Caroline Osgood Emmerton

Born: April 21, 1866 Salem Massachusetts

Died: March 17, 1942, Salem Massachusetts

Burial Location: Violet Path, Lot 533, Grave 15

Caroline Osgood Emmerton followed her family tradition of public service, not seeking publicity or attention except for the work she did in social service. Her parents and grandparents were all active in Salem civic and charitable works. They believed in giving back to their community and were dedicated to helping others less fortunate than themselves. She used her talents to achieve results still being enjoyed today, concentrating on social service and historic preservation. Settlement houses were being founded in large cities for the purpose of helping immigrants get health care for themselves and their children, to learn the language of their new home country, to socialize and to learn new skills such as wood working, sewing, and gymnasium work as those were listed in annual reports. The historic site and the settlement work made up a dual mission, both are still being carried on today.

She was born at 9 Summer St. Salem (today's Salem Inn.)  Miss Emmerton was a woman not only ahead of her time but also a woman very much of her own time. Born into a life of wealth and privilege; she also inherited a legacy of service to other people who were less fortunate. As a young adult, she saw the dawning of the Progressive Era. She was taught at home along with her sister Annie, who was born in 1868. Her first visit to the House of the Seven Gables as a young girl took place with an aunt and a group of friends. The house was empty and the lilacs were in bloom. The house was made famous ever since the publication of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The House of the Seven Gables. It was said that Hawthorne’s visits with Susannah Ingersoll, his cousin and the owner of the house, inspired him.

By the time she was 28 years old, Caroline was serving on the Board of Trustees of the Charter Street Home, founded by her maternal grandfather, Captain John Bertram. This institution later became Salem Hospital. She also worked at the former Seaman's Bethel, as a settlement house teacher. Classes for girls were well attended and more room was needed to enable boys to attend classes of their own.

In 1908, Miss Caroline Emmerton purchased the House of the Seven Gables from the Upton family. She hired Joseph Everett Chandler as architect to oversee the restoration and preservation of the building. In addition, she formed a committee to raise funds for the salaries of the settlement workers. These would be young women who were recent college graduates and would teach the classes. The house was opened on April 30, 1910. The first visitors were the workers who had spent the last two years getting the building ready to welcome tourists. Around this same time, Miss Emmerton was named to the Board of Trustees of the Plummer Home for Boys, along with Aroline Pinkham Gove, daughter of Lydia Estes Pinkham of patent medicine fame. These two women were the first to serve on that board.

In 1913, seeing that more fundraising was needed, Miss Emmerton wrote a script for the Salem Pageant. This production told the story of Salem history up until that time.

Miss Emmerton was also active in the Salem Fraternity (now the Salem Boys and Girls Club), and in Associated Charities, where she combined several organizations and eliminated duplication of work by bringing them together. She and Aroline Gove started well baby clinics in Salem after the 1914 fire and during World War I. they worked to together to establish the Lydia E. Pinkham Memorial Clinic on Derby Street to assist infants and their mothers, still in operation Legacy is strong and still felt by those living generations after her. She was named Person of the Century by the Salem Evening News on December 29, 1999.

Resources Consulted:

• Irene Axelrod. No Small Matter: A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Times of Caroline Osgood Emmerton. Unpublished Manuscript, 1996 The House of the Seven Gables Archives
• Alan Burke. North Shore Person of the Century: Caroline Emmerton, A Woman Ahead of Her Time. The Salem Evening News. December 29, 1999
• Caroline Osgood Emmerton. The Chronicles of Three Old Houses. The House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association, Salem, MA 1985
• K. David Goss. Outline for the Life and Times of Caroline Emmerton Lecture. Unpublished Manuscript, n. d. The House of the Seven Gables Archives
• David Moffat. Caroline Osgood Emmerton: An Unbounded Vision. The House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association, Salem, MA 2016
• Edward M. Stevenson. The House of the Seven Gables. Yankee Colour Corporation, Southborough, MA, 1994