Lathrop, Francis

Lathrop, Francis (1849-1909), American artist, was born at sea, near the Hawaiian Islands, on the 22nd of June 1849, being the great-grandson of Samuel Holden Parsons, and the son of George Alfred Lathrop (1819-1877), who for some time was United States consul at Honolulu. He was a pupil of T. C. Farrar (1838-1891) in New York, and studied at the Royal academy of Dresden. In 1870-1873 he was in England, studying under Ford Madox Brown and Burne-Jones, and working in the school of William Morris, where he devoted particular attention to stained glass. Returning to America in 1873, he became known as an illustrator, painted portraits, designed stained glass, and subsequently confined himself to decorative work. He designed the chancel of Trinity church, Boston, and decorated the interior of Bowdoin college chapel, at Brunswick, Maine, and several churches in New York. The Marquand memorial window, Princeton chapel, is an example of his work in stained glass. His latest work was a series of medallions for the building of the Hispanic-American society in New York. He was one of the charter members of the Society of American Artists, and became an associate of the National Academy of Design, New York, of which also William L. Lathrop (b. 1859) an artist who is to be distinguished from him, became a member in 1907. He died at Woodcliff, New Jersey, on the 18th of October 1909.

His younger brother, George Parsona Lathrop (1851-1898), born near Honolulu on the 25th of August 1851, took up literature as a profession. He was an assistant editor of the Atlantic Monthly in 1875-1877, and editor of the Boston Courier in 1877-1879. He was one of the founders (1883) of the American copyright league, was prominent in the movement for Roman Catholic summer schools, and wrote several novels, some verse and critical essays. He was the author of A Study of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1876), and edited the standard edition (Boston, 1883) of Hawthorne’s works. In 1871 he married in London the second daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne—Rose Hawthorne Lathrop (b. 1851). After his death Mrs Lathrop devoted herself entirely to charity. She was instrumental in establishing (1896) and subsequently conducted St Rose’s free home for cancer in New York City. In 1900 she joined the Dominican order, taking the name of Mother Mary Alphonsa and becoming superioress of the Dominican community of the third order; and she established in 1901 and subsequently conducted this order’s Rosary Hill home (for cancerous patients) at Hawthorne, N.Y. She published a volume of poems (1888); Memories of Hawthorne (1897); and, with her husband, A Story of Courage: Annals of the Georgetown Convent of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1894).