Mary Shannon, "Mary, Jr.," was born in Boston on September 19, 1836. She was the daughter of Oliver N. Shannon (1811-1869), a wealthy businessman, and Harriet (Burlin) Shannon.

Her parents were separated for many years after Mary was born and were officially divorced in 1856. In 1840 Oliver Shannon bought a house and land at 749 Center Street in Newton Center. His mother Mary Waldron Shannon (d.1862) and sister Mary Clarke Shannon, "Mary, Sr." (1813-1887), came to live with Oliver and Mary, Jr. in Newton in 1842.

From 1854 through 1856 Mary, Jr. attended West Newton English and Classical School under the tutelage of Nathaniel Topliff Allen. Mary, Sr.'s active interest in educational reform, women's suffrage and the abolitionist movement influenced the younger Mary to lend her considerable social and financial influence to the numerous charities associated with these causes.

In 1872 the Shannons helped to found the Rebecca Pomroy Newton Home for Orphan and Destitute Girls. The school was named for their close family friend and tutor to the children of Abraham Lincoln. (The Newton History Museum holds materials relating to both the Allen and Pomroy families as well as the West Newton English and Classical School.)

Through their charitable works the Shannons became intimates of many of the well-known educators and abolitionists of their times such as: Horace Mann, Cyrus Pierce, Theodore Parker, Elizabeth Peabody, Booker T. Washington, Samuel Gridley and Julia Ward Howe and the Durant family who founded Wellesley College.

The Shannons were also great patrons of the arts and counted among their friends the writer Ednah Cheney, sculptors Anne Whitney and Harriet Hosmer and the artist Oliver Lay. Upon her death in Newton in 1901 Mary, Jr. bequeathed much of her substantial fortune to the various causes she had supported during her life.

The papers of the Shannon family provide an interesting overview of the lifestyle of one well to do family during the latter half of the Nineteenth Century. Materials in the collection consist of correspondence and bound diaries spanning the years 1842 to 1894, with some additional research materials from 1902 to 1973. The remainder of the collection includes photographs, newspaper clippings and other miscellaneous items.

No. of boxes: 3 MS boxes.
Vertical Files: 1.
Finding Aids: Manuscript box/inventory.

References:
Marcou, Elizabeth Nash, "Mary Shannon, Jr. 1852-1857," From the Jacksonian seminar, May 18, 1973.