State Biographies of Ohio
SAMUEL GALLOWAY The State Teachers' Association of Ohio was founded in 1847. Samuel Galloway, the subject of this brief sketch, was the first president. He was born in His election as Secretary of State made him Submitted by Linda Rodriguez WILLIAM NORRIS EDWARDS. Mr. Edwards was born in Submitted by Linda Rodriguez (Source: Educational History of DR. I. W. ANDREWS From one point of view, the life of Dr. I. W. Andrews may be sketched in few words. Born at Mark Hopkins said still more when he visited We do not admire the beauty of an edifice on account of the noise made in its construction. That Marietta is indebted to the influence of Dr. Andrews for benefactions and legacies amounting to half a million dollars, that a thousand men to-day recall his lessons with grateful, reverent feelings, is soon told, but it is the summary of fifty years of faithful service. His ideal of a teacher's work is so clearly expressed in an article on the "Personal Peculiarities of Teachers," in the Journal of Education, that one might easily fancy it the reminiscence of one of his pupils. "The perfection of instruction consists in so aiding the pupil to overcome for himself the difficulties which he meets, in throwing light upon his path at just the moment it is needed, in such a quiet way, with so little of parade or effort, that the pupil is sensible only of the progress he is making, and is quite unconscious of the real aid he has received from the teacher." His students will also heartily confess the truthfulness of his picture of college life in Marietta, and that his own quiet, patient example made such a history possible: "From its establishment to the present day, it has been singularly free from excitements and troubles, and it has pursued the even tenor of its way, aiming to give the best possible training to young men who have sought its privileges. The College furnishes little material for an historical sketch, and perhaps this is the best thing which can be said of an institution of learning." We leave for others the pleasant task of describing more fully his work in An eminent schoolmaster in the immediate succession once said in effect; there are some ten or twelve distinguished men that history must call the founders of the He was President of the Ohio State Teachers' Association at The experience of a teacher who well and pleasantly remembers his going before the board is an example of Dr. Andrews's method. "In the year 1867, I presumed to appear before the State Board of Examiners intent upon bearing away a certificate, and the hour came when I met Dr. Andrews, who was sitting with a copy of As associate editor of the Ohio Journal of Education, in the first six volumes (1852-7), and afterwards as contributor to its successor, the Educational Monthly, he showed his lively interest in elementary education. In 1852, he wrote of "The Union School System" and warned officers and teachers against too implicit reliance upon the excellence of any system, thus by thirty years anticipating a favorite dogma of the apostles of the New Education. Hundreds of teachers think what a worthy representative said: "His life and character have been to me an inspiration. I found him always willing to direct his clear judgment to the service of one who came to him for advice. When I first became acquainted with the Ohio Educational Monthly, nearly half the contributions to that Journal, in regard to common schools, were from his pen. What he wrote needs no revision. He thought before be spoke." He was an active member at the first meeting of the National Teachers' Association, and afterwards became one of the National Council of Education. At his home he was among the first to move for the organization of a system of union schools, and to him His early experience as teacher of mathematics colored and influenced all his instruction in other departments, and especially in that for which he will chiefly be remembered beyond his immediate circle of friends, the chair of political ph1losophy. His political creed must be as plainly drawn as a figure in geometry, as clearly expressed as an equation in algebra. Hence he laid great stress on formal acts and always said due reverence to the visible representatives of authority. In politics a conservative, in the best sense of the word, in philosophy he was always and unmistakably an optimist, but not an enthusiast. "All things work together for good" is a truth whose ever-present reality cheered him, not to boasting or display but to patient continuance in the work which Three brief sentences are sufficient in themselves to bring the man before the contemplative eye even of one who never saw him. While patiently bearing with a student's lapses from duty he often said: "Some of those boys who used to try us sorely have made very useful men." One intimate with him. seeing him going on unfalteringly with his labors though affliction's hand was sore upon him. realized with Adam Bede;—"There's many a good bit of work done with a sad heart." When preparing to go to Boston and deliver an historical address—a mission from which be did not return alive — he replied to the remonstrance of his wife against such a journey in stormy weather : — "I have promised to go." Submitted by Linda Rodriguez MAJOR GENERAL IRWIN McDOWELL, of Ohio, entered West Point in 1834, and graduated in 1838. He was breveted a second lieutenant of artillery in July of that year, and became assistant instructor of infantry tactics at West Point from September to November, 1841. He served as adjutant at the same post until October, 1846, from which date he acted as adjutant to General Wool until May, 1847. He took an active part in the Mexican war, and for meritorious conduct in the battle of Beuna Vista, February 23d, 1847, was breveted captain. He was made adjutant-general, with the rank of captain, in May of the same year, and relinquished his rank in the line in February, 1861. Afterward, he offered his services to Governor Dennison, of Ohio, who did not accept them at the time. At a later date, on the recommendation of General Scott, he was made a brigadier-general. He was an aide of Scott for several years. At the disastrous battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, McDowell commanded the army, and during the campaign on the Peninsula, the Department of the Rappahannock. On the 24th of May, he was ordered to proceed to the aid of General Banks. McDowell received from General Pope official commendation for the prompt and skilful manner in which he brought up, and handled his troops at the battle of Cedar Mountain. On Friday, the 8th of August, he took command of all the forces then at Culpepper. In the various battles during Pope's campaign, General McDowell bore an active part, and proved himself an able and skilful officer. On the close of the war, he was appointed to the command of the Department of California. (Source: A Complete History of the Great Rebellion of the Civil War in the U.S. 1861-1865 with Biographical sketches of the Principal actors in the Great Drama. By Dr. James Moore, Published 1875) Submitted by Linda Rodriguez BANTA, Mrs. Melissa Elizabeth Riddle, poet, born in Cheviot, a suburb of Cincinnati, O., 27th March, 1834. Her father, James Riddle, was of Scotch descent, and her mother, Elizabeth Jackson, a Quaker, was of English origin. Melissa Elizabeth is the sole daughter of the house. She attended the Wesleyan Female Institute in Cincinnati until her fourteenth year, when, on the removal of the family to Covington, Ky., she was placed in the Female Collegiate Institute of that city, where she was graduated at the age of seventeen years. The same year she made a romantic marriage with Joseph I. Perrin, of Vicksburg, Miss. The young couple lived in Vicksburg, where the bride was a teacher in the public schools. A few days after the first anniversary of the wedding day, 11th September, 1853, Mr. Perrin died of yellow fever. That was the year when the fever was epidemic in the South. Mrs. Banta's recollections of that time are vivid. Her poem, "The Gruesome Rain," embodies a grief, a regret and a hint of the horrors of that season. Mrs. Sophia Fox, hearing of her situation, sent her carriage and servants a distance of twenty-five miles to carry the young widow to her plantation at Bovina, Miss. There she remained for two months, until her parents dared to send for her. Mrs. Fox, with characteristic southern warm-heartedness, had supplied all her needs and refused all proffered remuneration on the arrival of Dr. Mount, the old family physician. After the death of Mr. Perrin, a little daughter was born, but in a few weeks she faded from her mother's arms, and the child-widow took again her place in her father's house. For the sake of an entire change of scene her father disposed of his home and business interests in Covington, temporarily, and removed to Bloomington, Ind. It was there Mrs. Perrin met David D. Banta, to whom she was married 11th June, 1856. Soon after the wedding they went to Covington, Ky., and in October, 1847, to Franklin, Ind., where they have since lived. They have a beautiful home, and this second marriage is an ideal one. Mrs. Banta is the mother of two sons and one daughter. She has been twice to Europe and has visited all the notable places in the United States. Her letters of travel are only less charming than her poetry. She inherits her literary talent from her maternal grandmother, who, though not a writer, was a highly intellectual woman. BATEMAN, Isabel, actor, born near Cincinnati, Ohio, 28th December, 1854. Her family removed to England in 1863, and she first played a juvenile part in 1865 in her sister Kate's farewell benefit at Her Majesty's Theater. She began active theatrical work in 1869. She took leading parts with Henry Irving for six years. She has been very successful in many leading roles. BECKWITH, Mrs. Emma, woman suffragist, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, 4th December, 1849. Her maiden name was Knight. She graduated at the age of seventeen years from the high school in Toledo, Ohio, whither her parents went when she was four years old. At the age of nineteen years she was married to Edwin Beckwith, of Mentor, Ohio. After residing in Pleasantville, Iowa, a number of years, they removed to Brooklyn, N. Y. Her sympathies with women have always been on the alert. Upon locating in the East she began to put to practical use her knowledge of bookkeeping, after obtaining the permission of the owner of a building in Nassau street, New York, by promising to be good and not demoralize the men. She began work in April, 1879. She was the pioneer woman bookkeeper in that part of the city, and established a reputation for modesty and uprightness that has helped many another to a like position. Her business education of five years' duration gave her an insight into many matters not general among women. Since leaving business life she has urged young women to become self-supporting. Disgusted with the vast amount of talk and so little practical work among the advocates of woman suffrage, she felt that Mrs. Belva A. Lock wood had struck the key-note when she became a candidate for the presidency of the United States. Her ambition was aroused to the point of emulation; hence her candidacy for the mayoralty of Brooklyn. The campaign of ten days' duration, with but two public meetings, resulted in her receiving fifty votes regularly counted, and many more thrown out among the scattering, before the New York "Tribune" made a demand for her vote. Mrs. Beckwith has compiled many incidents relating to that novel campaign in a lecture. She has entered the lecture field and is an able and entertaining speaker, enlivening her earnestness with bright, witty savings. BEECHER, Miss Catherine Esther, author and educator, born in East Hampton, L. I., 6th September, 1800, died in Elmira, N. Y., 12th May, 1878. Catherine was the oldest child of Lyman Beecher and Roxana Foote Beecher, and the first nine years of her life were spent in the place of her nativity, where she enjoyed the teaching of a loving mother and a devoted aunt, the latter of whom was a woman of great beauty, elegance and refinement, and to whose early instructions Miss Beecher often recurred as having a strong and lasting influence upon her life. In her ninth year Catherine removed with her parents to Litchfield, Conn. There, in the female seminary, under the care of Miss Sarah Pearse, Miss Beecher began her career as a school-girl. Her poetical effusions, mostly in a humorous vein, were handed about among her school-mates and friends to be admired by all. As the oldest of the family, her mother’s death, when she was sixteen, brought upon her the cares and responsibilities of a large family. Her father married again, and the parsonage became the center of a cultivated circle of society, where music, painting and poetry combined to lend a charm to existence. Parties were formed for reading, and it was that fact which led Miss Beecher again to take up her pen, in order to lend variety to the meetings. Miss Beecher was a frequent contributor to the "Christian Spectator," a monthly magazine of literature and theology, under the initials "C. D. D." Those poems attracted the attention of a young professor of mathematics in Yale College, Alexander M. Fisher, who in due time became her betrothed husband. He went to Europe and never returned, having perished in a storm which struck the vessel off the coast of Ireland. For a time Miss Beecher could see no light through the clouds which overshadowed her. She was sent to Yale, in the hope that the companionship of Prof. Fisher's relatives might have a beneficial effect upon the stricken mind. There she was induced to begin the study of mathematics under the guidance of Willard Fisher, a brother of her late lover. Going back to Litchfield, she united with her father's church, and resolved to let insoluble problems alone and to follow Christ. Shortly after that, Miss Beecher, in conjunction with her sister, opened a select school in Hartford, Conn. In four years' time there was not room for the scholars who applied for admittance. She had always enjoyed the friendship of the leading women of Hartford, and when she began to agitate the subject of a female seminary in that town, it was through their influence that the prominent men of Hartford subscribed the money to purchase the land and erect the buildings of the Hartford Female Seminary. With Miss Beecher as principal and a band of eight teachers of her selection, the school grew rapidly in influence and popularity. Her "Suggestions on Education" was widely read and drew attention to the Hartford Seminary from all parts of the United States. In her school of between one and two hundred pupils, she planned the course of study, guided the teachers, overlooked the boarding-houses and corresponded with parents and guardians. She yet found time to prepare an arithmetic, which was printed and used as a text-book in her school and those emanating from it. About that time the teacher in mental philosophy left the institution, and Miss Beecher not only took charge of that department, but wrote a textbook for it of some four or five hundred pages. After seven years of incessant activity her health gave out, and she was obliged to relinquish the school into other hands. Shortly after that the family removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and, in connection with a younger sister, Miss Beecher commenced a school in that city, in which the teaching was all done by instructors of her own training. Her later years she devoted to authorship. "Domestic Economy" (1845) was a text-book for schools. Among the works that followed were "Duty of American Women to Their Country" (1845), "Domestic Receipt Book" (1846), "Letters to the People" (1855), "Physiology and Calisthenics" (1856), "Common Sense Applied to Religion" (1857), "The Religious Training of Children " (1864), " The Housekeeper and Healthkeeper" (1873). Her activity of mind and her zeal in education continued to the last. BEST, Mrs. Eva, author, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, 19th December, 1851. She is a daughter of the late John Insco Williams and Mrs. Mary Williams, now of Chicago, Ill. Her father was an artist and painted the first bible panorama ever exhibited in the United States. Her mother is also an artist of merit and a writer of excellent verse and prose. The daughter inherits the talents of both parents. In 1869 she was married to William H. Best, of Dayton, Ohio, and her home is now in that city. Mrs. Best began her literary career as a poet. Her first short story appeared in one of the Frank Leslie periodicals. That was followed by stories in other publications. In 1882 her services were sought by the editor of the Detroit "Free Press," and now Mrs. Best is editor .of the household department of that paper. She is also a regular contributor to A. N. Kellogg's Newspaper Company and has written several dramas. The first, "An American Princess." is now in its sixth season. A comedy drama, "Sands of Egypt," is in the hands of Miss Elizabeth Marbury, of New York. " A Rhine Crystal " is being used by Miss Floy Crowell, a young New England artist, and her other plays, " The Little Banshee" and "Gemini," the former in Irish dialect, the latter a two-part character piece, were written for Miss Jennie Calef. In all these plays the music, dances, ballads and all incidental scores are distinctively original. A number of ballads have also added to the author's fame. She has devoted some attention to art. She has two children, a son and a daughter, and the latter is already an artist of some reputation. BLACKWELL, Miss Elizabeth, physician and author, born in Bristol, England, 3rd February, 1821. Her father, Samuel Blackwell, was a wealthy sugar refiner, a man of broad views and strong benevolence. At the political crisis of 1830-31 commercial affairs in England were thrown into confusion, and Mr. Blackwell was among those whose fortunes were swept away at that time. He removed with his family to the United States in August, 1832, and settled in New York, where he started a sugar refinery. He was rapidly amassing wealth when the financial crash of 1837 in the United States swept away his fortune through the wreckage of the weaker houses with which he had business relations. He turned his eyes to the West, and in 1838 removed his family to Cincinnati, Ohio. There he was stricken by fever and died at the age of forty-five years, leaving a family of nine children to their own resources among strangers. Every cent of indebtedness left by the father was paid by his children. The three older daughters, of whom Elizabeth was the third, placed themselves at once at the head of the family. Two sons in school left their studies and took clerkships. The four younger ones were still in the nursery. The older sisters opened a boarding school for young women, and their liberal culture and enterprise won them a large patronage. The sisters felt the restrictions placed upon women in the matter of earning a livelihood, and they became convinced that the enlargement of opportunities for women was the one essential condition of their well-being in every way. After six years of hard work, when all the younger members of the family had been placed in positions to support themselves, the sisters gave up the school. Elizabeth resolved to study medicine, although she had to overcome a natural aversion to sickness of all kinds She wrote to six different physicians for advice, and all agreed that it was impossible for a woman to get a medical education. She thought differently, however, and in 1844 she took charge of a Kentucky school to earn money for her expenses. In 1845 she went to Charleston, S. C., to teach music in a boarding-school, and there added a good knowledge of Latin to her French and German. There she entered the office-student class of Dr. Samuel Henry Dickson. In May, 1847, she applied for admission to the Philadelphia Medical School, but both college and hospital were closed to her. She applied to all the medical schools in the United States, and twelve of them rejected her application and rebuked her for temerity and indelicacy. The college faculty in Geneva, N. Y., and that in Castleton, Vt., considered her application, and the students in Geneva decided to favor her admission. In 1847 she entered the college as 'No. 417" on the register. In January, 1849, she was graduated with the Geneva class. A large audience witnessed the granting of the first medical diploma to a woman. Immediately after graduation, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell went to Paris, France, where, after months of delay, she was admitted to the great lying-in hospital of the Maternity as a resident pupil, and several other schools permitted her to visit. She also studied under able private tutors. In 1850 and 1851 she "walked" St. Bartholomew's hospital in London, England, studying in the Women's Hospital and under private teachers. She returned to the United States and in the autumn of 1851 she opened an office in New York City. She succeeded in building up a large practice, in spite of social and professional antagonism and ostracism. The Society of Friends were the first to receive her warmly and support the new movement, and she soon became known as a reliable physician. In 1853, with her sister, Dr. Emily Blackwell, she established in New York the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, which was incorporated and was for some years the only woman's hospital. In 1858 and 1859 she visited England and lectured in London, Birmingham and Liverpool on the connection of women with medicine. In 1859 she was placed on the register of English physicians. Returning to America, she entered with the warmest interest into the questions of the Civil War, and the sisters organized in the parlors of the Infirmary the Ladies' Central Relief Association, sending off the first supplies to the wounded. That association was soon merged in the Sanitary Commission, in which the sisters continued to take an active part. In 1869 Dr. Elizabeth lectured in the Medical College of the New York Infirmary, which had been chartered as a college in 1865. At the close of 1869 she went to England and settled in London, where she practiced for some years. There she founded the National Health Society and worked in a number of social reforms. She aided in organizing the London School of Medicine for Women, in which she served as the first lecturer on the diseases of women. In 1878, after a serious illness, she settled in Hastings, England, continuing her consultation practice only and working energetically for the repeal of the unjust Contagious Diseases Acts. Up to the present time she has continued to work actively for the promotion of equal standards of morality for men and women. Of late she has become an active opponent of vivisection, regarding it as an intellectual fallacy, misleading research and producing moral injury. She gives close attention to municipal affairs, as she feels the responsibility involved in the possession of a vote, which she possesses as a householder of Hastings. She knows in advanced age no diminution of her zeal for right over wrong. In addition to her long and arduous labors as a teacher, as a student and as the pioneer woman physician, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell has been a prolific author. Naturally, her works lie in the field of her profession. Between 1852 and 1891 she wrote the following important medical and scientific works: "The Laws of Life in Relation to the Physical Education of Girls," "How to Keep a Household in Health," "The Moral Education of the Young in Relation to Sex," "Wrong and Right Methods of Dealing with the Social Evil," " Christian Socialism," "The Human Element in Sex," "The Corruption of New Malthusianism," "The Purchase of Women a Great Economic Blunder," "The Decay of Municipal Representative Government," "The Influence of Women in the Medical Profession," "Erroneous Methods in Medical Education," and "Lessons Taught by the International Hygienic Conference." Besides these are to be counted her numerous lectures, addresses and pamphlets on many branches of her profession. She is a woman of unbending will and a courage that never recognized defeat as possible. She opened the gate to the medical profession for women in the United States, in France and in Great Britain, and she has lived to see that profession made as easily accessible to women as to men. Dr. Blackwell is a profound thinker, a clear and logical reasoner, and a scientific controversialist of eminent ability. Her career, her achievements, her literary and scientific productions, and her work as a practicing physician make her a standing refutation of the easy-going assumption that women have neither the endurance, nor the intellect, nor the judgment, nor the requisites to serve in the medical profession. She owns a house in Hastings, England, where she resides, with an office in London for occasional work. BLACKWELL, Miss Sarah Ellen, artist and author, the youngest daughter of Samuel and Hannah Lane Blackwell, born in Bristol, England, in 1828. She came to America with her parents at four years of age. Her father dying shortly afterwards, she was educated by her older sisters in Cincinnati, Ohio. She began to teach music at a very early age, while pursuing her studies. When nineteen years old, she went to Philadelphia to pursue the study of art in the newly opened School of Design, and while there received her first literary encouragement. "Sartain's Magazine" having advertised for ten prize stories, to be sent in under fictitious names, Miss Blackwell sent in a story of her own under the name "Brandon," and another by one of her sisters that happened to be in her possession. She received an award of two out of the ten prizes. That led to further literary work. Concluding to continue the study of art in Europe, she secured an engagement for weekly letters for two leading Philadelphia papers. Sue spent four years in Europe. She entered the government school of design for girls in Paris, then under the care of Rosa Bonheur and her sister, Mme. Julie Peyrol, and afterwards entered the studio of Mr. Leigh in London, and painted in the National Gallery, spending the summer on sketching from nature in Wales, Switzerland and the Isle of Wight. Returning to New York, she opened a studio and established classes in drawing and painting, but finally gave up her studio to assist her sisters, the Doctors Blackwell, then greatly burdened with work connected with the New York infirmary for Women and Children, and the medical college established by them. For several years she was occupied with domestic duties and the care of children in whom she was interested. As these duties lightened, she resumed artistic and literary work, writing occasional articles for magazines and newspapers and republishing the writings of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, then in England. A series of letters written by her for the "Woman's Journal," of Boston, concerning Miss Anna Ella Carroll, author of the plan of the Tennessee campaign, having excited much interest, it was followed by an open letter on the same subject published in the "Century" for August, 1890. That increased the interest, and in the Woman's Council and suffrage meetings in the early spring of 1891, in Washington, D. C., a large number of subscribers were obtained, and Miss Blackwell was deputed to write a biography of Miss Carroll and an account of her remarkable work. After careful research, she printed, 21st April, 1891, the biography and sketch entitled "A Military Genius: Life of Anna Ella Carroll, the Great Unrecognized Member of Lincoln's Cabinet." Miss Blackwell spends her summers in an old farm-house at Martha's Vineyard, and her winters in New York or Washington, engaged in literary work. Her especial subjects of interest are land and labor reform, woman's suffrage and anti-vivisection, sympathizing as she does with Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell in her opposition to all cruel and demoralizing practices. BODLEY. Miss Rachel L., scientist and doctor of medicine, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, 7th December, 1831. Her parents were Anthony R. and Rebecca W. Talbot Bodley, who settled in Cincinnati in 1817. Her paternal ancestry was Scotch-Irish. The American head of the family, Thomas Bodley, came from the north of Ireland early in the eighteenth century. His wife was Eliza Knox, of Edinburgh, Scotland. Her maternal ancestry runs back to John Talbot, an English Friend, who settled in Virginia. Rachel was the oldest daughter and the third child in a family of five. Her mother taught a private school, in which Rachel studied until she was twelve years old. She entered the Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati in 1844, only two years after the opening of that institution, which was the first chartered college for women in the world. She was graduated in 1849, and in 1860 she was made preceptress in the higher collegiate studies. Dissatisfied with her own attainments, she went to Philadelphia, Pa., and entered the Polytechnic College as a special student in physics and chemistry. After two years of study she returned to Cincinnati and was made professor of natural sciences in the Cincinnati Female Seminary, which chair she filled for three years. While there she distinguished herself by classifying the extensive collection of specimens in natural history bequeathed to the seminary by Joseph Clark. Her work on that collection is crystallized in a catalogue that was recognized by Asa Gray, the eminent botanist, as a valuable contribution to science. In 1867 and 1868 she gave a series of important lectures on cryptogamous plants of land and sea. In 1865 she was elected to the chair of chemistry and toxicology in the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, being the first woman professor of chemistry on record. In 1874 she was elected dean of the faculty, and she held both of those positions until her death. She was called to the deanship while the college building was being erected. Among her many achievements was the collection of facts in reference to the success of the graduates of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in their professional work. That work was entitled "The College Story.'' The graduates were at that time practicing in Utah, Manitoba, India, China and European lands, and in every state in the Union. Their replies to the questions she sent them showed an unbroken line of success. Dr. Bodley received many honors in recognition of her contributions to science and literature. In 1864 she was made corresponding member of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. In 1871 she was elected a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and in that year the degree of A. M. was conferred upon her by her alma mater in Cincinnati. That college, up to that time, had never given a degree to any of its alumnae subsequent to the degree of A. B. at graduation. Dr. Bodley was one of the first three to receive that honor. In 1873 she was elected a corresponding member of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History. In 1876 she was elected a corresponding member of the New York Academy of Sciences and a member of the American Chemical Society of New York. She was elected first vice-president of the meeting called in 1874 to celebrate the centennial of chemistry, the month of August in that year being the date chosen in honor of the discovery of oxygen by Dr. Joseph Priestly in 1774. At Dr. Bodley's suggestion the meeting was held in Northumberland, where Dr. Priestly is buried. In 1879 the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania conferred upon her the honorary degree of M. D. In 1880 she was made a member of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, and she delivered a course of lectures on "Household Chemistry" in the regular course of the Institute. In 1882 she was chosen a member of the Educational Society of Philadelphia, and in the same year was elected school director of the twenty-ninth school section, in which office she served until 1885. She was again elected to that position, and served until she died, 15th June, 1888. BOYD, Mrs. Louise Esther Vickroy, author, born in Urbana, Ohio, 2nd January, 1827. BAKER, Mrs. Charlotte Johnson, physician, born in
Newburyport, Mass., 30th March, 1855. Her maiden name was Charlotte Le
Breton Johnson. She was graduated from the Newburyport high school in
1872, spent a year in teaching, and entered Vassar College in 1873. She
was graduated from that institution in 1877 with the degree of B.A.
During the college year of 1877-78 she served as instructor in
gymnastics in Vassar. In 1878 and 1879 she was assistant to Dr. Eliza M.
Mosher, surgeon in the Woman's Reformatory Prison in Sherbourne, Mass.
In the fall of 1879 she entered with advanced standing the medical
department of the University of Michigan, from which institution she was
graduated in 1881 with the degree of M.D. She returned to Newburyport
and in 1882 was married to Dr. Fred Baker and they went to Akron, O.
Threatened failure of health caused her to go to New Mexico, where she
lived in the mountains for five years. Early in 1888 she and her husband
moved to San Diego, Cal., where both are engaged in successful practice
as physicians. Their family consists of two children. In 1889 Dr.
Charlotte received the degree of A.M. from Vassar College for special
work in optics and ophthalmology done after graduation. Besides
her professional work, Dr. Baker has always identified herself with the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union and with all other movements for the
advancement of women individually, socially and politically. BROTHERTON, Mrs. Alice Williams, author, born in
Cambridge, Ind. Her family is of Welsh and English descent, with six
generations on American soil. Her father resided in Cincinnati, Ohio,
and afterward in St. Louis, Mo., then in Cambridge, Ind., and again
settled in Cincinnati. She was educated mainly in the St. Louis and
Cincinnati public schools, graduating in 1870 from Woodward high school,
Cincinnati. In October, 1876, she was married to William Ernest
Brotherton. Since then she has resided in Cincinnati. Two children, a
boy and a girl, compose her family. Her oldest son, a bright boy of
eleven, died in 1890. Living from her birth in an atmosphere of books,
she was early trained by her mother in careful habits of composition.
Her first appearance in print was in 1872. Her specialty is poetry, but
she has written considerable prose in the form of essays, reviews and
children's stories. From the first her success, in a pecuniary way, has
been marked. Writing only when the spirit moves, in the spare moments of
a busy home life, she has contributed at intervals to a variety of
periodicals, the "Century," the "Atlantic,"
"Scribner's Monthly," the "Aldine," the
"Independent," and various religious journals. Her booklet,
"Beyond the Veil" (Chicago, 1886), was followed by "The
Sailing of King Olaf and Other Poems" (Chicago, 1887), and by a
volume of prose and verse for children, entitled “What the Wind Told
the Tree-Tops” (New York, 1887). Her work shows a wide range of
feeling and a deep insight into varying phases of life. Many of her
poems have been set to music in this country and in England. CARY, Miss Alice, poet, born near Cincinnati, Ohio,
in April, 1820, died in New York City, 12th February, 1871. The family
to which she belonged claimed kindred with Sir Robert Cary, who was a
doughty knight in the reign of Henry V of England, and with Walter Cary,
who fled with the Huguenots from France to England after the revocation
by Louis XIV of the Edict of Nantes. His son Walter, educated in
Cambridge, came to the Colonies soon after the landing of the Mayflower
and settled in Bridgewater. Mass., only sixteen miles from Plymouth
Rock. He there opened a grammar school, probably the first one in
America. He w as the father of seven sons. One of the seven, John,
settled in Windham, Conn., and of his five sons, the youngest, Samuel,
was the great-grandfather of Alice and Phoebe Cary. Samuel was graduated
from Yale College, studied medicine and practiced in Lyme. His son,
Christopher, at the age of eighteen entered the Revolutionary army.
After peace was declared, Christopher received a land grant, or warrant,
and settled in Hamilton county, Ohio. His son, Robert, was the father of
the famous Cary Sisters, and of several other children, all of whom were
persons of poetic temperament and fine intellectual powers. Alice Cary
began to show her poetical talent at an early age. She wrote poetry when
she was eighteen, much of which was published. Her mother, a woman of
English descent, died in 1835, and her father married a second time and
maintained a separate home near the cottage in which Alice, Phoebe and
Elmira lived. In 1850 Alice and Phoebe decided to remove to New York
City. They had won a literary reputation, and they had means to carry
out their ambitious projects. Alice made her first literary venture in a
volume of poems, the work of herself and her sister Phoebe, which was
published in Philadelphia in 185o. Its favorable reception had much to
do in causing the sisters to leave "Clovernook" and settle in
New York. In 1851 Alice brought out the first series of her "Clovernook
Papers," prose sketches of character, which won immediate success.
Several large editions were sold in the United States and Great Britain.
A second series, issued in 1853, was equally successful. In 1854 she
published ''The Clovernook Children," a juvenile work, which was
very successful. Alice published her first volume of verse in 1853,
entitled " Lyra and Other Poems." It met with ready sale, and
a second and enlarged edition was published in 1855, which contained
" The Maiden of Tlascala," a long narrative poem. Her first
novel, "Hagar," published as a serial in the Cincinnati
"Commercial," was issued in a volume in 1852. Another novel,
"Married, not Mated," appeared in 1856, and her last novel,
"The Bishop's Son," was published in 1867. Her “Pictures of
Country Life” appeared in 1859. Alice Cary contributed many
articles to “Harper’s Magazine” to the “Atlantic Monthly,” to
the New York “Ledger” and the “Independent.” CARY, Miss Phoebe, poet, born in Hamilton county,
near Cincinnati, Ohio, 24th September, 1824, and died in Newport, R. I.,
31st July, 1871. Her early educational advantages were superior to those
of her sister Alice, whose constant companion she was through life, and
from whom she differed radically in person, in mind and in temperament.
Phoebe, like her sister, began to write verses at the age of seventeen.
One of her earliest poems, "Nearer Home," written in 1842, has
achieved a world-wide reputation. The story of her early life, the loss
of her mother, the re-marriage of her father, the want of harmony with
the stepmother, and the maintenance of a separate home, is told in the
story of her sister's life. Her poems are her chief productions Her
genius did not take kindly to prose. Her verses were very diferent from
those of her sister. Phoebe was a woman of cheerful and independent
temper, and her verses were sparkling and hopeful, sunny and cheering,
while those of Alice were more somber and redolent of the mournfulness
of life. Some of her earlier productions were published in the
"Ladies' Repository," in "Graham's Magazine," and in
the Washington "National Era." Phoebe was in society a woman
of wit and brilliancy, but always kind and genial. She and her sister,
in their New York City home, after they had become famous and popular,
did many kindly deeds to encourage and bring out obscure young authors
of promise. Phoebe was the more robust of the sisters, and, after they
had settled in New York City, she from choice assumed the greater share
of the household duties, and thereby shortened her time for literary
labor, while giving Alice, who was in delicate health for many years,
greater opportunities for her literary musings. One of the most touching
tributes to the dead ever written is the tribute to Alice, written by
Phoebe only a few days before her own death. It was published in the
“Ladies’ Repository.” Phoebe’s robust health was not sufficient
to carry her through the trial of her sister's death. Weakened by
intense sorrow, she began to fail after Alice's death. Her prostration
was intensified by a malarial attack, and she was taken to Newport, R.
I., for a change of air and scenes. The change delayed, but could not
avert, the blow. She grew gradually weaker and died there. Like her
sister, Phoebe is mainly regarded as a poet. Her contributions to the
" Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary" (Philadelphia, 1850), number
one-third of those contained in that volume. Her independent volumes are
"Poems and Parodies" (Boston, 1854), "Poems of Faith,
Hope and Love" (New York, 1867), and a large number of the poems in
"Hymns for all Christians" (1869). Both of the sisters were
women of great native refinement. CHASE, Mrs. Louise L., born in Warren, Mass., 2nd
September, 1840. She is a daughter of Samuel and Mary Bond. Soon after
her birth her parents moved to Brimfield, Mass., where she received her
education, entering the Hitchcock free high school at the age of
thirteen. Her attendance in that school was interrupted by a temporary
residence in Columbia, Conn., where she attended a private school. She
returned to Brimfield and finished her course at the age of sixteen. In
1857 she took up her residence in Lebanon, Conn., and there became the
wife, in 1861, of Alfred W. Chase, a native of Bristol, R. I. Mr. and
Mrs. Chase soon removed to Brooklyn, Conn., and in 1887 to Middletown,
R. I., the home of Mr. Chase's family, where they still reside. In 1885
she was elected president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of
Middletown, and in that way became prominent in the work. She was
elected State vice-president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
and at about the same time State superintendent of the department of
Sabbath observance. In 1886 she represented the State in the National
Convention in Minneapolis, Minn. She was elected in 1891 State
superintendent of scientific temperance instruction in schools. CHENOWETH, Mrs. Caroline Van Deusen, vice-consul and
educator, born at the summer home of her parents, on the Ohio river,
opposite Louisville, Ky., 29th December, 1846. She is the youngest
daughter of Charles Van Deusen and Mary Huntington, his wife. The
winters of her early life were passed in New Orleans, La., where was
also the residence of her mother's family. Her academic training was had
in the St. Charles Institute, New Orleans, and Moore's Hill College,
near Cincinnati. She became the wife, while still in her girlhood, of
Col. Bernard Peel Chenoweth, the son of Rev. Alfred Griffith Chenoweth,
of Virginia, Mrs. Chenoweth has always held liberal views relative to
woman's work, and the simple naturalness with which she has lived
according to her faith is hardly less remarkable than the unusual and
brilliant character of her achievements. For fourteen months following
her marriage in 1863, she performed faithfully and with patriotic fervor
the onerous duties of a military clerk to Col. Chenoweth, thereby
returning to duty in the ranks, and as her substitute on the field, the
soldier detailed for this clerical work. When Col. Chenoweth was made
superintendent of schools in Worcester, Mass., Mrs. Chenoweth took the
examination required for teachers, that she might be of service in the
event of need. It was during her husband’s term of office as United
States Consul in Canton, China, that she was able to render her most
efficient aid. Upon one occasion she sat as vice-consul in an important
land case between one of the largest American houses and a wealthy
Chinese. She reserved her decision for several days, until it could be
submitted to Col. Chenoweth, then some eighty miles distant, under
medical care, who promptly returned it unchanged, with direction that
she should officially promulgate it as his duly accredited
representative. Thenceforth, until Col. Chenoweth's death, several
months later, the affairs of the consulate were conducted by Mrs.
Chenoweth. She is believed to be the only woman who has ever held
diplomatic correspondence with a viceroy of China upon her own
responsibility. She was officially recognized in her vice-consular
capacity upon her return to Washington to settle her husband's affairs
with the Department of State, and was cordially complimented by Hamilton
Fish, Secretary of State, for the thoroughness and skill with which her
mission was accomplished. The effort was made by influential friends in
Massachusetts to return Mrs. Chenoweth to Canton as United States
consul, a measure to which President Grant extended his warm approval
and the promise of his support, provided his Secretary of State could be
won over. The later life of Mrs. Chenoweth has been a most studious and
laborious one, the more so that the support and education of her two
sons fell to her unaided care. For some years she taught private classes
in Boston, and was for a time professor of English literature in Smith
College. Her interests are varied, and her literary work is graceful as
well as full of energy. Her essays relating to experimental psychology
are scholarly and abreast of the freshest thought. She is a member of
the London Society for Psychical Research, as well as of many other
working societies, among which are the Brooklyn Institute, the New York
Dante Society, and the Medico-Legal Society of New York. Her sketches of
child-life in China are quaint and sweet. Her "Stories of the
Saints " (Boston, 1882) is rich in an old-world charm. The book was
written for some children of Dr. Phillips Brooks' parish in Boston, of
which she was for twenty years a member. She now resides in New York
City. CONNER, Mrs. Eliza Archard, journalist and lecturer,
was born on a farm near Cincinnati, Ohio. Her ancestors were among the
pioneers of southern Ohio, and one of them founded the town of New
Richmond. Her maiden name was Eliza Archard. She was educated in Antioch
College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, taking the full course in classics and
higher mathematics. In 1869 she became the wife of Dr. George Conner, of
Cincinnati. In her early years she was a teacher, part of the time
instructor in Latin and German in the Indianapolis high school. There
her persistent refusal to accept less wages than had been previously
paid to a man teacher for doing the same work resulted in the passing of
a rule by the school board that teachers of both sexes in the high
school should receive the same salary, a rule that remains in force to
this day. Her first newspaper contribution was printed when she was
thirteen years old. In 1865 she became a regular contributor to the
"Saturday Evening Post," of Philadelphia, under the name of
"Zig." Later she wrote for the Cincinnati
"Commercial," signing the initials E. A. Her contributions
attracted attention. In 1878 she became a member of the editorial staff
of the "Commercial." She went to New York City in 1884 as
literary editor of the "World" In 1885 she accepted a place on
the editorial staff of the American Press Association syndicate in New
York. She is a member of Sorosis and of the New York Women’s Press
Club. Mrs. Conner has probably written as much newspaper matter as any
other woman living. In editorial writing she furnishes regularly two
columns daily of a thousand words each. She has done all kinds of
newspaper work, from police-court reporting up. Her letters to the
Cincinnati "Commercial" from Europe were published in a volume
called "E. A. Abroad" (Cincinnati, 1883). She has also written
several serial stories. An important part of her work for the American
Press Association has been the preparation of a series of newspaper
pages of war history, descriptive of the battles of the Civil War. In
her girlhood Mrs. Conner entered enthusiastically into the struggle for
the emancipation and advancement of women. She originated classes in
parliamentary usage and extempore speaking among women. Wherever
occasion permitted, she has written and spoken in favor of equal pay for
equal work, and of widening the industrial field for women. As a speaker
she possesses the magnetic quality. She is deeply interested in
psychological studies and in oriental philosophy, accepting the ancient
doctrine of repeated incarnation for the same individual. She is an
enthusiast on the subject of physical culture for women, believing that
mankind were meant to live out-doors and sleep in houses. GAGE, Mrs. Frances Dana, woman suffragist and
author, born in Marietta, Washington county, Ohio, 12th October, 1808.
Frances Dana Barker, as she was named, was educated at home, in a
frontier log cabin. Her father was a farmer and a cooper, and she could
make a good barrel and till a farm in her girlhood. In 1829 she became
the wife of Mr. Gage, a lawyer practicing in McConnellsville, Ohio. They
reared a family of eight children, and in spite of all her domestic
distractions, Mrs. Gage read, wrote, thought and spoke on woman’s
rights, temperance and slavery. In 1851 she attended the woman’s
rights convention in Akron, Ohio, and was chosen president of the
meeting. In 1853 she moved to St. Louis, Mo., with her family.
Her husband’s health failed, and she took a position as assistant
editor of an agricultural paper, published in Columbus, Ohio. Her four
sons enlisted in the Union army, and she went in 1862 to Port Royal, to
care for the sick and wounded soldiers. She spent thirteen months in
Beaufort, Paris and Fernandina, ministering to soldiers and freedmen
alike. She lectured throughout the North to soldiers' aid societies in
advocacy of the Sanitary Commission. She went without commission or
salary to Memphis, Vicksburg and Natchez. After the war she lectured
successfully on temperance. In 1867 she was made helpless by paralysis,
which shut her from the world, being able only to talk, read and write.
Under the penname "Aunt Fanny" she has written many juvenile
stories, poems and social sketches. She has been a contributor to the
" Saturday Visitor" and the New York "Independent."
Her latest published works are a volume of poems and a temperance story,
"Elsie Magoon." HALL, Miss Pauline, opera singer, born in
Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1862. In private life she is known by her family
name. Schmitgall. Her first venture on the stage was made with the Alice
Oates Company, in 1879, in which she appeared in the chorus and in minor
parts. In 1882 Miss Hall went to New York City, where she has made her
permanent home. In New York she made her debut as Venus with
"Orpheus and Eurydice," and then she first attracted general
attention. Her most notable success was in " Erminie," which
ran for three years. Miss Hall has traveled with a company of her own,
in the double role of star and manager. She has acquired a large
fortune. BURT, Mrs. Mary Towne, temperance reformer, was born
in Cincinnati, Ohio, of English-American parentage. Her father, Thomas
Towne, was educated in England for the ministry. After the death of her
father, which occurred in her early childhood, her mother removed with
her three children to Auburn, N. Y., where Mrs. Burt received a liberal
education, passing through the public schools and the Auburn Young
Ladies' Institute. Four years after leaving school she became the wife
of Edward Burt, of Auburn. When the crusade opened, in 1873, Mrs. Burt
began her work for temperance, which has continued without intermission,
with the exception of seven months spent in the sick room of her sister,
Mrs. Pomeroy. So deeply was she stirred by the crusade that on 24th
March, 1874, she addressed a great audience in the Auburn Opera House on
temperance. Immediately after that, Mrs. Burt was elected president of
the Auburn Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and served for two years.
She was a delegate to the first national convention held in Cleveland,
Ohio, in 1874, was one of the secretaries of that body, and in the next
national convention, in Cincinnati, Ohio, was elected assistant
recording secretary. In the year 1876, in the Newark, N. J., national
convention, she was elected a member of the publishing committee of the
"Woman's Temperance Union," the first official organ of the
National union. She was afterwards made chairman of that committee and
publisher of the paper. During the year 1877 she served as managing
editor. At her suggestion the name "Our Union" was given to
the paper, a name which it held until its consolidation with the
"Signal," of Chicago, when it took the name of the "Union
Signal." In Chicago, in 1877, she was elected corresponding
secretary of the National Union, which office she held for three years,
and during that term of office she opened the first headquarters of the
National union in the Bible House, New York City. In 1882 she was
elected president of the New York State Union, a position which she
still holds. During the years of her presidency the State union has
increased from five-thousand to twenty-one-thousand members and from 179
to 842 local unions, and in work, membership and organization stands at
the head of the forty-four States of the National union. Mrs. Burt, with
her husband and son, resides in New York. She is a member of the
Protestant Episcopal Church. FINLEY. Miss Martha, author, born in Chillicothe,
Ohio, 26th April, 1828. She has lived many years in Maryland. Her father
was Dr. James B. Finley, of Virginia, and her mother was Mary Brown, of
Pennsylvania. The Finleys and Browns are of Scotch-Irish descent and
have martyr blood in their veins. The name of their clan was
Farquarharson, the Gaelic of Finley, and for many years Miss Finley used
that name as her penname. In 1853 Miss Finley began her literary career
by writing a newspaper story and a little book published by the Baptist
Board of Publication. Between 1856 and 1870 she wrote more than twenty
Sunday-school books and several series of juveniles, one series
containing twelve books. These were followed by "Casella"
(Philadelphia, 1869), "Peddler of LeGrave," "Old
Fashioned Boy" (Philadelphia, 1871 ), and "Our Fred" (New
York, 1874). It is through her "Elsie " and
"Mildred" series that she has become popular as a writer for
the young. Miss Finley's pen has not been employed in writing
exclusively for the young. She has written three novels.
"Wanted—A Pedigree" (Philadelphia, 1879), "Signing the
Contract" (New York, 1879), and "Thorn in the Nest" (New
York, 1886). Miss Finley resides in Elkton, Cecil county, Md. [Source:
Biographical Sketches of Preeminent Americans, Volume 1; By Frederick G.
Harrison; Publ. 1895; Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.] WILLIAM
HENRY HARRISON;
was born February 9, 1773, at In
1810 occurred his famous interview at
|
