Mary Telfair
{{Short description|American art collector and philanthropist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mary Telfair
| image = Mary Telfair.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = January 28, 1791
| birth_place = Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1875|6|2|1791|1|28}}
| death_place = Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
| occupation = Philanthropist, art collector
}}
Mary Telfair (January 28, 1791 – June 2, 1875)[https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/mary-telfair-1791-1875/ Mary Telfair] – New Georgia Encyclopedia was an art collector, philanthropist and prominent citizen of Savannah, Georgia, United States. She bequeathed the foundation of the city's Telfair Museums, the first art museum of the American South, which has been in operation since 1886.[https://www.telfair.org/article/mary-telfair-1791-1875/ Mary Telfair (1791-1875)] – Telfair Museums It is housed in her former Regency-style home in Savannah's Telfair Square.
Early life
Telfair was born in Augusta, Georgia, on January 28, 1791, the daughter of Edward Telfair, a Scot, who, at the age of 40, married 16-year-old Sarah Gibbons at her family's Sharon Plantation in 1774. Edward was halfway through his second term as governor of Georgia at the time of Mary's birth. They had eight other children, Mary being their first daughter. Telfair's sister, Margaret, later married William B. Hodgson.[https://georgiahistory.com/about-ghs/hodgson-hall/ Hodgson Hall] – Georgia Historical Society
She was schooled in New York from the age of ten, quickly becoming a "voracious reader" of writers such as Hannah More and Lord Byron.
Between 1799 and the early years of the 19th century, her family endured the deaths of her father and brothers Edward, Josiah and Thomas. Her inheritance from her father permitted her to travel, particularly and regularly to Europe, where she visited many museums, gardens, churches and universities.
Art
Philanthropy
As the last of the Telfair family, she shared her wealth with the City of Savannah. Her will stated that funds be used to complete W. B. Hodgson Hall (built in 1876 and named for her brother-in-law, who died five years previously) for the Georgia Historical Society to use as their home. She also endowed the Savannah Widow's Society and founded the Mary Telfair Hospital for Women (now part of Candler Hospital).[https://www.sjchs.org/a-z-services-list/mary-telfair-womens-hospital Mary Telfair Women's Hospital] – St. Joseph's Candler.org Her most well-known legacy, however, is the Telfair Academy (located in her former home, designed by noted architect William Jay), which opened to the public in 1886.
Personal life
Death
Telfair died on June 2, 1875, aged 84.[https://www.savannahnow.com/article/20140620/LIFESTYLE/306209790 "Time Travel: Mary Telfair and her charitable nature"] – Savannah Morning News, June 20, 2014 She is buried in Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery,[https://www.telfair.org/exhibitions/bonaventure/ Bonaventure] – Telfair Museums although her plot is separate from her family due to "family rifts".[https://www.savannahnow.com/article/20060715/news/307159906 "Beauty, history make you feel better off dead in Bonaventure Cemetery"] – Savannah Morning News, July 15, 2006
References
;Specific
{{reflist}}
;General
- Charles J. Johnson Jr., Mary Telfair: The Life and Legacy of a Nineteenth-Century Woman (Savannah, Ga.: Frederic C. Beil, 2002).
External links
- {{find a grave|24282737}}
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Category:People from Savannah, Georgia
Category:American women philanthropists