Mary Ellen Wilson

Mary Ellen Wilson (March 1864 – October 30, 1956), also called Mary Ellen McCormack, was an American victim of child abuse whose case led to the creation of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the first child protection agency in the world. At the age of eight, she was severely abused by her foster parents, Francis and Mary Connolly. Because she was assisted by Henry Bergh, then the head of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, some sources incorrectly state that statutes against cruelty to animals had to be used to remove her from the home. Hers was the first case of child abuse in the United States to be thoroughly documented.

Biography Mary Ellen was born in March 1864 to Frances Connor Wilson and Thomas Wilson of Hell's Kitchen in New York City. Following Thomas's death during the American Civil War, Frances had to take a job, and was no longer able to stay at home to raise Mary Ellen. She boarded her with a woman named Martha Score. When Frances Wilson's financial situation worsened, she was no longer able to make child care payments to Score. Now almost two, Score turned Mary Ellen into the New York City Department of Charities.

Shortly after gaining custody of the girl Thomas McCormack died. Mary then married Francis Connolly. and locking her in a closet. When the Connollys moved to a new address, one of the concerned neighbors from their 41st Street apartment asked Etta Angell Wheeler, a Methodist missionary who worked in the area, to check in on the child. Under the pretext of asking Mrs. Connolly's help in caring for Connolly's new neighbor, the chronically ill and home-bound Mary Smitt, Etta gained access to the Connollys' apartment to witness Mary Ellen's state for herself. When Ms. Wheeler saw evidence of severe physical abuse, malnourishment, and neglect in Mary Ellen's condition—she was seen barefoot in the winter, for example—Etta began to research legal options to redress the abuse and protect the young girl. After finding the local authorities reluctant to act upon the child cruelty laws currently in place, she turned to a local advocate for the animal humane movement and the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Henry Bergh. With the help of neighbors' testimony, Wheeler and Bergh removed Mary Ellen from the Connolly home using a writ of homine replegiando and took Mary Connolly to trial.

The deliberate cruelties and deprivations inflicted on Mary Ellen Wilson by her adopted parents included the following: regular and severe beatings with a rawhide burnings struck with scissors insufficient food being forced to sleep on the floor having no warm clothes to wear in cold weather being frequently left alone inside a darkened, locked room being forbidden to go outdoors, except at night in her own yard forced to do heavy labor

On April 9, 1874, Mary Ellen, now aged 10, testified in court regarding the abuse she had suffered: That year, the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was founded, the first organization of its kind. Wheeler later wrote:

In 1888, when Mary Ellen was twenty-four, she married Lewis Schutt, a widower with three children. They had two daughters, Etta (named after the woman who rescued Mary Ellen), and Florence. The couple also adopted an orphaned girl named Eunice. Her daughter Florence remembered Mary Ellen as being solemn, but someone who "came alive whenever she listened to Irish jigs and especially to "The Irish Washerwoman." She lived to the age of 92, and died on October 30, 1956.