By: Karen DeNaploi, Laurie Kearney, and Linda Rau, Norwood Historical Society

The Norwood Historical Society would like to present Martha Gilman Robie Winslow for our December Wonderful Women of Norwood series.

Martha Gilman Robie, (Mrs. Frances Olney Winslow) was born in Plymouth, NH, on November 11, 1841, and was the third of seven children to Col. Frederick Robie and Lucinda Gilman Fogg Robie. Martha came from two well-known and esteemed families in New Hampshire. On her mother’s side, her grandfather Stephen Fogg served in the Revolutionary War in the First New Hampshire Militia under Captain Stephen Clark. Another uncle was Doctor David Sylvester Fogg, one of South Dedham/Norwood’s first physicians (and whose wife, Mary Fogg, was one of our earlier Wonderful Women).

Martha was educated in Plymouth, NH schools and the Franklin Institute in New York. It is not clear when Martha came to South Dedham, perhaps to visit her uncle and aunt, but in 1861 when she was 20, she was teaching high school in South Dedham. (There is also speculation on where the high school was located at that time.) Being well educated, Martha was listed as an assistant teacher teaching languages and the classics.

In 1861, the village of South Dedham had not yet been incorporated into the town of Norwood. Most young women and men of high school age traveled to Dedham to attend the high school located on Highland St. In 1851, Dedham had the first high school in the country supported by tax revenue and was free and public. However, the travel to Dedham proved hard for some of South Dedham’s young people so high school classes were held at the Everett School, and also, for about 40 students, at the First Congregational Church, in South Dedham. Speculation is that Martha taught the students who attended classes at the First Congregational Church. Martha taught these classes until 1866 which is the year that she married.

Martha was deeply religious and in 1861 she was united with (joined) the First Congregational Church in South Dedham, the same day that her future husband Frances Olney Winslow was united. Martha’s husband Frances was the youngest son of the prosperous South Dedham Winslow family that built and operated the Winslow & Smith Tannery, one of the most profitable and longest-running industries in South Dedham (later Norwood). Both Martha and her husband Frances were outstanding and caring members of the community and supporters of education, arts, and charitable endeavors.

Martha and Frances Winslow married June 6, 1866, in Plymouth NH, and made their home in Norwood. In 1876, they built a beautiful house on Walpole St. and named it Oak View. Martha and Frances had two daughters, Clara Henrietta, who was the first wife of Frank Allen, and Edith Martha, who married George Willett. Both sons-in-law went on to play important roles in the forming of the town of Norwood. Clara died in 1924.

Martha, although no longer teaching high school, continued to teach Sunday school to the children that belonged to the First Congregational Parish, a volunteer ministry she continued her entire life. As for her charitable works, she did this quietly and many people did not even know that she was the source of their help.

After the town of Norwood was incorporated and separate from Dedham, they formed their own school system. From the late 1880s until the early 1900s Martha served on the town’s school committee, serving as chairperson in 1892. She was the first woman to hold this position. Noted as having great kindness and empathy, along with great executive ability and a clear perception of right and wrong, Martha added much to the church and community committees and organizations she belonged to. She was an officer of the Norwood Women’s Club, a trustee of the public library, and through her grandfather Stephen Fogg, a member of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution).

Martha died in Norwood, on January 28, 1913. Upon her death, her husband Frances O Winslow, knowing his wife’s love of education, art, and charitable works, and sharing these characteristics, donated in her memory 39 pieces of art to various institutions in Norwood. The Norwood schools received 33 of these pieces of art. 

Martha Gilman Robie Winslow, with her strong individuality, sense of fairness and compassion, and firm faith and love of her community was a much-loved Wonderful Woman of Norwood. 

Sources:

Norwood Historical Society archives.  Laurie Kearney archivist, George Curtis, Vice President 

Norwood: The Centennial History of a Massachusetts Town, by Bryant Franklin Tolles Jr.

Norwood: Images of America Series, by John Grove and Norwood Historical Society

History of Dedham High School online