Mrs. Elizabeth W. Russell Lord

Of the many educators who have attained distinction in Ohio , and at the same time acquired a lasting reputation in the educational world, probably few are better known or held in more affectionate remembrance than Mrs. Elizabeth W. Russell Lord, whose life energies were consecrated to the public service and the uplift of humanity. Her labors as a teacher and humanitarian extended over a period of sixty-five years, a greater part of the time in co-operation with her noble husband. Asa D. Lord. M. D. (deceased, 1875), one of the nation's greatest public educators, and to them, unitedly, much of the present excellence and efficiency of the public schools is due.

(For some of the facts that follow we are indebted to a sketch written by Mrs. Sarah Cowles Little, graduate of Oberlin College. 1859, and a life-long friend of Mrs. Lord.)

Elizabeth W. Russell was born in Kirtland , Ohio , April 28, 1819, her parents, who came from New England, being among the early settlers of the Western Reserve , and she shared all the experiences and hardships of their pioneer home. When nine years old she performed a daily task on the spinning wheel, and at an age when girls of to-day arc "playing mother" with dolls, she was bearing her full share of the household duties, beside being her father's companion and helper.

Her occupations gave her habits of industry and thrift, and that fidelity to duty which has been her marked characteristic through life. In March, 1838. Miss Russell went to Oberlin College , Oberlin , Ohio , as a student, traveling by stage coach, and having to walk the last eight miles to reach her destination, as the coach could not proceed farther because of the mud. At Oberlin she was untiring in her studies, and in 1840 was referred to as "the indefatigable Miss Russell." About that time the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary was established at Kirtland, and for some years Miss Russell divided her time between that institution and Oberlin. She did not fully complete the College Course at Oberlin. but in 1901 was given the honorary degree of Master of Arts in recognition of her services as an educator. In 1842 Miss Russell was married at Oberlin to Asa D. Lord, M. D., and returned to Kirtland to share his work as a teacher in the Seminary, of which he was the principal, and which was a co-educational school.

Five years later Dr. Lord went to Columbus , Ohio , to establish a system of graded schools, the first in the State, and when the High School was opened, Mrs. Lord was appointed its first lady principal.

In 1850 Dr. Lord became superintendent of the Ohio Institution for the Blind, at Columbus , and his wife a teacher. Then followed nearly thirty years of unselfish, skillful educational work for the blind, first in Ohio and later in New York . Mrs. Lord's individual work was largely in the schoolroom, but for more than two years subsequent to Dr. Lord's demise in 1875, she served most ably as superintendent of the New York Institution for the Blind, at Batavia . Without doubt she has instructed more blind persons to read than any other in the world, and these blind pupils remember her motherly sympathy with the deepest affection.

In 1884 Mrs. Lord responded to a call from Oberlin College to serve as Assistant Principal of the Woman's Department. From 18D4 to 1900, when she resigned, she was known as Assistant Dean. During these sixteen years she did not once miss attendance upon the weekly meetings of the Young Women, called "general exercises." and her record of attendance upon daily chapel prayers was almost as perfect. Among other things in her resignation, which the trustees were regretfully forced to accept, Mrs. Lord said: "My work has been a continual pleasure and delight. * * * In all my relations with our young people it has been my aim to do for them whatever intelligent and judicious parents would wish to have done for their sons and daughters while absent from their own care."

Mrs. Lord's interest in Oberlin has had material expression in various substantial gifts, — notably scholarships, and a large share in the cottage which bears her name. But her best gift to Oberlin is her own life, given without stint, with utmost faithfulness, so many years. The hundreds, yes, the thousands of young people who have felt the touch of that life, have had an example, seldom equalled, of kindness and courtesy, of modesty and loyalty, of promptness and fidelity to duty whatever cost to herself. Her gracious presence was a benediction, her daily life an inspiration.

Advancing years have called Mrs. Lord to lay down the more active duties of a long life, but age has not touched the heart that beats a warm response to every human interest. She is now enjoying a well-earned retirement in the pleasant home of her daughter. Mrs. Henrv F. Tarbox, of Batavia . N. Y.
(Source: Educational History of Ohio by James J. Burns.  Published 1905)

DANIEL R. BEARSS (deceased) was born . August 23, 1809, in Geneseo, Livingston County, New York. His parents were Truman and Sabrina (Roberts) Bearss. His grandfather was a major in the Revolutionary Army, under General Washington, and his father served in the war of 1812. About the year 1811, the family removed to Painesville, Ohio, and in 1815 to Detroit, Michigan. Mr. Bearss' boyhood was spent on a farm and his education was acquired in a log school house. In 1828 he went to Ft. Wayne where he became a clerk for W. G. and G. W. Ewing. His employers soon opened a branch store in Logansport in which Mr. Bearss was engaged until 1832. He then spent two years in mercantile business on his own account in Goshen. In August 1834 with his young wife he settled in Peru where he resided the rest of his life. During his first year's residence here he carried on a general mercantile business in partnership with his father-in-law, Judge Albert Cole, whose biography appears elsewhere. This connection being dissolved Mr. Bearss continued the business until 1844, when he formed a co-partnership with Charles Spencer under the firm name of Bearss and Spencer. Mr. Bearss being occupied with outside matters, Mr. Spencer took charge of the business. In 1849, Mr. Bearss sold his interest in the store and finally retired from mercantile life, after a prosperous business career of about twenty-one years. With perhaps one exception Mr. Bearss was the largest tax payer in Peru. He owned considerable city property among which were the Broadway Hotel and a number of business blocks. He also owned several valuable farms one of which just north of Peru he made his home. Mr. Bearss was one of the leading politicians of his county but was never known to resort to political trickery in order that his party might triumph. No one in his locality labored more earnestly for the promotion of Henry Clay to the Presidency. From the organization of the Republican party he was one of its warmest friends and through his great popularity succeeded in carrying many elections when said party was in the minority. Through his influence Hon. Schuyler Colfax was first placed before the people as a candidate for Congress. Mr. Bearss served his county in various minor public offices. He was in the state Legislature twenty years, eight years as Representative and twelve as Senator. During the memorable and exciting period of the late civil war when many legislators seemingly in sympathy with the south sought to tie the hands of Governor Morton and prevent the state from furnishing support to the Union, no member of the Senate was more faithful to his country than Mr. Bearss. *His age prevented him from entering the army but he did his duty in the halls of Legislation. He took an active part in the railroad enterprises of the county and for a while served as director of the I. P. & C. and Wabash roads. With his family he attended the Congregational church and gave liberally towards its support. Mr. Bearss was a man of commanding stature and in his prime possessed great physical strength and endurance. Few men were more favorably or better known not only in the county but throughout the state. He died April 18, 1884 at Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he had gone for the benefit of his health. January 14, 1834, at Goshen, Indiana, he married Emma A. Cole, daughter of the late Judge Albert Cole. The following are the names of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bearss: George R., William, Albert, Oliver, Homer, Frank, Emma and Ella.

(Submitted by Barb Zigenmeyer)

AVERY, Mrs. Rosa Miller, reformer, born in Madison , Ohio , 21st May, 1830. Her father, Nahum Miller, was an insatiable reader of Biblical and political history and a man of broad humanitarian views. She married 1st September, 1853, Cyrus Avery, of Oberlin , Ohio . During their residence in Ashtabula, Ohio, she organized the first anti-slavery society ever known in that village, and not a clergyman in the place would give notice of its meetings so late as two years before the war; and this in the county home of Giddings and Wade. During the years of the war Mrs. Avery's pen was actively engaged in writing for various journals on the subjects of union and emancipation, under male signatures, so as to command attention. During ten years' residence in Erie, Pa., besides writing occasional articles for the newspaper world, she disseminated 

her views on social questions, love, matrimony and religion in romance in the "High School News," over the pen-name "Sue Smith," work which produced much and rich fruition in the years following. About that time her husband was appointed by the Young Men's Christian Association of Erie as visitor to the criminals confined in the city prison. Mrs. Avery usually assisted her husband in his work. As the result of her investigations, she has ever since maintained " there is not a criminal on this broad earth but that there lies back of him a crime greater than he represents, and for which he, we, and everyone suffers in a greater or less degree." For the last fourteen years Mr. and Mrs. Avery have resided in Chicago .  Mrs. Avery’s special labors have been largely for social purity and equal suffrage, in which interests she has written many able articles, especially in the “Inter-Ocean.”

(American Women, Fifteen Hundred Biographies, Vol 1, Publ. 1897. Transcribed by Marla Snow.)

FRY, Mrs. Emma V. Sheridan, actor and playwright, born in Painesville, Ohio, 1st October, 1864. Her mother was a niece of the well-known New England clergyman, Rev. Joseph W. Parker. Her father, General George A. Sheridan, made a fine record in the Army of the Cumberland during the late Civil war, and he has since won a national reputation as an orator. Emma has always been his friend, confidant and counselor, sharing his hopes, his disappointments and the joy of his successes. She is a graduate of Mrs. Hay's preparatory academy, Boston, Mass., and of the Normal College in New York City. Choosing the stage as the field of her work, she went through a thorough course of study and training in the New York Lyceum School of Acting. She began at the bottom and in six seasons she rose to the front rank among American actors. She has filled many important roles. In 1887 she played a notable engagement with Richard Mansfield in the Lyceum Theater, London, England. Returning to America, she played a round of leading Shakespearean parts through the country with Thomas Keene. In 1889 she became leading lady in the Boston Museum. At the close of her second and most successful season there her stage career was cut short by her marriage. She became the wife of Alfred Brooks Fry, Chief Engineer of the United States Treasury service, a member of the Loyal Legion and of the Order of the Cincinnati by heredity. During her stage experience Miss Sheridan had plied a busy pen and was well known as "Polly" in the "Dramatic Mirror," and by many articles, stories and verses published in the daily press, in magazines and in dramatic papers over her signature. Since her retirement from the stage Miss Sheridan, for she retains her signature, E. V. Sheridan, is devoting all her time to her pen, and she is in this second profession rapidly repeating the progress and notable success of her stage career. Miss Sheridan is quoted in her own country as an actor and a woman widely known, whose name has never been connected with scandal or notoriety. She is a member of the New England Woman's Press Association, and is president of the Alumni Association of the Lyceum School of Acting. On 23rd February, 1892, Richard Mansfield produced at the Garden Theatre, New York, a play by Miss Sheridan entitled, ",£10,000 a Year," founded on Dr. Warren’s famous book of the same name, and it won a flattering success.
(Source: American Women by Frances Elizabeth Willard, Mary Ashton Rice Livermore, Vol. 1, 1897. Transcribed by Marla Snow)

KINGSBURY, Nathan Corning; born, Mentor, O.,   (Lake Co)     Jan. 29, 1867; son of S.B. and Huldah (Corning) Kingsbury; educated at Oberlin College and Ohio University; married at Duluth, Minn., June 6, 1893, Lillian B. Prescott. Studied law and was admitted to the bar in Ohio, 1892;was general counsel for the Jeffrey Manufacturing Co., Columbus, O., for ten years; removed to Detroit, fall of 1906, and since November of same year has been vice president of the Michigan State Telephone Co.; not now engaged in active practice of law. Member Detroit Board of Commerce. Scottish Rite Mason. Clubs: Detroit, Country. Office: Mich. State Telephone Co. Residence: 409 Pasadena Apts.