Adelaide T. Crapsey

Adelaide Trowbridge Crapsey (1855–1950) was the wife of American Episcopal priest and social reformer Algernon Sidney Crapsey and mother of American poet Adelaide Crapsey. Her Adelaide T. Crapsey Company, which made dresses for girls, sold the dresses it produced "all over the United States and in many foreign countries." The way her company cared for its employees was commended by the state of New York and in Nation's Health, a national magazine.

Adelaide Trowbridge was born on March 7, 1855 in Catskill, NY.

Her father was Marcus H. Trowbridge (1827–1891). He moved to Catskill, NY with his father. After competing his schooling, he learned the "printing trade" and became the owner of the Catskill Examiner newspaper. Her mother was Harriet G. Trowbridge (1831–1907).

Adelaide Trowbridge had one sibling: a brother Arthur Hunt Trowbridge (1858–1883).

Adelaide Trowbridge married the Rev. Algernon S. Crapsey (1847–1927) on June 2, 1875 in St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Church in New York City where he was serving as a recently ordained minister in the Episcopal Church. The couple had nine children. Three were born in New York City; the other six were born in Rochester. Their names and dates of birth and death are as follows:

Jean Webster, the Vassar College roommate of the Crapsey's daughter Adelaide, "noted that Dr. and Mrs. Crapsey weren't the ideal parents for a large family."

After their marriage, Mrs. Crapsey's husband continued his busy work as a priest. This allowed the couple only two or three nights a week for courting and having guests.

In 1879, Mrs. Crapsey's husband accepted a call to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Rochester, NY. He conducted his first service on June 1, 1879. Mr. Crapsey moved first. She and her three children stayed for a time with her Trowbridge family in Catskill, which lies between New York and Rochester for persons traveling by water. Then she and her children traveled to Rochester "by Hudson River steamer and Erie Canal boat." Mrs, Crapsey and the children arrived in Rochester on July 1. When she arrived and saw the rectory in which the family was to live, she felt "utterly cast down." There was "no bath, nor proper sanitary provisions." Mrs. Crapsey also felt "utter loneliness." However, her loneliness was soon replaced by activity. She landscaped the front yard of the rectory and the grounds around the church. Her work was described as lovely and very English.

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