Part of the American History & Genealogy Project

Frances Conkey Fethers 1866 ~ 1926

Mrs. Ogden H. Fethers was born in New York State and educated at Claverock on the Hudson. Her maiden name was Frances Conkey. She is a descendant of Elder William Brewster, of Plymouth Colony, and her member-ship to the Society of the Colonial Dames is through Rev. James Fitch of Connecticut Colony.

On July 15, 1868, she was married in Canton, New York, to Ogden Hoffman Fethers, a well-known and able attorney, of Janesville, Wisconsin.

In 1909, upon the death of Mrs. James Sidney Peck, of Milwaukee, Mrs. Fethers succeeded her as governor of the Society of Mayflower descendants for the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin is the only state which has enjoyed having a woman governor of this society. Mrs. Fethers' name will be long remembered by her song. The Star of Wisconsin," which has been adopted by the Daughters of the American Revolution of Wisconsin for the state song, Mrs. Fethers was state regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution for Wisconsin for four years. From the sale of this song, she has furnished a small room in the Memorial Continental Hall.

Mrs. Fethers has been high in the councils of the Daughters of the American Revolution, having served on some of its most important committees and having done particularly valuable work for the Continental Hall. She is a woman of unusual culture and refinement, of wide travel and an intimate acquaintance with the best literature and art Mrs. Fethers is a director of Janesville public library, in which she has done work of inestimable value for her city and state. The private library of Mr. and Mrs. Fethers and their collection of valuable works of art are among the finest in the country.

Women of America

Source: The Part Taken by Women in American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.