USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Columbus, Ohio: its history, resources, and progress : with numerous illustrations > Part 19
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Middle Ward-Mrs. Demas Adams, Mrs. Wm. T. Martin, Mrs. Benjamin Blake, Mrs. J. M. Espy, Mrs. Moses Jewett, and Mrs. L. Reynolds.
South Ward-Mrs. James Cherry, Mrs. John McElvaine, Mrs. John Patterson, Mrs. A. Vanhorn, Mrs. McCarty, and Mrs. D. Woodbury.
A purchasing committee, consisting of Mrs. John Patterson and Mrs. N. H. Swayne, was appointed, "to buy cloth to be made into such articles as may be necessary." Purchases hav- ing been made, the ladies prepared a considerable number of articles, which were forthwith distributed among the poor of
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the city, whose necessities, at that time of the year, were many and urgent.
The object of the society was to devise and carry out a sys- tematic plan for the temporary relief of the poor. The constitu- tion provided that the relief should be so administered as to encourage industry and independent exertion for support. "The sick, the old and infirm, widows, and very young and destitute children were to be the first objects of attention."
Accordingly, on the 6th of April, 1836, the society formed a subordinate or auxiliary society " to educate the children of the poor." That portion of the work was taken in charge by the following ladies: Mrs. A. P. Stone, Mrs. Isaac Dalton, Mrs. Wm. Preston, Mrs. J. B. Crist, Mrs. Dr. Lathrop, Mrs. Noah H. Swayne, Mrs. Isban G. Dryer, Mrs. James Cherry.
On the 14th of April, 1837, Alfred Kelley donated to the so- ciety a lot of ground as a site for a school-house. During the same year, Messrs. D. T. Woodbury, Joseph Ridgway, Jr., and P. B. Wilcox were constituted an advisory board. These were the only gentlemen ever connected with the society. A small school-house was erected on the lot on Fourth street, donated by Mr. Kelley, and a free-school was opened and continued there for eight or nine years, or until the free-school system, under the State law, went into operation in the city. The lot and building were afterward sold for $500, and the money placed at interest for the benefit of the society.
The society was incorporated by an act of the legislature, passed March 5, 1838, to be found in the 36th volume of Ohio Laws, page 185. The act provides "that Mary P. Cressy, Maria M. Espy, Sarah Asberry, Maria S. Preston, Mary S. Kelley, Caroline Dryer, Keziah Stone, and their associates, being fe- males, who now are, or may hereafter, agreeable to the consti- tution and by-laws of the Columbus Female Benevolent Society, become members, are declared a body corporate, with perpetual succession, for the purpose of ministering to the wants and alle- viating the distress of the poor and afflicted of their own sex, and also affording moral, physical, and intellectual instruction and improvement to orphans and other poor children." It was
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further provided that the amount of property to be held by the society should not exceed in value fifty thousand dollars.
Prior to 1857, the following ladies successively filled the office of president of the society: Mrs. Dr. Hoge, Mrs. General Pat- terson, Mrs. Isaac Dalton, Mrs. T. R. Cressy, Mrs. Wm. Preston, Mrs. J. G. Dryer, Mrs. A. D. Lord, Mrs. J. L. Bates.
Miss Mary E. Stewart, afterward Mrs. Joseph Geiger, dis- charged the duties of secretary and treasurer for eleven years. The officers of the society for 1872, were: Mrs. William Denni- son, president; Mrs. W. E. Ide, vice-president; Mrs. Alexander Houston, treasurer, and Mrs. Walter Mahoney, secretary.
The city was divided into seventeen districts, to each of which two ladies were assigned as district visitors.
The fee for membership is one dollar per year. Twenty-five dollars paid at one time constitutes a life member. Of these there are three-Mrs. John N. Champion, who became such in 1855, and Misses Kate and Mary E. Deshler, daughters of W. G. Deshler, who became life members in 1870.
The constitution provides for a permanent fund, the income of which only shall be annually expended. This fund at pres- ent amounts to twelve or thirteen thousand dollars. It has been principally derived from a bequest to the society by the late Dr. Lincoln Goodale, amounting to fifteen or sixteen thousand dol- lars, about half of which has been paid over.
The society expends for charitable purposes about two thousand dollars annually. This is derived from interest on permanent fund, annual subscriptions, annual fees for membership, dona- tions, etc. The following statement of the sources of income for 1871 has been furnished us:
Annual subscriptions
$726 00
Interest on bonds
744 91
Annual membership fees
101 00
Donations.
175 00
Two life membership fees
50 00
Total
$1,796 91
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STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO.
THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.
The charitable institution known as the Industrial School is said to have been suggested by a lecture delivered in the city in the spring of 1858, by Charles Reemelin, of Cincinnati, who de- scribed similar charities existing in Europe. Be this as it may, it seems that about that time an association of ladies was formed, called the Industrial School Association, of which the first officers were: Mrs. Hannah Neil, president; Miss Matilda Gwynne, secretary, and Miss Ann Robinson, teacher.
The school was opened in the City Hall, over the market- house, with only eight pupils. By the close of the year the number had increased to fifty.
The Industrial School Association was incorporated June 30, 1866, under a general law of the State. The record of incor- poration states that at a meeting of the association held on the 8th of May, 1866, it was resolved to change its name to that of the Industrial Mission School Association ; and that, at the same meeting, I. C. Aston, F. C. Sessions, George Gere, J. J. Ferson, and E. L. Taylor were elected trustees, and Miss L. Peters, clerk.
The association having, in connection with the school, es- tablished a Home of the Friendless, again had their name changed, by a decree of the Court of Common Pleas, entered November 16, 1868, to that of the Hannah Neil Mission and Home of the Friendless. The managers of this mission finding it quite impracticable to do full justice to the two charities, transferred the Industrial School, in November, 1870, to the Columbus Benevolent Society, under whose fostering care it has since flourished.
The work of the Industrial School consists chiefly in collect- ing poor children once a week-Saturday afternoons-for the. purpose of giving them instruction and relief. Little girls are taught plain sewing and knitting, and instructed in morals and manners. The instructions are given by voluntary teachers, accompanied with temporary relief-a pair of shoes, a dress, hat, or other needed articles of clothing. They seldom fail to
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make good and lasting impressions upon the minds and hearts of the children.
The officers of the school are: Mrs. W. E. Ide, superintend- ent; Jane F. Houston, treasurer, and Josephine Klippart, secre- tary.
The school which opened in October, 1871, with 114 pupils and 19 teachers, had increased in January, 1872, to 190 pupils and 31 teachers. In April following, the number of pupils was 150, with 13 teachers.
There has grown out of the Industrial School a Sunday mis- sion school, organized on West Friend street, in 1868, by Mrs. T. J. Harris and Miss Kate Hunter. It meets on Sunday after- noons, at two o'clock, in the City Hall, over the market-house. The number of pupils is 175. The superintendents are Messrs. J. R. Doty and Ed. M. Thompson.
THE HANNAH NEIL MISSION AND HOME OF THE FRIENDLESS.
Some four or five years after its organization, the Industrial School Association, of which Mrs. Hannah Neil was the first president, established, in connection with its school, a Home of the Friendless. This latter institution was eventually called the Hannah Neil Mission, in honor of one who was most efficient in its establishment; whose life was devoted to works of charity, and whose memory is embalmed in the hearts of the poor and afflicted.
In November, 1868, the name of the Industrial School Asso- ciation was, by a decree of the Court of Common Pleas, changed to that of the Hannah Neil Mission and Home of the Friend- less, its general purpose being to provide an asylum for help- less and destitute women and children of all ages. Under its present name and organization, it properly dates from the 1st of April, 1868, when the home or asylum was opened in the Sol- diers' Home buildings, near the Union Depot. On the 15th of December, 1869, it was removed to its present location, nearly opposite the Institution for the Education of the Blind. The building, or rather the aggregate of buildings it now occupies, formerly used as the State Asylum for Idiotic and Imbecile Youth, is situated on a handsome lot of three and a quarter
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acres. The lot and building are the property of the Mission, and are estimated to be worth $30,000. The personal property of the Mission is estimated at $2,500.
The officers of the institution, for 1873, are : Mrs. M. B. Tay- lor, president ; Mrs. I. C. Aston, vice-president ; Miss L. A. Peters, recording secretary ; Mrs. William Ewing, correspond- ing secretary, and Mr. William Ferson, treasurer. The board of trustees is composed of the following gentlemen : Messrs. John F. Bartlit, E. L. Taylor, Isaac C. Aston, Robert E. Neil, and Yeatman Anderson. The following ladies constitute the board of managers : Mrs. J. F. Bartlit, J. N. Champion, W. An- drews, Joseph H. Geiger, R. E. Neil, William Monypeny, Ann Robinson, C. Hunter, A. Gardner, E. T. Mithoff, W. A. Her- shiser, Theo. Comstock, Dr. Loving, W. B. Brooks, Ed. Jones, C. P. L. Butler, Charles Hayden, J. Gill Blain, Elliott Jones, S. Baird, W. C. Quincy, Amos Eberly, Mis. Hankins, and Miss Kate Jones.
From its organization, April 1, 1868, to July, 1871, the mis- sion had provided for about five hundred homeless women and children. During the year ending at the latter date, there had been 167 different inmates in the institution, the average num- ber having been 75, and the average cost per inmate, for the year, $63.50. The average number of inmates, during 1872, was about 100, of whom 25 were women and 75 children.
THE WOMAN'S HOME.
This is a charitable institution, provided for destitute fallen girls and women, who have neither property, friends, nor homes. They are received on promise of reformation, and in case they remain at the Home until confidence can be placed in their reformation, they are placed in positions and furnished with employments that will insure them a comfortable support.
The Woman's Home of Columbus owes its origin and con- tinued existence to the Woman's Christian Association, organ- ized in the winter of 1869-70, and composed of ladies from nearly all the Protestant churches of the city. Its first president was Mrs. Judge J. L. Bates. It officers, at the close of the last year, were : Mrs. J. Rudisell, president; Mrs. Judge Bates, first
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vice-president; Mrs. Luther Williams, secretary; Mrs. Dr. Wormley, treasurer. There are also twelve managers. The foregoing list contains the names of all the officers furnished us on application at the Home.
The Home was opened on the 15th of April, 1870, under the superintendence of Mrs. L. V. Desellem, as matron, who still holds that position. Mrs. D. was formerly matron at the Ohio Penitentiary, for a period of seven or eight years. The Home is at present located at No. 171 East Rich street, in a brick house leased by the Woman's Christian Association. It is' sus- tained by the annual subscriptions of the members of the asso- ciation, and by donations. There are now seven inmates in the institution, two of whom are children born there.
Since the opening of the Home, forty-six unfortunate women have been received within its walls, some of whom, one-fourth at least, it is believed, have been thoroughly restored. It bids fair to become an institution for permanent good in our commu- nity, and as such should receive aid and encouragement.
THE HARE CHARITY FUND.
Jacob Hare, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Columbus in 1812. He was present at the first sale of lots in the summer of that year, and bought a lot on High street, which he never suf- fered to pass out of his hands. He was a plain, rough, pioneer woodsman. His investments turned out well, and by these and the increased value of his real estate, it was supposed, at the time of his death, that he was worth fifty thousand dollars. He died in this city, on the 3d of November, 1860, in the eightieth year of his age.
Mr. Hare left eight or nine children, generally in moderate circumstances, but to these he made no bequest in his will. To his widow he bequeathed all his household goods and furniture, and two hundred dollars a year for the first five years after his decease, if she should remain unmarried ; and then, in that case, the allowance was to be increased to two hundred and fifty dol- lars a year, during the remainder of her life, provided she should remain unmarried. All the balance of his estate, after the set- tlement thereof, and the allowance to the widow, both real and
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personal, was devised to the city of Columbus, to form a charity fund for the benefit of the poor and unfortunate of the city. This fund was to be forever under the control and management of the city council, who were not to diminish it below the orig- inal amount. They were required, at such time as the state of the fund would justify it, to erect a suitable building or edifice, to be named the Orphans' Home or Beneficial Asylum, to be used for the benefit of the fund, and the institution contemplated in and by the will.
Mr. Hare appointed William T. Martin executor of his will, and in case of Mr. Martin's decease before the testator, he nom- inated James Cherry, executor.
On the 15th of April, 1861, Mr. Donaldson presented to the city council a copy of Mr. Hare's will, which was referred to a standing committee to be called the Hare Charity Fund Com- mittee, consisting of Messrs. Stauring, Wilson, and Comstock.
" HARE ORPHANS' HOME, COLUMBUS.
The following are the chief points of interest in the report of the board of directors or trustees-James Patterson, R. Chad- wick, Christ. Kammerer-of the Hare Orphans' Home, for the municipal year ending April 13, 1868. The statements are given in the language of the Board :
" The board report that they found the house donated by the Orphans' Home of Columbus to be in a very dilapidated condi- tion. It was absolutely necessary to make extensive repairs to preserve the house. The directors ordered the house put in com- plete repair. It was found necessary to put on a new roof to keep the house from injury.
" There has been at the Home, on an average, twenty children during the year. The actual cost of provisions is about five dollars a month to each child. Including clothing, salary of matron, necessary help, and physician's salary, the cost has been about nine dollars per month for each child. There are but eleven children in the Home at the present time that were in- dentured into the Home by the probate judge, according to an ordinance passed by the city council, January 28, 1867, estab- lishing the Hare Orphans' Home.
" When the directors came to indenture the children, they found a number of children in the Home whose parents were not willing to give them in charge of the directors. They were
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CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.
informed that they must either give the children in charge of the directors or take them away from the Home. The children were all taken away but eleven.
"On account of the imperfect manner the matron (Mrs. Mary E. Parsons) kept the record of the children, it is impossible to make up such a report as the directors would like. They found that it was for the interest of the Home, that the matron be dis- charged, which was done January 30, 1868. On February 8th, Mrs. Mary Ann Lonnis was unanimously appointed matron, at a salary of twenty-five dollars a month. The directors hope they will have no more trouble in having the record properly kept hereafter. The directors became fully satisfied that it was absolutely necessary to have a committee of ladies of this city appointed for the purpose of looking after the internal arrange- ments, of the Home-see that the matron does her duty, and make suggestions to the board, which would assist them in the discharge of their duties. They accordingly, on the 30th of Jan- uary, unanimously appointed the following named committee : Mrs. John Miller, Mrs. William Fell, Mrs. Isaac C. Aston, Mrs. Theodore Comstock, Mrs. S. A. Champion, and Miss Ann Rob- inson. The directors take great pleasure in saying that they have found the above-mentioned committee of great service to them and interest to the Home. The ladies have assisted with a will, and therefore made the duties of the directors less onerous.
"Dr. C. C. White has been physician to the Home for the last year, at a salary of one hundred dollars a year. He visits the Home daily."
The trustees of the Home-William. Wall, L. Donaldson, M. Frankel, I. S. Beekey-in their report, April 8, 1869, state that there had been at the Home an average of thirteen children during the year. Mrs. Lonnis was continued as matron at the same salary, with two assistants at a salary each of twelve dollars per month. The trustees had found it necessary for the interest of the Home to discharge the physician, Dr. C. C. White, which was done on the 16th of January, 1869, and Dr. H. C. Helmick appointed in his place.
The directors of the Home-L. English, George Beck, J. J. Janney-in their report, dated April 17, 1872, state that there had been received into the Home, during the year ending March 1, 1872, three children, making fourteen that had been in the institution during the year. Only nine children were in the Home
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at the date of the report. No other information is furnished in this report, except a statement of receipts and expenditures for the year ending March 31, 1872, by which it appears that the receipts amounted to $2,007.50, and the expenditures to $2,059.33. The only other official information we have been able to obtain respecting the history and condition of the Orphans' Home is embodied in the following report for the year 1871, made to the Board of State Charities, by its secretary, Rev. A. G. Byers :
" This institution does not appear in the tabulated list. The circular addressed to it, in common with other institutions, was not returned. This fact, and the further reason that it is, pos- sibly, more a public charity than a private one, might justify its omission from a place among the organized orphanages of the State. Other reasons would render this omission agreeable to the secretary, but as there are stronger reasons why its con- dition and management should be made known, questions of delicacy, or of propriety, even, may be waived.
" Of course, in the absence of any official report of the history or present status of the Hare Orphans' Home, only such in- formation can be furnished as has been gathered from personal observation, or the statements of those directly related to, and, of course, familiar with the Home.
" This institution is founded upon the legacy of an old citizen who, in his will, devised that his property should go to the en- dowment of an 'Orphans' Home' for ' Orphan Children of the city of Columbus.' Some eighty thousand dollars was the original amount of the bequest. This sum was subsequently, by a com- promise, divided with the heirs of Mr. Hare, leaving, as Mr. Chadwick (now chairman of the committee of council on the Home) informs me, only about thirty-five thousand dollars, the interest only of which could be used for the maintenance of the Home. This sum was, however, supplemented a few years since by the surrender, upon the part of the Ladies' Benevolent So- ciety of Columbus, of their Home-including the building now occupied and other property, aggregating an amount equal, pos- sibly, to eight thousand dollars; the city council, from the date of this transfer, assuming the entire control of the institution. That both parties to this contract-ladies and city council -- thought this action, at the time, a prudent, if not actually a necessary one, there can be no question, but that for the benefi- ciaries of the Home it was most unfortunate, every fact in its subsequent history seems to affirm.
" Of course, it would serve no good purpose of your honorable
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board-to reiterate stories of indecency, and wrong, which, though now only traditional, are sad facts in the history of this well-devised but certainly badly managed charity. That it has been badly managed, is as palpable now as that its present con- dition is one of pitiable neglect.
" The building is one of a large block, situated on Town street, between High and Front streets (the very center of business in Columbus) familiarly known as the ' eight buildings.' Noth- ing could be more ineligible than this building, both as regards its location and construction. It is four stories high, and con- tains but ten rooms. From basement to roof, it is out of repair. The entire southern exposure of the roof leaks; as a conse- quence of this, the plastering in this part of the upper story has either fallen off, or is ready to fall. One portion, already off, fell at night upon sleeping children, fortunately without serious injury to the sleepers, and unfortunately without awaking the proper authorities to a sense of duty in preventing the liability to further injury of the house or its inmates. The floors, too, are sadly out of joint. The furniture is as rickety as the house -almost every appearance of comfort is, so the matron informed us, maintained by the presence of her own furniture. The yard (a small one to the rear of the building), that part of the prem- ises so important to the health and comfort of the children, is in perfect keeping with other parts of the establishment-the fences are broken down. the outbuildings are stripped of weather-boarding, and the yard is covered with dust and ashes. Not a green thing, nor anything having an appearance of com- fort, is to be seen anywhere about the institution, save that there were evidences of kindness and real maternal sympathy upon the part of the matron, toward the unfortunate children.
" There were ten of these, some at the public schools, others at play in the filthy yard. Of these children, the saddest part remains to be told. Mr. Chadwick informed me, that during the entire spring and summer, not to exceed ten dollars had been expended for vegetables out of the fund appropriated for the maintenance of the Home, and that probably nothing but the personal expenditures and care of Mrs. Lonnis, the matron, had averted scurvy from the children.
" This lady, who had for the past three years struggled with such difficulties, was, at the time of my visit, about to retire, helpless, and as she expressed it, " hopeless," of any better con- dition until an entire change could be effected in the mode of its administration.
"One of the children, a boy of twelve years of age, was a soldier's orphan, and the matron had sought long, but in vain through the committee to have him transferred to the State
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institution for such children. Attention of the authorities at the Soldiers Orphans' Home has been called to this boy.
" The secretary can not well forbear, in view of the foregoing statements, to suggest, if it could be done in accordance with the provisions of Mr. Hare's will, that this charity should be transferred to the care of the Ladies' Benevolent Society, or ยท some other private charitable organization in the city of Colum-
bus, or that in some way, the orphan children of Columbus, should be secured in their rights under the generous provisions contemplated by their benefactor."
The following trustees of the Home were elected May 12, 1872 : R. C. Hull, for one year, and Messrs. Theodore. Comstock and John G. Mitchell, for two years; Lorenzo English holdi ng over.
THE SAINT FRANCIS HOSPITAL.
Location, southeast corner of State and Fifth streets.
This hospital occupies the greater part of the building here- tofore usually known as the Starling Medical College. It is sit- uated in a portion of the city principally inhabited by the more prosperous class of its people.
The Society of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis was first founded in 1840, by Mother Frances Shevier, in Aachen, Ger- many, Prussia on the Rein.
The sisters first established a hospital in this city, in January, 1862, on Rich street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, nearly opposite Holy Cross Church. The building occupied here not affording sufficient accommodations to meet the demands of the sick and infirm, three lots on Friend street were purchased in 1864, as the site for a new hospital. These lots were afterward sold, and the sisters moved to their present location, on the 17th of February, 1865, having leased about two-thirds of Starling Medical College building for ninety-nine years, for the sum of ten thousand dollars.
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