Born: January 22, 1838, Hamilton,Ohio.
Died: July 16, 1923, at the home of her brother, Dr. Charles W. Packard, in Stratford, Connecticut.
Buried: Pine Grove Cemetery, Brunswick, Maine.
Charlotte was the daughter of minister Charles Packard and Rebecca Prentice Kent. She never married.
In the name of the blessed Child,
A blessing on children all!
On children gentle and wild,
Whatever their color or race,
The fair and the swarthy face
In cottage and tent and hall.
Lo, children are everywhere,
Like snowflakes in the air,
And the wide, wide, world is bound
By small hands meeting round.
For them are the joy-bells rung,
For them have the angels sung
How Love to this world was born
In the shape of a Child—that morn!
Thus under the Christmas star,
Young voices from near and far
Are chanting the golden strains
That swelled over Bethlehem’s plains.
Glory to God in the highest!
Peace to men of good will.
But the loving child is nighest
The kingdom of Jesus still.
Charlotte Mellen Packard
From the Foothills of Song, 1908
If you know where to get a good photo of Packard (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels), would you send us an e-mail?