Anne Hagar Damon

Anne Hagar Damon (shown here in maturity in a carte de visite photograph from the library’s Damon family papers) was born in Weston, Massachusetts in March 1839 to Nathan and Mary Ann Hagar. She came to Concord to teach school “in the western part of town,” and there met Edward Damon. They were married in 1860. As the wife of one of Concord’s most prominent men, Anne balanced the demands of a large family with civic and social commitments. She served on the Concord School Committee, as did her husband, but what makes Anne’s tenure remarkable is that it occurred at a time when women were not yet allowed to vote for the position at the annual town meeting. She served from 1876 to 1882, succeeding Ellen Emerson, who in 1870 had become the first woman elected to the committee. She was also involved in the Concord’s antislavery movement, and was the niece of Ann Bigelow, one of the leaders of Concord’s Female Antislavery Society. Anne was an active member of the Concord Female Charitable Society and in her later years served as a director of the Concord Home for the Aged.

Anne and Edward Damon were important figures in the social life of the town, attending lectures and events, and holding entertainments in their Westvale home. Diary entries record dinner with Ralph Waldo Emerson and tea with Louisa May Alcott. In spite of this, they were both focused on work and service, and their social lives were an outgrowth of their active participation in the life of the town.

Ten children were born to Anne and Edward Damon. Two died young, but the remaining eight grew up to lead successful lives. Ralph followed his father and grandfather at the mill, in charge during the final days and overseeing its dissolution. Two other sons, William and Robert, went into the textile business, but in other locations. Oldest daughter Mary Bliss was a physician in Minneapolis, while Alice was a principal at a school for the deaf in Connecticut. Two younger brothers, John and Theron, attended M.I.T. and Harvard, respectively.