Born: 25 August 1828, United States
Died: 28 February 1905
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Mrs. Leland Stanford
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Jane Lathrop Stanford, an American philanthropist, born at Albany, N.Y. She was married in 1850 to Leland Stanford, subsequently Governor of California and U.S. Senator.
In 1885 she aided her husband to establish Leland Stanford Jr. University at Palo Alto, Cal., in memory of their son.
After her husband’s death in 1893 Mrs. Stanford was occupied chiefly by fostering the development and extension of the university, and by further benefactions of securities and land, valued at $30,000,000, she made it the wealthiest educational institution in the world.
Mrs. Stanford also established the Children’s Hospital in her native town of Albany, N.Y., and gave large sums to various schools and kindergartens.
From Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.:
Co-Founder of Leland Stanford Jr. University
This great institution of learning, with its endowment of more than $20,000,000, is a noble monument erected to the memory of an only son, the pride and hope of his parents. Since the death of her husband, Mrs. Stanford has, with rare devotion, given herself to the carrying out of her husband’s plans for the University.
At the day of opening the University, Mr. Sanford said, “I speak for Mrs. Stanford and myself, for she has been my active and sympathetic coadjutor, and is co-grantor with me in the endowment and establishment of this University.”
Their son Leland, Jr., was a boy of keen intellect and generous heart. He had prepared for college, but before entering upon the course he traveled with his parents abroad. He showed a marked taste for art and archaeology and had begun to collect for an extensive museum of his own.
While in Rome he was stricken with fever, and died March 13, 1884, some two months before his sixteenth birthday. The remains were brought back to their great Palo Alto estate in California.
The great purpose to live for humanity now that they had no son to live for, found expression in plans for a university. Mr. and Mrs. Stanford traveled extensively and studied the institutions of higher learning in his country, and then proceeded to found their memorial for their son.
Mr. Stanford died in 1893. Mrs. Stanford was given permission by the courts to distribute the estate, and she has actually given away all her wealth. At one time when the University was in special need of money she sent her jewels, valued at $2,000,000, to Europe to be sold, and the proceeds were given to the institution.
Her San Francisco home has been turned into a school for social science. She has founded six kindergarten schools at a cost of $10,000 each, and gave $100,000 each, and give $100,000 to found an orphan asylum in Albany, NY, in memory of her father and mother. She lived at Palo Alto and the University was her sole object in life.