Louise Boynton

Louise Boynton
A drawing of a white woman with her hair up in a top bun; she is wearing a high-collared blouse with a bow at the neck.
Louise Boynton, from a 1901 newspaper.
Born
Mary Louise Boynton

1868
Georgetown, Massachusetts
DiedMarch 3, 1951
Tannersville, New York
Occupation(s)Newspaper publisher, editor
PartnerMaude Adams
RelativesGeorgie Boynton Child (sister)

Mary Louise Boynton (1868 – March 3, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and editor. She was the personal secretary and partner of actress Maude Adams.

Early life

Louise Boynton was born in Georgetown, Massachusetts, the eldest child of Casimir Whitman Boynton and Eunice Adelia Harriman Boynton.[1] She graduated from Vassar College in 1894.[2][3]

Career

In 1897, Boynton and her sister Georgie[4] bought a New Jersey newspaper, the Perth Amboy Republican,[5] and ran it as a daily newspaper until 1903,[6] with Louise Boynton as editor in chief.[7][8] She was credited as editor of her sister's 1914 book, The Efficient Kitchen,[9] and the sisters co-wrote a book of economical recipes, The Golden Grains (1932).[10]

From 1905, Boynton was closely associated with actress Maude Adams, usually described as her personal secretary.[11][12] A 1913 profile of Adams in Good Housekeeping elaborated, calling Boynton "a companion who is consulted on every momentous question of costume or farm produce; who is present at the trial of every stage effect and is the companion of every country drive; a true helpmeet in the small things of life as well as in the large."[13]

Personal life

Boynton and Adams lived and traveled together from 1905 until Boynton's death in 1951,[14] from an apparent heart attack.[15] Their graves are under a shared headstone, on the grounds of the Cenacle Convent in Ronkonkoma, Long Island.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Perth Amboy". The Central New Jersey Home News. 1937-06-06. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-06-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Boynton, Mary Louise (November 1893). "Humps". The Vassar Miscellany. 23: 55.
  3. ^ Boynton, Mary Louise (December 1892). "Home Life at Vassar". The Homemaker. 9: 248–250.
  4. ^ "Two Sisters Who Own and Edit a Newspaper". The Kansas Weekly Capital. 1901-07-05. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-06-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Run by Women". The Fall River Daily Herald. 1898-01-21. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-06-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "With Woman at the Helm". Chillicothe Gazette. 1902-12-11. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-06-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Daily Run by Women". Fourth Estate: 10. June 1, 1901.
  8. ^ "Two Women Conduct a Daily Newspaper". The Philipsburg Mail. 1901-08-02. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-06-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Child, Georgie Boynton (1914). The Efficient Kitchen: Definite Directions for the Planning, Arranging and Equipping of the Modern Labor-saving Kitchen. A Practical Book For the Home-maker. McBridge, Nast.
  10. ^ Boynton, Louise; Child, Georgie Boynton (1932). The Golden Grains. Clark-Sprague Company.
  11. ^ Wolf, Rennold (August 1912). "Maude Adams, the Lonesomest Woman on the Stage". The Green Book Magazine. 8: 214.
  12. ^ Patterson, Ada (1907). Maude Adams: A Biography. Meyer bros. & Company. p. 73. ISBN 9780795003318.
  13. ^ Dean, Frederic (May 1913). "Maude Adams". Good Housekeeping Magazine. 56: 606.
  14. ^ "Memories of Maude". The Central New Jersey Home News. 2004-07-08. p. 105. Retrieved 2020-06-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Fields, Armond (2004-07-08). Maude Adams: Idol of American Theater, 1872-1953. McFarland. p. 301. ISBN 978-0-7864-1927-2.
  16. ^ McDonald, Joel (2019-02-07). "Maude Adams: Mormon, Lesbian and the Broadway's First Peter Pan". Affirmation: LGBTQ Mormons, Families & Friends. Retrieved 2020-06-24.