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Transcript

Greetings!

I’m Adeline E. Prouty, and like so many of Princeton’s citizens, I was born in the East, and on August 3rd , 1827.

My parents, Mr. and Mrs. French had always lived in Plainfield, Connecticut; however, when I was three years of age, they moved to western New York State and then further west to Fredonia, New York, where I spend my school days. Later, at the academy, I prepared myself to be a teacher. Wanting to see the western country, I journeyed to the Great lakes where, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, I met and married John Prouty, a young man who had come west from Massachusetts. We began our married life on his farm six miles north of Princeton in Dover Township. There we worked hard and prospered as we raised our five sons. Sadly, three of our sons died early and only Edward in Arlington Kansas and Charles in Princeton survived to a long life. My husband, John, passes away in the hot summer of 1883.

While I was a private person, avoiding notoriety and choosing not to have any picture taken, I did have a curiosity to see more of the country; and so, I went to visit my son Albert in California and my son John in Oregon. Some years later, I journeyed back to revisit scenes of my childhood. When returning to Bureau County, I left the farm and settled in my comfortable home on Church Street, which I’m pleased to hear later became the parsonage for the Hampshire Colony Congregational Church which I had joined in 1858. For several years before my death, I was completely blind and have borne this and other afflictions as best I can. My blindness made it difficult for me to handle my business affairs, especially the making of my final will in 1898. In order to insure my wishes were carried out, I had three prominent citizens witness the reading aloud and signing of all our names.

In my will, I left one thousand dollars to my son Edward and one thousand dollars to my son Charles. The sum to be forfeited if either contests my wishes in the will. This not by reason of any lack of affection for my children, for both are already supplied with this word’s goods. I also bequeathed three thousand dollars to Hampshire Colony Congregational Church to produce income for the continuation of the church.

“Wishing to contribute to the care, comfort, and happiness of worthy, poor old ladies of Princeton township,” I left the remainder of my estate, real and private property to establish and old ladies home. I named Eugene Bates, Arthur Bryant and Eliza Warfield as trustees.

I have heard that my estate at my death on March 12, 1906 was $49,247.61 with an additional $1,000 gift from Eliza Warfield and with the fine management by my trustees increasing the sum to $60,000. In 1911, the F. W. Clark residence on Park Avenue East was purchase for the founding of the Adeline Prouty Old Ladies Home. The home opened in December 1911 with four old ladies as guests. My pleasure is great knowing that the home, known now as Greenfield, continues to provide a home for not only women but also men.

I am also pleased that my son, Charles Prouty and his wife Katheine, generously gave $650,000 to enrich Princeton through a community center building and a new gymnasium for Princeton High School.