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Rotary History

The Grace Irene Mann letters

In 1905, Paul Harris visited Jacksonville, Florida, to reconnect with a friend and former employer, George C. Clark. Once there, he met a woman from a prominent Florida family. 

 

  1. A letter and envelope from Grace Irene Mann to Paul Harris, 24 April 1906.

  2. A letter and envelope from Grace Irene Mann to Paul Harris, 24 April 1906.

Grace Irene Mann and Harris exchanged letters for just over a year, and even briefly broached the subject of marriage, before ending their correspondence. The letters, now part of Rotary’s archives, offer a unique glimpse into the early personal life of Rotary’s founder.

In the letters, they shared affection, gossiped, and discussed their families, theology, philosophy — and Rotary. Harris told Mann about searching for a meeting place for the Rotary Club of Chicago and offered details of the club’s constitution. 

Mann replied to his tales of Rotary with enthusiasm: 

“I take great interest in the Constitution and By laws of your Rotary Club because you have written them. … I think you have covered everything in a concise and compact form. … The By-laws are especially good.”

According to the letters, the idea of marriage was broached in 1906, though Mann’s family ultimately discouraged her from settling down with Harris. Their correspondence ended in May 1907. In his final letter to Mann, Harris wrote: 

“I certainly am interested in your future and I desire you to make a great girl of yourself and I am sure you will. … You will be happy. Give my best to your Dalton friends. Yours very truly, Paul P. Harris” 

Harris returned the letters he had received from her, as was the custom. Three years later, he would meet and marry Jean Thomson. That same summer, Mann would marry John Murrell Bell and store the correspondence in the attic of her sister May Mann Jennings. The letters remained there until the Florida home was demolished in 1963, at which time they were given to Mann’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth Bell Hightower. 

  1. A letter and envelope from Paul Harris to Grace Irene Mann, 7 April 1906.

  2. A letter and envelope from Paul Harris to Grace Irene Mann, 7 April 1906.

The letters remained with the family until 1997, when Mann’s family donated them to Rotary International. Alicia Dorsie-Frank of the Rotary Club of Arlington, Florida, USA, learned about the letters when interviewing Mann’s younger daughter, Grace Bell Segraves Rogers, about Civil War history. Dorsie-Frank suggested that Mann’s daughter donate the letters to Rotary. 

After some discussion, the family agreed, recognizing the significance of the first-person accounts to Rotary and their value to historians. Placing the correspondence in Rotary’s archives, the family decided, would preserve the story.

William Segraves, Grace Irene Mann’s grandson and a member of the Rotary Club of Sarasota, Florida, wasn’t aware of his connection to Rotary’s founder when he first joined Rotary in 1994. 

He has enjoyed the insights that the letters offer into the life of his maternal grandmother, and as a Rotarian, feels “humbled by the greatness of the achievements of Rotary International, and Rotarians worldwide, without which, we would surely be living in a different world.” 

He’s also found that the story of Paul and Grace makes a fine conversation starter with people interested in Rotary history.