Ada Clapham Govan
Significance:
Author, ornithologist, conservationist, Boston Globe columnist.
Her writing explored the mental and emotional health benefits
of connecting to nature and wild birdlife. Gifted her backyard
acreage to the town of Lexington for a bird sanctuary to protect
various Massachusetts species. Voted one of the ten most
outstanding women of the 20th century in the Boston area.
Birth:
Death:
June 16, 1885- Hartford, CT
April 11, 1964- Boca Raton, FL
Buried in Monroe Cemetery, Lexington, MA
Obituary:
Marriage:
David Govan, 1903
Children:
4- two survived to adulthood- Malcolm, Betty, Jeanne and David
Places Lived:
Hartford, Lexington, MA, Florida
Connection to Lexington:
Lived here, worked here, wrote here, raised her family here
Wikipedia:
https://www.audubon.org/news/a-bestselling-nearly-forgotten-writers-life-offers-lessons-winter-ahead
Book Titles:
Education:
Employment:
Wings at my window
Did not graduate from high school
Writer- weekly column in the Boston Globe, wrote bird notes and poems under the pen name, Of Thee I Sing
Birder
Quotation:
“birds had not only taken possession of our back yard; they had taken possession of my heart as well.”
Link to page in Notable American Women:
Inclusion in the Lexington
Historical Society Exhibit?
Additional Info:
Preliminary Sketch
- Meredith Bergmann
