Many know the American novelist and short story writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. However, not many are familiar with the benevolent contributions of his daughter, Rose Hawthorne Lathrop. She was a poet, a short story writer, and, later in life, a caregiver.
Rose Hawthorne was born in Lenox, Massachusetts in 1851. Rose spent her childhood in Liverpool, England and Italy before returning to Massachusetts in 1860. At 20 years old, she married George Parsons Lathrop, an editor for the Atlantic Monthly. They moved to Boston where Rose published a collection of short stories and poems.
When George’s alcoholism and inability to keep a job made their marriage become impossible, Rose opted to live alone. After completing courses in nursing, she devoted herself to caring for cancer patients.
After George’s death in 1898, Rose became a Dominican sister and established the Dominican Congregation of St. Rose of Lima (also known as the Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer). She developed a second nursing home for cancer patients called Rosary Hill in a Westchester, New York hamlet. The hamlet renamed itself Hawthorne and she spent her remaining years there until her death in 1926.
This image, featured in the November 5, 1896 Bridgeton Pioneer, shows Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, who dedicated herself to nursing cancer victims in a New York tenement district.
Featured in the January 4, 1900 Bridgeton Pioneer.
This article, featured in the January 4, 1900 Bridgeton Pioneer, mentions Lathrop’s mission sheltering and taking care of cancer patients in the poorest district in New York.
“A fire was then lighted in my heart, where it still burns,” Rose later wrote. “I set my whole being to endeavor to bring consolation to the cancerous poor.”
(Contributed by Kristi Chanda)
References:
“Rose Hawthorne Lathrop.” (2018). The GIVEN Institute. Received from giveninstitute.com/rose-hawthorne-lathrop/.
“Rose Hawthorne, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Daughter, Becomes Candidate for Catholic Saint.” (2021). New England Historical Society. www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/rose-hawthorne-daughter-nathaniel-becomes-candidate-catholic-saint/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CA%20fire%20was%20then%20lighted,had%20not%20place%20to%20go.
User, Super. (2009). “The Remarkable Rose Hawthorne.” Catholic Education Resource Center. Received from www.catholiceducation.org/en/faith-and-character/faith-and-character/the-remarkable-rose-hawthorne.html.