New Britain’s Notable Women: Martha Parsons, Businesswoman
Born December 6, 1869 in Enfield, Connecticut, Martha A. Parsons was a trailblazer for women in business, making herself absolutely indispensable in her work.
She attended Enfield High School, then stenography training and took a job at the Morgan Envelope Co. in Springfield...
New Britain’s Notable Women: Lena Candee Bassette, Suffragette and Political Leader
Best known for her work as a suffragette and local political leader, Lena Candee Bassette (1872-1957) was born in Oran, New York on June 18, 1872. She was one of five children of Ralph Candee and Anne Sarah Housley, and from the age of eleven was raised in Houston, Texas by her aunt and uncle...
New Britain’s Notable Women: Connie Wilson Collins, Civic Leader
Connie Wilson Collins (1928-2013) is considered one of New Britain’s greatest civic leaders and labor activists. Born in New York and raised in New Britain, she began her career in 1951 at Landers, Frary, & Clark and quickly became active in the plant’s union, United Electrical Workers of America Local 207. Later, she rose to the position of Union President...
NBIM Celebrates Black Innovators: The Black Dressmaker who Transformed Ironing
Sarah (Marshall) Boone was born enslaved in New Bern, North Carolina in 1832. She married very young (only 14 or 15!) and moved to New Haven after her freedom was purchased, ostensibly by her new husband, a freedman. They had eight children and had relocated to Connecticut by 1856, six years before the start of the Civil War...