c. 1860-1950
Born on Walnut St, lived much of her life in Lincoln Park neighborhood. Attended Newark High School graduating in 1876.
Married Ornan N. Wright, then Charles R Hedden in 1929. He died in 1930.
Pioneer in the boys club movement in the 1930s and 1940s, establishing the first Boys Clob on Halsey Street in 1908. In 1908, Star Eagle called her “one of the best known philanthropic women among the leaders of Newark’s social set.”
Newark Female Charitable Society: Member of the Crazy Jane Society, in charge of the Kitchen Garden classes at the Female Charitable Society which “taught girls domestic arts”. One set of minutes states, “Mrs. O. N. Wright presided at the piano and gave much pleasure by her music.”
Helped establish Excelsior Boys Club and the Newark Boys Club, after the former was ended due to WWII. She was also Honorary President (as well as other roles) for the Home for Aged and Respectable Women. She was an official of the Needlework Guild, the Red Cross, the Fortnightly Literary Club, and the Women’s League.
Bibliography
Cummings, Charles. “Meet the exemplary women who enriched the city” Star Ledger. June 6 2002.
“Mrs. C R Hedden, 90, A Charity Worker” New York Times, Dec 30, 1950
The History of the Newark Female Charitable Society.
Hedden, Charles R. (Mrs.) – Newark – 1929-1950, Newark News Morgue, Newark Library (14 articles)
1914 City Directory
“Mrs. Ornan N Wright” Star Eagle May 16, 1908
“Mrs. Hedden Dies at 90” Newark News Dec 30, 1950.