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Gertrude (Snow) DeWager (1871-1948).
The preservation of Provincetown history rests squarely on a few shoulders, Gertrude DeWager’s among them. As the president and chairwoman of the Research Club, she was largely responsible for the establishment of the History Museum in the Lancy Mansion at 230 Commercial Street. (Her mother was Anna Lancy Snow.) “She was regarded as an authority on much of the early lore of this town,” The Advocate noted at the time of her death. “She was also well versed in antiques and had a fine collection of glass as well as furniture.” She also wrote Some Early Pilgrim History, published in 1939. As a young woman, Gertrude attended the Dean Academy in Franklin, Mass., which is now Dean College — an extraordinary step at that time. Her museum endures as part of the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum. She is buried in a family vault on Lot No. 534, under the name of C. B. Snow (1833-1903), her father. Her husband, Dr. Emmanuel Aloysius DeWager (1878-1953), is buried with her. He immigrated from the Azores and was the first Master of King Hiram Lodge to have born outside North America when he occupied the post from 1915 to 1916. Dr. DeWager, a graduate of what is now the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, was the town dentist for many years.
¶ Last updated on 17 June 2017.