Adelaide Trowbridge Crapsey (1855–1950) was an American philanthropist, social reformer, clergyman's wife, and businesswoman. Her company made dresses for girls and sold them all over the United States and in many foreign countries. The way her company cared for its employees was commended by the state of New York and in Nation's Health, a national magazine. She was the wife of the American Episcopal priest and social reformer Algernon Sidney Crapsey and the mother of the American poet Adelaide Crapsey. Early life Adelaide Trowbridge was born on March 7, 1855, in Catskill, NY. Her father was Marcus H. Trowbridge (1827–1891), who had moved to Catskill with his father. After completing his schooling, he learned the printing trade and became the owner of the Catskill Examiner newspaper. Her mother was Harriet G. Trowbridge (1831–1907). Adelaide Trowbridge had one sibling, her brother Arthur Hunt Trowbridge (1858–1883). She married the Rev. Algernon S. Crapsey (1847–1927) on June 2, 1875, in St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Church in New York City, where he was serving as a recently ordained minister in the Episcopal Church. The couple had nine children, of which three were born in New York City and six in Rochester: Philip Crapsey (1876–1907), Emily Margaret Crapsey (1877–1901), the poet Adelaide Crapsey (1878–1914), Paul Bontecou Crapsey (1880–1961), Rachel Morris Crapsey (1882–1942), Algernon Sidney Crapsey (1884–1955), Ruth Elizabeth Crapsey (1887–1898), Marie Louise Crapsey (1891–1979), and Arthur Hunt Crapsey (1896–1955). Jean Webster, the Vassar College roommate and lifelong friend of her daughter Adelaide, the poet, noted that "Dr. and Mrs. Crapsey weren't the ideal parents for a large family." After their marriage, her husband continued his busy work as a priest, which allowed the couple only two or three nights a week for courting and having guests. Social work In 1879, Mrs. Crapsey's husband accepted a call to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Rochester, NY, where he conducted his first service on June 1. Mr. Crapsey first moved to Rochester alone. She and her three children stayed for a while with her Trowbridge family in Catskill, which lies between New York and Rochester when traveling by water. Then she and her children traveled to Rochester by Hudson River steamer and Erie Canal boat and arrived on July 1. When she arrived and saw the rectory in which the family was to live, she felt "utterly cast down". There was no bath, nor proper sanitary provisions.