Mary Goodell Grant

Mary Goodell Grant (; July 9, 1857 – April 12, 1941) was a prominent socialite and local Denver civic leader who was also the first lady of Colorado during the Colorado governorship of her husband James Benton Grant. Early life Born Mary Matteson Goodell in Joliet, Illinois, on July 9, 1857, she was the second-eldest of five daughters born to Roswell Eaton Goodell and Mary Matteson Goodell. In addition to her sisters, Annie, Clara, Olive, and Jennie, her parents also had a son named Roswell Eaton Goodell Jr. Her maternal grandfather, Joel Aldrich Matteson, was a former governor of Illinois, who had just ended his tenure as governor months before her birth. Her maternal ancestry can be traced back to Mayflower pilgrims John Alden and Priscilla Alden, who were her great-great-great grandparents through her maternal grandmother Mary Fish Matteson. Her family were Protestants. While their personal home was in Joliet at this time, during part of her childhood, she and her family appear to have lived in the Springfield, Illinois, of her grandfather Joel Alrich Matteson, particularly in the period after the American Civil War. From 1870 until 1873, she and her family resided abroad in France and Dresden, Germany. When they returned in the United States, they moved to Chicago, Illinois. Despite all being Protestants, she and her sisters all attended Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown Academy of the Visitation for part of their education, with Mary attending for the school years of 1873 through 1877.