Phebe Upham
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Gilbert Stuart, 1755-1828.
Portrait of Mrs. Thomas C. Upham.
Courtesy Bowdoin College Museum of Art.
The Bowdoin College Library Catalog is named for Phebe Lord Upham, wife of Professor Thomas Cogswell Upham. The daughter of a wealthy York county landowner, Mrs. Upham wrote devotional tracts in addition to helping her husband with his writings. Harriet Beecher Stowe commented favorably upon Mrs. Upham's hospitality in welcoming the Stowe family to Brunswick in 1850. A devout woman, Phebe Upham advocated for the right of women to speak in church meetings, much to the chagrin of the First Parish Church minister.