Biography

Mary Perkins Quincy was born on January 13, 1866 in New York, New York to John Williams Quincy and Lucretia Deming Perkins Quincy. She lived in New York until the death of her parents in 1883, at which time she and her brother relocated to New Haven, Connecticut where they became the wards of their maternal aunt, Mary Deming Perkins Hoppin, and her husband James Mason Hoppin. According to an obituary published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Quincy attended Miss Leverett’s School in New York and another school in New York kept by Mesdemoiselle Charbonnier of Paris, in addition to various tutors at home and abroad. Quincy spent a large portion of her life in Litchfield, Connecticut, where she had a home built in 1904 called Ardley. She resided there until her death in 1921. Litchfield was the seat of her maternal uncle Julius Deming Perkins and his wife, Margaretta Dotterer Perkins. Litchfield was home to several generations of Quincy’s ancestors, including members of the Deming and Champion families.

Quincy spent the vast majority of her life pursuing her many passions, which included membership to memorial societies, genealogy, historic preservation, writing and domestic and foreign travel. She was an active member of several historical societies, including the Litchfield Historical Society; ancestral groups such as the Colonial Dames of America, and the Daughters of the American Revolution; and art clubs like the Needle and Bobbin Club in Litchfield. She coauthored a privately published book entitled Pages of Azure and Gold with Sarah Gardiner.

Her correspondences include letters from all corners of the globe, namely Prussia, Canada, Switzerland, Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, Russia, France, Italy, Morocco, Greece and Egypt. Her correspondents included family, diplomats, and members of the royal families of several nations. Quincy had an especially active correspondence with her aunt, Mary Hoppin.

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