Mrs. Lapsley

Mary Ann herself!

Photo used with permission by Stuart B. Wrege Indiana History Room, 

New Albany-Floyd County Public Library  [920 P5 400]

Her Spookship: Part II

WORK IN PROGRESS...  

              Mary Ann’s husbands were prominent, powerful, pious and Presbyterian.  Not necessarily in that order.  Elias Ayers was her first, and for the longest period.  Mary Ann and Elias and others of her family were instrumental in the founding of the first Presbyterian church in Louisville and subsequently the first Presbyterian church in New Albany.  Elias had been a successful merchant while in Louisville and continued as such on his removal to New Albany, purchasing property to construct his business at the southeast corner of Main and Pearl Streets (original frame building long gone, but another still there in its place).  He (and Mary Ann) continued to purchase properties throughout their lifetimes, accumulating a large number of rental properties. 

                Elias was the father of her eight children and I’m sure he stood strongly by her side to comfort her in her mother’s grief; each was buried before she should have been expected to have them leave her.  It is said that Mary Ann raised her sister’s children, William S. Hillyer and his sister, Catherine Hillyer Moody, which is very likely.  William was about two years of age when his father, James Hillyer, died (1833), and it was just a few years later (1836) when his mother, Catherine Silliman Hillyer, also passed on.  Mary Ann’s niece, Catherine Hillyer Moody, also died while quite young, in April of 1850, at age 22 (her epitaph reads “SHE HAS JOINED HER MOTHER”).  William was enumerated later that year on the census with his sister’s widow and two children, and was married just a few years later to Annie Shields Rankin.  They soon removed to St. Louis, where they became close friends with Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant.  William was part of Gen. Grant’s war-time staff, rising to Brigadier General, but resigned his military position in May 1863 due to ill health.  Following the war, he removed his family to New York and died in Washington, D.C. in 1874.  William’s father, James Hillyer, had been close personal friends with Henry Clay.  (Yes, I’m namedropping.  And more of that to come later . . . ) 

                Mary Ann and Elias were devout Christians and were very active in the interests of the Presbyterian church.  Her obituary states that “She assisted in the organization of the first Sunday school in New Albany [this has been argued]; in the organization of the first Female Prayer Meeting in the city, and the first Female Bible Society in the city.  She was an officer in all these societies.”  Elias was instrumental in the formation of the New Albany Theological Seminary, originating as the Theological Department at Hanover College, and eventually the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. 

                Mary Ann took Rev. Philip Lindsley as her second husband.  He also had been married previously . . .

William Richardson

Rev. Robert Armstrong Lapsley

   
             Elias Ayers’ sister, Mary King Ayers, had married John Day, and had quite a large family.  One of their sons, Silas, started working as a clerk and was later a partner with his uncle Elias in his dry goods business.  A brother of Silas, Ezekiel Reeves (E.R.) Day was also known to accumulate a number of local properties for rental purposes.  Silas, E.R., and their sister, Joanna Day Shields, are mentioned in Mary Ann’s will.

Her Spookship: The Obit and Obsequies

New Albany Daily Ledger Standard 06-03-1878 p4c4   MARY ANN LAPSLEY.  “Of no distemper, of no blast she died, But full like autumn fruit that mellowed long; Even wondered that she dropt no sooner; Fate seemed to wind her up for four-score years, Till like a clock worn with eating care, The wheels of weary life at last stood still.” 

                To-day Mrs. Mary Ann Lapsley lies in the all-embracing arms of death.  This sad event occurred at her residence on Main street, at 8:30 o’clock Sunday morning.  She was one of the early pioneers of our city.  The annals of New Albany furnish no name so conspicuous and so long a citizen.  Her material interests were large and interwoven with the affairs of our town. 

                Mrs. Lapsley had not only lived the history of New Albany, but she had outlived the most of her relatives.  She was born in Fairfield, Conn., came to this city in 1817, with her father and mother, Major William Silliman, and wife.  Major Silliman was a brother of the famous Benjamin Silliman, Sr., and she was consequently cousin of the present Prof. Silliman and Prof. J. D. Dana, of New Haven, Conn.  After the death of her parents, which event occurred shortly after removing here, she went to Louisville and made her home at Mr. Cuthbert Bullitt’s, where her sister, Mrs. D. C. Banks, also resided. 

                She was first married July 27, 1819, at Mr. Bullitt’s to Mr. Elias Ayers.  She continued to make Louisville her home until 1821, when she and her husband settled permanently in New Albany.  Before her marriage, however, she taught school in Louisville.  Major Ayers lived with her as a devoted husband and an excellent business man until his death, which occurred in 1843.  All of her children, eight in number, were born during the life of this husband and all died before reaching adult age.  Her next marriage took place in 1849, to the Rev. Phillip Lindsley, chancellor of the university of Nashville, Tenn.  He was a gentleman very much esteemed for learning and piety, and was widely known.  For a brief time their residence was made in that city, but soon returned to our city and made their home on the corner of Spring and Bank streets, where the Female High School now is.  Dr. Lindsley was her husband six years after marriage and died in 1856.  After a widowhood of two years she married again to Mr. William Richardson, President of Northern Bank of Kentucky, Louisville, with whom she lived with endearing relations until 1863, when he died.  Her fourth and last husband was the Rev. Robert A. Lapsley, D.D.  This marriage occurred February 6, 1866.  Remarkable and above the average of men, as were her former husbands, she was none the less fortunate in her last.  Dr. Lapsley’s goodness, piety, and gentleness of heart, which formed his character, are still fresh in our memory.  Four such fortunate marriages by one woman are almost if not entirely without a parallel in womanhood.  These gentlemen, her husbands, were men of experience, judgment, rare intelligence, and influence, beyond the common lot of men.  The highest proof of their estimation of this woman they gave.  At the time of Mrs. Lapsley’s death she was eighty-two, and a widow of six years.  With Mr. Ayers she laid the foundation of her wealth.  They opened a store on the corner of Main and Pearl streets, and did much business there with such men as Mr. Silas C. Day and Mr. David Hedden as clerks, both of whom have never seemed to have forgotten the training they received.  Mrs. Lapsley was a wonderful woman.  She had her share of experiences, bitter in sorrows, tragic in disappointments, and acquainted with grief.  Seldom did woman have more.  But with all her adversities and bereavements she never paraded her griefs.  She was most uncomplaining and rarely referred to any of her discomforts.  She had the great gifts of common sense, judgment, tact and energy.  These were effective and of great advantage to her in business transactions.  There were much dignity, agreeable manners, and force of character about her that gave her influence and an advantage over most women.  In person she was short and thick in size, and was quick of speech, with penetrating black eyes that had much meaning in them.  Her mind worked rapidly; she comprehended situations, circumstances and contingencies with adroitness.  Her conclusions were usually positive.  She was brimful of business and gave much time to its direction.  When Mr. Ayers died he left her with a comfortable estate, out of which several large bequests were made, and by a mutual agreement between them all the property they had or which might thereafter accrue should be devoted to objects of education and benevolence.  In accordance with this plan, before Mr. Ayers’ death twenty thousand dollars were given to found a theological seminary in New Albany.  There was the Ayers’ seminary under the Rev. Dr. Wood, to which an endowment was affixed.  She also bequeathed to Hanover college the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, and she has otherwise made handsome donations to institutions of similar character.  She has assisted young men through college, and among her recent and last charities was the sum of one thousand dollars to our Orphans’ Home.  And she has been generous in assisting many whom the public will never know, only as they are found out other than from her.  Mrs. Mary Ann Lapsley was often harshly judged, misrepresented and aspersed by people who imagined they knew her.  Those who knew her best and longest held warm friendship for her and loved her.  True she was frugal in her habits; had her own methods and ways of conducting her affairs, nor did she care for anyone’s opinion in this direction.  She was partial to social amenities, invited friends and clergy to her house, and was cordial and kind. She entertained with stateliness and rare good spirit.  Her friends were the best bred people to whom her hospitalities could be shown.  Her methodical housekeeping is proverbial.  In conversation she was vocal and never dull; her reminiscences of early times fresh and entertaining.  Her mind did not seem to impair with age, but seemed to retain much of its usual vigor.  Self-reliance and independence were not inconsiderable features of her character.  These qualities assisted her in the management and accumulation of property.  While her estate is supposed to be large, she has met with serious losses in some of her investments.  She has lent a helping hand to our manufacturing industries with poor return, and in some few instances to such extent that with some men under these circumstances would have crippled their resources beyond recovery. 

                But whatever there is remaining, aside from some personal bequests, the bulk will go to charitable and educational objects, the ultimate end of which she confidently believed would glorify God. 

                In the death of Mrs. Lapsley, New Albany loses a valued citizen, society a very elegant lady, and the Presbyterian church a useful and warmly attached member.  The life and character of such a woman is worthy to be studied, the example of her Christian virtues imitated, and the many excellencies of her womanhood impressed upon the coming generation.  She has not lived in vain.  She benefited mankind, fed the hungry, clothed the needy and filled the measure and more of allotted years. 

                Mrs. Mary Ann Lapsley consecrated her wealth to deeds of charity without ostentation, or herald of trumpets.  To-day her choice spirit is free from bondage of clay and of sin.  She enters her reward. Let us pay a tearful tribute to her memory in manifestation of our sorrow by honoring her funeral with our presence.  She will live enshrined in memory by those who loved and respected the noblest woman of our time. 

New Albany Daily Ledger Standard 06-04-1878 p4c6   The funeral of Mrs. Mary A. Lapsley was largely attended at the First Presbyterian church this afternoon, many of the old citizens were present.  Dr. Humphreys, of Louisville, delivered the funeral sermon. 

New Albany Daily Ledger Standard 06-05-1878 p4   Obsequies – Mrs. Mary Ann Lapsley.  The pageantry of yesterday afternoon, over the remains of the venerable Mrs. Lapsley, was most imposing and beyond ordinary funeral occasions.  There was a general turnout of all classes of people, of old as well as young, of rich as well as poor, to pay tribute and honors to the departed worth of New Albany’s most distinguished woman and benefactor.  It was signal proof of the intense interest which this community attaches to worth, character, and beneficence.  In the vast assemblage that did honors to her memory were many distinguished citizens from abroad.  The venerable president and Rev. Dr. Tuttle, of Wabash College, Crawfordsville; President Heckman, of Hanover College, Madison; the Rev. Dr. McKee, of Danville College, Ky.; the Rev. Dr. Humphrey, of Louisville, and many other clergy, including our own, were present.  The Rev. Dr. Humphrey conducted the services at the First Presbyterian church, by reading appropriate passages of scripture, after which he sketched her early biography, of which he was familiar, by the fact of being an old townsman of Mrs. Lapsley in Fairfield, Conn.  The portrayal of that ragged and severe training which she received in her childhood, the description of which was so handsomely given by her own clergyman, Dr. Humphreys, was exceedingly interesting and instructive.  The lesson of her life was the best Sabbath school of truth that has been given in many a day.  President Heckman, of Hanover college, followed Dr. Humphreys, and paid a beautiful and well merited tribute to the Christian character of Mrs. Lapsley. 

                As an additional tribute in honor of her memory, the operatives of the woolen mill turned out in a body and joined the procession.  It is well known that Mrs. Lapsley was the projector of this great manufacturing industry of our city.  She gathered the capitalists and formed the enterprise, which is today one of her monuments. 

                The entire ceremonies, simple and unostentatious as they could be made, were in accordance with her well known wishes, and under the marshalship of Mr. A. W. Bentley, whose attentions, kindness and skill are so well known and proper, everything due the occasion was handsomely performed. 

                New Albany has lost a great citizen, and one she could ill spare. 

Her Spookship: Part I

Not my choice of words, and I hesitate to label her such, as my admiration and respect for such an estimable lady go far beyond any such appellation.  This designation was made shortly after her death in the summer of 1878, when a number of citizens of New Albany imagined her spirit had possibly not yet left this earth.    ["Her Spookship"]

Much can be written about Mary Ann Silliman Ayers Lindsley Richardson Lapsley, who was as formidable a woman as her name might imply.  She had quite the pedigree and more than enough panache to scare the bejeebers out of many an ordinary folk.  She demanded and warranted respect.  Piety was a descriptive word often attached to Mary Ann and particularly her husbands (of which she had four).  She also had given birth to eight children and seen them all to an early grave, none surviving to adulthood.   As her eloquent obituary so aptly stated, “She had her share of experiences, bitter in sorrows, tragic in disappointments, and acquainted with grief.”   [New Albany Daily Ledger Standard 03 Jun 1878]

A chronology is best utilized to depict Mary Ann’s life.  A recollection of Fairfield, Connecticut in the late 1700s only touches upon the heritage that was Mary Ann’s.  Her grandfather, Gold Selleck Silliman, was a graduate of then Yale College; an attorney for the crown prior to the revolution and subsequently commander of the local militia.  He was later promoted to Brigadier General and skirmished alongside Brigadier General Benedict Arnold at Danbury, Connecticut in April of 1777, in an attempt to defend supplies of the Continental Army.  His actions as prosecutor of local Loyalists prompted his capture and imprisonment in May of 1779 by the Loyalists.  His son, William Silliman, Mary Ann’s father, was also captured but released due to ill health.  The elder Silliman remained a prisoner for about a year until his wife, Mary Fish Noyes Silliman (Dickinson), was instrumental in his release.  [The Way of Duty: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary America, written by Joy Day Buel & Richard Buel Jr., and the subsequent film/documentary “Mary Silliman’s War” are an interpretation of these historic events.]

Elias Ayers Plot at Fairview Cemetery

Mary Ann’s parents, William and Phoebe Jennings Silliman, had removed to New Albany, where they died just a week apart from typhoid fever in October 1816, and are buried at Fairview Cemetery on the Elias Ayers plot.  [Elias, Mary Ann, their eight children, Mary Ann’s parents, her sister and Mary Ann’s last husband, Rev. Lapsley, are all buried there, as are others.] 

Following the death of her parents, Mary Ann lived in the home of Cuthbert Bullitt (of Oxmoor and Bullitt County connections), where her sister, Martha Ann and Martha’s husband, Rev. Daniel Chapman Banks, were living.  Rev. Banks had been a Congregationalist missionary in Kentucky when he received the call to accept the pastorate of the first Presbyterian church in Louisville in 1816.  Mary Ann began teaching in a school established by Rev. Banks on his arrival in Louisville.  These same individuals, along with Elias Ayers, were instrumental in establishing the First Presbyterian Church in New Albany.  “The first communion of the Presbyterian church of New Albany was solemnized on the day of the organization, Rev. D. C. Banks officiating at the ceremony.” [History of the Ohio Falls Cities and Their Counties, Vol. II, p. 186]  Mary Ann and Elias, who was already an established merchant in Louisville, were married in the Bullitt home on the 27^th of July in 1819, remaining in Louisville for a few more years until they relocated in New Albany.