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Multiple obituaries and and biographical sketch are included in this FG entry.
"KISSED BY LAFAYETTE.
One of the Girls Who Welcomed the
French Marquis in Trenton in 1826 [sic]
Still Lives in Western New-York.
"Warsaw, N. Y., Aug. 30 (Special). – The recent death in Morristown, N. J., of one of the original flower girls who welcomed Lafayette at Trenton in 1826 received more than passing notice in the newspapers. It will be doubly interesting, then, to know that in this village is still living, hale and hearty, the queen of that band of beautiful maidens who gave the great friend of our youthful days such a thrill of delight on his triumphant entry into the historic New-Jersey city so many years ago.
"She is Mrs. Samuel Fisher, and her age is eighty-seven. Her beautiful white hair and pleasant, sweet face still bear testimony to the grace and fairness which so impressed the gallant Frenchman. Her maiden name was Lucy M. Woodruff, and her family was at one time, long before the Civil War, one of the most wealthy and fashionable in the South. Reverses came, and Miss Woodruff founded a school for young women at Baton Rouge, La., which she conducted with great success. She was first married in 1838, her husband being Phineas D. Fisher, of this village. Upon his death she again married, this time to a Mr. Phillips. Her third husband, whom she married in 1855, is Samuel Fisher, of Warsaw. She is a typical old school Southern woman, aristocratic, courteous, and hospitable beyond the manner of the present day. The remnants of her family fortune, together with the beautiful homestead were swallowed up in the tide of war, but she has never complained, accepting her loss with fortitude as one of the prices which the South paid for its rebellion.
"The event which she remembers with the greatest pride is the visit of Lafayette to Trenton in 1826. She was visiting there at the time, and was noted for her girlish grace and beauty. The flower show and the parade were the two great features of the ceremonial, and, to her indescribable delight she was chosen to lead the fifty little maidens as their queen, in welcoming the great Frenchman. They were all dressed in white, and carried great garlands of roses, besides being decked from head to foot in all manner of brilliant and sweet smelling flowers, When Lafayette crossed the bridge these fifty little fairies danced before him and scattered under his feet the blossoms which they tore from the long garlands. The emotional and gallant marquis was overwhelmed with delight and, struck with the dainty beauty of the little queen, asked her name. He then took her gravely by the hand, and, bowing low kissed it with all the devotion he would have extended to the fairest and greatest lady in the land. The proud recipient of this signal attention has never forgotten it, and tells the episode yet with great vivacity and humor."
[New-York Daily Tribune, Sunday, August 31, 1902, Part 2, page 7]
"Mrs. Lucy Woodruff Fisher, widow of the late Samuel Fisher and for nearly fifty years a resident of Warsaw, died Monday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. James Vick, in Philadelphia, aged 92 years. She was born in Farmington Conn., on July 23, 1816. Her father was a lineal descendent of Timothy Woodruff one of the ten men who came to this country in 1638 and purchased from the Indians the large tract of which Farmington is the center. The paternal grandmother of Mrs. Fisher was Lucy Treadwell, a sister of Governor Treadwell.
"Lucy Woodruff was educated for a teacher and in 1836 went with her brother to New Orleans to engage in that profession. She taught there for a time after which she went to Baton Rouge where she established the Baton Rouge Female Seminary, one of the first Protestant institutions of learning in Louisiana. Miss Woodruff was married on December 2 [25?], 1838 to Phineas D. Fisher a native of Londonderry, N. H. [They had two sons in Baton Rouge.] Mr. Fisher studied for the ministry but taught with his wife until his death in 1843. In 1848, Mrs. Fisher was married to John Phi[l]lips who died of yellow fever in November 1853, and in 1855 she was married to Samuel Fisher of Warsaw, brother of her first husband.
"She is survived by Mrs. Vick, the daughter of her second husband, and by three step-sons, J. Ellis Fisher and Phineas D. Fisher of Hannibal Mo., and Dr. John C. Fisher of the Elmira Sanitarium.
"Mrs. Fisher was a woman of broad culture and earnest thought, high-minded and noble, with a beautiful Christian spirit. Her influence in this community will be lasting and her memory cherished.
"The remains reached here at 9.52 this morning and the funeral services were held in the Presbyterian Church chapel this afternoon at 2.30 o'clock, Rev. George D. Miller officiating. The bearers were Messrs. William Watson, E. T. Montgomery, J. C. Buxton, and W. E. Webster. Burial in the Warsaw cemetery."
[Wyoming County Times (Warsaw, NY), July 15, 1908, page 1, col. 6]
The following biographical sketch was published in pp. 636-637 of the Biographical Review...of Livingston and Wyoming Counties New York (1895):
"MRS. LUCY WOODRUFF FISHER was born in Farmington, Conn., July 23, 1816. Her father, Ozem Woodruff, was born on the same estate upon which his father, Timothy, was born and lived. He was a lineal descendant of Timothy Woodruff, one of ten men who came to this country in 1638, and purchased from the Indians the large tract of which Farmington (Tunxis) is the centre. The paternal grandmother of Mrs. Fisher, Lucy Treadwell, was a sister of Governor Treadwell. Her mother's mother was Lois North, from England, who was married in 1768 to Samuel Scott. He was a soldier of the Revolution, was wounded in the battle of Saratoga, and reached home to die.
"Lucy Woodruff was educated for a teacher, and in 1836 went with her brother to New Orleans to engage in that profession. She taught there for a time, after which she went to Baton Rouge, where she established the Baton Rouge Female Seminary, one of the first Protestant institutions of learning in Louisiana. Miss Woodruff was married December 25, 1838, to Phineas D. Fisher, a native of Londonderry, N.H., by whom she had two sons -- John P. Fisher and George Albert Fisher. Mr. Fisher studied for the ministry, but taught with his wife until his death in 1843. In 1848 Mrs. Lucy Woodruff Fisher was married to John Phillips, who died of yellow fever in November, 1853; and in 1855 she was married to her third husband, Samuel Fisher, of Warsaw, where she has since been a resident. A sketch of Mr. Samuel Fisher, who was a brother of her first husband, may be found on another page of this volume. He died May 30, 1885. Mrs. Fisher has two daughters by her second husband, Mr. Phillips; namely, Mary Isett and Lucy Matilda. The latter is the wife of James Vick, of Rochester, N.Y. They have three children -- Ethel Phillips, Albert Fisher, and Dorothea Louise. Mrs. Lucy Woodruff Fisher is a woman whose mind has been broadened by liberal education, earnest thought, and varied experience; and her influence is notably felt in the town of her birth, where she is known and loved." |
