DR. MARY A. CHAMBERLAIN.
By W. T. HORNADAY
At the home of her son-in-law, Capt. William Mitchell, near Wabaunsee, Kan., on Saturday, March 17, a noble life rounded out its full course of eighty-one years, and Mrs. Mary A. Chamberlain entered into rest. Instead of being a broken shaft, her life stands out a grand white column, complete from base to capital. Sister Chamberlain could trace her lineage back to the New England Puritans, even back to John Rogers, the martyr. She was the daughter of John and Fanny Rogers Bill, of Middletown, Conn., and in 1843 was married to Col. E. L. H. Chamberlain, of the same place. She was comely in person, and scholarly in mind. She shared in the great Advent movement of 1840-44, out of which has grown the now strong denomination of Seventh-day Adventists. In the founding of that church, Colonel Chamberlain and his young wife played an important part. While yet a young woman, the death of her husband threw upon her the burden of a large family; but instead of crushing her, it developed in her executive abilities rarely found in one so young. She studied medicine and hygiene in the historic medical school of Dr. R. T. Trall, and homœopathy in the University of Michigan, from which she was graduated, receiving the degree of M. D. When the old Health Institute,—now the Medical and Surgical Sanitarium,—of Battle Creek, Mich., was established, Dr. Chamberlain became a member of its staff of physicians, where she remained eight years. From that institution she went to the California Sanitarium, where she remained until advancing age obliged her to retire from active work. The last ten years of her life she divided her time between her two daughters, Mrs. William Mitchell, of Kansas, and Mrs. Wm. T. Hornaday, of New York City. Her son, Henry A. Chamberlain, long a resident of Middletown, Conn., now resides at Ansonia, Conn. Monday, March 19, after impressive funeral services, conducted by the Rev. Mr. Jackson, of Wabaunsee, Kan., “Our Mother” was laid away to rest in the peace of the saints, until the trumpet call of the second coming of Christ shall fulfill the expectations of a lifetime, and summon to the presence of the Life-giver both the quick and the dead.