Eliza W. Farnham
Eliza Wood Farnham (1815-1864) was a matron at the women’s prison at Mount Pleasant prison, New York, also known as Sing Sing prison from 1844-1848. Farnham was an author, prison reformer, women’s rights activist, and a proponent of the pseudoscience of phrenology.
In a time when prison discipline emphasized punishment, Farnham’s approach to her work at Sing Sing focused on rehabilitation.
She introduced to the institution music, books, and a more pleasant domestic atmosphere.
Margaret McClure, an Irish immigrant incarcerated at Sing Sing for 3 years reported of Farnham, “Mrs Farnham is very particular in exacting obedience to the rules of the Prison, but … she is also very kind to the Prisoners - … the prison is now a heaven compared to what it was before she went there. The prisoners respect and love her and all her assistants.” (ITH Diary, vol. 1, p. 79). Hopper and Farnham were well-acquainted and worked together regularly during Farnham’s tenure as matron at Sing Sing.
In The American phrenological journal, vol. 25 (June, 1857), p. 133.
Mrs. Eliza Farnham was an author, a prison matron at Sing Sing, and a feminist reformer. She was a champion of phrenology and assisted Marmaduke Sampson in illustrating the phrenologically-based Rationale of crime (New York, 1857) by providing him with subjects from Sing Sing.
“Fig. 8 shows great vigor and compass of thought, ability to grasp and conquer subjects requiring steady logical power, yet the two points referred to, though they show the chief differences between the two, are not the only strong points of the portrait under consideration. The head rises high, and is long and broad on the top, showing strong moral sentiment, firmness and dignity combined with prudence, taste, and the qualities which give refinement, elevation, and purity of mind. She is one of the strongest female thinkers and writers in America ; and in officiating as matron of the State Prison at Sing Sing for several years, and also in many other spheres of action, she has shown her stamina of character and strength of mind. The perceptive organs are not large enough for a good balance of intellect.”--P. 133.
Another portrait appears in: Phrenological and physiological almanac, for 1849 (New York, 1848), p. 31.