Ida Slocumb Richardson, 1830-1910
Continued from entry on list of those mentioned in the letters
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Via her own interests, she became a benefactor to almost every charity in New Orleans and particularly was devoted to the Episcopal Church and a number of causes for women. She was a charter member ofthe Woman’s Christian Exchange and Regent for the state for the Mount Vernon Association, a group of women devoted to the maintenance of George Washington’s former home. She also, convinced by African American Frances Gaudet, enlisted the Episcopal Church in the support of educational programs, in prison reform for juveniles, and in the establishment of a Juvenile Court.
As a child, Ida Slocomb had known JLN, one generation older but also involved in the Episcopal church. The two women became reacquainted in the 1870s when JLN began her search for Sophie’s memorial. Richardson acted as a go–between for JLN with St. Anna’s Asylum. And, Richardson also suggested that William Preston Johnston contact JLN as part of his initial search for a donor to fund a women’s college within Tulane.
Richardson acted with particular kindness towards JLN. In the court testimony Richardson recalled JLN asking her to call her Josephine, saying that she rarely heard her name as she grew older, heard only the words “Mrs. Newcomb.” Ida Richardson was herself known as shrewd while also friendly. Journalists Betty and Hodding Carter wrote of her personal appearance as being that of “a short, moon-faced woman with a beneficent smile, a large tortoise shell hearing trumpet, and a gold topped cane with which she rapped for attention.”
Richardson also ventured outside New Orleans, traveling in Asia, South America, and Europe. During some of these trips, she passed through New York where she visited JLN. Richardson tackled even other feats becoming known as one of the first, if not the first “woman to ever ascend Mount Popcatepetl.”