Helen Storrow - Death of Munson Osborne

Death of Munson Osborne

In the mid-1880s, Munson Osborne sued Cyrus McCormick for patent infringement. The case proved to be difficult and protracted, with McCormick ultimately agreeing to settle out of court, paying Osborne $225,000, an enormous sum at the time. However, the stress of the case had a terrible affect on Osborne. On July 6, 1886, Osborne suffered a massive coronary. Helen and her mother, having witnessed his collapse, tried fruitlessly to revive him, but he died later that evening.

Following her husband's death, Eliza resumed her suffrage work, going on to become vice president of the New York State Woman’s Suffrage Association, and first vice president of the Cayuga County Political Equality Club. A tireless worker, at age eighty, Eliza led a delegation of women to Albany where they spoke before the State Legislature, lobbying for suffrage. Eliza was also involved in numerous philanthropic endeavors. In 1882, Eliza helped found the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union, an institution that may have inspired Helen’s interest in settlement work. Modeled on an organization of the same name in Boston, the institution provided young working women with classes in practical subjects, such as sewing and cooking, later adding more intellectually gratifying classes in modern languages and literature.

Helen was sent away to boarding school at the age of eleven. At the time of her father's death, she was spending most of each year at a boarding school in Springfield, Massachusetts run by a Miss Katherine Howard. In youth, her main interest was music, a love she shared with her brother Thomas. After boarding school, she spent time in Germany continuing her musical studies, later going on to graduate from Smith College.