Genealogy of the Fitch family in North America - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGY. 95
position Mr Stranahan having been elected a Representative
to the thirty-fourth Congress, and
subsequently occupying other positions of responsibility
in the City and State. Mrs. Stranahan was
active in every good work in the City of her adoption
and those who knew her felt that they could
confide in her judgment her discernment, her tact,
and her unflinching integrity and principle. For
eight years she was the first Directress of the "Graham
Institute for the Relief of Aged and Indigent
Females,*' a position requiring the exercise of rare
abilities, and the most skillful management to harmonize
the discords, and quiet the misunderstandings,
inevitable in such an institution. Her discretion,
equanimity and tact, were equal to the duties
of the place and under her administration peace
and quiet reigned. It was probably from the
knowledge of her executive abilities, that she was
unanimously chosen to preside over the Woman's
Relief Association, organized in Brooklyn, on the
23rd of Xovember. 1862. as auxiliary to the United
States Sanitary Commission. This position was
also one which required great tact and skill in the
presiding officer. About eighty churches of different
denominations in Brooklyn, co-operated in the
work of the Association and it had, also, numerous
auxiliaries scattered over the Island Their
diverse elements were held together, in perfect
harmony by Mrs. Stranahan's skillful management,
till the occasion ceased for their labors. The
Association was from first to last a perfect success,
surpassing in its results most of the branches of
the Commission and surpassed in the harmony and
efficiency of its action by none. Mrs Stranahan