Eliza M. Chandler White

Eliza M. Chandler White (May 1, 1831 – June 2, 1907) was an American social reformer and charity work leader, as well as an abolitionist, and clubwoman. She founded the Brooklyn Home for Consumptives, and the Fort Greene Chapter (Brooklyn, New York) of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.). She was also the head of the Prison Ship Martyrs Committee which erected the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn. She was one of the best-known women of Brooklyn in her day. Early life and education Eliza Matilda Chandler was born in Marietta, Ohio, May 1, 1831. Her parents were Hiram and Juliana (Humiston) Chandler. Her father was a descendant of Captain Myles Standish, who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Mayflower in 1620, and his wife, Barbara. Their son, Alexander, married Sarah, the daughter of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden, both Mayflower Pilgrims. Elizabeth, the daughter of Alexander and Sarah Standish, married Samuel Delano and their daughter, Elizabeth, was the wife of Joseph Chandler, 3d. Their son, Benjamin Chandler (killed at the Battle of Bennington, Vermont), and his wife, Elizabeth Jeffries, were the parents of Joseph Chandler, who married Patient Mary Andrews, and their son was Hiram Chandler, born in Vermont, September 4, 1797. Juliana Humiston, Hiram Chandler's wife, was born April 24, 1803. She was descended from Matthias Hitchcock, one of the founders of New Haven, Connecticut, who came from England to Boston, Massachusetts, on the Susan and Ellen in 1635. His son, John Hitchcock, married Abigail Merriman. They were the parents of Matthias, who married Thankful Andrews, and the grandparents of Hannah Hitchcock, whose husband was James Humiston of New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Henry Humiston. Jason Humiston, the son of James and Hannah, married Amy Peck, and they were the parents of Juliana, the wife of Hiram Chandler. Eliza's home was at Otter Creek Township, LaSalle County, Illinois while she was a student at Monticello Seminary, Godfrey, Illinois, class of 1852. Career She taught school until her marriage on February 24, 1857, at Grafton, Illinois, to Stephen Van Culen White, a lawyer who attained wide prominence in his profession and was, during the latter part of his life, an influential member of the New York Stock Exchange.