Sisters of Influence: A Biography of Zina, Amy, and Rose Fay
Autor Andrea Friederici Rossen Limba Engleză Hardback – 14 oct 2025
A real-life Little Women, Sisters of Influence is the untold story of three extraordinary sisters who defied Victorian-era expectations to leave their marks on history. Andrea Friederici Ross breathes new life into the fascinating stories of Zina, Amy, and Rose Fay, intertwining their narratives into a captivating family biography.
Born into modest circumstances as daughters of an Episcopal rector and a poet, the seven Fay siblings’ upbringing in small-town Vermont was shaped by financial struggles, rare educational opportunities, and the early loss of their mother. While their sisters pursued traditional paths and their brother Norman helped them all, Zina, Amy, and Rose boldly charted their own courses, becoming trailblazers in music, writing, and women’s advocacy.
Zina Fay Peirce envisioned a life of intellectual partnership with her husband, philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, only to find her dreams frustrated by domestic expectations. Undeterred, she became a writer and a conservative feminist, championing improved education for women and pioneering cooperative housekeeping initiatives. Despite challenges, Zina’s vision for women’s empowerment laid a foundation for future reform.
Amy Fay, a gifted pianist, pursued music studies abroad, including under the tutelage of Franz Liszt. Her letters home, filled with vivid accounts of her experiences in Europe, were edited into a memoir by Zina and published to critical acclaim. As a concert pianist, music teacher, and advocate for women in music, Amy inspired generations of women to follow their artistic passions.
Rose Fay Thomas, initially a quiet supporter of her sisters, emerged as a formidable force in her own right, becoming a founder of the Anti-Cruelty Society. Her leadership in Chicago’s Amateur Musical Club and the National Federation of Music Clubs helped shape the American classical music scene. As the wife of conductor Theodore Thomas, Rose played a pivotal role in establishing the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her later writings on gardening and her husband’s life further solidified her legacy.
Through her exploration of the Fay sisters’ lives, Ross illuminates the shifting roles of women during a transformative era. From advocating for women’s education to advancing the arts and social reform, Zina, Amy, and Rose exemplify the resilience and determination that bridged the restrictive norms of the Victorian age and the activism of the Progressive Era. Their remarkable journeys will inspire readers to reimagine the possibilities of women’s contributions to history and culture.
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9780809339792
ISBN-10: 080933979X
Pagini: 312
Ilustrații: 36
Dimensiuni: 152 x 235 x 30 mm
Greutate: 0.48 kg
Ediția:First Edition
Editura: Southern Illinois University Press
Colecția Southern Illinois University Press
ISBN-10: 080933979X
Pagini: 312
Ilustrații: 36
Dimensiuni: 152 x 235 x 30 mm
Greutate: 0.48 kg
Ediția:First Edition
Editura: Southern Illinois University Press
Colecția Southern Illinois University Press
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Notă biografică
Andrea Friederici Ross is the author ofEdith: The Rogue Rockefeller McCormick and Let the Lions Roar! The Evolution of Brookfield Zoo. She has worked as the operations manager of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, assistant to the director of the Chicago Zoological Society, and at her local public school library.
Extras
Preface
Generally, hoarding is not a good thing. But sometimes it can lead to surprising treasures. In the 1970s, writer Sylvia Wright Mitarachi, digging through her ancestors’ belongings in a cluttered attic, came across a couple of trunks that brought the past to life. Her grandmother Kate’s trunk, smelling of violets, contained the usual assortment of lacy dresses, layers of undergarments, hats, family photos, and knickknacks—no big surprises there. But her great-aunt Zina’s trunks overflowed with thousands of yellowing slips of paper, fraying at the edges: a lifetime’s worth of family letters and newspaper articles, neatly clipped and dated, many authored by her. People keep what they value. Zina valued ideas.
Sylvia, a novelist, and editor and essayist for Harper’s Bazaar, spent years with these materials, sorting through them, researching the issues of the day, and landing a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to write a manuscript about her great-aunt Zina. Though Sylvia died before completing her book, a draft remains, as do the original materials, now—thanks to Sylvia—neatly organized and archived at the Schlesinger Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sylvia fixated on Zina—a fascinating character, to be sure—a women’s reformer in the mid 1800s, who challenged established beliefs about a woman’s role and advocated for cooperative housekeeping, improved education for women, and a woman’s parliament to run alongside the men’s houses of government. Zina is the subject of numerous dissertations and essays; that she married logician Charles Sanders Peirce, one of the greatest minds of the century, just added to her mystique.
But I came at this project from a different direction, through Zina’s sister Rose. Because of my volunteer work at an animal rescue organization, I knew Rose Fay Thomas as the founder of the Anti-Cruelty Society. That she was also the wife of Chicago Symphony Orchestra conductor and musical legend Theodore Thomas increased my interest. As I dug a little deeper, I discovered another sister, Amy (rhymes with Sammy), who studied with composer Franz Liszt and became a professional musician. They struck me as a real-life Little Women, writing, performing music, and exploring the edges of their restricted female world. That their father was a clergyman and that they suffered a heartbreaking death within their family, forcing them to ponder the purpose of a women’s life, only strengthened the ties to the Louisa May Alcott classic.
Zina’s trunks, gathering dust for decades, opened a door into a forgotten world. Out marched all seven Fay siblings—Zina, Laura, Amy, Kate, Norman, Rose, and Lily—and their parents and spouses, to tell their stories of what life was like in the mid nineteenth century.
To be clear, these were not children of privilege. Their father, Reverend Charles Fay, moved the family from parish to parish for years before finally settling into the community of St. Albans, Vermont, not far from the Canadian border. Mother Emily managed the household, which included a small dormitory to house boarding students who attended the private classical school Charles ran to bring in more income. They struggled financially. Everyone pitched in with cleaning, teaching, cooking, and sewing. Emily grew depressed and died at the age of 39; family lore held that she died of overwork. Her abbreviated life galvanized her daughters, particularly Zina, to want more for women than the daily drudgery of housework.
What was the role of a middle-class White woman in the second half of the nineteenth century, coming off of the Civil War and through Reconstruction? Zina brazenly tried to redefine it; Amy sought to broaden the opportunities for women in music; Rose worked within the acceptable confines of the women’s sphere but headed clubs and associations that brought women together and strengthened their sisterhood. And siblings Laura, Kate, and Lily, who chose traditional roles of wife and mother, provided interesting contrast and occasional argument. Along the way, they navigated complicated issues such as slavery, suffrage, temperance, and education for women. The Fay women are a perfect case study in women’s history during a time when the rules and traditions were changing.
Of the assorted things I have done in my life, raising two children is, without question, my proudest accomplishment. Therefore, it pained me to relegate Laura, Kate, and Lily as merely supporting characters for this book, as I so highly value their efforts as mothers. But in terms of what constitutes the unusual, the interesting, the book-worthiness of a life, it was clear that Zina, Amy, and Rose were the key players. Given the plethora of materials available documenting the lives of White men, I had no hesitation about casting Norman as a minor character.
As Zina, Amy, Rose, and their sisters were growing up, their feminine role was closely defined. They were supposed to confine themselves to running a household and raising a family, their involvement in the greater community restricted primarily to church activities. The public sector was for the men. But throughout their lives, these three sisters nudged at those limitations. Mostly, they did it in ways that did not challenge the men. They built up social capital and cultural power behind the scenes, with a smile and in the safe company of other women. In their clubs and activities, they worked in an undefined zone between the spheres that had been delineated for men and women. Their work bridged the gap between Victorian domesticity and Progressive reform.
All operated in areas and manners true to their interests and personalities. One was outspoken and brash, one winsome but persistent, and the third gentle yet determined. None were suffragists. Honestly, part of me wishes they had been among those early firebrands. But there was far more to the argument than just pro- or anti-suffrage. Women’s reform was much broader than just the vote. The Fay women represented a tremendous swath of women, the vast majority, in fact, initially, who did not believe they belonged in the election booth. It takes time to reshape the status quo.
Between the extensive family correspondence, other personal materials such as poems and journals, and the numerous works the siblings authored, we have a close-up look at their lives, in their own words. Wherever possible, I have tried to let them speak for themselves.
Rather than juggling multiple life stories simultaneously, I chose to break the book into sections for each of the three sisters. Because Zina, the eldest daughter, did the bulk of her reform work relatively early in her life, and Rose, as one of the youngest siblings, did not find her stride until many years later, there is a natural chronological flow to the story, Amy fitting nicely in between. Furthermore, because they worked together on certain projects, there are areas that neatly overlap. It is not a perfect organizer: on occasion, the narrative circles back around to provide updates on what the other family members were doing.
Family dynamics are a curious thing. It is interesting to watch the Fays react to their siblings’ successes and failures, grow proud or resentful, and stretch away from each other only to eventually swing back around. Because of financial instability, many of them lived together at various points in their lives, or ran boarding houses together to make ends meet. And, despite differences in opinion or hurt feelings, the siblings were there to help each other through the uncertainties of life and indignities of old age.
Change is not tidy. Change is not a straight line nor a steady pace. These three sisters remind us that it often takes many different voices and assorted strategies to gain traction. By the end of their lives, all three had moved their movements forward significantly, mirroring nationwide gains in rights for women. We might do well to ask ourselves who is playing these roles for women today.
This story stretches from the East Coast to Germany to Chicago and back east again. It details the beginnings of the Anti-Cruelty Society of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the creation of Orchestra Hall, though it is not intended to be a thorough history of these organizations. It involves the Fireside Poets, the academic elite of Cambridge, and several of the world’s greatest scientists and musicians. But really, it is the story of three sisters who tried their best to make the world a bit better, in their own various, imperfect ways.
[end of excerpt]
Generally, hoarding is not a good thing. But sometimes it can lead to surprising treasures. In the 1970s, writer Sylvia Wright Mitarachi, digging through her ancestors’ belongings in a cluttered attic, came across a couple of trunks that brought the past to life. Her grandmother Kate’s trunk, smelling of violets, contained the usual assortment of lacy dresses, layers of undergarments, hats, family photos, and knickknacks—no big surprises there. But her great-aunt Zina’s trunks overflowed with thousands of yellowing slips of paper, fraying at the edges: a lifetime’s worth of family letters and newspaper articles, neatly clipped and dated, many authored by her. People keep what they value. Zina valued ideas.
Sylvia, a novelist, and editor and essayist for Harper’s Bazaar, spent years with these materials, sorting through them, researching the issues of the day, and landing a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to write a manuscript about her great-aunt Zina. Though Sylvia died before completing her book, a draft remains, as do the original materials, now—thanks to Sylvia—neatly organized and archived at the Schlesinger Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sylvia fixated on Zina—a fascinating character, to be sure—a women’s reformer in the mid 1800s, who challenged established beliefs about a woman’s role and advocated for cooperative housekeeping, improved education for women, and a woman’s parliament to run alongside the men’s houses of government. Zina is the subject of numerous dissertations and essays; that she married logician Charles Sanders Peirce, one of the greatest minds of the century, just added to her mystique.
But I came at this project from a different direction, through Zina’s sister Rose. Because of my volunteer work at an animal rescue organization, I knew Rose Fay Thomas as the founder of the Anti-Cruelty Society. That she was also the wife of Chicago Symphony Orchestra conductor and musical legend Theodore Thomas increased my interest. As I dug a little deeper, I discovered another sister, Amy (rhymes with Sammy), who studied with composer Franz Liszt and became a professional musician. They struck me as a real-life Little Women, writing, performing music, and exploring the edges of their restricted female world. That their father was a clergyman and that they suffered a heartbreaking death within their family, forcing them to ponder the purpose of a women’s life, only strengthened the ties to the Louisa May Alcott classic.
Zina’s trunks, gathering dust for decades, opened a door into a forgotten world. Out marched all seven Fay siblings—Zina, Laura, Amy, Kate, Norman, Rose, and Lily—and their parents and spouses, to tell their stories of what life was like in the mid nineteenth century.
To be clear, these were not children of privilege. Their father, Reverend Charles Fay, moved the family from parish to parish for years before finally settling into the community of St. Albans, Vermont, not far from the Canadian border. Mother Emily managed the household, which included a small dormitory to house boarding students who attended the private classical school Charles ran to bring in more income. They struggled financially. Everyone pitched in with cleaning, teaching, cooking, and sewing. Emily grew depressed and died at the age of 39; family lore held that she died of overwork. Her abbreviated life galvanized her daughters, particularly Zina, to want more for women than the daily drudgery of housework.
What was the role of a middle-class White woman in the second half of the nineteenth century, coming off of the Civil War and through Reconstruction? Zina brazenly tried to redefine it; Amy sought to broaden the opportunities for women in music; Rose worked within the acceptable confines of the women’s sphere but headed clubs and associations that brought women together and strengthened their sisterhood. And siblings Laura, Kate, and Lily, who chose traditional roles of wife and mother, provided interesting contrast and occasional argument. Along the way, they navigated complicated issues such as slavery, suffrage, temperance, and education for women. The Fay women are a perfect case study in women’s history during a time when the rules and traditions were changing.
Of the assorted things I have done in my life, raising two children is, without question, my proudest accomplishment. Therefore, it pained me to relegate Laura, Kate, and Lily as merely supporting characters for this book, as I so highly value their efforts as mothers. But in terms of what constitutes the unusual, the interesting, the book-worthiness of a life, it was clear that Zina, Amy, and Rose were the key players. Given the plethora of materials available documenting the lives of White men, I had no hesitation about casting Norman as a minor character.
As Zina, Amy, Rose, and their sisters were growing up, their feminine role was closely defined. They were supposed to confine themselves to running a household and raising a family, their involvement in the greater community restricted primarily to church activities. The public sector was for the men. But throughout their lives, these three sisters nudged at those limitations. Mostly, they did it in ways that did not challenge the men. They built up social capital and cultural power behind the scenes, with a smile and in the safe company of other women. In their clubs and activities, they worked in an undefined zone between the spheres that had been delineated for men and women. Their work bridged the gap between Victorian domesticity and Progressive reform.
All operated in areas and manners true to their interests and personalities. One was outspoken and brash, one winsome but persistent, and the third gentle yet determined. None were suffragists. Honestly, part of me wishes they had been among those early firebrands. But there was far more to the argument than just pro- or anti-suffrage. Women’s reform was much broader than just the vote. The Fay women represented a tremendous swath of women, the vast majority, in fact, initially, who did not believe they belonged in the election booth. It takes time to reshape the status quo.
Between the extensive family correspondence, other personal materials such as poems and journals, and the numerous works the siblings authored, we have a close-up look at their lives, in their own words. Wherever possible, I have tried to let them speak for themselves.
Rather than juggling multiple life stories simultaneously, I chose to break the book into sections for each of the three sisters. Because Zina, the eldest daughter, did the bulk of her reform work relatively early in her life, and Rose, as one of the youngest siblings, did not find her stride until many years later, there is a natural chronological flow to the story, Amy fitting nicely in between. Furthermore, because they worked together on certain projects, there are areas that neatly overlap. It is not a perfect organizer: on occasion, the narrative circles back around to provide updates on what the other family members were doing.
Family dynamics are a curious thing. It is interesting to watch the Fays react to their siblings’ successes and failures, grow proud or resentful, and stretch away from each other only to eventually swing back around. Because of financial instability, many of them lived together at various points in their lives, or ran boarding houses together to make ends meet. And, despite differences in opinion or hurt feelings, the siblings were there to help each other through the uncertainties of life and indignities of old age.
Change is not tidy. Change is not a straight line nor a steady pace. These three sisters remind us that it often takes many different voices and assorted strategies to gain traction. By the end of their lives, all three had moved their movements forward significantly, mirroring nationwide gains in rights for women. We might do well to ask ourselves who is playing these roles for women today.
This story stretches from the East Coast to Germany to Chicago and back east again. It details the beginnings of the Anti-Cruelty Society of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the creation of Orchestra Hall, though it is not intended to be a thorough history of these organizations. It involves the Fireside Poets, the academic elite of Cambridge, and several of the world’s greatest scientists and musicians. But really, it is the story of three sisters who tried their best to make the world a bit better, in their own various, imperfect ways.
[end of excerpt]
Cuprins
Contents
Preface
Prelude: Childhood
Charles and Emily
Churches and Children
Mapleshade
Separation
Scattering
“I Do”
New Horizons
Cambridge
Allegro Agitato: Zina
Reform
Cooperation
European Interlude
Education
Discord
Opinions
Scherzo: Amy
Germany
Letters Home
Cambridge Again
Chicago
Clubs
Concerto Grosso: Rose
Chameleon
Famous Friend
Family Dynamics
Wedding
Orchestra
World's Fair
Struggling
Felsengarten
Busy Lives
Federation
Women's Philharmonic
Anti-Cruelty Society
Compassion
Concert Hall
Finale
Mourning
Fugue: Together Again
Siblings
Back East Again
A Symphonic Study
Old Age
Coda
Appendix
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Endnotes
Preface
Prelude: Childhood
Charles and Emily
Churches and Children
Mapleshade
Separation
Scattering
“I Do”
New Horizons
Cambridge
Allegro Agitato: Zina
Reform
Cooperation
European Interlude
Education
Discord
Opinions
Scherzo: Amy
Germany
Letters Home
Cambridge Again
Chicago
Clubs
Concerto Grosso: Rose
Chameleon
Famous Friend
Family Dynamics
Wedding
Orchestra
World's Fair
Struggling
Felsengarten
Busy Lives
Federation
Women's Philharmonic
Anti-Cruelty Society
Compassion
Concert Hall
Finale
Mourning
Fugue: Together Again
Siblings
Back East Again
A Symphonic Study
Old Age
Coda
Appendix
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Endnotes
Recenzii
“Ross’s sparkling biography brilliantly rescues these accomplished siblings from the dustbin of lapsed historical memory. This is a fascinating look at how nineteenth-century white women tested and stretched the confines of their traditional roles to usher in the next century’s progressive changes.”—Theresa Kaminski, author of Dr. Mary Walker’s Civil War: One Woman’s Journey to the Medal of Honor and the Fight for Women’s Rights
“In her wonderful account of inspiring, entwined lives, Andrea Friederici Ross tells the remarkable story of siblings who navigated both incredible triumphs and the inevitable vicissitudes of nineteenth-century womanhood. An engrossing and enlightening read.”—Bridget Quinn, author of Portrait of a Woman: Art, Rivalry, and Revolution in the Life of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard
“Zina, Amy, and Rose lived full lives, and Ross has captured their idiosyncratic personalities as well as their achievements and stumbles in a rich saga of thought, action, and affection.”—Patrick T. Reardon, author of The Loop: The “L” Tracks That Shaped and Saved Chicago
“Andrea Friederici Ross’s triple biography is captivating in its detail and absorbing in its revelations of the achievements of three sisters whose social and cultural contributions, like those of many women of their era, have been under-studied and under-appreciated.”—Charles H. Cosgrove, author of They Both Reached for the Gun: Beulah Annan, Maurine Watkins, and the Trial That Became Chicago
“This engaging book tells the story of a prominent family and its contributions to a changing America as it transformed from Victorian customs to progressive values. Sisters of Influence addresses many critical issues for women at that time, from marriage to music; public roles to voting rights; volunteerism to employment opportunities. Most importantly, it covers these issues from the perspective of three fascinating sisters whom history has overlooked—but whose collective biographies enlighten major societal transformations from the 19th to 20th centuries.”—Greg Borzo, author of Chicago’s Fabulous Fountains
“In her wonderful account of inspiring, entwined lives, Andrea Friederici Ross tells the remarkable story of siblings who navigated both incredible triumphs and the inevitable vicissitudes of nineteenth-century womanhood. An engrossing and enlightening read.”—Bridget Quinn, author of Portrait of a Woman: Art, Rivalry, and Revolution in the Life of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard
“Zina, Amy, and Rose lived full lives, and Ross has captured their idiosyncratic personalities as well as their achievements and stumbles in a rich saga of thought, action, and affection.”—Patrick T. Reardon, author of The Loop: The “L” Tracks That Shaped and Saved Chicago
“Andrea Friederici Ross’s triple biography is captivating in its detail and absorbing in its revelations of the achievements of three sisters whose social and cultural contributions, like those of many women of their era, have been under-studied and under-appreciated.”—Charles H. Cosgrove, author of They Both Reached for the Gun: Beulah Annan, Maurine Watkins, and the Trial That Became Chicago
“This engaging book tells the story of a prominent family and its contributions to a changing America as it transformed from Victorian customs to progressive values. Sisters of Influence addresses many critical issues for women at that time, from marriage to music; public roles to voting rights; volunteerism to employment opportunities. Most importantly, it covers these issues from the perspective of three fascinating sisters whom history has overlooked—but whose collective biographies enlighten major societal transformations from the 19th to 20th centuries.”—Greg Borzo, author of Chicago’s Fabulous Fountains
Descriere
This real-life Little Women is the fascinating story of three of the six Fay sisters between 1850 and 1920. In their day, they were known to many, but they have fallen into obscurity. Andrea Friederici Ross intertwines their unusual stories, showing how the Fay sisters, through their focuses on women’s education, club work, and reform efforts, exemplified women’s striving to escape the restrictive norms of the Victorian Era.