Fowle Family papers

Helen Curtis (1886-1949): Helen Curtis was born August 31, 1886 in North Adams, Mass. to Frank E. Curtis, a railroad employee, and Angie Julia Tower, a school teacher. After graduating from Wellesley College in 1908, Helen would follow in her mother’s footsteps, becoming a school teacher at the Anatolian College in Turkey. It was there that she met Luther R. Fowle, and the two were married on September 10th, 1912 at Robert College in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey). Helen and Luther had five children: Curtis, Farnsworth, James Warren, Helen Joy, and Richardson. Helen shared her husband’s interest in missionary work and would sometimes accompany him during his travels throughout Turkey, the Balkans, and the Middle East. While they resided in Turkey, Helen would frequently return to the United States throughout the 1920s, '30s, and '40s while her husband either remained abroad or conducted business domestically. Helen fell ill for several years and died in February 1949. She was buried at Evergreen Rest Cemetery in Thetford, Vermont.

Farnsworth “Farny” Fowle was born on December 8,1915 in Istanbul, the second child of Luther and Helen Curtis Fowle. While raised in Turkey, Farnsworth would begin to travel at a young age, attending summer camps in Vermont and accompanying his immediate family on trips to Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Farnsworth also returned to the US for his education, attending Deerfield Academy, then Williams (1937) with a B.A. in History. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Exeter College at Oxford University, where he graduated in 1939 with a degree in Philosophy. Farnsworth became a CBS and New York Times correspondent, travelling throughout Europe, Turkey, North Africa and the Middle East, and served as a War correspondent for British and US Forces during World War II. He would continue to work as a reporter and writer until 1980. He married Phyllis L. Propp (1908-2000), who became the first female officer in the US Army Judge Advocate’s General Corp. in 1944. Farnsworth died on December 3,2016 in White River Junction, Vermont at the age of 101.

Wilson Fowle, younger brother of Luther Richardson Fowle, was born in 1896 in Turkey. He received his education back in the United States, attending Williams until 1917, when he enrolled in the army upon America's entrance into World War I. After the war, he enlisted in the Committee for Relief in the Near East between March and November of 1920. He would return abroad when he began working for the Standard Oil Company of New York in Stamboul, Turkey, residing at the Bible House along with his brother Luther R. Fowle (according to his U.S. Passport Application). He would continue to conduct business abroad until 1933. He married Helen Leonora Clark (1895-1984) in 1925. Wilson would suffer from a number of personal and financial setbacks during the 1930s, which included separation from his wife (who he divorced in 1951) and time spent in the New Hampshire State Hospital. He would move to Thetford, Vermont, the home base of the Fowle family, in 1942 and remained there until his death in 1965.

Mary Carolyn was the sister of Luther Richardson Fowle. She was born in Talas, Turkey on April 23rd, 1881, the first daughter of James Luther and Carrie Farnsworth Fowle. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1903 and returned to Turkey to be a teacher. She died on November 22,1916, reportedly from typhus, in Sivas, Turkey, at the height of World War I and the Armenian expulsion/genocide by the Turks.

Charles Warren was born August 19th, 1882 in Talas, Turkey, the second son of James Luther and Carrie Farnsworth Fowle. He graduated from Harvard College (1905) and would work as a secretary for both diplomatic and foreign service in Washington D.C. and the US embassy in Constantinople. Fowle also served as treasurer for Near East Relief and managing director for the Near East Foundation in Beirut. Fowle’s dedication to Near East Relief and missionary work in general can be summarized by his own words from the 4th Report, Havard College, Class of 1905: “The War is NOT over in Armenia, and we are doing our best . . . to save hundreds and thousands in the Near East from starvation and disease, and to bring new life and hope to the tens of thousands of orphans throughout that territory”. He married Claire Marie Jaquith (1884-1977) in 1910 and they had one son, Richard Jaquith Fowle (1912-1972). Charles would retire to Thetford, VT in 1948 and reside there until his death in 1963.

Luther Richardson Fowle was born in Kayseri, Turkey on July 30, 1886, the son of James Luther and Caroline Farnsworth Fowle. Turkey is where Fowle began following in the footsteps of family members becoming the third generation of Fowle missionaries. He attended public schools in Woburn and Newton, Massachusetts and the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He then attended Williams College, graduating in 1908. During his time at Williams, he ran a furniture business for students, which helped pay his way through college. After Williams, from 1909 to 1911, he spent time in New York City studying at the Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. Luther Fowle married his first wife, Helen Curtis, on September 10th, 1912 and had four children: Curtis, Farnsworth, James Warren, Helen Joy and Richardson. After attending the Union Theological Seminary, he joined its administrative office as a mission treasurer. This allowed him to travel to Istanbul, Turkey, where his career in missionary work began. Before heading to Istanbul, he first traveled to Gaziantep, Turkey for more traditional missionary work, according to living relatives. He and his family moved to Istanbul in 1914 and from there Fowle became the assistant treasurer to the Treasury Office of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In 1915, he became a member of the American committee, whose purpose was to organize and provide immediate relief to Armenians from northeastern Turkey, where Russians armies were penetrating. The result of this action initially formed the Near East Relief, a post-war relief agency. From 1917 to 1919, Fowle became an American Attaché for the State Department at the Swedish Legation. He was noted for his diplomatic skills, knowledge of the host country’s language and customs, skills needed especially when US-Turkey diplomatic relations were strained. While he served as an American Attaché for the State Department, he was still Treasurer and then Business Agent of the Near East Relief (1922-1954). Fowle served in many roles that significantly impacted, not only his career, but the organizations and individuals whose lives he aided and to which he gave much of his time, support and efforts. He commented, “my most interesting single task, outside of my own job, was handling finances for relief purposes in missions for which I administered over a million dollars during the war. After that as Near East Relief, it raised and spent over One Hundred Million in the largest non-governmental philanthropic venture in history” (Class of 1908 50th reunion book). Fowle served in a few more notable roles, included President or Secretary of the Istanbul YMCA board, the Secretary of the American Hospital Board and American’s Men Club. He was also a founder and honorary trustee of the Admiral Bristol Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. He continued his work until 1954 when health issues prevented him from working any further and he ultimately decided to retire from his missionary work in 1956. His wife Helen fell ill for several years and died in February 1949. In 1955, Fowle married his second wife, Mary Gleason, a Smith College graduate of 1909. He remained married to Mary until his death on April 5th, 1973, in Darien, Connecticut. For further information, see the New York Times obituary newspaper clipping in the Luther R. Fowle Papers, MC 229, Box 3, Folder 64.

Hubert William was born June 16th, 1888, in Woburn, Massachusetts, the fifth son of James Luther and Carrie Farnsworth Fowle. He would graduate from Williams in 1910 and go on to John Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, MD, receiving the David Williams Cheever scholarship from the Harvard Corporation in 1911-12. He performed clinical and medical research at the Detroit Clinical Laboratory in Detroit, MI and practiced medicine in both Florida and Vermont throughout his career. He married Florence Wilson Brownell (1877-1972) in 1934. He died August 21st, 1960 in Thetford, VT.

Eleanor Frances Fowle was born February 27, 1892 in Caesarea, Turkey, the youngest daughter of Luther James and Carrie Farnsworth Fowle. She would return to Massachusetts for her education, graduating from Wellesley College in 1914, later becoming an R.N. She married Edward Leeds Clark (1890-1926), an electrical engineer, on August 29th, 1918, a day after the marriage of her brother Theodore to Anne Eliza Smith, in Thetford, VT. Fowle and Clark had three children: Admont (1919-2008), Wilson (1921-1999), and Carl (1924-2006). After her husband’s death, Eleanor returned to nursing in New Hampshire and Connecticut until retiring to Dennis, MA, where she died November 11th, 1981 at the age of 89.

Caroline Palmer Farnsworth was born November 27th, 1854 in Caesarea, Turkey, the daughter of Rev. Wilson Amos (1822-1912) and Caroline Elizabeth (Palmer) Farnsworth (1825-1913). She would return to the United States for her education, graduating from Thetford Academy in 1872, South Hadley College in 1877, receiving a Master’s at Wellesley College, the first Graduate student of the institution. Born into a family of missionaries, she would also marry one. She wed Rev. James Luther Fowle Sr. on August 29th, 1878 in Auburndale, MA. She would return to Caesarea, Turkey as an adult with her husband soon after, where James worked as a missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Over the next 18 years, they would have eight children: James Luther Jr., Mary Carolyn, Charles Warren, Theodore Wilson, Luther Richardson, Hubert William, Eleanor Frances, and Wilson Farnsworth. She resides in both Massachusetts and Turkey, returning to the US permanently in 1911. She died December 26th, 1917, seven months after her husband, in Baltimore, MD.