Marie Musaeus-Higgins
Early life and career
Marie Musaeus was born on May 18, 1855 in Wismar, in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany. Her father, Theodore Musaeus, was a High Court Judge and forestry magistrate. She had a brother and three younger sisters.[1]Marie was well educated in languages and arts, and became a teacher. When her brother Friedrich emigrated to the United States, she joined him there.[2]
After working as a teacher, Miss Musaeus took a civil service job in the Post Office Department in Washington, DC.[3][4][5]
Marie Musaeus met Anthony Higgins, and they were married, probably sometime in 1888. Anthony Higgins (October 1, 1840-June 26, 1912) was a lifelong resident of Delaware. Educated at Delaware College, Yale College and Harvard Law School, he practiced law in Wilmington; served in the Union Army in 1864; and entered politics as a Republican. He was elected as a United States Senator, serving from March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1895. The couple never had children; their marriage was unconventional in that Marie moved to Ceylon in 1891 and rarely returned.
Theosophical Society involvement
Both Marie and Anthony Higgins joined the Theosophical Society on May 28, 1889. They were founding members of the Blavatsky Theosophical Society in Washington, DC, which was chartered on June 16, 1889.[6][7][8] Mr. Higgins was the lodge president. Marie Musaeus-Higgins was reported to be a speaker at lodge meetings. In November 1889 she gave a talk called "A Theosophist’s Duty."[9]
Work in education
The Women's Educational Society was founded by Sri Lankan Buddhist women on March 30, 1889 to promote education of Buddhist women in both Sinhalese and English language schools. The English-language Sangamitta Girls' School opened on October 18, 1890 in Maradana. Sinhalese Theosophist Peter de Abrew wrote a letter to The Path seeking a principal for the school.[10] Mrs. Musaeus-Higgins was much moved when she read of the school, and immediately responded to volunteer. Her application was accepted by the WES, and she arrived on November 15, 1891 on the steamship Preussen. She worked with Louis Roberts Ratnaweera; Australian Elise Pickett, the mother of interim principal Kate Pickett, who had drowned in a terrible accident; Dr. W. A. English and his daughter; and Emma Allison. The staff had to raise funds continually for the new school. Exactly two years after Mrs. Musaeus-Higgins arrived, the cornerstone for a new permanent building was laid by Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society.
A half-acre of land had been donated by Peter de Abrew and his father William de Abrew at Rosmead Place, Cinnamon Gardens.
However, due to differences with members of WES, Musaeus resigned from her position on December 15,1893. She started her own school with 12 girls, classes commencing in a cadjan-thatched wattle and daub building – which Musaeus called her 'mud palace' – on the Rosmead Place land the following February.
In that simple building she taught a class of twelve. An Australian Theosophist, Wilton Hack, donated money to complete a brick building in 1895, and having a permanent structure enabled the school to receive grant-in-aid funding from the Sri Lankan government. Mrs. Musaeus-Higgins learned Sri Lankan and Buddhist history, and wrote primers for teaching her pupils. She served as principal of the school until her death in 1926. The school, now known as Musaeus College, has grown steadily over the years: now over 6,700 students are enrolled, with a staff of over 300 teachers.[11]
Writings
Mrs. Musaeus-Higgins wrote stories to educate children about the history of Ceylon and Buddhism.
- Poya Days. Colombo: Maha-Jana Press, 1925. Several later reprints. Available at Internet Archives.
- Jataka Mala. A translation of the Jataka stories.
- Stories from the History of Ceylon for Children. Colombo: Capper & Sons, 1910. Several later reprints. Volume 1 is available at Internet Archives.
- Stories from the History of Ceylon for Children. Colombo: Capper & Sons, 1910. Several later reprints. Volume 2 is available at Internet Archives.
Additional resources
- Marie Musaeus Higgins. This article has many errors and issues: husband's name was Anthony, not Anton; he was not an army officer, but a private, briefly, during the final year of the Civil War; Marie could not have gone to Ceylon in 1889, when she is documented as having been in Washington.
- Anthony Higgins (polititian) in Wikipedia. This article is very incomplete.
- The Tale of Mud Hut to Four Storeys at Musaeus College website.
Notes
- ↑ The Tale of Mud Hut to Four Storeys at Musaeus College website.
- ↑ Musaeus, mother and mentor from America" Daily News [Sri Lanka. November 19, 1912.
- ↑ U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995.
- ↑ U.S., Register of Civil, Military, and Naval Service, 1863-1959. 1887 volume.
- ↑ U.S., Register of Civil, Military, and Naval Service, 1863-1959. 1891 volume.
- ↑ Theosophical Society General Membership Register, 1875-1942 at http://tsmembers.org/. See book 1, entry 5002 (website file: 1B/55).
- ↑ Theosophical Society General Membership Register, 1875-1942 at http://tsmembers.org/. See book 1, entry 5003 (website file: 1B/55). This membership was under the name Anthony Higgins.
- ↑ Theosophical Society General Membership Register, 1875-1942 at http://tsmembers.org/. See book 1, entry 5004 (website file: 1B/55). This redundant membership record was under the name Anthony P. Higgins.
- ↑ [Notice] Evening Star 75 (November 5, 1889): 4.
- ↑ "Theosophical Activities" The Path 5 no. 11 (Feb 1891): 355.
- ↑ About Our School at Musaeus College website.