{{Short description|American philanthropist (1827–1921)}} {{Infobox person | name = Abigail Geisinger | image = File:Abigail Geisinger.png | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1827|01|21}} | birth_place = Catawissa, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1921|07|08|1827|01|21}} | death_place = Mahoning Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. | other_names = | occupation = Philanthropist | years_active = | known_for = Founder of Geisinger Medical Center | notable_works = }}
'''Abigail Geisinger''' (1827 – July 8, 1921) was an American philanthropist and founder of Geisinger Medical Center.
==Biography== Abigail Geisinger was born in 1827 to Isaac Cornelison and Mary Pancoast. Her grandfather, Joseph Cornelison, was an early settler of Danville, Pennsylvania.<ref name="MorningPress">{{cite news |title=Mrs. Geisinger, Philanthropist, Dies at Danville |work=The Morning Press |date=9 Jul 1921 |location=Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-press-abigail-cornelison-gei/157811894/|pages=1, 4}}</ref> When Abigail was four months old, her mother Mary died, and Isaac, unable to raise a small child on his own, had Mary stay with her uncle James Pancoast in Wayne County, Ohio. Abigail moved back to Pennsylvania as a teenager to live with her father, who at this time was working as a wagonmaker in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.<ref name="TimesLeader">{{cite news |last1=Leader |first1=Times |title=Celebrating a century |url=https://www.timesleader.com/archive/219520/news-features-151566736-celebrating-a-century-2?utm_source=chatgpt.com |work=Times Leader |date=17 June 2015}}</ref> Isaac died when Mary was sixteen, and she then married her cousin, Jacob Cornelison, and ran a hotel named the White Swan with him.
At the onset of the American Civil War, Jacob was drafted into the Union Army. He died of dysentery during the war leaving Abigail widowed. She later remarried in 1866 to George F. Geisinger, who was a bookkeeper and investor in the local iron industry.<ref name="TimesLeader" /> Upon his death in 1883, Abigail was widowed a second time and used her elevated financial status to contribute to her community.<ref>{{cite web |title=Our History {{!}} Geisinger Pediatric Residency Program |url=https://www.gmcpedsresidency.com/our-history-1 |website=Geisinger Pediatric |access-date=31 March 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1912, Abigail Geisinger purchased 14 acres of land in Danville upon which she intended to build a hospital in memory of her second husband, George. She broke ground on May 1, 1913 and what is now the Geisinger Medical Center was completed in 1915.<ref name="Biography">{{cite book |title=Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families ... |date=1915 |publisher=J. H. Beers & Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jEkVAAAAYAAJ |access-date=31 March 2025 |language=en}}</ref> In addition to the hospital, Abigail donated large amounts of her wealth towards the Danville YMCA,<ref>{{cite news |title=Danville Woman in 1913 Gave to Charity $650,000 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/wilkes-barre-times-leader-danville-woman/169270284/ |access-date=31 March 2025 |work=Wilkes-Barre Times Leader |date=3 April 1914 |pages=6}}</ref> and established a support group for widowed women named the Home for Friendless Women.<ref>{{cite news |title=Million and Half Given to Charity in the Will of Mrs. A. A. Geisinger |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-press-1921abigailgeisingeres/160751684/ |access-date=31 March 2025 |work=The Morning Press |date=12 July 1921 |pages=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Abigail Geisinger died at the George F. Geisinger hospital on July 8, 1921, after suffering from a fall three weeks earlier.<ref name="MorningPress" /> She was a Presbyterian who was an active parishioner of the Mahoning Presbyterian Church.<ref>https://www.dailyitem.com/abigail-geisinger-s-generous-hand/article_16cfcd90-b92b-11ee-96b8-3f90a0efbe63.html</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geisinger, Abigail}} Category:1827 births Category:1921 deaths Category:People from Danville, Pennsylvania Category:American Presbyterians