Background
Farnham, Eliza Woodson Burnhans was born on November 17, 1815 in Rensselaerville, New York, United States. Daughter of Cornelius and Mary (Wood) Burhans.
Farnham, Eliza Woodson Burnhans was born on November 17, 1815 in Rensselaerville, New York, United States. Daughter of Cornelius and Mary (Wood) Burhans.
Studied medicine.
Her maiden name was in Rensselaerville, New New York In 1844, through the influence of Horace Greeley and other reformers, she was appointed matron of the women"s ward at Sing Sing Prison. She strongly believed in the use of phrenology to treat prisoners.
Farnham was influential in changing the types of reading materials available to women prisoners.
The purpose of her choices was not entertainment but improving behavior. Controversy over her choices and beliefs Farnham resigned in 1848.
She also advocated using music and kindness in the rehabilitation of female prisoners. She retained the office of matron until 1848, when she moved to Boston, and was for several months connected with the management of the Institution for the Blind.
In 1849 she visited California, and remained there until 1856, when she returned to New New York
Foreign the two years following, she devoted herself to the study of medicine, and in 1859 organized a society to assist destitute women in finding homes in the west, taking charge in person of several companies of this class of emigrants. She subsequently returned to California. She died from consumption in New York City at the age of 49.
Married Thomas Jefferson Farnham, 1836. Married second, William Fitzpatrick.