Papers of Lucy Parker Chamberlain, 1857-1907

Lucy Parker was born in 1829 in Plainfield, New Hampshire. She grew up in that area along with her older brother Luther and her two younger brothers and two younger sisters.

In 1857, just about the time that the Collection starts, Lucy Parker married Frank H. Chamberlain of Massachusetts, and the two moved to Alabama. In October, 1858, their son, whom they named Frank Parker Chamberlain, was born.

In the late 1860s, the three traveled to Europe. Frank Parker Chamberlain attended school in Paris, while Lucy moved from Paris through Lyons, Ayéres and Nice to San Remo, Italy, where she spent some time in 1870; and then through Mentone, France to Hannover, Prussia, where she stayed in 1872 with the Ungers. During the first part of these travels Frank H. Chamberlain was with her in an attempt to improve his health, but at the last he returned to Charlestown, Massachusetts because his health was worsening. During these years in Europe, Lucy Parker Chamberlain carried on several correspondences and made good use of her fluency in Italian, German and French.

In 1873, Lucy Parker Chamberlain returned to Charlestown, Massachusetts and Frank H. Chamberlain. From this time until the years marking the end of the Collection, she spent most of her time in Windsor, Vermont, although in the late 1870s she was in New Haven, Connecticut for a time while Frank Parker Chamberlain was at Yale.

In the first decade of the 1900's, Lucy Parker Chamberlain was a trustee of the Plainfield Cemetery Fund and carried on a certain amount of correspondence in that role.