Alzira Handforth Peirce Albaugh (née Boehm; January 31, 1908 – June 19, 2010) was an American artist.

Early life

She and her siblings moved to

Circle, Montana Circle is a town in and the county seat of McCone County, Montana, United States. The population was 591 at the 2020 census. The community was so named because a rancher there branded his cattle with the image of a circle. History After arrivi ...

, to live as homesteaders after their father, August Abraham Boehm, died. Their mother, Hazel Hunter Handforth (September 12, 1883, Huntsville, Missouri - ,

Central Islip, New York Central Islip (also known locally by its initials as CI) is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the Town of Islip, New York, Islip in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United St ...

) was a suffragette, a homesteader, and later, a restaurateur in New York's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

in the 1920s. Her father, August Abraham Boehm (born 1880, Vienna, Austria-Hungary – died 1916), was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n-born''American Jewish Year Book'', Vol. 15 (1913-14), p. 269
accessed May 3, 2012.

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

real estate developer of Jewish descent. August Boehm had graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1901 but was affected by the

panic of 1907 The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, was a financial crisis that took place in the United States over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange suddenly fell almost ...

in which his own father, Abraham Boehm (1841, Germany - 1912, New York), a German-born Jewish

real estate developer, lost most of his fortune. Boehm & Coon (est. 1882) had commissioned one of New York's first

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

s, the 11-story Diamond Exchange Building (1893–94), as well as

The Langham Langham may refer to: Places Canada *Langham, Saskatchewan England *Langham, Dorset *Langham, Essex *Langham, Norfolk *Langham, Northumberland *Langham, Rutland *Langham, Somerset *Langham, Suffolk *Langham Place, London, a street in London *Lan ...

, a prestigious

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

apartment building. The elder Boehm partnered with Sir

Hiram Stevens Maxim Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (5 February 1840 – 24 November 1916) was an American-born British inventor best known as the creator of the first automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. Maxim held patents on numerous mechanical devices such as hai ...

in introducing gas engines to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Growing up in

McCone County, Montana McCone County is a county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,729. Its county seat is Circle. The county was created in 1919. It was named for State Senator George McCone, who had been one of the ...

, Alzira played the harmonica, drew, and rode horses. When she was 13 she returned to New York and sought employment through one of her paternal uncles, an architect. In New York she studied at the Art Students League and later traveled to Paris to study. She painted, sculpted, and drew many works of art. Her poetry was published in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

''.

Career

She taught art to sailors on leave at the

International Seamen's Union The International Seamen's Union (ISU) was an American maritime trade union which operated from 1892 until 1937. In its last few years, the union effectively split into the National Maritime Union and Seafarer's International Union. The early yea ...

. One of her students was the cartoonist

Gahan Wilson Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations. Biography Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was inspired by th ...

. Her art exhibitions were cited in "Who was Who in American Art" page 477 Biographies of American Artists Active from 1898 to 1947, by Sound View Press 1985. She worked for the Red Cross during World War II for nearly two years. She was captain of the American Red Cross Motor Corps and was the chief of motor corps training of the Rockland County Civilian Protection Group. She worked organizing units of the driving Corps, training them, and supervising their operations. She rose from officer to captain and conducted the training unit for O.C.D. Drivers training. She was assigned to a district of the park system which included a section of the Palisades Interstate Park Police, Fourth Precinct, Second District Rockland Lake, New York, June 7, 1942. Alzira Peirce was also cited by the municipality of Haverstraw, Rockland County, New York, on September 26, 1942, for her work with the motor corps. After leaving the Army, Waldo and Alzira Peirce divorced. Waldo was 24 years her senior; she had become Peirce's third wife in 1930; the couple had three children, Mellen Chamberlain "Bill" Peirce, Michael Peirce, and Anna Peirce. Anna predeceased her mother. Mellen Chamberlain Peirce is an active poet and playwright who lives in London. His wife is

Gareth Peirce Gareth Peirce (born Jean Margaret Webb; March 1940) is a British solicitor and human rights activist. She has worked on a number of high-profile cases involving allegations of human rights injustices. Her work with Gerry Conlon and the Guild ...

, the human rights activist attorney for the

Birmingham Six The Birmingham Six were six men from Northern Ireland who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and q ...

and

Gerry Conlon Gerard Patrick Conlon (1 March 1954 – 21 June 2014) was an Irish man known for being one of the Guildford Four who spent 15 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of being a Provisional IRA bomber. Biography Gerard Conlon was born in ...

and the

Guildford Four The Guildford Four and Maguire Seven were two groups of people, mostly Northern Irish, who were wrongly convicted in English courts in 1975 and 1976 of the Guildford pub bombings of 5 October 1974 and the Woolwich pub bombing of 7 November 1974 ...

Emma Thompson Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress and screenwriter. Emma Thompson on screen and stage, Her work spans over four decades of screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Emma Thompson, her accola ...

was nominated for an Oscar playing Gareth in the 1993 movie ''In The Name of the Father'', with

Daniel Day-Lewis Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor. Often described as one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema, he is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Daniel Day-Lewis, numerous a ...

also nominated for his role as Conlon. Alzira married again to Chuck Albaugh having her fourth child, Kathleen Swoboda. She was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Art, a

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

agency, to paint two murals. In 1938 she completed ''Ellsworth, Lumber Port'' in

Ellsworth, Maine Ellsworth is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Maine, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 Census determined it had a population of 8,399. Named after Founding Fathers of the United States, United States Foundi ...

, and in 1939 ''Shipwreck at Night'' in

South Portland, Maine South Portland is a city in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, and is the List of municipalities in Maine, fourth-most populous city in the state, incorporated in 1898. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population wa ...

. An avid artist, she created many sculptures, paintings, and drawings. She moved to New Mexico and worked as an organizer for the

United Mine Workers The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing work ...

union.

Death

Alzira Peirce Albaugh died in 2010, aged 102, from

sepsis Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage of sepsis is followed by suppression of the immune system. Common signs and s ...

Brighton, Massachusetts Brighton is a former town and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located in the northwestern corner of the city. It is named after the English city of Brighton. Initially Brighton was part of Cambridge, and known as " ...

. She was survived by her two sons, her younger daughter; Kathleen, and nine grandchildren.Obituary
legacy.com; accessed October 29, 2014.

Affiliations

* Union member of the typesetters union
National Society of Mural Painters

Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peirce, Alzira 1908 births 2010 deaths Artists from Montana Painters from New York City American women trade unionists American people of German-Jewish descent Deaths from sepsis in the United States People from McCone County, Montana 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters American women centenarians Trade unionists from Montana Trade unionists from New York (state) 20th-century American Jews Jewish centenarians