Seavers In the News: 1965 Article About Minnie S. Seaver's Estate Bequest

Here is this week's edition of "Seavers in the News" - a weekly feature from the historical newspapers about persons with the surname Seaver that are interesting, useful, mysterious, fun, macabre, or add information to my family tree database.

This week's entry is from The Portland [ME] Press-Herald newspaper datedTuesday, 12 January, 1965, page 7, column 1:

The transcription of the article is:

"Knox General Hospital Receives $27,275 Bequest

"ROCKLAND — A well known Lexington, Mass., woman has left a bequest of $27,275 to Knox County General Hospital and has also named it as a beneficiary in a trust fund. 

"Miss Minnie S. Seaver, 66, died July 1, 1964 in Massachusetts. 

"She was one of the three women stained glass window designers in the United States.

 "Announcement of the bequest was made by director of development William Reinhardt of the hospital Monday. 

"Miss Seaver, who drove a car until two years before her death, visited summers with a cousin, Miss Nora Seaver at Thomaston. Miss Nora Seaver said Monday the bequest was made by her cousin "in gratitude for the treatment" at the hospital she (Miss Nora Seaver) received during several periods of illness. 

"Miss Minnie Seaver was a Boston native who traveled extensively in Europe to study stained glass, and was one of the three women designers of that art in the United States. She also designed jewelry. One of her window designs is in a church at Blue Hill, according to her cousin, Miss Nora Seaver. 

"Miss Seaver is survived by a brother, Prof. H. E. Seaver of Lexington, a retired professor of history of architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and another cousin, Miss Marguerita Seaver of Massachusetts. 

"Her Thomaston cousin shares in the trust fund. The fund will be administered by the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Co. 

"Reinhardt said that such bequests are a vital part of the hospital's financial program. He said a voluntary, nonprofit institution such as Knox County General Hospital could only operate in security and to the benefit of all if it had a continuing source of voluntary funds. Such bequests as that of Miss Seaver "enable the hospital to develop its medical care programs and reduce its indebtedness caused by losses in the treatment of state-aid and charity cases."

The source citation is:

"Knox General Hospital Receives $27,275 Bequest," The Portland [Me.] Press-Herald newspaper, Tuesday, 12 January 1965, page 7, column 1, Minnie S. Seaver bequest article; imaged,  Newspapers.com    (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 2 August 2026).

Minnie Small Seaver was born 2 August 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Latimer Small and Minnie (Chutch) Seaver.  She died 1 July 1964 in Lexington, Massachusetts.  She never married or had children.

I am a 7th cousin 3 times removed to Minnie Small Seaver, with the common Seaver ancestor being my 9th great-grandfather, Robert Seaver (1608-1683). 

I was contacted by a man in Maine who was researching stained glasss windows in a Maine church, and he had done some research, but could not confirm that Minnie Seaver was the designer of the windows, and had not found an obituary.  He noted that Minnie lived in Portland in the early 1900s and was associated with artists.  A search on Newspapers.com revbealed this article, but no obituary.  The article above confirms that she was a glass designer, but does not explicitly state where some of her glass art was installed.  The article did provide significantl ight on her life, which I did not have before finding this article. 

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Disclosure:  I have a paid subscription to Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com and have used it extensively to find articles about my ancestral and one-name families.

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