Mary Ann Allard Booth (1843 - 1922)

Born 8 Sep 1843 in Longmeadow, Hampden, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Died 15 Sep 1922 at age 79 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, United States

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Biography

Mary Ann Booth is Notable.

Mary Ann Allard Booth was the child of Samuel Colton Booth and Rhoda (Colton) Booth of Longmeadow. She was a resident of Longmeadow until her father died in 1895, at which time she removed herself to Springfield. She died at her home (60 Dartmouth Street).

She was educated in the Longmeadow public schools and at Wilbraham Academy. She became an invalid early in life which necessitated her father being able to move her about the home. This brought her to being interested in science (her father was a noted minerologist) and specialized in photomicroscopy. She did not let her disability inhibit her quest for knowledge. She once caught a bumblebee that appeared sick. After proper preparation of microscpe slides, she determined it was infected with 17 identified parasites. She also followed other scientific advances and in 1901 was the first woman (second person) to own and operate an automobile in the City of Springfield. She was a member of the North Congregational Church of Springfield. ^[1]

Mary Ann Allard Booth was one of the early photo-microscopists. She received several medals from the New Orleans exposition in 1885, the St. Louis Medical Convention in 1904, and the San Francisco Science Conferences in 1907-09 and 1915 for her work on eliminating the bubonic plague. She was one of the first female Fellows of the Royal Microscopical Society and also was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She also belonged to the Royal Photographic Society, the American Microscopic Society, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Springfield Republican, 15 SEP 1922.
2. ↑ THE NATIONAL CYCLOPAEDIA OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, Vol. XV. New York: James T. White & Company, 1916, p. 107.

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