Aunt Mary

Mary Townshend, Mary Robins

After a second fire destroyed Western Female Seminary in 1871, a Black woman referred to as Aunt Mary donated $5.50 to Western Female Seminary to rebuild the campus. She is the only known African American to donate to any of Miami’s historic campuses in that time period. Aunt Mary wrote a note alongside that donation saying that she wanted to be a “loving stone” in the foundation of a new building, cementing her lasting legacy in the physical structure of Peabody Hall. Unfortunately, we don’t know a great deal about Aunt Mary. Her history, her life and even her full name remain obscured by the archive. Be this as it may, it remains important that her name is uncovered: that a portion of her history is reclaimed. An ancestry search reveals two potential names for Aunt Mary: Mary Townshend and Mary Robins. While it is difficult to tell which of these people she was, saying the names of these early Black workers is invaluable to fully recognizing their contributions to the school.