Eccentric and frugal family wanted to give comfort and dignity to older adults.
Pringle Memorial Home (1899-1957)
Source of the Thomas Pringle Memorials
A man who has devoted his life to honest, hard work deserves to spend his retirement years in dignity and comfort. It was this philosophy that led Margaret Pringle Fenton and her brother, Samuel M. Pringle, to provide for the establishment of the Pringle Memorial Home for aged men, in memory of their father. When the home was no longer practical, the Thomas Pringle Memorials were founded to continue carrying out their wishes.
Margaret, Samuel, and another brother, Mulligan, were born in New York City in the early 19th century, the children of Thomas Pringle. Their mother had been a Mulligan. It was a close-knit family of Scotch-Irish background. Although only a few family anecdotes survive to describe the Pringles, it is apparent that family ties were strong. As a young woman, Margaret was married to David W. Fenton of New York. The couple had no children. The inheritance Margaret received from her father enabled the Fentons to live comfortably on a quiet street in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. They read a great deal and were interested in music. They counted a number of musicians among their friends and frequently hosted musical evenings in their home.
Margaret Fenton was rather eccentric and exceptionally frugal, keeping food under lock and key. After each meal, she doled out a ration of bread and other food for the household help, then locked away what remained. Family members recalled visiting the Fenton home in cold weather and finding it uncomfortably chilly. The Fentons were economizing on fuel and advised their visitors to sit near the common wall of the adjacent house to benefit from the neighbors’ heat that seeped through the bricks.
Margaret’s appearance and actions also caused some comment. She rode in a two-seated rockaway, a low, four-wheeled carriage with a top and open sides. Unlike most carriages of the time, it did not have mud guards on the wheels, so when Margaret prepared to alight, she instructed the driver to get out first to hold newspapers over the wheels to protect her dress. This performance, combined with her odd-looking bonnet and the out-of-style clothes she always wore, invariably drew a staring crowd when she went out in her carriage. For some time, Margaret Pringle Fenton was afflicted with a back ailment that made climbing stairs difficult. Once, while attending the opera with a niece, she reached her seat in the balcony by climbing backwards up the stairs. It was an attention-getting sight, but Margaret Fenton apparently was never bothered by stares and comments.
Despite her eccentricities and her firm grasp on the purse strings, Margaret Fenton evidently was kind and sensitive. Her brother Mulligan never married and spent his life working in a clerical position in a bank. He had no wish to retire, but when his bosses determined the time had come, he was presented with the traditional gold watch and dismissed. With no work to fill his days and no family to comfort him, Mulligan faced an unhappy plight that was not unique. Margaret’s affectionate concern for her brother stimulated her interest in providing care for older men in their last years.
Mulligan died before 1876, the year his sister drew her will. Margaret was determined to devote her small estate to rescuing others from the sad plight of her brother in his retirement years. In her will, Margaret Pringle Fenton provided that, after the death of her husband, David, and her brother Samuel, her fortune should be used “to establish and maintain a Home for respectable aged indigent men, and to be called ‘The Pringle Memorial Home’ in memory of my dear aged Father, Thomas Pringle.” She also expressed a wish that preference be given to “educated and literary men.”
Samuel W. Pringle was a bachelor who was devoted to his brother and sister. A tolerant and sympathetic man, he shared his sister’s determination to help elderly men who, though well educated, found themselves in reduced circumstances. By the time Samuel drew his will in May 1897, Margaret had died. After providing for David Fenton, Margaret’s widower, Samuel left instructions for the establishment of the Pringle Memorial Home. Within another two years, Samuel also died. In January 1899, Margaret and Samuel’s wishes were carried out in the incorporation of the Pringle Memorial Home.
Five men were appointed directors of the home. One was David Fenton’s nephew Clarence M. Fenton of Buffalo, New York. It became Clarence’s responsibility to find a building suitable for the home. He located a large, solidly built mansion on spacious grounds at 153 Academy St. in Poughkeepsie, New York. The property was acquired by the corporation and converted for use as a residence for 15 older male adults. The Pringle Memorial Home had become a reality.
For some years, the home functioned as Margaret and Samuel had intended, providing shelter and furnishing food, clothing, and care for its residents. However, the number of guests gradually declined. An annual report dated May 1, 1926, listed eight residents; two others had died during the year. By May 1, 1937, only two were left. Because women generally outlive men and survive in greater numbers to require the kind of shelter offered by the home, the directors realized they could have easily filled it to capacity if their charter had allowed them to accept women as well. But it had been the needs of the superannuated man alone in the world that Margaret and Samuel had anticipated.
In 1957, only a single guest remained. The directors, who included Clarence’s son, Gerald, tried to attract others to the home by advertising its services and contacting local welfare organizations, but with no effect. It had become apparent that the use of the home probably would not increase. The directors, searching for a more feasible way to carry out Margaret and Samuel’s wishes, decided to sell the building, liquidate the assets of the home, and place the resources in The New York Community Trust for administration. The last guest was moved to another institution, and the plan was carried out.
Today, The Trust continues to honor the basic purposes for which the Pringle Memorial Home was established. The gold watch, or its contemporary equivalent, awarded at the end of a man’s lifetime of work no longer needs to signal the end of his dignity. Because of the foresight and loving concern expressed many years ago, the Thomas Pringle Memorials continue to bring assistance and comfort to older adults, as Margaret and Samuel Pringle believed they justly deserve.