housemother

noun

Etymology: From house + mother. First use appears c. 1822. See cite below.

1. The mother of a family; the female head of household, or of any collection of persons living as a family or in common, as in a primitive community.

   “At length, the aged house-mother died, or rather slept away into the other world, without pain or sickness, from absolute decay; leaving her solitary partner to mourn her loss, and with an unfeigned longing to join her in the grave.”

2. A woman in charge of a residence for young people to look after them.