Private Women and the Public GoodIn 1846, a group of women came together to form what would become one of nineteenth century Hamiltons most important social welfare institutions. Through the Ladies Benevolent Society and Hamilton Orphan Asylum, they managed and administered a charitable visiting society, orphan asylum, and aged womens home. At this time, in other parts of the Western world, the public sphere and womens exclusion from it were reshaping political and gender relations.