. We read in a letter of Mrs. Putnam to Mrs. Parry, 
 December 29, 1875: "We want to have a grand entertainment 
 the 22nd of February; hope to make $200 clear. I have been 
 successful in raising, from the Academy gentlemen mostly, the 
 sum of $183 for publishing fund. I promised $200. ... I have 
 had some amusing experiences in studying human nature this 
 winter and am more astonished than I can tell you at opposi- 
 tion to this project from sources little expected. . . . The Acad- 
 emy men are working right hard to get their Proceedings read)-. 
 We want the book to be Centennial and worthy our city. . . . 
 Nothing but the publication keeps him [Duncan] alive. He and 
 Mr. Pratt visit the engravers, go after the drawings of axes, flints, 
 arrowheads, etc. He gets up town to the Academy rooms every 
 
 17 
 
day, most always twice a day. There are more visitors there in 
 one day now than there used to be in weeks." 
 
 On January 8, 1876, Mrs. Putnam writes: "We had quite 
 a meeting of our Centennial ladies who are to appoint committees 
 for our next entertainment on Monday next. I get out of all 
 these duties by raising $200 from the members and others. . . . 
 The ladies voted $100 of their money and are going to raise 
 money to the amount of $600, with my $200, and assume the pub- 
 lication. We have a board consisting of Mrs. Magonegal, Mrs. 
 McCullough, Mrs. v Sanders, and myself to look after the publica- 
 tion; having already, (or rather Duncan and Mr. Pratt have) 
 received offers from several engravers and publishers; and we can 
 have about 25 pages of engravings and wood cuts for about $200. 
 . . . I^et our Centennial issue be worthy the name." 
 
 February 9, 1876: "We are having a lively time over commit- 
 tee meetings, etc., . . . and lots of nice things are happening for 
 the Academy every day." 
 
 The Centennial Association planned an elaborate series of enter- 
 tainments to raise the sum of $600. The first entertainment on 
 February 22, 1876, was very successful; but in the early hours 
 of the following morning the building in which it was held was 
 destroyed by fire, occasioning losses of about $1000 to persons who 
 had loaned articles for the entertainment. The association felt 
 bound to repay these. The first pages of the Proceedings have 
 been started, but the Academy, on February 25, passed a resolu- 
 tion of thanks and sympathy and suggested the postponing of the 
 publication. The women courageously refused. 
 
 On March 10, 1876, Mrs. Putnam writes: "We undertook a 
 great enterprise and have done wonderfully well indeed. I never 
 heard of anything like it. We have raised at least $1500 in a lit- 
 tle over two weeks; paid off our debt, and have on hand $365 for 
 our book. I have devoted hours every day to the work and hope 
 my labors are over." 
 
 March 17: "I have been led into more public life than I think 
 either agreeable or necessary of late and feel very happy to retire 
 into private obscurity of home again. I attended the last meeting 
 of our Centennial Society Wednesday, and audited all the accounts. 
 In three weeks we have raised enough money to pay all debts 
 incurred by the fire, $1000, and have $450 left in the bank for 
 
 18 
 
publishing our book. The citizens have expressed great sym- 
 pathy and done a great deal for us. I shall devote myself to my 
 garden this summer." She also writes at this time of reading 
 his lessons to her son John, for three hours a day, and to the 
 children two hours every evening. An old list, kept by one of 
 the children, shows an astonishing array of books read to them 
 by Mrs. Putnam: — histories, travels, Scott's novels; and four 
 times did she read aloud to successive groups of children the una- 
 bridged edition of Robinson Crusoe, not omitting the religious 
 discourses. 
 
 March 27, 1876, Mrs. Putnam writes to Mr. Parry: . . . "If 
 you have received the late dailies you must be pretty well posted 
 as to what all my outside life has been these last busy weeks, but 
 they tell not half the story; how through discouragements we 
 have come out victorious. Even fire could not quench our zeal, 
 and never for a moment have I felt with some that we must post- 
 pone our work of publishing. . . . They are thinking of form- 
 ing classes in the Academy and letting those interested in special 
 subjects meet together and report to the Academy. Duncan is 
 urging this very much, and will take the chairmanship of the 
 zoological department. . . . You never knew anything like the 
 warmth and sympathy every one has expressed for our misfor- 
 tunes." The Bric-a-Brac Club gave a loan entertainment which 
 helped materially to pay the debt caused by the fire. 
 
 In August of this year Baron Charles R. von der Osten Sacken, 
 a distinguished Russian entomologist, visited " Woodlawn " to 
 meet the young entomologist, Duncan. He has been an honored 
 friend of the family ever since and has contributed a scientific 
 paper to this Memorial volume. He was one of many who showed 
 their appreciation of the remarkable work done by the invalid 
 boy, self-taught, working out his ideas alone in this Western 
 town, far from the influence and help of college or museum. His 
 work was done with such thoroughness that to-day, after a lapse 
 of twenty-five years, it is still the authority in the lines of work 
 he took up. 
 
 In September, 1876, Mrs. Putnam and her son took the first 
 copy of the Proceedings to Philadelphia and placed it in the Pavil- 
 ion at the Centennial as a sample of woman's work in a Western 
 town. They then went to Washington, where Professor Henry, 
 
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, became so interested in 
 the work of the Academy that he placed its name among the first 
 on the list of foreign exchanges for scientific books. On October 
 14 the Publishing Committee of the Ladies' Centennial Society 
 reports "Vol. 1, published by them, as now complete and placed 
 at the disposal of the Academy." Nine hundred and ninety copies 
 were received; two hundred and fifty were distributed to sub- 
 scribers and four hundred and fifty-six to the scientific societies. 
 The volume received praise from all parts of the world from those 
 interested in the progress of science. 
 
 A rather detailed account has been given of the publication of 
 the first volume, because it was a unique enterprise for women 
 and also because it accounts for Mrs. Putnam's future interest in 
 the publication, an interest that continued through her life, and 
 by her endowment will go on in perpetuit)^. 
 
 At the urgent solicitation of Mrs. Putnam, a few months later, 
 on February 22, 1877, her old friend, Mrs. Patience Veile New- 
 comb, gave a lot on Brady Street to the Academy of Sciences, 
 ' ' To show my appreciation of its worthy objects and because of 
 the great regard I entertain for my young friend J. Duncan Put- 
 nam, and my admiration of the noble work he is doing in its 
 behalf." Plans to build were at once commenced. Mrs. Put- 
 nam and Mrs. Sanders were elected on March 6, 1877, a commit- 
 tee to procure subscriptions for a new building. The required 
 amount was raised by Mrs. Putnam, Mrs. Sanders being unable 
 to act. 
 
 A "Kettle Drum" entertainment was given in July, 1877, at 
 " Woodlawn " by Mr. and Mrs. Putnam for the benefit of the 
 Academy. Between seven and eight hundred people were pres- 
 ent. It was a perfect summer's night, and it was the most suc- 
 cessful fete ever given for charity in Davenport. The amount 
 realized, eight hundred dollars, was so encouraging that two days 
 later the committee on building reported in favor of erecting "a 
 plain and unpretentious edifice, sufficiently large for the present 
 needs of the Academy but not so large as to leave it in debt." 
 
 The corner-stone was laid on October 4, 1877, and on February 
 22, 1878, a year from the gift of the lot, the new building was 
 opened to the public. There were on exhibition an art collec- 
 tion, copper implements from Wisconsin, eight microscopes, and 
 
 20 
 
a beautiful collection of butterflies. Though the admission fee 
 was but twenty-five cents, the net proceeds were four hundred 
 and fifty dollars. The Ferry Company, through the interest of 
 Captain Robinson, a lifelong friend of the Academy, carried all 
 ticket-holders free from Rock Island, which shows the universal 
 interest felt in the starting of this little institution. 
 
 In January, 1878, an Art Association was organized and held 
 its meetings in the Academy building. The society existed for 
 several years, holding a number of exhibitions. It was always 
 an earnest desire of Mrs. Putnam's that the fine arts should have 
 a place in the Academy's work, and that the Academy should be 
 an institution for the broadest culture. 
 
 On August 4, 1878, there is mention of future work. "I have 
 had the circular room in the basement finished; it does look so 
 beautiful, and will give us room for all the curiosities we can col- 
 lect. I have had the lathes, nails, and sand given to me, and I 
 had enough money in the bank, left from the festival, to pay for 
 the work; so now I have accomplished what I started out to do" 
 (a statement true of her whole life). Mrs. Putnam often spoke 
 of laborers volunteering to give a day's work to help build this 
 institution, and took pride in the development of the Academy 
 from such small beginnings. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam was elected President of the Academy on January 
 1, 1879. It was an honor she always deeply appreciated. Dr. 
 Parry, in nominating Mrs. Putnam as President, said: "It is 
 quite unnecessary to explain to any one here present that the 
 actual success and present prosperity of the Academy has been 
 coincident with the interest taken in it by women. It was a 
 Women's Centennial Association that first inaugurated and suc- 
 cessfully carried out the publication of the Proceedings, on which 
 more than on any other one thing the scientific character and 
 standing of the Academy abroad has been firmly established. 
 The very ground beneath our feet is the spontaneous gift of a 
 generous woman and this commodious building, which affords us 
 a permanent home, from lowest foundation stone to highest roof- 
 crest, if not the direct work of woman's hand, has been wrought 
 out and completed under the inspiring influence of woman's 
 heart." 
 
 The years were full of busy plans to raise money for the Acad- 
 
 21 
 
emy, of which we have no record, except the occasional mention 
 in the Proceedings of the proceeds of a lecture or entertainment. 
 An unfinished letter which survived the destruction of "Wood- 
 lawn ' ' gives a picture of what work these entertainments entailed. 
 It was written just after a concert given by Sherwood on May 
 2 3» J 879: "From day to day I haunted the editorial chairs, 
 buttonholed the local editors, made journeys to Rock Island and 
 back again, had tickets printed at one office, placards at another, 
 and the programmes at a third. These tickets I was very judi- 
 cious with, giving some fifty to the editors, and about as many 
 more to music teachers and those promising to interest their 
 pupils. The placards I took to Rock Island, left them with a 
 friend who saw four of them put in the street cars. (We sold 
 four tickets in Rock Island) .... The other placards I took in 
 my buggy and put in front of windows, and sent John to street car 
 lines to have others put in cars. This was no small part of the 
 work, for the next morning after leaving them they did not 
 appear; so I had to see first one driver and then another about it. 
 At last Sherwood was fully understood to be coming. You could 
 not lift your eyes along the principal streets that 'Sherwood, the 
 greatest pianist in America, Burtis Opera House, May 23,' did 
 not meet )^our eye. These immense placards haunt my memory. 
 Then the programmes: how to get them up was at first a mystery 
 tome. . . . They were to be dainty and unique. . . . The 'opin- 
 ions of the press,' which the agent sent me, had been placed in 
 the hands of the local editor to make extracts from day by day, 
 and which by the way he never used. Now, you must know our 
 'City Local' is a hard man to find, as he sleeps all day and writes 
 up his locals at night. After many delays the programmes came 
 out, 1000 of them. My presence with the old blind pony on the 
 street corner seemed to be the sign for the gathering of all the mus- 
 ical men, and I would hardly have stopped before they would 
 flock around the buggy and talk over the prospects, and one after 
 another would start off to find some enthusiastic person who 
 needed only to be told about Sherwood to bring in a dozen men." 
 The letter lies unfinished. A few days later, May 27, came news 
 of the death of the third son, John, at an Eastern college. 
 
 In her annual address, read January 7, 1880, Mrs. Putnam 
 regrets that she had not been able to do more work for the Acad- 
 
emy, on account of the great sorrow that had come to her; she 
 speaks of the afternoon talks given by Mr. Pratt, Dr. Parry, and 
 others, and adds that " the familiar lectures and classes have been 
 established with a view to secure the interest and cooperation of 
 the pupils of our city schools. If the results in this direction have 
 not as yet proved all that could be desired, or reasonably expected, 
 it is still a matter of congratulation that at least some earnest efforts 
 have been made to place the Academy on its legitimate basis as 
 an educational institution." In the spring Mrs. Putnam had 
 arranged a botany class under the direction of Dr. Parry. 
 
 Thus was inaugurated a movement which Mrs. Putnam and 
 the other workers in the Academy had had in mind for years: the 
 teaching of the school children natural history in the Academy. 
 This work was carried on from time to time by Mr. Pratt. It is 
 gratifying to know that twenty-three years later, just before her 
 death, Mrs. Putnam had the deep happiness of seeing this move- 
 ment regularly organized and the children coming by the hun- 
 dreds, to the Academy to stud}' its collections and receive syste- 
 matic scientific instruction. 
 
 These were anxious years, watching over the failing health of 
 her eldest son. Mrs. Putnam accompanied him on his short trips, 
 one being to Des Moines in 1881, in the endeavor to have a state 
 entomologist appointed for Iowa. What is now regarded as an 
 economic necessity was then regarded as a most visionary extrav- 
 agance. Of her visit to the legislature Mrs. Putnam writes: " It 
 recalls the days when I heard Clay, Webster and Calhoun, in 
 Washington; a little different, it is true, still the same feeling 
 came over me." 
 
 The publication of Vol. II of the Proceedings was the individ- 
 ual enterprise of J. D. Putnam and was begun in February, 1877. 
 One result of the publication was to bring in large numbers of 
 scientific exchanges. Mrs. Putnam writes in August, 1878: 
 " Our library has gotten a great start and is filling up very fast. 
 We have put the books up in the Art room, and they set off the 
 room beautifully." 
 
 No sooner was Vol. II completed than Vol. Ill was started under 
 great difficulties. The amateur printing press was moved from 
 " Woodlawn " to the basement of the Academy; and here the 
 typesetting and proof reading was done in the most economical 
 
manner, most of it by J. Duncan Putnam. Out of such sacrifices 
 grew Vol. III. 
 
 At page 128 of the volume the labors of J. Duncan Putnam 
 ceased. He died on December 10, 1881. He was one of the 
 sincerest seekers after the truth, gentle, modest of disposition, 
 entirely forgetful of self in the enthusiasm of the aim in view. 
 He had crowded into his brief span of twenty-six years the work 
 and enthusiasm of a long life. To the mother who had watched 
 over him for eight years, who had been his comrade in every 
 enterprise, who had built up the Academy for the sake of bring- 
 ing a bright look on the wan face of the invalid, to her his inter- 
 est in the Academy descended as a sacred legacy. 
 
 Naturally, Mrs. Putnam's work in the Academy went on. On 
 January 27, 1882, she was appointed Chairman of the Publication 
 Committee to succeed her son. From this time until her death 
 her interest in the publication never lessened. The year was 
 spent in arranging the papers of J. Duncan Putnam. With the 
 assistance of Prof. Herbert Osborn his scientific work was com- 
 pleted and published in Vol. Ill, which was appropriately made 
 a memorial volume. 
 
 On October 29, 1882, Mrs. Putnam writes to her sister, Mrs. 
 Edward P. Kirby, Jacksonville, Illinois, "I sent you sheets of 
 the Memorial Volume for my gift. It is more than gold to me, 
 the perpetuating the memory of such a boy;" and a little later: 
 "I am so happy in this glorious work of my beloved son. I 
 wonder if any one ever did so honor and love a boy. God bless 
 his precious memory ! ' ' 
 
 In April, 1883, a special meeting was called, and an effort was 
 made to raise the indebtedness of the Academy. Not only was this 
 done, but over $1 ,000 was left as an endowment for the institution. 
 The credit of this undertaking is due especially to Hon. George 
 H. French, Major George P. McClelland and Mr. Nicholas 
 Kuhnen. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam attended the meeting in Minneapolis of the Amer- 
 ican Association for the Advancement of Science in August, 1883, 
 renewing and forming friendships with Eastern scientists and 
 interesting them in the Academy. Professor F. W. Putnam vis- 
 ited Davenport from Minneapolis and gave a lecture for the ben- 
 efit of the Academy. The visit of Professor W. H. Holmes at 
 
 24 
 
this time was followed by an offer to write a paper on the pottery 
 contained in the Academy museum, the Smithsonian Institution 
 to furnish the plates to illustrate the paper. This is the most 
 valuable paper ever printed by the Academy on the pottery in its 
 collections. The generous offer was gladly accepted, so Volume 
 IV was started with the sum of only $72.37 on hand, and unpaid 
 subscriptions amounting to $51. 
 
 Entertainments helped to meet the expenses of the Academy. 
 Courses of lectures were successfully given; the annual children's 
 entertainments on the twenty-second of February were never by 
 any chance omitted; an extensive exhibition of English water col- 
 ors proved a great success both artistically and financially. All 
 these undertakings and many others, of which space will not per- 
 mit the mention, testify to constant, busy work on the part of Mrs. 
 Putnam. There were hours of grief which were silently hidden 
 from her immediate family, but which astray letter reveals. She 
 laments writing a sad letter the day before, to her sister, "but 
 how can I help it; now and then I feel I must cry out in agony, 
 but to-day I determined to work, work again for the beloved Acad- 
 emy, and so I get me to work." 
 
 In 1885 a salary of $500 was voted for Mr. Pratt as Curator. 
 He had given all his spare hours, from the beginning of the for- 
 mation of the museum, to arranging the specimens, and had been 
 a most faithful worker. All the work in the Academy previous 
 to this time had been verily "a labor of love." As usual Mrs. 
 Putnam raised the money, assisted in part by Mr. E. P. Eynch. 
 
 June 9, 1885, Mrs. Putnam writes: "The Horticultural Soci- 
 ety offered the Academy strawberries and cream for a festival. I 
 have all the management and responsibility. I rather shrink 
 from it, quite different from a few years ago when such a thing 
 was fun; especially as I have all of the profits for my publication. 
 Mr. Holmes' paper is done, and I have to pay out $100 right 
 away and have not one cent." After the entertainment was over, 
 on June 22, she writes: "I have given a most successful and brill- 
 iant Academy festival — a decided success — a large crowd of people 
 — superb music and strawberries (150 quarts were given me, all the 
 cream, flowers, etc.). I took in $70; some necessary expenses took 
 my profits down to $60. As I had to meet a bill of $144, it helped 
 me that much and encouraged me to attempt another." 
 
 25 
 
The Davenport Chapters of the Agassiz Association were formed 
 about this time. Mrs. Putnam was naturally much interested in 
 their meetings at the Academy and often attended them, reading 
 to them from " Walks Around My Garden" and other books. 
 They frequently spent the day at " Woodlawn." Mrs. Putnam 
 always wanted the children to come to the Academy. She writes: 
 " The lot was given on the twenty-second of February; the build- 
 ing dedicated on the next twenty-second; children entertained the 
 next, and every year this has been our ' Saint's Day.' We expect 
 500 children" [at the entertainment she was planning]. In the 
 summer of 1886 the National Convention of the Agassiz Associ- 
 ation had a most successful meeting in Davenport; over one hun- 
 dred delegates were entertained. 
 
 April 2, 1886, she writes: " Printers do go so slow [all of Vol. 
 IV not finished]. Yet I have commenced another, Vol. V, and 
 have eight pages printed; but a gentleman has given us such a 
 splendid paper to be fully illustrated, and so many of our mem- 
 bers subscribed at once, that I am not going to have the same 
 trouble with Vol. V. It is just splendid, too, that our publica- 
 tion goes straight on. As soon as one volume is done another 
 begins, and once in three years we bring out our latest thought. 
 Vol. IV is making for us a splendid record — so I think one thousand 
 more books will come into our library this year. Two thousand 
 came last year. We have to-day received a beautiful collection 
 of shells and minerals. I attended a meeting for birds this after- 
 noon. It is dreadful, the slaughter of the innocents. I visited 
 seven ladies, all of whom promised to take them off their hats. 
 Fifty ladies signed a paper for the same." Never afterwards 
 would Mrs. Putnam wear aigrette or wing in her bonnet. 
 
 There always was need for money, and on July 13, 1886, another 
 lawn fete was given for the benefit of the Academy, at " Wood- 
 lawn." Mrs. Putnam writes on June 14th: " It will be about 
 nine years since my last " Kettledrum," and that is still remem- 
 bered by everyone. Great changes have occurred in my home 
 since then. . . . When I think of all I have lost in these nine 
 years my heart shrinks from the effort , but it must be done. I must 
 work to live; the Academy must have money, and who will give it 
 to us? So I am bound to go through with it. This "Mid-Sum- 
 mer's Night's F£te," as it was called, was successful in every way. 
 
Mrs. Putnam was most modest about her own abilities. On 
 October 17, 1886, she writes: "I was much interested in your 
 account of the robins. I am sorry I have not studied the habits 
 of birds and animals as I would have done had I been a woman 
 of leisure. But the fitting of these young lives to cope with the 
 world, the impressing their natures with the love of truth, and 
 forming their characters for noble aims, has been the engrossing 
 work of my life, and the little I have done for the scientific world 
 is to oil the wheels of this institution by getting money to carry 
 out the scientific thought of my beloved son Duncan and his asso- 
 ciates. His monument he builded himself. God grant it may 
 grow more worthy of his noble life and as years roll on take the 
 hold of the people his sacrifices entitle it to." 
 
 It was felt that there should be some permanent basis to pay 
 the salary of the curator, besides a yearly subscription and the 
 dues of the members, so Mrs. Putnam reported to the Board of 
 Trustees, on November 25, 1886, a plan to "raise an annual 
 subscription of $400 a year — for five years — to provide for the sup- 
 port of the Academy and obviate repeated appeals to the public." 
 This plan received, according to the Proceedings, " the approba- 
 tion of the Trustees," and Mrs. Putnam was appointed to raise 
 the amount. 
 
 The old subscription paper is still preserved, the worn edges tes- 
 tif3'ing to the faithful service it did as it made its yearly rounds. 
 The mute signatures tell little of the part the) T played in tiding 
 the Academy over the most critical part of its history. Many of 
 the early enthusiastic members had died; there was little interest 
 felt in the institution by the majority of citizens. No one knows 
 the number of times Mrs. Putnam was advised to close the doors 
 and simply let it die. The subscription paper stands a monu- 
 ment to her indomitable perseverance and courage. 
 
 Of the efforts to raise this money Mrs. Putnam writes to her 
 husband on December 10, 1886: . . . "Oh, that I could know 
 some of the mysterious joys of a true scientist and a true artist, 
 but I don't believe it was meant I should classify or arrange any- 
 thing unless maybe a subscription paper; this I have done of late 
 to my great satisfaction and have more than one-half of what I 
 expected pledged for the coming year of the Academy. . . and 
 then if they sign for five years they may some of them remember 
 
 27 
 
us in their wills — anything we give to for five years we love, you 
 know; and if we tide our beloved son's Academy over these five 
 years, as we have the last since he left us, I really think it will 
 be taken care of, don't you?" And again on January 2, 1887, 
 to her sister-in-law, Mrs. Mary P. Bull: ' ' $350 a year has been sub- 
 scribed without much effort. I shall hope to get at least $400 
 before another week, but I have been too busy sewing to attend 
 much to other matters. ... I often wish I were rich. I would 
 never see that boy's institution suffer for the want of so little; 
 but it will be endowed some day; and his name will live as it ought 
 to live when marble monuments have perished and monumental 
 fortunes have crumbled away. The memory of my beloved Dun- 
 can will live for ever in the hearts of all who knew and could 
 appreciate his gentle, quiet, and scientific nature. It is five years 
 since we laid him away, but oh! how his presence haunts my 
 dreams, how often I think of him and long for the touch of that 
 vanished hand." 
 
 The last $50 of this subscription was raised by Major McClel- 
 land for Mrs. Putnam, who was ill at home, but who writes on 
 hearing that the entire sum was raised: "I never felt more 
 happy than to-night for I feel sure now the Academy has a 
 future." 
 
 On the morning of June 3, 1887, the beautiful home of " Wood- 
 lawn " was destroyed by fire. None of the family were at home. 
 Mrs. Putnam was in Chicago. It was decided to camp out for 
 the summer in the gardener's cottage on the hill. Both Mr. and 
 Mrs. Putnam took up the readjustment of their household in the 
 changed surroundings, with their usual quiet courage, Mrs. Put- 
 nam making a cosy home with the few things saved from the 
 fire. She lamented the loss of the drawings and writings of her 
 son Duncan, and of Mr. Putnam's unpublished literary papers, 
 the work of a lifetime, but she felt that as long as the family circle 
 remained unbroken, there was a bright side to the disaster. This 
 comfort was soon taken away, as six weeks later, on July 19, 1887, 
 her husband, Charles E. Putnam, died after a short illness. 
 
 Mr. Putnam was a man of strong personality. He had been 
 a prominent lawyer, President of the Davenport Savings Bank 
 for fourteen years and had written the Savings Bank Law which 
 was adopted by the State of Iowa, and is still in force. He was 
 
 28 
 
President of the Gas Company, the Plow Company, and of numer- 
 ous other organizations. He had infinite tact and a wonderfully 
 quick mind that grasped the essentials of a subject at once and 
 enabled him to carry on so man}- and varied lines of work. He 
 had a strong love for literature and accumulated a large and well 
 selected library. His leisure hours, for }^ears, were spent in liter- 
 ary work. He followed his children's occupations with the same 
 interest as his wife, and through his son Duncan became interested 
 in science. He was President of the Davenport Academy of Sci- 
 ences in 1885 and 1886, on its finance committee for years, and 
 trustee for fourteen years. He was a man of broad sympathies, 
 and every good work received support from him. Much of the 
 work that Mrs. Putnam accomplished is due, no doubt, to the 
 encouragement and sympathy she received at home. 
 
 Their married life of thirty-three years had been so congenial 
 and ideal that his death would have been a deep sorrow at any 
 time, but especially so after the loss of their home and with the 
 uncertainties of the future. After a few weeks the widow, left 
 with six sons and one daughter, roused herself from her grief and 
 writes to her sister: " The work of life must go on; these dear 
 children must be helped to maturity. I have made up my mind 
 to go to town each day and do my duty for my children." In 
 the fall of this year the family moved to a house in town, where 
 Mrs. Putnam lived the remainder of her life. 
 
 The next winter she interested herself to see that the salary of 
 Mr. Pratt, the faithful curator, was paid. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam and her daughter sailed for Europe October 3, 
 1889. On the morning she left Davenport, Dr. C. C. Parry, ever 
 a staunch friend of the publication, brought the last sheets of the 
 Proceedings, still wet with the printer's ink, to the train, where 
 other members of the Academy gathered. It was the last time 
 many of the old friends met. 
 
 The trip abroad was prolonged beyond the original plan on 
 account of Mrs. Putnam's poor health. She took an intense inter- 
 est in everything abroad, especially the customs and life of the 
 people. She had painted in her younger days, and always had 
 an instinctive taste for the best in art. The galleries were a con- 
 stant source of pleasure to her. She visited the museums, and 
 was delighted when she found the Proceedings of the Academy 
 
in the libraries. She had a great gift of attracting people to her 
 and everywhere made warm friends. She was the most delight- 
 ful of travelling companions, and could relate her experiences in a 
 lively, vivacious manner. She was rarely gifted as a conversa- 
 tionalist. As a friend remarked, they would hear something 
 interesting when Mrs. Putnam returned, not of the trivial dis- 
 comforts of the journey. 
 
 This was her longest trip away from home. From girlhood 
 she had been a frequent traveller, enjoying the opportunity to see 
 things and even more to meet people. But she never forgot the 
 interests of home. Mrs. Putnam writes from Paris, in May, 1891, 
 just before sailing for home: ' ' The more I see of this life abroad 
 the more I am convinced the true life is at home and the greatest 
 glory of a woman is to grace her own fireside." As soon as she 
 arrived in New York she writes: " Home! oh, you never can 
 know what that word means to one unless you have been away 
 so long. All America seems home to me — now I have touched 
 my native land, I am perfectly happy." 
 
 She missed many old friends upon her return to Davenport. 
 Dr. C. C. Parry, who had been closely associated with her son, 
 Duncan, had died; Mr. Pratt had removed to Minneapolis, where 
 he died two years later. Dr. Barris, one of the few of the old 
 members left, had been appointed curator. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam was just in time to start a new five years' sub- 
 scription paper. On December 18, 1891, she writes to Mr. Pratt: 
 "I have taken up the role of presenting the $400 list to my friends 
 in behalf of the beloved Academy— shall I call it a success? In 
 about three weeks I have $300 on the five years' subscription, 
 from 1892 to 1896, and $60 on this year . . . but I shall have to 
 
 wait a little while until I recover from a refusal from and 
 
 a very few poor men like him! It will do me good to wait and con- 
 sider, it was such easy sailing. People met me more than half way. 
 I own up I went first to the old and tried friends of the Academy. 
 . . . We owed the curator $300 when I came home; by January 
 first I think we can almost pay last year's salary, but oh, we 
 must get enough to keep him next year, and next, and next, for 
 five years, and then the $120 for the Index — we must have that, 
 you see . . . and then the binding and distributing! will we wait 
 forever for the endowment! ... I wish I could do something in 
 
 30 
 
my small way to make the annual meeting a worthy meeting, 
 worthy the spirit of the past. What an interest we used to feel, 
 what palpitations of the heart lest all the reports should not be up 
 to the standard. What a full life we are leading, and how little 
 we know it." 
 
 Four times did Mrs. Putnam secure this assured income to the 
 Academy; the last time in 1902, the year of her death. This 
 was for a larger amount, eight hundred dollars; and by this means 
 the Academy was enabled to secure the whole time of a curator, 
 and started on its new era of prosperity. Once when a friend had 
 spoken to Mrs. Putnam about leaving something to the Academy, 
 she wrote: "I wish he would just give it now and spend it him- 
 self." She was ever eager to see immediate results. 
 
 On November 23, 1892, there is a letter to " My dear friend 
 Mr. Pratt: Do you remember the long ago — when the spirit 
 of unrest drove me to make a commotion in the dear old Acad- 
 emy building, and desks and cases were moved, and decorations 
 were hung — a piano brought in, and flying feet did the work of 
 busier brains, and all was commotion for one day or two and dis- 
 order for a week or so afterwards, at least you and Duncan used 
 to declare you could find nothing. . . . Well, I have been 
 strongly reminded the last month of these dear old commotions 
 and upsettings, yet with many differences. Then the object 
 was always to make some money — now it is alone to spend it; 
 then the movement and stir was witnessed by loving eyes who 
 followed in sad disapproval, with a lurking smile of satisfaction 
 at the known results; now no loving eye has followed — no help- 
 ing hand has lifted itself — no laughing, warning voice has been 
 uplifted that this must be the very last entertainment in the Acad- 
 emy. Alas, the last gatherings there have been funerals, and the 
 stillness of the grave has followed my lonely steps as I have plod- 
 ded along. . . I have only touched on the outside of it all [in the 
 cleaning]. I feel as though I had lived over twenty years in this 
 month. . . I have put Prof. Starr's paper in the printer's hands 
 Monday of this week — made the same bargain as for Vol. V; 
 and while there is not a cent to begin paying the printer, I have 
 faith that by the time the first form is printed the money will 
 be forthcoming." 
 
 This cleaning was preparatory to the celebration of the twenty- 
 
 31 
 
fifth anniversary of the founding of the Academy. The day 
 before, on December 13, 1892, Mrs. Putnam writes, " I'm so sorry 
 I undertook the Academy entertainment just now, but a twenty- 
 fifth anniversary does not often occur. The weather is beastly, 
 yet I have to go out in it for the last things. Think of us to-mor- 
 row." That afternoon Mrs. Putnam was injured in a fall from a 
 street car and was unable to go to the entertainment. A few days 
 later she writes, " I love the Academy better to-day than when 
 my dying boy almost breathed its name with 'Mother' from his 
 parting breath — it was his legacy to me. When I thought I was 
 killed the other day I was glad that the Academy had a new coat 
 of paint on it. . . My back troubles me some. I think almost 
 more than at first. Yet I go out every day and try to think I am 
 not hurt." 
 
 At this time Mrs. Walworth, one of the founders of the Daugh- 
 ters of the American Revolution, induced Mrs. Putnam to become 
 the first State Regent of Iowa. 
 
 In 1895 Mrs. Putnam was left a bequest by her sister-in-law, 
 Mrs. Mary Putnam Bull of Tarrytown, New York, of the sum of 
 ten thousand dollars, "as a memorial to my brother, Charles E. 
 Putnam, and my nephew, J. Duncan Putnam." It was Mrs. 
 Bull's idea to have part of it used in erecting a monument in the 
 cemetery. Mrs. Putnam placed a large glacial boulder, found on 
 the banks of the Mississippi, to mark the resting place of these 
 two men of simple tastes. The inheritance tax of the State of 
 New York was five hundred dollars and Mrs. Putnam gave the 
 remainder, nine thousand five hundred dollars, to the Academy, 
 establishing the Putnam Memorial Fund, the income to be used 
 toward carrying on the publications of the Academy. No more 
 fitting memorial could be found in view of the long and intimate 
 association of father and son with the Academy. 
 
 Previous to this time the publication had had a struggle for 
 existence. The six volumes published prior to 1895 had cost 
 over eight thousand dollars and this entire sum had been raised 
 by three- and five-dollar subscriptions to the volumes, obtained 
 by repeated solicitation by Mrs. Putnam. A very few, like Prof. 
 Sheldon, gave generously. Sometimes the money came so unex- 
 pectedly that Mrs. Putnam was wont to say "it sifted down from 
 heaven." When publishing Vol. IV, she writes, "I find people 
 
 32 
 
now understand what publishing proceedings means and are 
 interested at once and willing to help. I have met with great 
 success, without begging in the least. The publication now 
 stands on its own merits." 
 
 Mrs. Putnam spent the summer of 1897 m Europe with two of 
 her children, travelling leisurely from Norway to Italy. 
 
 On December it, 1897, Mrs. Putnam writes of celebrating the 
 thirtieth anniversary of the Academy on the 14th, " by a simple 
 reception at Academy afternoon and evening. For days I have 
 cleaned up things. I hope to close this year with every bill set- 
 tled and all dues collected. The contract for the new [Presby- 
 terian] church was let yesterday. They have offered the old 
 building to me for the Academy for $5,000, — a great bargain, I 
 think." Four years before, on September 10, 1893, there is men- 
 tion in a letter of Mrs. Putnam's of the importance of the Acad- 
 emy owning the property on the corner, when the Presbyterian 
 Church removed to other quarters, as they would eventually do. 
 
 She never lost sight of this project, and patiently and persist- 
 ently worked till she persuaded the trustees to see it from her 
 point of view. The Academy owned land on the north for future 
 building purposes, and many thought the old church building 
 would only be an incubus. A few far-sighted trustees real- 
 ized it was a good investment at least. It has proved a most 
 wise one. There is a hall for lectures and a high basement to 
 contain part of the ever increasing museum. If the Academy 
 had not bought it a large apartment building would have been 
 erected, cutting off light and sunshine from the Museum. It 
 preserves for the Academy one of the most commanding corners 
 in Davenport. The Trustees of the church most generously 
 placed a much lower price on the property than they could have 
 obtained from other parties. On April 3, 1S98, Mrs. Putnam 
 writes: "Mr. Cutter says the Jewish Synagogue came to ask 
 the price and wanted to buy the church, but when they heard 
 Mrs. Putnam wanted it for the Academy, they would not make 
 an offer." The Trustees of the Academy bought the church 
 property in 1899. 
 
 On December 3, 1899, after the close of the last service held by 
 the Presbyterian church in the building, Dr. Donaldson stepped 
 from the pulpit and handed the ke}- to Mrs. Putnam, then the 
 
 33 
 
oldest living member of the church, who received it on behalf of 
 the Academy. Upon taking the key she said: "No words of 
 mine can adequately express my feelings in accepting the key of 
 this old church, which so many hallowed associations have en- 
 deared to me, or of the gratification I feel in knowing my interest 
 in it is not entirely to cease, as this key will pass into the custody 
 of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, an institution 
 which, next my family and my church, holds the dearest place in 
 my heart." 
 
 The purchase of the old church entailed an enormous amount 
 of work. The first problem was how to pay for it. Mrs. Putnam 
 was aided in raising the money by the Hon. C. A. Ficke. It was 
 decided to connect the two buildings by a passage way, large 
 enough to be used for museum purposes. Mr. E. S. Hammatt 
 and Mr. A. F. Cutter superintended the construction, while 
 that of cleaning and arranging the two buildings was done by 
 Mrs. Putnam. Griswold College was disbanded at this time, and 
 Bishop Morrison and the trustees of the college generously gave 
 its valuable scientific collection and library to the Academy. 
 With this added space, the Academy could exhibit the collection 
 at once. The work of moving the collection was very great. 
 Mr. C. E. Harrison attended to the transporting and sorting of 
 the books, but for weeks Mrs. Putnam was busy superintending 
 the transfer and arrangement of the collection. All this made 
 the summer a busy one. Mrs. Putnam secured the services of a 
 trained librarian, who began the arrangement and cataloguing 
 of the library, disturbing the dust of years. It was realized as 
 never before what a rare and valuable library the Academy pos- 
 sessed. During all the years that the publication of the Academy 
 proceedings had been going on, laboriously but perseveringly, the 
 library had been steadily growing. Foreign societies had been 
 sending their publications in exchange, thus proving the fore- 
 sight of those members who inaugurated the printing of original 
 scientific papers by the Academy. 
 
 The start made in cataloguing the library has been kept up by 
 Miss Foote-Sheldon, so that now the large collection of books 
 is available for use by scientific students. 
 
 On the thirty-third anniversary of the founding of the Acad- 
 emy, December 14, 1900, Science Hall, the new lecture room, was 
 
 34 
 
dedicated. President MacLean and Prof. C. C. Nutting of the 
 State University of Iowa, came from Iowa City, and Prof. Fred- 
 erick Starr, from the University of Chicago, gave a lecture. Let- 
 ters from scientific friends all over the country were read, con- 
 gratulating the Academy on the work achieved during its exist- 
 ence of a third of a century. 
 
 As one of the tributes, Prof. Nutting read the following poem: 
 
 THE STORY OF TWO WOMEN. 
 
 There was a woman on whose heart was pressed the heavy hand of Sorrow. 
 
 Her heart was braised, her head was bowed, her life bereft of hope and light . 
 
 This woman was not strong, and so she sat her down and cried : 
 
 "Woe has come upon me, and my love lies dead, his work unfinished. 
 
 No more is heard his name upon the lips of men. With him is Hope en- 
 tombed. 
 
 Henceforth my life shall be devoid of light, and o'er his grave I'll place 
 
 A broken shaft to show the incompleteness of his life cut short of full fru- 
 ition . ' ' 
 
 And so it was. Her life was void. His name forgotten in the homes of men. 
 
 Again there was a woman on whose heart was pressed the heavy hand of 
 
 Sorrow. 
 Her heart was sore, her head bowed low, her life bereft of light. 
 But strong this woman was, and brave, and she stood up amid the stress 
 Of this her dire calamity, and gazed undaunted on the face of Sorrow. 
 " My love shall live ! " she said. " His work unfinished I take up. My life 
 
 I give 
 To see his hope fulfilled. His name shall still be spoken in the courts 
 Of Wisdom, and a monument I'll raise to show fruition of his cherished 
 
 hopes." 
 
 And so it was. And wise men came to bring her aid. And lo ! Her life 
 
 was full 
 Of light and blessed with fruitful works. No broken shaft raised she 
 Above his tomb. Instead she reared a monument enduring as is Truth 
 
 eternal. 
 And the wise men bring their tribute of their learning to this shrine. 
 His name is honored still in Wisdom's court. His work complete. His 
 
 hope fulfilled, 
 And Sorrow, conquered, chastened, owns the sway of Love. 
 
 Soon after Mrs. Putnam's return in May, 1901, from California, 
 where she had spent several months for the benefit of her health. 
 
 35 
 
occurred the death of Dr. Barris, an early member, ex -President, 
 and curator of the Academy. He had ever been a faithful friend 
 to Mrs. Putnam, one who encouraged her by his hopeful conversa- 
 tion and charming personality to go on with her work. The death 
 of Dr. Barris left but two out of the group of the early active 
 members: Dr. C. H. Preston, who has been a member of the Pub- 
 lication Committee from its inception and who has ever taken a 
 deep interest in the affairs of the Academy, and Mr. C. E. Har- 
 rison, who has given generously of his time and energy to further 
 its success, working with the same loyal interest during the years 
 of discouragement as during those of prosperity. As the office of 
 curator was now vacant, and as the five years' subscription paper 
 expired at this time, some of the most prominent citizens again 
 advocated the closing of the Academy. Instead, Mrs. Putnam 
 arranged to have the present curator of the Academy, Mr. J. H. 
 Paarmann, then a student at the University of Iowa, come to 
 Davenport and remount, classify, and label the fine collection of 
 birds in the museum. 
 
 In August of this year Mrs. Putnam, accompanied by her 
 daughter, attended the meeting of the American Association for 
 the Advancement of Science, at Denver. Later, at Glenwood 
 Springs, Colorado, she met with a serious carriage accident which 
 nearly proved fatal, and from the effects of which she never en- 
 tirely recovered. As she lay helpless, being unable to move for 
 weeks after her return, her mind was full of plans for the "be- 
 loved Academy." Among other things she arranged for a course 
 of popular scientific lectures, which was successfully given after 
 Christmas. This was the beginning of the courses which have 
 since become an annual feature of the Academy's work. 
 
 In the meantime, how to provide for and find a curator? No 
 sooner was Mrs. Putnam able to move than with painful but un- 
 flinching steps she visited the faithful patrons of the Academy 
 and raised the sum of eight hundred dollars for five years, double 
 the amount raised in previous years. In April, 1902, Mr. J. H. 
 Paarmann was appointed Curator, upon which office he entered 
 the following July. He began, in the fall, a series of talks to the 
 school children, illustrated by specimens from the Academy's col- 
 lections. This was a project in which Mrs. Putnam had always 
 taken deep interest. 
 
 36 
 
After this work was started Mrs. Putnam and her daughter 
 spent several months in California. A letter written to her 
 brother, Mr. J. Duncan, from Del Monte, March 25, 1902, tells of 
 her nervousness in driving (a natural sequence to her terrible 
 accident a few months previously), and of her success in conquer- 
 ing this feeling: "We took the seventeen-mile drive along the 
 Pacific. I never enjoyed a drive more in my life and I think it 
 was because I had entirely mastered myself and my fear of moun- 
 tain drives. I thought it all over in the night and when the car- 
 riage came round, with five seats beside the driver's, and the 
 rest were all ready, I quietly put on my things and astonished 
 them all by taking my seat in the exact position I sat in when 
 the accident occurred last September. One place, where the road 
 ascended a very steep place and turned on top and came down a 
 very abrupt descent, I thought I would get out and wait; but I 
 had started out to conquer, and so I sat still. I must say I drew 
 a long breath when we reached the bottom, but I was master of 
 myself and that is what I long to be above every other thing." 
 
 The summer was spent at home, where Mrs. Putnam took up 
 her work for the Academy with her old enthusiasm, taking great 
 interest in the labors of Mr. Paarmann in his new office as Cura- 
 tor. In August she arranged for a successful concert, given by 
 the musicians of Davenport for the benefit of the Academy. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam, accompanied by her daughter, attended the meet- 
 ing of the Americanists in New York in October of this year. 
 She enjoyed meeting old friends and making new ones, listening 
 to scientific papers; but, on looking back, one realizes that while 
 the spirit was as eager to enjoy and impart, the body was growing 
 weaker. The journey was continued to Boston, where she met 
 many old friends, and revived memories of her visits there with 
 her son Duncan. It was her last journey. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam was elected a fellow of the American Association 
 for the Advancement of Science, at the December meeting, 1902, 
 in Washington. This unexpected honor greatly pleased her, 
 though she felt herself undeserving it. But, as one of her scien- 
 tific friends has said, "to whom could it have been more worthily 
 given than to her who had striven so loyally for the advancement 
 of science?" 
 
 The Academy was in urgent need of a stereopticon, to use in 
 
 37 
 
the talks Mr. Paarmann gave to the school children; and on Jan- 
 uary 3, 1903, Mrs. Putnam writes: "Every day I receive money 
 (as the sparks fly out of the fire at me) for the stereopticon . I 
 have written a short report for the annual meeting. We have 
 $148 in the bank and not a bill to pay, left from last year." On 
 February 14, through gifts of generous friends, she succeeded in 
 paying $1,000 on a note against the Academy. It was a happy 
 morning for her, as she realized the Academy was now on a better 
 financial basis, besides beginning active educational work. 
 
 An exhibition of Indian basketry, planned and managed by 
 Mrs. Putnam, was opened at the Academy on the nineteenth of 
 February. A much larger collection of baskets had been gath- 
 ered than was expected, and the building was effectively decor- 
 ated with mats, blankets, and examples of weaving. On the sec- 
 ond day of the exhibition, Friday, February 20, 1903, Mrs. Putnam 
 was the life of the company. Some one suggested having a loan 
 exhibition of lace; and her quick mind seized the idea, and with 
 her old-time enthusiasm, in bidding a friend goodby, she said, 
 "You must come next month to our lace exhibit." 
 
 Mrs. Putnam returned home at twilight and, sitting before the 
 open fire, talked of the events of the afternoon, of the meeting 
 with old friends; that it was the most beautiful exhibition ever 
 given in Davenport; what a pleasure the day had been. She 
 went to her room to rest. A Final Rest it was. Painlessly and 
 silently she passed into the World Beyond — a world in which she 
 firmly believed she was to meet her beloved family and the son 
 for whose sake she labored so faithfully in the upbuilding of the 
 Academy . 
 
 With kindly thought of friends and with her last hours spent 
 in the institution that had become an integral part of her life, the 
 day was a beautiful closing to a full and unselfish life. 
 
 A few days later Science Hall, the old Presbyterian church, 
 which had been so intimately connected with Mrs. Putnam's life, 
 was filled with family friends and citizens, gathered for the sim- 
 ple but impressive funeral exercises. Rev. Dr. John B. Donald- 
 son of the First Presbyterian Church, her pastor, and the Rt. Rev. 
 T. N. Morrison, Bishop of Iowa, an old family friend, conducted 
 the services. Mrs. Putnam was broad-minded in religion as in 
 all the affairs of life, so it seemed fitting that the last services for 
 
 38 
 
her should be conducted by clergymen of different denominations, 
 as had been the case with her husband and eldest son. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam was survived by six sons — Charles Morgan, of 
 Minneapolis; Henry St. Clair, a consulting electrical engineer in 
 New York; William Clement, a lawyer in Davenport; George 
 Rockwell, in charge of the United States Coast Survey work in 
 the Philippine Islands; Edward Kirby, in the English Department 
 in Deland Stanford Junior University, California; Benjamin 
 Risley, a mining engineer in Butte, Montana, and by one daugh- 
 ter, Elizabeth Duncan. 
 
 Her children having already been provided for, Mrs. Putnam 
 left her entire estate to establish a Putnam Memorial Fund for 
 the benefit of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, subject to an 
 annuity which was waived by her daughter, Elizabeth Duncan 
 Putnam, and to certain other obligations which were assumed by 
 her son, William Clement Putnam. By the terms of her will this 
 fund, amounting in all to about twenty-four thousand dollars, is 
 to be held in trust for the Academy by a board of three trustees 
 and the income is to be used primarily for the publication of sci- 
 entific papers. 
 
 Emphasis has been placed upon Mrs. Putnam's connection with 
 the Academj' of Sciences, of which she was President in 1S79 and 
 again from 1900 until the time of her death, Treasurer from 1897 
 to 1900, and Chairman of the Publication Committee from 1881 
 to 1903. There is a remarkable human interest in Mrs. Putnam's 
 work for the Acadenw, growing as it did out of her love for her 
 oldest child. To quote the words of a friend: "We all remember 
 vividly the noble and beautiful mother of that large family, who 
 yet found time out of the devotion to her children and her abound- 
 ing hospitality to magnetize a careless western community and 
 inspire them to rear an institution devoted to pure science. She 
 began the work for the sake of her son. Young as he was, Dun- 
 can Putnam had done work of recognized value the world over; 
 and he did the best of it conscious of his sentence of death, but 
 working doggedly with his last strength. To comfort him his 
 mother threw all her splendid vitality and energy into his plans." 
 
 But absorbing and exacting as was this interest in the Acad- 
 emy, it by no means measured the breadth of her sympathies 
 and activity. Another friend writes of her : "Because she gave 
 
so much of herself to the Academy did not mean she had less to 
 give to other things; on the other hand, her love for that institu- 
 tion seemed to increase her endowment, to broaden and enrich her 
 spirit, so that other things profited rather than lost thereby. Her 
 great purpose did not cause her to lose her sense of values. In- 
 deed, the charm of her personality was in its many-sidedness. 
 Her love of the beautiful in nature and art, her keen interest in 
 people, and her inspiring belief in them, — all of these things 
 seemed to be stimulated rather than stifled by her great enthus- 
 iasm." 
 
 In this many-sided life the key-note was always the home. 
 The first duty of every woman, Mrs. Putnam felt, was to her 
 family. From the days when she was a boon companion to her 
 "blue-eyed banditti," as she called her children, entering into all 
 their sports, even to the setting of type, to the days when they 
 had grown to manhood, each varied occupation and experience of 
 theirs received her sympathy and enthusiastic interest. 
 
 In her country home Mrs. Putnam delighted to have friends 
 come and share the simple every-day life of the family. It was 
 ever a joy to her to do kind actions. It required no special effort, 
 because it was perfectly natural. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam always found time to be interested in the aims 
 and work of others. A chance remark of hers would leave an 
 indelible impression. Many an incident has come to light show- 
 ing the influence a word or two spoken by her had on the course 
 of a young life. 
 
 Sincere indeed was Mrs. Putnam's interest in those causes that 
 touch the human heart. Instances of this have already been 
 mentioned. She was always active in church work and, while 
 seldom talking about religion, lived her Christianity in every- 
 day life. She was for several years president of the Home Mis- 
 sionary Society of the Presbytery. She was a charter member of 
 the Ladies' Aid Society to educate young girls, of the Associated 
 Charities of Davenport, and of other similar organizations. She 
 was largely instrumental in bringing a police matron to Daven- 
 port. When it was decided to close all the stores in the city at 
 six o'clock in the evening so that the clerks would not be over- 
 worked, it was Mrs. Putnam who persuaded the last obdurate 
 owners to sign the agreement. It was this sincere and sympa- 
 
 40 
 
thetic interest in humanity, as well as her personal interest in all 
 whom she knew, even though casually, that made her hosts of 
 friends and endeared her to the people of her home city and to all 
 who came to know her. A friend writes: "No one woman stood 
 for all that she did in the community, the sympathizer with every 
 good work, the originator of many, the presiding genius of the 
 Academy, and, what made this vital and enduring, a rarely beau- 
 tiful Christian character." 
 
 Out of the crowded memories of the past comes a vision of a 
 woman of medium height, clear blue eyes; a well-poised head, 
 crowned with beautiful silver- white hair; an alert, light step; a 
 vivacious manner and quick intellect that may have come from 
 some far away Huguenot ancestor; a voice of unusually sweet 
 and gentle modulation, the whole personalit}' lighted by a smile 
 full of sympathy and enjoyment of life. 
 
 Sorrow had written its history on her face, but it was illumined 
 when she talked or listened to others. Although endowed with 
 a rare social instinct and delighting in the contact with her fel- 
 lows, she was a great lover of nature. Many a sunrise and sunset 
 she watched in Europe, the dawn coming upon the Jungfrau, or 
 the marvellous afterglow at sunset, — a symbol of the resurrec- 
 tion, as she expressed it. Many of her letters from "Woodlawn" 
 are dated "at sunrise." The quiet communing with nature and 
 reading one of the beloved Psalms of David gave her the peace 
 and strength to plan her work for the day, and with a refreshing 
 sleep afterwards she arose bright and sunny as the morning itself. 
 She was one of the most natural of women, perfectly unconscious 
 of self. What people might think of her simply never occurred 
 to her. What they thought of her children or of the Academy 
 was another matter. 
 
 Mrs. Putnam's early life, fatherless and with an invalid mother, 
 had developed a naturally forceful character. A happy marriage 
 brought out all the sweeter, unselfish qualities of her nature. 
 She writes, early in her life, "God formed me with a heart so 
 large that even a husband's and children's love does not fill it full 
 to overflowing." She could always enter into the trials and sor- 
 rows of others with an unusual sympathy. She was ever a friend 
 to the poor, treating them with a rare equality. The accident of 
 riches was nothing to her, — "A man 's a man for a' that." If 
 
 41 
 
people were dull and selfish, though they might have all the 
 world's goods, they were perfectly uninteresting to her. Gossip 
 and unkind remarks were never heard from Mrs. Putnam. She 
 felt that there were so many interesting things in the world to talk 
 about, why waste time in matters worse than trivial. She often 
 quoted the saying "Blessed is the man or woman with a hobby," 
 feeling that the interest in outside affairs broadened the home 
 life and, when sorrows came, enabled a person to rise above them, 
 in work for others. As a friend said, "She was a woman who 
 was not afraid to live up to her convictions." This fearless, un- 
 selfish character was what enabled her to go on with the work of 
 the Academy, when a weaker woman would have been discour- 
 aged at the difficulties and would have counted the cost and per- 
 sonal sacrifice. 
 
 With her earnest purpose and unselfish devotion, Mrs. Putnam 
 was enabled in her well-rounded life of three score and ten years 
 to crystalize her high ideals into permanent results. She was of 
 a most hopeful, cheerful disposition, and while she remembered 
 the past and while it influenced strongly her life, she lived in the 
 present, planning for the future. 
 
 Her children arise up and call her blessed. 
 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works 
 praise her in the gates. 
 
 Davenport, Iowa, December 14, 1905. 
 
 42 
 
WILLIAM CLEMENT PUTNAM 
 
WILLIAM CLEMENT PUTNAM 
 
 A MEMOIR 
 
 BY ELIZABETH DUNCAN PUTNAM 
 
 On the western banks of the Mississippi, on the bluffs over- 
 looking the broad river, lies the town of Davenport, in Iowa. 
 The scene is one of quiet beauty, with the river winding onward, 
 peacefully and majestically, amid the encircling hills. Here was 
 born on the twenty-sixth day of June, 1862, William Clement 
 Putnam, the fifth son of Charles Edwin Putnam and Mary Louisa 
 Duncan, his wife. 
 
 Brief was his life as the years are told, but into his forty-three 
 years he crowded the work and achievement of a long life. The 
 same traits of foresight, courage, energy and perseverence that 
 had sent his ancestors from their homes in Massachusetts and 
 Virginia to develop new lands, kept him in his native city and 
 enabled him to build up a fortune and leave it for the benefit of 
 Davenport. Descended on his father's side from New England 
 families, men and women who led industrious, simple lives, and 
 on the mother's side from Scotch and Virginians, into whose 
 lives had come much of interesting adventure and history, his 
 own character shows a combination of the traits of both families. 
 
 The incidents of Mr. Putnam's life were few. He lived and 
 died in his native city. The first twent3^-five years were spent 
 at Woodlawn, a beautiful country place overlooking the Missis- 
 sippi, about two miles from the center of Davenport. The fam- 
 ily life of father, mother, ten sons and one daughter has been 
 graphically portrayed in the letters of his mother, who did much 
 to encourage the children to follow their individual tastes. 
 
 Especially strong and decided, even in childhood, were the 
 characteristics of Mr. Putnam. It is interesting, in reading his 
 
 43 
 
early letters, to see indications of the traits of later years. The 
 boy of nine writes to his father, ' ' Now, about the money ques- 
 tion," and upon receiving the remittance, thanks him and adds, 
 "I hope I shall not spend it foolishly." His early interest in 
 politics is shown by a letter written a month later to his father, 
 in which he begins, " Hurrah for Grant;" and upon hearing of 
 his father's politics he writes, "I am sorry you like Horace 
 Greeley so much." 
 
 Surrounded by his father's large and well selected library and 
 brought up in "a reading family," it was only natural that his 
 latent love for books and knowledge should develop early in life. 
 For many years, by rising early in the morning and retiring late 
 at night, he accomplished an enormous amount of systematic 
 reading of the standard authors. He had a retentive memory, 
 especially for facts and information, and during these years of 
 boyhood amassed a store of knowledge from which he drew at 
 will in later life. 
 
 His oldest brother, Duncan, was, at this time, collecting insects 
 and carrying on his scientific work. He took great interest in 
 the occupations of his younger brothers and it is no doubt largely 
 through his influence and through the constant encouragement 
 of his father and mother that Clement Putnam began his collec- 
 tions and interest in outside affairs. An historical society was 
 organized among the brothers at Woodlawn and papers were read 
 at the meetings. Clement Putnam was the dominant and perse- 
 vering member that carried the society through its existence. 
 
 Very early he began to collect material for local history. This 
 interest was developed by a visit to his mother's former home, 
 Jacksonville, Illinois. He met many old friends of his grand- 
 father, Governor Duncan, and gained from them an impetus to 
 his interest in historical subjects. He planned at this time, when 
 only eleven years old, to write a biography of his grandfather. 
 Unfortunately he did not carry out his boyish plan, though he 
 never lost sight of it. He constantly collected material and facts 
 and looked forward to the time when he would have an oppor- 
 tunity to write. When sixteen, he was interviewing old settlers 
 and buying books about the Black Hawk War. His letters show 
 his exact and intimate knowledge of where old books could be 
 bought and of their relative value. 
 
 44 
 
When a copy of Wakefield's "History of the War Between the 
 United States and the Sac and Fox Nations of Indians ' ' was 
 loaned him, he writes on November 26th, 1878: "I was too 
 much interested in the other book [Wakefield's History] to think 
 about it [Cunningham's Lives] at first. I could scarcely believe 
 my eyes when I saw what book it was, for I knew it was Wake- 
 field's book instantly although the title page is gone. I have 
 every other book of importance upon the Black Hawk War ex- 
 cept this one and I never expected to have this one in my pos- 
 session even for a short time, as it is one of the rarest western 
 books ever published, besides being of great value in itself . . . 
 It is to me the most precious relic of a bygone age . . . Before 
 returning it I would first like to make some extracts from it con- 
 cerning those things which are of the greatest interest to me, 
 though I am afraid I would never know where to stop, so much 
 am I interested in everything of which it treats." He copied the 
 entire book. 
 
 Again on January 13th, 1885, he writes: " I have always had 
 a great passion for old papers and autographs and have already 
 a large and valuable collection. As soon as my collection of 
 grandfather's papers is complete I intend to arrange them and 
 have them bound in volumes." 
 
 With his love of collecting came a strong ambition to write. 
 At the age of ten he had written a tragedy of five acts which was 
 acted on an amateur stage at Woodlawn. This was followed by 
 plans for various works in history, but unfortunately his busy 
 life did not enable him to accomplish all he hoped. 
 
 Mr. Putnam was educated at the public schools in Davenport 
 and was graduated from the High School in 1880. When but 
 eleven he had decided upon becoming a lawyer. He was ambi- 
 tious to go first to college, but feeling that his father needed his 
 help, he laid aside this dream and entered the law office of Put- 
 nam and Rogers. This prompt and decisive response of the boy to 
 what he felt was a call of duty was characteristic of the man. 
 One wonders what the effect of a university education would 
 have been upon his mind, so eager and enthusiastic for knowl- 
 edge. He himself always regretted the loss. He spent two 
 years in his father's law office before going to Iowa City to attend 
 the law school of the State University of Iowa, from which he 
 
 45 
 
was graduated in 1883. He was chosen one of the orators of his 
 class, his subject being, "The State." He assisted Chancellor 
 McClain in preparing his ' ' Outlines of Criminal Law and Pro- 
 cedure," published in 1883. He selected cases and "showed a 
 rare judgment for a law student in his first year of study." Soon 
 after his return his father took him into partnership, the firm 
 name being Putnam and Putnam. The next few years were spent 
 in close application to business and devotion to duty. 
 
 On the third of June, 1887, the house at Woodlawn was destroyed 
 by fire. All of Mr. Putnam's historical books, manuscripts and 
 valuable collection of old letters relating to western history were 
 burned. It was an irreparable loss. The death of his father, 
 six weeks later, left the family in peculiarly sad and desolate cir- 
 cumstances and added new responsibilities to his life. He assumed 
 the care of managing the affairs of his mother and brothers and 
 sister, becoming the virtual head of the family. Nobly did he 
 perform this duty. He arranged the finances so that his younger 
 brothers received a college or technical education, and sold the old 
 homestead to such advantage that his mother was placed in com- 
 fortable circumstances. In the autumn of this year the family 
 moved into town. Mr. Putnam soon after bought the house in 
 which they first lived and took great interest in improving the 
 property and making it a family home. Into this house he gath- 
 ered his constantly growing collection of books and works of art. 
 He was an intense lover of home and enjoyed having his family 
 with him, but unselfishly urged his mother and sister's taking 
 an extensive European trip in 1889, and numerous other journeys. 
 
 Charles E. Putnam had numerous business interests besides his 
 law practice. Clement Putnam succeeded his father as president 
 in many of these organizations. Often the young man of twenty- 
 five, who looked much younger than his years, presided at a meet- 
 ing of gray-haired men, contemporaries of his father. 
 
 Charles E. Putnam had been agent for the property in Daven- 
 port belonging to Charles Velie of Evansville, Indiana. This con- 
 sisted of a half block of buildings forming the old L,eClaire, later 
 the Newcomb, Block, in the center of the business district of 
 Davenport. Clement Putnam assumed the management of it 
 during his father's lifetime and later Mr. Velie, one of many of 
 the loyal clients of his father, continued him in charge of his in- 
 
 46 
 
terests. Thus he became familiar with it and when the oppor- 
 tunity offered, in 1895, to purchase the property, he realized its 
 value and bought it. It is this property, with its large rental, 
 that becomes the chief source of the income of his bequest to the 
 Davenport Academy of Sciences. The improvement and care of 
 these buildings gradually absorbed most of his time. From a 
 financial standpoint it was most advantageous. Mr. Putnam 
 had marked business ability, as is shown by his acquisition, in 
 his short life, of a large fortune. His business interests, how- 
 ever, prevented him from becoming the distinguished lawyer that 
 the few briefs and opinions he wrote indicate he might have been 
 with the ability he possessed. He had a clear mind and forceful 
 power of expression, and enjoyed the discussion of legal ques- 
 tions. Chancellor McClain, now Judge of the Supreme Court of 
 Iowa, writes of him: "I regarded Mr. Putnam as having a mature 
 and sound legal mind and urged him to undertake some legal 
 writing, but he seemed too busy for it although it was in accord- 
 ance with his tastes." 
 
 Business affairs necessitated frequent visits to New York and 
 gave him, incidentally, an opportunity to come into closer touch 
 with the literary and artistic world. Unconsciously these visits 
 broadened his outlook on life. He was now able to buy the 
 rare and beautiful books he had always loved. Even when his 
 income was small, the few books he bought were chosen with care 
 and he was beginning to plan and develop in his mind the scope 
 of his future library. He took infinite pains in the selection of 
 any book or picture, and his perseverance was remarkable. For 
 years he was on the lookout for Wakefield' s ' ' History of the 
 War," and at last, in 1902, he was rewarded and became the pos- 
 sessor of the little old yellow book that had aroused his enthus- 
 iasm as a boy. 
 
 He became interested in fine publications and illustrations and 
 gradually collected a rare library on architecture, music and 
 painting, besides general literature and history. Librarians have 
 expressed interest in his library on account of its extent and 
 range. Though guarding his books with zealous care, he was 
 ever willing to loan them to any one studying a special subject, 
 aiding them also by his own extensive knowledge. 
 
 After buying a few etchings in 1898 in New York, he became 
 
 47 
 

 interested in the subject and in time came to own a valuable col- 
 lection of works by the best known etchers, besides almost every 
 book on etching. He mastered the literature and technical crit- 
 icism of the subject in the same thorough manner as he mastered 
 everything he undertook. 
 
 Mr. Putnam commenced early in life to buy paintings, chiefly 
 small good examples of modern artists. He writes on June 9th, 
 1891, " I want to add to my collection of paintings every year, 
 laying the foundations for the Art Gallery I intend to have in 
 my Castle in Spain when I build it." His art gallery was a 
 dream unfulfilled for himself, but by the provisions of his will it 
 will become a reality for the town he loved. 
 
 Mr. Putnam always looked forward to a time of leisure in 
 which he could do the writing he planned. His extensive knowl- 
 edge of western history, with his accurate mode of thought and 
 expression, makes it a matter of deep regret that the only histor- 
 ical writing preserved is a short paper on ' ' Davenport and Vicin- 
 ity in the War of 181 2," written in 1877, and read before the 
 historical section of the Davenport Academy of Sciences. He 
 wrote a memoir of his father, Charles E. Putnam, in 1898, pub- 
 lished in Proceedings of the Academy, and three papers for the 
 Contemporary Club, composed of the leading business and pro- 
 fessional men of Davenport. The titles of the papers show the 
 trend of his thought toward some of the questions of the day: 
 
 1898. " Some Problems of Modern Democracy." 
 
 1902. " Civic Beauty." 
 
 1905. " International Arbitration and the Peace Movement." 
 He possessed a clear, forceful style and a good command of the 
 English language. 
 
 As the years went on, his interest in public affairs steadily 
 increased. No question came up affecting the public welfare of 
 Davenport but he took a deep interest in it and went to consid- 
 erable personal sacrifice to achieve the end in view if it was for 
 the betterment of the city. Never did his faith waver in the 
 future of Davenport. He had high ideals and believed in plan- 
 ning and building for the future. The great fault, he felt, of the 
 average citizen, was in letting franchises or laws pass unnoticed 
 if they did not happen to affect his personal interest or pocket- 
 book. It was only a very few who ever troubled themselves to 
 
protest or be on the lookout for the best interests of the city. He 
 himself took a deep interest in municipal affairs, especially in the 
 city's parks and public institutions. Referring to the park sys- 
 tem of Boston, Mr. Putnam writes : "Every one of us should lay 
 the lesson of that noble work to our hearts and do what we can 
 to make the city of our home the better and the more beautiful 
 for our having lived in it." 
 
 There are copies of frequent letters written by Mr. Putnam to 
 our United States senator about public affairs, especially protest- 
 ing against the tariff on works of art. He felt that America 
 needed all the art and beauty that could be imported to counter- 
 act our commercial spirit. When urged to help in the endow- 
 ment of an eastern institution, he replied that whatever he did 
 for art would be done in his native town. Here he hoped there 
 might be a gallery, small but with a few choice paintings. In 
 1898 he was interested in selecting pictures and bas reliefs to 
 decorate the two upper rooms in the grammar school attended by 
 many members of the family. In 1905 he gave a full-sized frieze 
 of Donatello's " Children" to the Public Library for the child- 
 ren's room. He also loaned them his carefully selected collection 
 of a hundred large Braun photographs of the most famous paint- 
 ings by artists of all countries and ages, framed and labeled. 
 
 Mr. Putnam was seldom away from Davenport. A boyhood 
 journey to the Centennial, various business trips and one Euro- 
 pean tour complete the record of his journeys. His life is an 
 example of steady application to business and shows how, with 
 few opportunities of travel, can come the love of the best in art, 
 music and literature. His only trip abroad was in 1903 when 
 for seven months he travelled, with his sister, through the prin- 
 cipal cities and countries of Europe. In looking back one real- 
 izes the reason of his intense enthusiasm and desire to see places 
 of interest. For years he had worked perseveringly and read ex- 
 tensively and now when his holiday came he enjoyed it with the 
 zest of a boy. Europe was never visited by a more appreciative 
 or intelligent visitor. His familiarity with history, his love of 
 architecture, painting and sculpture, his interest in people, cus- 
 toms, and the different institutions of the countries made the trip 
 a memorable one. He considered this the beginning of many 
 journeys. It was his only one. 
 
 49 
 
From his early interest in the Historical section, Mr. Putnam 
 became more interested in the Davenport Academy of Sciences. 
 The untiring work for this institution of his brother Duncan, de- 
 votedly supported by his father and mother, all tended to influ- 
 ence a man of such loyal character as his to take up the work as 
 one by one they laid it down. There was a deep and peculiar 
 attachment between Clement Putnam and his mother, and it was 
 for her sake especially he did so much for the Davenport Acad- 
 emy of Sciences. Even as a student at the law school he writes, 
 urging that the affairs of the Academy be established on "a sound 
 financial basis." After the death of his father he succeeded to 
 his position of looking after the finances of the Academy, a posi- 
 tion to which there were no rival claimants. When the treasury 
 was empty Mr. Putnam, like his father, advanced the money to 
 pay the bills, ever anxious that the credit of the Academy should 
 stand unimpaired. 
 
 During the years from 1876 to 1880 he took a keen interest in 
 the Historical Section of the Academy. He felt that the study 
 of local history and the collection in its archives of local his- 
 torical material should be an important feature of the Academy 
 work. In his report as secretary of the Historical Section, on 
 January 7th, 1880, he speaks of the gift of the papers of Antoine 
 L,eClaire, "many of them of the greatest value and importance 
 in illustrating the early history of this region, and quite a num- 
 ber of old French papers of great interest. It is out of such ma- 
 terial as this that the historian weaves his interesting narrative, 
 and the value of these old manuscript collections cannot be too 
 deeply appreciated. There have been deposited, in the library of 
 the Section, files of New York papers published during the late 
 war, and twenty-two volumes of the Davenport Gazette from its 
 commencement. Next in order to collections of manuscripts, 
 newspaper files are of great utility as historical material. But by 
 far the most important work of this past year was the series of 
 meetings of the old settlers of this county, held during the spring 
 and summer at the Academy. As a result of these meetings and 
 of circulars sent among the pioneer settlers still living, a large num- 
 ber of letters giving interesting narratives of early days have been 
 sent to the president of the Section; others have been promised, 
 and when the whole series has been completed it will form a store- 
 
 50 
 
house filled with information which must otherwise have been 
 lost." 
 
 Mr. Putnam was Trustee of the Academy from 1887 to his 
 death, and was on the finance committee for fifteen years. His 
 last act was to dictate the report of the finance committee for the 
 annual meeting, announcing that after strenuous efforts the 
 Academy was free from debt, and adding, "this is probably the 
 first time since the founding of the Academy, nearly forty years 
 ago, that this could be said, so we feel that the Academy is to be 
 congratulated on its splendid financial condition ; but people must 
 remember that this is only a means of accomplishing still greater 
 ends in the future, in developing the internal work of the Acad- 
 emy, in providing new cases and apparatus and assisting in the 
 important work of the Academy in the schools." This report 
 was dictated with difficulty and pain. Loyal was he even on his 
 deathbed to the trust he felt his mother had left to him. His 
 bequest to the Davenport Academy of Sciences crowns his moth- 
 er's life work for this institution. 
 
 In the midst of enjoyment and activity in the present and plans 
 for the future came his first and last illness. His strong will had 
 kept him at work too long. There were only a few days of ill- 
 ness, serious from the first, with a rally to dictate his reports 
 and give directions to donate a large collection of old and rare 
 Arizona baskets to the Academy. His death came on the morn- 
 ing of January thirteenth, 1906. 
 
 Mr. Putnam was a man of strong personality. He combined 
 the thoroughness and faculty of taking infinite pains with the 
 greatest persistence and pleasure in overcoming all obstacles. 
 Once started upon a subject, his determination never let him rest 
 until he had mastered it thoroughly. In many traits he reminded 
 one strongly of his mother. He had a great desire to acquire in- 
 formation from other people, and possessed the power of assimi- 
 lation, so that anything once acquired was always useful. He 
 had keen judgment and appreciation of literature, art and music. 
 One might differ from him, but he was ever interesting. He was 
 fearless in speech. He was generous and ready to aid in all good 
 causes and help with counsel and personal interest in the affairs 
 of any worthy person. He combined a great amount of senti- 
 ment, which he tried to conceal, with the clear-headed views of a 
 
 51 
 
business man and lawyer. Those who knew him in his own 
 home, surrounded by his books and pictures and talking with 
 congenial friends, felt to the full the charm and power of Mr. 
 Putnam. 
 
 His life, though unfinished, was more complete than many a 
 a longer one. Wisely and clearly he laid his plans for the future. 
 Devoted to his family, home and city, he left his fortune, sub- 
 ject to annuities to his brothers and sister, and his collection of 
 art, historical and scientific books, besides his paintings and 
 sculpture, to trustees as an endowment for the Davenport Acad- 
 emy of Sciences, for the benefit of "the citizens of this community 
 wherein my father and mother so long lived and labored for the 
 public weal." 
 
 52 
 
WILL OF MARY LOUISA DUNCAN PUTNAM 
 
 By the will of Mary L,ouisa Duncan Putnam her estate, subject 
 to an annuity which was waived by her daughter, Elizabeth 
 Duncan Putnam, and to certain other obligations which were 
 assumed by her son, William Clement Putnam, is left to three 
 trustees for the benefit of the Davenport Academy of Sciences. 
 The trust, designated as the "Putnam Memorial Fund," is 
 founded as a memorial to her husband, Charles Edwin Putnam, 
 and her son Joseph Duncan Putnam. 
 
 By the terms of the trust William Clement Putnam is named as 
 legal trustee during his life, his successors to be chosen by her 
 surviving children, approved by the court, and, after the death of 
 all the children, directly by the judge of the court. With him 
 are to be associated two other trustees : one, her daughter, Eliz- 
 abeth Duncan Putnam, and after her decease, one person to be 
 chosen by the members of the Publication Committee of the Dav- 
 enport Academy of Sciences, and the other, a person to be chosen 
 by the Board of Trustees of the Academy, both of the last trust- 
 ees, when so chosen, to be for a period of three years. The 
 trustees of the trust fund are to make an annual report to the 
 trustees of the Academy. The trustees shall use the net income 
 from this trust fund as follows : Not to exceed ten (10) per cent 
 in any one year may be used for the "care and preservation of, 
 and additions to, the collection of entomological specimens and 
 books made by my said son, Joseph Duncan Putnam, and now in 
 the building of the said Academy." The balance of the income 
 shall be used ' ' for the publication and distribution of the papers 
 and transactions of said Academy, which shall be of scientific, or 
 ethnological, and (on special occasions if deemed desirable) of his- 
 torical value and interest, and assist in the diffusion of knowl- 
 edge, it being my desire generally that at least one paper in each 
 volume published be upon some entomological subject." It is 
 further provided that the trustees may use a portion of the 
 income of the fund, not to exceed one-fourth in any one year, 
 
 53 
 
1 ' toward the payment of the salary of a curator of said Academy, 
 if such use of a portion of said income in their opinion becomes 
 necessary to properly maintain the work of said Academy. But 
 I earnestly hope that the said Academy may in the near future 
 receive a sufficiently large endowment from public-spirited citi- 
 zens, or others, to enable it to properly carry on its great work 
 aside from its publications, leaving the income from this trust 
 fund to be used solely for the purpose for which the trust has 
 been founded." 
 
 
 54 
 
WILL OF WILLIAM CLEMENT PUTNAM 
 
 In his will William Clement Putnam left his entire estate in 
 trust for the benefit of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, nam- 
 ing as trustees of the fund thus created his brothers, Henry St. 
 Clair Putnam, George Rockwell Putnam, Edward Kirby Putnam, 
 Benjamin Risley Putnam, and his sister, Elizabeth Duncan Put- 
 nam. He provides first for the settlement of his estate and the 
 preservation of his business and other property. 
 
 The homestead, with the personal property contained therein, 
 is given to his sister during her life. After her decease the home- 
 stead is to revert to the estate, to be merged in the trust fund and 
 the personal property is to be divided among relatives, "except- 
 ing however that when such distribution of my personal effects 
 is made, either upon written notice from my said sister to my 
 said Executors and Trustees, or the survivors of them, during 
 her lifetime, or in any event upon her decease, I give and be- 
 queath all my art, historical and scientific books, together with 
 all my oil and water color paintings, etchings, engravings, draw- 
 ings, sculpture and other works of art, to the Davenport Acad- 
 emy of Sciences of Davenport, Iowa, to be kept in a fire-proof art 
 gallery in one of its buildings to be built as hereinafter provided, 
 and I further direct that, after the completion of such fire-proof 
 art gallery, my collection of English water colors shall be placed 
 therein, as soon as possible, to prevent the risk of their destruc- 
 tion by fire, even before title thereto may pass pursuant to the 
 above provisions. The gift of the foregoing books and works of 
 art to the said Davenport Academy of Sciences is made upon the 
 express condition that none of said books, pictures and other 
 works of art, shall ever be sold or disposed of by said Academy 
 or its successors." 
 
 Annuities are designated to be paid to his four brothers and 
 sister in lieu of their compensation as executors and trustees, 
 and provision is made for the rebuilding, with modern and fire-proof 
 construct ion, of the buildings upon his business property. The fifth 
 paragraph of the will then provides for the Academy as follows: 
 ' ' The balance remaining each year from the net income of all my 
 
 55 
 
estate as aforesaid, I direct my .said Executors and Trustees, or 
 the survivors of them, to pay to the Trustees of the Putnam Me- 
 morial Fund of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, of the City 
 of Davenport, Iowa, said Trustee and Board of Trustees being the 
 ones designated in the Last Will and Testament of my mother, 
 Mary L. D. Putnam, now deceased, such payments of income to 
 be made as often as my said Executors and Trustees, or their 
 survivors, may think best, but at least annually, and all of said 
 balance of the net income arising from my estate to be used for 
 the benefit of the said Davenport Academy of Sciences, or its suc- 
 cessors, or otherwise, upon the terms and under the conditions in 
 the Seventh paragraph of this Will particularly set forth." 
 
 The seventh paragraph of the will provides for the permanent 
 maintenance of the trust fund and its use for the benefit of the 
 Academy of Sciences : 
 
 "Seventh. Subject to the foregoing provisions of this Will, and 
 as a memorial to my beloved parents, Charles Edwin Putnam, 
 and Mary L,ouisa Duncan Putnam, deceased, I give, devise, and 
 bequeath all of my estate, real, personal, and mixed, and wher- 
 ever situated, upon the decease of the last survivor of my broth- 
 ers and sister hereinbefore named, to the Trustee, and Board of 
 Trustees, of the Putnam Memorial Fund, and to his and their 
 successor or successors in trust forever, as the same are desig- 
 nated in the duly probated last will and testament of my mother, 
 Mary L,. D. Putnam, deceased, and as the same may be from time 
 to time hereafter appointed, elected, and qualified, as is in my 
 mother's said will provided, said property and estate to be held in 
 the same manner in all respects as is in my mother's said will 
 directed, for the benefit of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, 
 of Davenport, Iowa, or its successors, and the income therefrom 
 arising, together with the residuary income from my estate prior 
 to the decease of all my brothers and sister hereinbefore named 
 as provided in the Fifth paragraph of this Will, to be used for 
 the following purposes only, to-wit : First. In the payment of 
 all taxes, insurance, repairs, improvements, and all other expenses 
 and charges of whatever nature or description which may be 
 from time to time required in the proper management and care 
 of said trust estate, and in the proper maintenance in first-class 
 condition of all property and assets belonging to said trust estate. 
 
 56 
 
Second. In the rebuilding of any of the buildings upon any of 
 the real estate belonging to said trust fund whenever such rebuild- 
 ing may become necessary in order to properly maintain or 
 increase the value of such real estate. Third. In the erection 
 of new buildings for, or additions to the present buildings of, the 
 said Davenport Academy of Sciences, it being my earnest desire, 
 however, that such building fund be allowed to accumulate until 
 it reaches at least Fifty Thousand ($50,000.00) Dollars, and is in 
 any event large enough to permit the erection of a thoroughly 
 satisfactory, handsome, and fire-proof structure, which will be in 
 the highest degree creditable and useful to the said Academy, 
 and to the City and State in which it is located, and which shall 
 contain, in addition to fire-proof museum rooms, a fire-proof art 
 gallery for the proper exhibition and preservation of works of 
 art which shall be of genuine value and merit only. Fourth. 
 After providing as large as possible a sinking fund each year for 
 the erection of said building or buildings of the said Davenport 
 Academy of Sciences, or after providing for the payment of any 
 additional obligations incurred in the erection of such build- 
 ings, the remainder of said net income may be used each year, 
 so far as necessary, for the general support and maintenance of 
 the said Davenport Academy of Sciences, or its successor ; and 
 after the erection of such building or buildings the whole of said 
 income may be used if desired towards the care and maintenance 
 of said building, museum, art gallery, and library, the support of 
 the curator and other employees, the prosecution of the work of 
 the Academy, the purchase of additions to its museum, library, 
 and art gallery, and the publication of its proceedings, and of 
 papers of scientific, or historical, value and interest, until it shall 
 again become necessary to erect another new building for the 
 said Davenport Academy of Sciences, when such portion as may 
 be deemed advisable of the net income from said trust estate 
 shall again be used towards the establishment of another build- 
 ing sinking fund. In the event that the said Davenport Acad- 
 emy of Sciences shall ever cease to exist, and shall have no 
 successors in the City of Davenport, then and in that event I 
 direct that the Trustees of the said Putnam Memorial Fund, to 
 be chosen in such case by the court having probate jurisdiction 
 in the City of Davenport, Iowa, as provided in the last will of 
 
 57 
 
Mary L,. D. Putnam, deceased, shall proceed to execute and carry 
 out the purposes and intents of the trusts in this will provided, 
 as hereinbefore expressed, as nearly as may be, and, if necessary, 
 to found some other institution in the said City of Davenport 
 which shall as effectually and usefully as possible accomplish 
 such purposes and intents, or similar ones which shall be of ben- 
 eficent use to the citizens of this community wherein my father 
 and mother so long lived and labored for the public weal." 
 
 58 
 

 
Reprinted from Volume X, 
 
 Proceedings of the Davenport Academy 
 
 of Sciences. 
 
 1907