The Birthday of Eternity

Laura Smith Haviland, died April 20, 1898

In 1881, Laura wrote her autobiography in A Woman’s Life Work. In it she summarizes her philosophy:

Is it not the duty of every Christian to bring his or her religion into every line of life work, and act as conscientiously in politics as in church work? Sanctified common sense is loudly called for on the highway of holiness. In whatever condition or station in life we find ourselves, are we not our brother’s keeper in a more extensive view than we are prone to conceive?

She remained active until the end of a life that was unusually long and healthy although lacking in comforts and material resources. 

Laura Smith Haviland died on April 20, 1898 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the home of her brother, Samuel Smith. She was 89 years old.

At Haviland’s funeral, hymns were sung by a choir of white and African American singers, and then her casket was carried to the grave by a group white and African American pall-bearers.

She was buried next to her husband, Charles Haviland,  in the Raisin Valley Cemetery in Adrian, Michigan.

Haviland Family Gravesite

 Eleven years after her death, in 1909, a life-sized statue of  Haviland was dedicated in front of the city hall at Adrian. Above a drinking fountain at her feet was a bronze plaque:

Erected By The

Adrian Woman's Christian

Temperance Union

And The

Haviland Memorial

Association

I was thirsty and ye gave me drink.

Matthew XXV 35

Haviland Statue

On the left side of the marble is inscribed her birth year 1808. A bronze plate below that reads:

A Tribute to a Life Consecrated

To the Betterment of Humanity.

In 1839 She Established The

Raisin Institute of Learning.

Fearlessly She Combated

Slavery With a Firm Reliance On

Divine Protection, Devoting Time And

Means to Assist Those Escaping

From Bondage.

On the right side of the marble is inscribed her death year 1898. A bronze plate below that reads:

During the Civil War She Nursed

The Sick and Wounded in Southern

Hospitals And on Battlefields.

Her Memory Is Revered By Our

Country's Defenders.

She Founded the State Public

School for Dependent Children

At Coldwater. The Industrial

Home for Girls at Adrian Owes

Much to Her Efforts.