Philanthropist/Reformer
Centurion, 1864–1890
Born 19 June 1826 in Litchfield, Connecticut
Died 11 August 1890 in Champfèr, Switzerland
Proposed by John Priestley
Elected 12 November 1864 at age thirty-eight
Archivist’s Note: Father of Charles Loring Brace. Founder of the Children’s Aid Society.
Proposer of:
Century Memorial
The name of Charles L. Brace was synonymous with that of a wise philanthropy, so judiciously and successfully administered that it became a model wherever it was known.
The world will recognize the value of a life which has saved seventy thousand boys and girls from the temptations incident to their neglected condition in a large city, and made them self-respecting and valuable citizens by their establishment in comfortable homes in the West; and two hundred thousand of the waifs of this city, who have been cared for in the Newsboys’ and other lodging houses established by him, have blessed his name.
No man ever had a larger circle of personal friends, and to them he was endeared by his most attractive qualities. His heart shone in his face, and extensive travel and thorough study had made him a most delightful companion.
The public knew of his valuable services to his kind, but only those who were honored by an intimacy with him knew of
“That best portion of a good man’s life.
His little nameless unremembered acts of kindness and of love.”
During his whole life he illustrated pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, in visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and in keeping himself unspotted from the world.
Henry E. Howland
1891 Century Association Yearbook
