Charles and Fanny: 19th Century Pioneers for Human Rights

Organizing family letters and photos into historical context, Mary Ames Mitchell discovered: * how her great-great-grandfather Charles Gordon Ames (1828-1912) overcame growing up in foster care to become one of New England’s most respected Unitarian ministers. * why Charles and his first wife, Sarah Jane Daniels (1828-1861), joined Ralph Waldo Emerson and Theodore Parker’s Transcendental clique in Boston in 1859. * how, alongside his second wife, Fanny Baker (1840-1931), Charles established America’s first social services organization to help the urban poor. * how Fanny became one of America’s first two police officers, assisted the women’s rights movement, promoted child labor reform, and helped establish Philadelphia’s first kindergartens.