History of Madison County, Ohio : its people, industries and institution with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families, Part 48

Author: Bryan, Chester Edwin
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : Bowen
Number of Pages: 1150

USA > Ohio > Madison County > History of Madison County, Ohio : its people, industries and institution with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 48

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SILVER URN LODGE NO. 29.

Silver Urn Lodge No. 29, Free and Accepted Masons, the oldest secret organization among the colored people at Madison county and located at London, Ohio, was granted a charter of dispensation and set up by Right Worshipful John R. Blackburn, grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, August 6, 1869, with the following charter mem- bers: James Cain, worshipful master; Edward Mumford, senior warden; George White, junior warden; Robert Cain, treasurer; John L. Cain, secretary ; Americus, senior deacon ; Andrew J. Smith, junior deacon ; Thomas Pleasant, tyler, and Green Roberts, of which only two are living-James H. and John L. Cain.

The lodge has been very prosperous in that time and owing to the population it had to draw from has made about one hundred and fifty master Masons, while some have moved away, others have passed to the great beyond.

These are the worshipful masters who have helped make the lodge a success since its organization : E. H. Lowery, W. H. Napper, William S. Lowery, John M. Bunch, George M. Phonosdall, Joseph L. Lowery, Daniel Lewis, Charles W. Cain and A. G. Holloway, the present worshipful master.

The lodge has now a membership of twenty-eight and is doing well. It holds its meetings in the hall in the Buff block, corner of High and Main streets.

WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS.

By Mrs. Robert Moore.

The purpose of the Woman's Relief Corps is to render the veterans aid and comfort in sickness or distress; to find employment and homes for their widows and orphans; to cherish and emulate the deeds of our army nurses and of all loyal women who rendered loving service to our country in her hour of peril; to encourage loyalty and inculcate lessons of patriotism and love of country in the communities in which we live; to perpetu- ate the memory of our heroic dead in the sacred observance of Memorial day.

The Woman's Relief Corps is the greatest philanthropic, charitable and patriotic organization of women in the world. It instituted a patriotic curriculum in its regular work, and began the inculcation of patriotic teaching in the public schools of the country, a work which has been taken up by many other patriotic organizations since then. There are now more than three thousand women whose work as patriotic instructors in corps

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and departments of the Woman's Relief Corps is commanding attention. Space is too limited to tell all that has been accomplished during these past years. The patriotic work of the Woman's Relief Corps of London can scarcely be estimated. Two hundred and more patriotic primers have been placed in the schools of our county and elsewhere; also thirty Declaration of Independence charts; fifty oleographs of history of the stars and stripes; more than three hundred leaflets and fifty flags. Members are pledged to keep "Old Glory" where it stands today, and on Flag day. June 14. every home (not only the members of the Woman's Relief Corps) should float the flag, aud in this way show their loyalty to the principle for which it stands.

The children of the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home are remembered, the mountain schools of the south, the Old Ladies' Home, the building of monuments, etc., and the flood sufferers of 1913 were generously cared for and, with all this, they do not forget their own suffering poor, nor the old comrades. Their cause should interest all American women alike. for it is purely a labor of love and kindness to the unfortunate and a service to our country. Everyone owes the same debt of gratitude to its defenders.

The Woman's Relief Corps is the largest organization of women in the world under. one eligibility clause and one motto. It now numbers one hundred and sixty-seven thousand members, with department organizations in forty-one states, divided among two thousand six hundred and four corps, as the local organizations are known. It was, on Wednesday, July 23. 1884, that Mrs. Robert Moore, Mrs. James Peck, Mrs. G. W. Wilson, Mrs. Albert Phifer, Mrs. Theodore Miller, Mrs. Charles Skecles, Maria Skeeles, Mrs. William Morrow Beach and Mary Beach, met in the Grand Army of the Republic. hall in London. Ohio, to consider the question of organizing a subordinate corps of the Woman's Relief Corps, auxiliary to the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic .. Mrs. Robert Moore was chosen president pro tem, and Mary Beach, secretary pro tem. After a general interchange of views, the secretary was instructed to correspond with Mrs. Kate E. Putnam. president of Mitchell corps, Springfield, Ohio, and request her to come to London on the 6th of August, 1884, with reference to organizing and mustering in the officers and members of this corps. Upon motion the meeting adjourned until Wednesday, August 6. 1884, on which day, at three o'clock p. m., a permanent organiza- tion was effected. Sixteen women were present and duly mustered in. Mrs. Putnam, with her assistants, Mrs. Ernest and Mrs. Grant, of Springfield, Ohio, were the mustering officers. The following officers of Lyon Corps No. 52, were elected by acclamation : President. Thowessa Moore; senior vice-president, Maggie Miller: junior vice-president, Laura Kinney ; treasurer, Martha L. Wilson : secretary, Mary Beach ; conductor, Elizabeth Minshall; chaplain, Vinnie Phifer; guard, Maria Skeeles. These, with the following names, composed the list of charter members: Hannah Underwood, Alice Dooris Thomas, Lucy Beach, Lizzie Skeeles, Rena Stuckey, Mary Durflinger, Virginia Davidson, Clara Pierce, Sarah Dunkin. Ella Haley. Jennie Graham, Minerva Acton, Alice Eastman, Jennie Van Wagener. Kate Dooris Sharp, Cornelia Mitchell, Josephine Lohr, Mary McSaveny, Jennie Huddleson, Victoria Miller. Kate Peck, Victoria Withrow, Josephine Mathers, Kate HIanson.

Some of the members of this corps have moved away, some have withdrawn and thirteen have been lost by death, namely : Lizzie Skeeles, Ellen Allen, Sarah Sprague, Alice Dooris Thomas. Victoria Miller, Harriett Gillette. Maggie Miller, Ella Haley, Harriet Gunsaulus, Philomelia Simpson. Sarah Dunkin. Flora Vent and Frances Smith. There are now forty-six members and the number is gradually increasing. The organiza- tion offers to the American people a canse broad and sublime enough to enlist every sympathy and to engage every faculty. With this labor of love and duty for the past thirty-one years, in this cause. the local corps would be greatly pleased if it could only see a movement toward the erection of a memorial hall in memory of the loyal men who

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enlisted to save their country's honor. If the resources of Lyon Relief Corps had com- pared with the fraternity, charity and loyalty of this order, Madison county would have had a memorial hall several years ago.

The present officers of Lyon Corps No. 52 are as follow : President, Caroline Emery ; senior vice-president, Phoebe Simpson ; junior vice-president, Permelia Arnett; secretary, Thorressa Moore; treasurer, Orpha Morris; chaplain, Jennie Davidson; conductor, Bell Neff; assistant conductor, Clara Pierce; guard, Catharine March; assistant guard, Emma Preston ; musician, Fannie Speasmaker; patriotic instructor, Vinnie Phifer; press correspondent, Jennie Davidson; color bearers, Anna MeCormack, Alice Eastman, Ida Warner, Grace Lankaster. These, with the following names, constitute the present roll of members: Candace Anderson, Lucy Beach, Mary Bescher, Olive Bacome, Mary Dur- flinger, Ida Fricker, Eva Graham, Allie Gamlin, Margaret Ingrim, Lucy Jones, Belle Linson, Catherine March, Elizabeth Minshall, Cornelia Mitchell, Augusta Kilgore, Katie Peck, Julia Reese, Flora Robey, Kate P. Strain, Cloey Shaffer, Jennie Turner, Jennie Van Wagener, Martha Wilson, Victoria Withrow, Ada Workinan, Laura Cannon, Abbie Haines, Maria Skeeles, Maude B. Bonner, Kate Dooris Sharp.

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CHAPTER XXVII. CLUBS AND FRATERNITIES.

LONDON FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS.

By Mrs. A. J. Strain.

The London Federation of Women's Clubs was perfected on April 17, 1913, when the three literary clubs of London, realizing that much better work might be accomplished and more activities taken care of hy co-operation, decided to join forces. The East High Street Club, the oldest literary organization in London, took the initiative and invited the Woman's Club and the Twentieth Century Club to meet with them in a mass meeting at the court house. Mrs. A. P. Morris and Mrs. Cussins. members of the Altrurian Club of Columbus, were present on that occasion, and both spoke of the work accomplished by the Federation of Columbus. The first officers of the London Federation were: President. Mrs. Clinton Morse; recording secretary, Mrs. Charles E. Gain ; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Ralph Coons; treasurer, Mrs. Peyton Emery ; auditor. Mrs. Sherman Simpson. The vice-presidents were the presidents of the three literary clubs, Mrs. Frank Noland, of the East High Street Club; Mrs. John Parker, of the Woman's Club, and Mrs. B. F. Linson, of the Twentieth Century.

Since the early organization other clubs have joined the federation, so that eight organizations, numbering about two hundred women, are now banded together for social and welfare work, civic improvement and club fellowship.

The London federation, in its short existence, has proven a powerful good in the community. The first great achievement of which the members feel justly proud was the beautifying of the grounds around the high school. Under the efficient chairmanship of Mrs. Lee Williams. the entire federation worked as a unit. until the last payment of the one thousand thirty-five dollars, the contract price, was paid.

A community Christmas tree in 1913. for the benefit of all the children in London, another splendid one in 1914, and a Christmas dinner consisting of all the delicacies that constitute a real Yuletide feast, was given under the auspices of this organization, with Mrs. Clint Morse and Mrs. John Tanner chairmen, thereby proving that members are interested in the social and moral uplift of the community.

The recent enjoyable home talent entertainment of "Fi-Fi," given under the leader- ship of Mrs. Gideon Clark, chairman of ways and means committee, was staged for the purpose of helping a new and worthy organization in our midst, and the entire proceeds were given to the Madison County Health and Welfare League.

It became necessary a few months ago to make the federation an incorporated body in order that it might be a beneficiary under the will of the late Miss Bertha Coover. That grand. noble, kind. self-sacrificing woman bequeathed to the federation the sum of seven thousand dollars for the purchase or erection of a club house. The following board of trustees were elected : Mrs. Peyton Emery, Miss Sallie Dooris. Mrs. Rosser Atchison, Mrs. William Chandler, Mrs. Clinton Morse, Mrs. Robert Moore, Mrs. A. J. Strain, Mrs. Martel Bryan. Mrs. Charles Gain, Mrs. Frank Noland and Mrs. Ogan Stroupe. The officers were as follow : President, Mrs. Sallie K. Robison; recording secretary, Mrs. Ida White; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Frank Noland; treasurer, Mrs. Martel Bryan.

The beautiful Dixon home on North Main street was purchased by the federation

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in the early summer of 1915 and henceforth will be the club home, not only of this organization, but of the societies and clubs of which the federation is formed, as well as .two or three organizations not included in its membership.

The London Federation is a power for good in this community, and while so much has been accomplished in the short period of its existence, greater, nobler, grander achievements are being hoped for by the members in the years that are to follow.

THE LONDON CLUB.

The London Club was organized on February 11, 1901, with eighty-seven charter members. The first officers were as follow : Charles Butler, president ; H. S. Mitchell, secretary-treasurer. It is purely a social organization and seeks to provide wholesome amusement for its members. Strangers in the town are always welcome to its rooms and the members make the wayfarer feel that the club is a real factor in the life of the city. The present membership includes one hundred and twenty-five of the leading men of the city. Albert G. Cartzdafner is president and Charles Lohr, secretary-treas- urer. The club has quarters in the Winchester block.

EAST HIGH STREET CLUB. By Mrs. Horace G. Jones.

A little group of East High street women, while seated on the lawn of one of their number, in the twilight of one of the most sultry days of the summer of 1887, conceived the idea of banding together for some line of literary work for the coming winter, but action was postponed until cooler weather. A meeting was called in November, and on the 21st day of that month, at the home of Mrs. Hannah Underwood, the club was organized. The hostess was the possessor of a copy of Hicks' famous engraving of American authors, and it was decided that the authors represented in this picture should constitute the line of study. The first literary meeting was held at the home of Mrs. Lizzie Jones. The charter members were eight in number, Mrs. Hannah Underwood, Mrs. Lizzie Jones, Mrs. Nannie Houston, Mrs. Mary Davidson, Mrs. Anna M. Chandler, Mrs. Alice Armstrong, Mrs. Laura Ward and Miss Lucy Lotspeich. Other members were enrolled and, as the greater number lived on East High street, the name of the East High Street Club was adopted. Meetings were held on Monday evening of each week at the homes of the members, taking one author and a subject beginning with the initial letter of the author's name for the evening's study. Each member was on duty each evening.

The study of American authors led to the study of those of other countries. This manner of procedure was continued for seven years. Dating long before women's clubs became the necessity they are today, the organization, in the beginning, was a very simple one and its freedom from formality was, perhaps,, the reason of its success, Later, when the club movement became general, a constitution was adopted, regular officers elected and the club was federated with the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs on, October 26, 1894. It became a member of the General Federation on June 10, 1910.

The tenth, twentieth and twenty-fifth anniversaries and other "Festa" days were celebrated in a fitting manner. Memory recalls many pleasant associations. delightful friendships, and beautiful characters, met with during the existence of the club. Sad, and tender thoughts are invoked when the memorial pages of the calendar are read.

Response has been made by the club to various outside issues, especially aiding in any work for the advancement and improvement of its home town.

With an unbroken record of twenty-eight years of progressive and happy existence, being, with one exception, the oldest woman's literary club in the state, it is not sur- prising that the East High Street Club should feel an honest pride in the earnest, con-

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scientious work which marks the whole of its career and in the fact that it is an active, progressive, up-to-date club.

The following are the present active members: Mrs. Myra Atchison, Mrs. Imo V. Booth, Mrs. Nannie Byers, Mrs. Anna M. Chandler, Mrs. Mary Durflinger, Mrs. Rose M. Gain, Mrs. Rilla F. Hornbeck, Mrs. Cathleen Hord, Miss Ella Ivins, Mrs. Lizzie H. Jones, Miss Clara Johnston, Mrs. Jeannette Loofbourrow, Miss Irene Martin, Mrs. Laura S. Noland, Mrs. Amelia O'Day, Mrs. Myra J. Rasor, Mrs. Haysel J. Robison, Mrs. Sallie K. Robison. Mrs. Lelia Rosnagle, Mrs. Nellie Rice, Mrs. Nora J. Simpson, Mrs. Elizabeth G. Stoll, Mrs. Myrtle Schurr, Miss Jeannette Smith, Mrs. Grace S. Thompson. Associate members: Mrs. Almeda Bryan, Mrs. Elizabeth Creath, Mrs. Ella Dunn, Mrs. Mattie Fisher, Miss Mabel Hamilton, Mrs. Viola E. Iliff, Mrs. Lucy A. Jones, Mrs. Carrie T. Kulp, Mrs. Minnie Noland, Mrs. Addie P. Rowlen, Mrs. Christine Smeltzer, Mrs. Lucile J. Stroup, Mrs. Jessie P. Sharp, Miss Jean Swartz, Mrs. Alice I. Tanner, Mrs. Frances M. Winchester, Mrs. Grace D. Warner. Corresponding members: Mrs. Ethel L. Baird, Henderson, Kentucky : Mrs. Ada B. Chance, Chicago, Illinois; Mrs. Lou F. Delahunt, Kansas City, Missouri ; Miss Frank Delahunt, Kansas City, Missouri ; Mrs. Elizabeth F. Ewalt, Loveland, Ohio; Mrs. Mary Harshman, Cleveland, Ohio; Mrs. Alice B. Jones, Van Wert, Ohio; Mrs. Minnie K. Jones, Seattle, Washington; Mrs. Bertha Kinsman, Kinsman, Ohio; Mrs. Ercel C. Kumler, Portland, Oregon; Mrs. Clara Mckinnon, Belle- fontaine, Ohio : Mrs. Lillian Prugh, Columbus, Ohio ; Mrs. Rose P. Smith, Independence. Kansas; Mrs. Bess R. Thomas, Birmingham, Alabama; Mrs. Hannah Underwood. Mechanicsburg, Ohio; Mrs. Jeannette P. Watson, Weiser, Idaho,

THE WOMAN'S CLUB, By Sallie Dooris.

Don't you remember when there was no woman's club in London?

Maybe some of the rising generation of club women think it was of primeval origin : or even like the old oak tree-"it was here when I came !"

Not so. There was a time when some young heads that are now growing silvery said: "Why can't we have a literary club, not like any other club that ever was?"

So when the weather was growing cold and the nights long, and winter coming on apace, little white-winged messengers bearing the names of the hostesses, Misses Mar- garet and Sallie Dooris, November 5. 1892, 3:00 p. m., the magic word "conversazione" in the lower left-hand corner, were sent forth.

In response, a bevy of women. some young, others in the meridian of life, assem- bled at a little white house on a green bank just between the edge of town and country- side. where oak trees grow. On that Saturday afternoon, while the tea was being sipped, and the ices consumed, the nature of the "conversazione" developed and the possibility of organizing a woman's literary club to meet afternoons once a week, was discussed.

Twenty-three years ago all staid and fashionable people had their social doings at night. No one dreamed of gadding about to clubs or anything else in daytime. The serious business of social leaders was to "make calls" from three to six o'clock, or a decorous "tea" among intimates was permissible at four-thirty. All other functions were relegated to lamplight or gaslight homes. It was a bold step to take, but those women took it. and so the first afternoon club in London was inaugurated.

But the boldest step of all in defiance of custom or conventions was to hold it on Mondays. Don't you remember three and twenty years ago that, rain or shine. Mon- day was sacred to wash day and all uncomfortableness?

It was a blow to all past traditions, that women should wilfully abandon their homes of a Monday, in broad daylight and spend their time in a state of mental dissipa-

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tion. It had a dash of audacity in it. It appealed, as it were, to all the unconvention- alism of a conventional class. There were five other days all open to choose from, not as it is nowadays, a club or two for every day of the week, but just because every mother's daughter of us had been born to look upon Monday as a day of drudgery, it was chosen as the day of days for a literary club.

So enthusiastic were the promoters of the club idea, another meeting would have been held the following day, only it was Sunday; but the day after that, the 7th of November, the same zealous women with a "Build-thee-a-more-stately-mansion-oh-my- soul" expression on their faces, met at the residence of Mrs. Mary Finley, on Main street, at two o'clock in the afternoon and an organization was effected. The new club was named "The Woman's Club." Mrs. Georgia Gould was elected president ; Mrs. Elizabeth Watson, vice-president; Mrs. May B. Prettyman, secretary; Mrs. Alice Dooris Thomas, treasurer. A committee on program for the year's study was appointed and English literature was selected as the subject for study. The drafting of a con- stitution and by-laws was a delightsome task to a specially favored few. Later on the motto, "Animi Cultus Humanitatis Cibus," was considered fit for such a learned club. The carnation was chosen as the club flower, pink and green the club colors.

It is to be regretted that all the records of the club for the first sixty-four meet- ings were lost in the fire of 1906, which very nearly destroyed the residence of the late Mr. William Morgan, North Main street, the custodian of the club at that time being a guest of the family, only saving a few personal effects.

It is recalled that the club year began on the first Monday in November, ending on the last Monday in May, with a three-weeks' holiday at Christmas time.

Don't you remember, we met at two o'clock in the afternoon at each other's houses and had five and six duties apiece? Light refreshments were served after the literary program and by the time "good-byes" were exchanged it was dark night ere the very tired club women reached their homes, literally worn out in mind and body.

It was a wild leap into space when the Woman's Club was federated into the Gen- eral Federation of Women's Clubs on June 6, 1893, being at that time among the very first Ohio clubs to become identified with the larger movement. Then later, a less exciting, but at the same time a pleasing exhilaration of spirits was enjoyed when the club federated with the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs, February 2, 1895.

Memory recalls an ambitious attempt at journalism in editing "The Voice of the Club," to which every member was expected to contribute an original article in addi- tion to their other duties. It died young, from want and inanition, aged six volumes. Be it said to its earthly honor and glory, however, that a copy of this periodical was sent to the women's department of the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. It held the choicest original thought, as expressed by the literati of the club, written in the finest handwriting, with a white linen cover, embroidered in pink carnations, the club flower., It received special mention for its artistic beauty in a Chicago journal. Later on it was returned to Woman's Club, when the dismemberment of the world's fair took place. Alas! it, too, went up in smoke in the conflagration of 1906.

In 1894 the educational room of the court house was chosen as the place for club meetings, being more central. The club year was shortened, ending the last Monday in March, which has been the rule since, and the tea-drinking were discontinued. The first printed calendar of the Woman's Club was issued in November, 1894, Germany the subject chosen for study. It was no idle matter to "keep up." Fancy writing four or five papers on such subjects as the following, taken at random from a program lying before me: "Development of Science in Germany," "Early German Literature and Folk Lore," "Martin Luther-His Influence on Germany," etc.

Those were strenuous days; and the club expression was of the essence of strenu-

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osity, and because of the lessons learned in that hard school of expression, the young club women of the present day ought to rise up and call us beautiful names because we have now learned how to frivol. But truth must be told though the heavens fall. It was not all toil and endeavor. We had our glorious hours of pleasure and sense. Don't you remember our annual field day, held at the country home of Mrs. Lucy Beach, "The Cedars?" Surely among all the trees of Lebanon, none were more beauti- ful than these growing at this beautiful place. We have had good times under their branches, and we recall with delight the pleasant hours in June, fragrant with sweet memories and redolent of the past. It was decided in 1914 that field day be rein- stated in the club annals and that a day in June be taken for its celebration by pick- nicking in Snyder Park. Vive la Field Day !

So swiftly have the years passed by, it seems only a little while since the giving of a rose fete and colonial tea for the benefit of the public library. How memory crowds upon memory as the events of more than two decades are reviewed. Gala days. banquets, receptions, teas and garden parties were given, delightful hours spent at homes where generous hospitality was dispensed.

It has not been all toil and endeavor for self alone: not all social enjoyment or hours of pleasure. While the aim of the club as originally planned was for literary, scientific and artistic culture, the broader human interests have not been neglected. The cry of the children in factories and mills has been hearkened to. Petitions bearing the signatures of the Woman's Club have been forwarded to the lawmakers, asking them to preserve our forests: to enact more stringent sanitary laws regarding public health : to suppress the white-slave traffic-in short. every good for the public welfare and uplift of humanity has received their moral support.

Our beautiful public library was the gift of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, through the solicitation of a member of the Woman's Club, Miss Sallie Dooris. The Woman's Club alcove bears on its shelves the gift of many books from the club women. one especial gift deserving particular mention, that of the' late Mrs. Mary Florence, president of the Woman's Club, 1898-99, who left a bequest of five hundred dollars to the public library, which sum was spent in works of reference adding much to the students' research for knowledge. The little children of our town have been very near the heart of the Woman's Club. For years past it has been their dearest pleasure 'at Christmas time to remember the "little brothers and sisters" for whom no preparation is made. So that it can truly be said that there are no sad hearts among the little ones of Lon- don when the birth of Christ is celebrated.

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History of Madison County, Ohio : its people, industries and institution with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families, Part 48

Author: Bryan, Chester Edwin Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : Bowen Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Bryan, Chester Edwin
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : Bowen
Number of Pages: 1150