Mary McCrea (1810-1891)

In 1889, the Philadelphia News ran a story on Mrs Mary Stuart concerning her charitable works: she cared little for high society, "and probably never saw the inside of a theatre; but the poor and afflicted know her bounties, if not herself... She keeps a person whose sole occupation it is to visit the different police courts and give bail for any deserving person whose detention would be a hardship until proved guilty, and often pays their fines when the offense is light. (Mrs Stuart who inherited $10 million was) sweet, simple, retiring woman of the noblest type, quiet and self-sacrificing... She does more genuine good than the world dreams of; but then she does not do it for the world to know or herald." On her death in 1891, among several other generous charitable bequests, she left $1 million to the Boards of Home and Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church "to be used as a permanent fund."