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Eliza Brown Gano Rogers (1800-1877)

Eliza Brown Gano Rogers was born on November 6, 1800 to Reverend Stephen Gano and Mary Brown Gano, in Providence, Rhode Island. Reverend Gano was pastor of the First Baptist Church, trustee of Brown University, and he served in the American Revolution as a surgeon in the Continental Army. Mary Gano was the daughter of Joseph and granddaughter of Hope and James Brown. At the age of twenty-one, Eliza married prominent manufacturer Joseph Rogers.

In a society that marginalized women, Eliza Rogers and fifteen other Providence women addressed the need for an organization that addressed some of the issues faced by their contemporaries. The Home for Aged Women engaged with problems that affected unmarried, widowed, and homeless elderly women. Born of compassion and a desire to provide dignity to elderly women, the Home for Aged Women was created through the relentless drive of Rogers and her colleagues. Incorporated on March 9, 1856, the first home for Providence’s forgotten women opened its doors to residents less than two months later. Now called Tockwotton on the Waterfront, the institution moved to its third and largest location in 2013.

As the Home’s principal founder and its president for the first fifteen years, Eliza Rogers brought to life her vision of a home that embodied respect for aging women. Eliza Brown Gano Rogers passed away in 1877. She was interred in the North Burial Ground, as were three of the Home’s other founders: Abby B. Watson, Maria M. Benedict, and Elizabeth Carlile.

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Elisangela Fernandes, Student at Rhode Island College