Louisa Merritt Field Stabler (1826-1914) lived with her husband and children in Brooklyn Heights at 135 Willow Street. Her husband, Edward Hartshorne Stabler (1813-1877), was a drug broker with an office at 44 Cedar Street in New York City. His commercial specialty was opium, at that time an import from Asia. He was originally from Baltimore and after his move to Brooklyn, his business never recovered. The Stablers' children included a daughter, Louise Merritt (1868-1954), and a son, Edward. The Stablers were Quakers with strong ties to the Brooklyn Meeting House and Mission, the Young Friends Society, and the Friends Seminary. The Stabler family was also highly involved with education on all levels, from local kindergartens to universities. The family had connections to Columbia College, and contributed financial support to the establishment of Barnard College, at the time one of the few institutions in the country to offer a college education to women.
The Stablers' daughter, Louise Merritt Stabler, graduated from Brooklyn Heights Seminary in 1886 and taught there before attending Barnard College. She was a member of the first graduating class of Barnard College in 1893. She later became active in the suffrage movement, and was involved with the League of Women Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1894, she married zoologist George Howard Parker (1864-1955), a professor at Harvard College and a member of the American Physiological Society. The Parkers lived in North Cambridge, MA at 6 Avon Place.
From the guide to the Louisa Merritt Field Stabler family papers, 1818-1954, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
