USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume I > Part 11
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Miss Bentley is an Episcopalian, a member of Christ Church, an associate in the Girls' Friendly Society there, and a member of the Diocesan Council of Southern Ohio, Girls' Friendly Society.
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MARGUERITE BUTLER BIRSTRUP
MARGUERITE BUTLER BIRSTRUP, one of the founders of the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, North Carolina was born in Cincinnati, attended school there and was graduated from Vassar College in 1914.
The following eight years she was connected with the Pine Mountain Settlement School-a pioneer institution at that time-in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. During the last five years of her time there she had charge of the extension work, which involved working with thirteen rural schools in that educational division of the county. In 1922 and 1923, under the American Scandinavian Foundation, Mrs. Birstrup was a student in the Scandinavian countries-Denmark particularly-studying the folk school and cooperative movement.
In 1925 she helped to found the John C. Campbell Folk School in the extreme western corner of North Carolina-an adaptation of the Danish folk school. This is a school for building up rural life, with interest in economic, social, educational, and recreational conditions.
For thirteen and a half years she has been assistant director and treasurer of the school.
Her connection with Cincinnati has continued. She is a member of the Cincinnati College Club and also of the Vassar Club.
MARGARET DAVIS BOWEN
MARGARET DAVIS BOWEN, now principal of Gilbert Academy, New Orleans, is the daughter of Louis and Leila Davis and came to Cincinnati with her parents when she was two years old. She received her early educa- tion in the Cincinnati Public Schools, where she became a proficient student of the German language and attracted the attention of the late Dr. H. H. Fick, then Assistant Superintendent of German in the Cincinnati Public Schools. Through his influence, she secured a four year scholarship from the German-American Alliance Society of Cincinnati and became the first colored girl to enter the National German-American Teachers' Seminary at Milwaukee. Her practice work as a teacher of German was done in the Milwaukee Public Schools.
Upon graduation, she returned to Cincinnati and taught German in the Douglass School for a number of years. During this period as a teacher in service, she received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Cincinnati and was one of sixteen honor students in the evening classes.
Following her marriage to the Reverend J. W. E. Bowen, Jr., of Atlanta, Georgia, she spent several years in Jackson, Miss., and became the mother of a son, J. W. E. Bowen.
She returned to Cincinnati, joined the staff of Sherman School and con- tinued her graduate work at the University of Cincinnati. Mrs. Bowen
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received the Master of Education degree in June, 1935, and made a distinct contribution to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, of which she is now national president, with her thesis, "The Educational Work of a National Professional Sorority of Negro College Women."
In 1936, Mrs. Bowen was granted leave of absence from the Cincinnati schools for experimental work in education in New Orleans, La. She became principal of Gilbert Academy, the only high school in the city of New Orleans accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
Margaret Davis Bowen has been a dynamic leader in civic and community projects since girlhood. She organized the Victory Girls Club, an outstanding literary and debating club of high school girls, so recognized by authorities and favorably commented on by the late Randall J. Condon. She was charter worker and secretary of the Girl Reserve Committee of the West End Branch, Y.W.C.A., for seven years and Chairman of the Health Education Committee in the same Association. She was responsible for the organization of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority at the University of Cincinnati in 1921 and is now national president of the Sorority. She is a member of the National Asso- ciation of Negro Musicians, National Council of Negro Women, and of the Pan Hellenic Council of New Orleans. Margaret Davis Bowen is active wherever Negro women are working in the interest of human progress.
EMMA BOYD
EMMA BOYD, a teacher of outstanding ability, who served the children of Central Fairmount School in Cincinnati for thirty years, retired in June, 1937.
Miss Boyd belongs to a family of early pioneers of Westwood, who re- ceived their grant of land in 1812. After her early education in the Westwood schools, she obtained a teaching position in Bridgetown, Ohio, and walked back and forth each day.
With the determination of her pioneer ancestors, Miss Boyd achieved her aim, that of obtaining a university degree. She studied during the summers at Lebanon College, Miami University, night classes at the O.M.I. and the University of Cincinnati and received her B.A. from the latter institution.
After teaching in Bridgetown for ten years, she was appointed first grade teacher in the then new Central Fairmount School. Though modest and always unassuming, her influence, particularly in character building, has been far reaching.
No longer in the service of the schools, she is devoting her time to her beloved garden, and by so generously sharing her flowers with the sick and "shut ins," she continues to serve humanity.
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HELEN BRADLEY
HELEN BRADLEY, assistant principal for the past 12 years of Kennedy School, Cincinnati, Ohio, has an ancestry whose contribution to the safety and settlement of Ohio are matters of highly interesting record. Doubtless the energy and ability of this Cincinnati teacher-that infinite capacity for taking pains which are at the roots of all real attainment-came in large measure to her as heritage from her great, great, great grandfather, Captain John Leavens, who brought his family from Connecticut to settle at Belpre in 1788 and the great, great granddaughter of Captain Daniel Bradley- later he was made major-a Revolutionary War soldier, sent from Connecti- cut in 1791 with a company of men to take part in the campaign against defiant Indian tribes threatening the entire Northwest Territory.
Captain Bradley has left not only letters but a diary which can hardly fail to challenge interest of even the most casual. Once the reader begins, this record of hardships become routine and heroisms also all in the day's work. Bradley arrived with his troops, apparently about 30 soldiers, at Ft. Pitt (now Pittsburgh) about August 1, 1791. Among details of his records is an inventory of the clothing he took along-most of it warm and serviceable but including certain items-to wit : a pair of velvet and a pair of broadcloth breeches, a scarlet vest, a cravat, a pair of silk stockings-obviously in- tended for state occasions should they arise. Apparently there were few, if any.
Instead there were long marches through wilderness trails, there was constant embarking and disembarking as they were caught in violent river storms on the Ohio and the Muskingum, there were miles of road to be built, provisions to be watched against ever recurring shortage-and always there were hostile Indians lurking, watching, seizing their chance.
Captain Bradley's diary is brief and to the point in all such matters, "This morning by general order reduced to one-half pound of flour per day -it is feared the expedition will fail on account of provisions .. . " Or "A Serg't and one man was out a hunting, were fired on by Indians. The man was killed and scalped. The Serg't shot through the body but made his way into camp and died the next day," or, apropos of St. Clair's defeat-"Made our retreat in great disorder. The Indians pursued us four or five miles and then returned to massacre the prisoners. Such a horrid scene was, I believe, never acted before in this country. Braddock's defeat and Harmer's expedi- tion is not to be compared to this."
When the shattered remains of General St. Clair's Army reached Ft. Jefferson in their retreat, Captain Bradley was left at this garrison with Captain Shaylor and the sick and wounded. The rest continued their march back to Ft. Washington, the welcome walls and block houses of which finally met the eyes of Captain Bradley on November 24, 1792.
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ESTHER WILLIAMS PLUMBER (Wife of Burr Bradley) 1801-1882, Ohio Pioneer
HELEN BRADLEY Assistant Principal, Kennedy School, Cincinnati
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The intrepid captain was stationed for some time at Ft. Washington in Cincinnati and one of his letters, dated Jan. 26, 1793, paints a very colorful picture of the life in this famous garrison. He tells of the growth of the town, as compared with its meager settlements at the time he first passed through on his way with his men from Ft. Pitt to the battleground on the Maumee. It is calculated that Captain Bradley travelled on this long journey -from Connecticut to Southern Ohio and almost to Lake Erie, then all the way back to his patient and anxious wife, in New England-about 2,000 miles, much of it on foot. He took part in two campaigns, the most significant in Northwest Territory history, first the terrible defeat of General Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Territoy and later the victorious campaign of General Anthony Wayne which climaxed with his victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
Nor is this all, for there is every reason to believe that following the furlough which enabled him to return to his then home in Connecticut, Cap- tain Bradley returned to the Northwest Territory. He was cited by General Wayne for service at Ft. Massac, on the Ohio River at the mouth of the Cumberland and doubtless for fine service was commissioned major, March 3, 1797. He was also granted land, which grant was obtained by his son, Dr. Burr Bradley, who came to Putnam, now Zanesville, Ohio, for this purpose.
Dr. Burr Bradley married Esther Williams Plumber, the daughter of Jonathan Plumber Plumber, who came to Marietta with Rufus Putnam. She was the granddaughter of Captain John Leavens who settled at Belpre. Esther Plumber Bradley was born in Marietta, Ohio, in 1801 and died in 1882. One of the fine things known about this true daughter of pioneers is that although she and Dr. Bradley had 14 children of their own, they did not hesitate, at the wife's insistance, to take two more into their home and raise these little ones as they did their own. Edward Mathews Bradley was one of the 14 Bradley children. His only son was George H. Bradley, who married Isabel Ottarson, of Cincinnati. One of their two daughters is Helen Bradley, born at Wycliffe, Ohio, in 1892. She attended school at Milford, Ohio, was graduated from Miami University in 1914 and took her M.A. at Columbia University in 1917. Miss Bradley began her career as educator by teaching school at College Corner, Ohio, then at Huntington, W. Va., where she was director of social studies at the Junior High School and came to Cincinnati to teach in demonstration classes co-operating with the University of Cincinnati. It was not long before her professional ability was widely recognized. She has been president, vice-president and salary committee chairman of the Cincin- nati Teachers Association, active in the National Education Association as well as in the Ohio Association, in the American Association of University Women, the Cincinnati Woman's City Club, the League of Women Voters, the Cincinnati Peace League and in numerous other important groups and organizations.
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ELEANOR GERTRUDE BROWN
Although blind since infancy, ELEANOR GERTRUDE BROWN has been a teacher at Steele High School, Dayton, for the past 25 years. Her ability to instruct sighted children has been marked in many ways and was, in part, basis of an award made by the Post Graduate Association of Columbia Uni- versity for "a distinct contribution to the human race".
Miss Brown was born at Osborn, O., the daughter of William Henry and Edna May Brown. She attended the Ohio State School for the Blind, then entered Ohio State University, where she took her B. A. She received her M. A. and Ph. D. from Columbia University. This remarkable Ohio educator is also an author of ability. Her "Milton's Blindness" challenged wide interest, as have various articles on educational topics. Her residence is at the Bilt- more Hotel, Columbus.
MARY BRYANT
College Hill School, Cincinnati, still honors the memory of two unusually successful and efficient teachers MARY BRYANT, who taught in the com- munity shortly after the Civil War and MABELLE BROWN, on the school staff from 1890 to 1934.
M. EDITH CAMPBELL
M. EDITH CAMPBELL was born in Ripley, Ohio, December 27, 1875- the daughter of William Byington Campbell and Mary Leavitt Campbell. In the late nineties, Edith Campbell was a student at the University of Cincin- nati. Varsity Publications of those days will show you her name listed in every student organization that made college life worthwhile. Shortly after her graduation and the completion of her M. A. from the Cincinnati Uni- versity, she entered her first position-assistant in the Department of Eco- nomics at the University. She made a special study of the conditions of labor among women and her illuminating course on "Women Wage-Earners", which treated of these conditions, gained widespread comment, as she opened up a comparatively new line of investigation.
In 1908 the late Jacob Schmidlapp, then a wealthy banker in Cincinnati, wished to establish a large endowment in memory of his daughter, Charlotte. This fund was to bear her name and was to be considered as his daughter's gift to young women. Mr. Schmidlapp, however, did not know the definite organization which he wished the fund to assume. Miss Campbell's advice was sought. Since the announcement of the fund had been made thousands of letters from women all over the country had poured in, requesting assist- ance of various kinds. These Miss Campbell carefully analyzed. After months of effort she persuaded Mr. Schmidlapp and the Board of the value of a flexible program. And so it was decided that the purpose of the fund should be to
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advance money to young women who wished to gain an education and prepara- tion for vocations of all types. No one was greatly surprised when Edith Campbell was chosen as the organizer and director of this fund. No sooner had the fund begun its work than the director's reputation as a woman's friend circulated, and her office became the Mecca for all women of the vicinity who wanted help in matters of work. This opened Miss Campbell's eyes to a new service and an employment bureau for women and girls was started in con- nection with the fund.
A later outgrowth of the Schmidlapp Fund was the model apartments erected through Mr. Schmidlapp's generosity and Miss Campbell's energy. These were in answer to the housing need which Miss Campbell had recog- nized as she talked with the girls who came to the Schmidlapp Bureau, many of whom were living in wretched districts conducive to neither health nor morals.
At the present time Miss Campbell still serves as the director of the Schmidlapp Fund but the details of the work are taken care of by an asso- ciate director and Miss Campbell is free to devote the majority of her time to directing the work of the Cincinnati Vocation Bureau. In the years since its organization, the Schmidlapp Fund has made available educational oppor- tunities for over 400 young women of Hamilton County.
Of the general activities of the Schmidlapp Bureau the outstanding one has been Miss Campbell's work in connection with the organization of the Vocation Bureau of the Public Schools. The Board of Education was per- suaded to allow her to take over the issuance of work certificates for children and to establish a higher standard for this procedure through the use of pri- vate funds. Miss Campbell secured the private funds chiefly from Mr. Schmid- lapp, who gave financial support to the program to the extent of about $50,000. These funds were used, not only to issue work certificates, but to make a careful study of the group of boys and girls who were entering employment as compared with a group of children who were remaining in school. For this purpose, Miss Campbell secured the services of the well-known psychologist, Mrs. Helen T. Woolley, and influenced the Board of Education to appoint Mrs. Woolley as the first director of the above activities which became known as the Cincinnati Vocation Bureau.
Conservative Cincinnati smashed all precedent in 1911, and nominated a woman to the Board of Education. Miss Campbell was the woman. She won that election by one of the biggest votes ever given to a candidate-at-large for Cincinnati's school board, and when the votes were counted she stood next to the top in the list of successful candidates. She was the first woman elected to public office in Cincinnati. Shortly after the election of Edith Campbell to the Board of Education a vocational continuation school for boys was established. Then Miss Campbell came forward and proposed a continuation school for girls. The Board was apathetic. Miss Campbell enlisted the women's
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clubs of the city and put the facts before them. The result was that Cin- cinnati established a continuation school for girls which has grown into sev- eral girls' vocational high schools.
While Miss Campbell was a member of the Board of Education she was able to do much to actively support the activities of the Vocation Bureau. After she retired as a member of the Board she continued to work closely with Mrs. Woolley, the director of the Bureau, in developing its constantly growing activities. When Mrs. Woolley resigned in 1921, the Superintendent of Schools recommended and the Board of Education appointed Miss Campbell as the director of the Vocation Bureau.
The Cincinnati Vocation Bureau, now a department of the public schools, is organized under five main divisions, manned by a personnel of about seventy- five workers. The psychologists of the Psychological Laboratory, one division of the bureau, administer individual and group tests and evaluate, diagnose and make recommendations on this data. The Child Accounting Division conducts the school census, issues work certificates to the children who must leave school for employment and through its attendance officers enforces the school attendance law which requires that all Ohio children shall be in school until they are sixteen. The Scholarship Division administers a scholarship fund, supplied by the Community Chest and interested organizations and individuals, which enables superior boys and girls to remain in school after they have reached sixteen and might otherwise, because of economic necessity, be forced to enter employment. The Visiting Teachers of The Visiting Teacher Division are trained in the fields of social work and teaching and relate and help solve home and school problems. The Occupational Research and Coun- seling Division through its vocational counselors collects and publishes informa- tion concerning occupations, conducts classes in occupations for boys and girls in the schools (thus giving them a background of occupational informa- tion which will help them in their vocational planning) and conform with individual boys and girls to help them make the educational and vocational choices which best prepare them to make the most satisfactory adjustments in later years. All these activities are under the general supervision of the director of the Vocation Bureau-Miss Campbell.
One of Miss Campbell's outstanding services to education was her work as a member of the Ohio State School Survey Commission. In 1913, Governor James M. Cox appointed Miss Campbell, whom he often referred to as "Ohio's leading woman citizen", as one of the three members of the Ohio State School Survey Commission-the other two members both being men. In January 1914, the commission made its report to the governor. This comprised an intensive study of 659 rural village schools in 88 counties, and an extensive study of 9000 school rooms and of 395 school systems. The commission secured the services of a trained director and the co-operation of professors and students
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in colleges and large numbers of superintendents and teachers throughout the state. The Survey extended into every county in the state, giving par- ticular attention to the common schools in the country districts. The results of this school survey were far reaching, furnishing as it did comprehensive information of the conditions which existed in Ohio's schools and making possible a solid foundation for the progressive educational measures which followed enabling every county to make consolidation of districts, where desired, and to enjoy efficient supervision and the service of trained teachers.
During the World War Miss Campbell was active in the Council for National Defense. She also served as a regional director of the Woman's Branch of the Industrial Service Section of the Ordnance Department, in which capacity she was responsible for the working conditions affecting women and girls employed in ordnance plants in seven states. At this time she also served as the Federal Director of the Women's Division of the U. S. Employ- ment Service for Ohio, for during the war federal funds were available to make possible a more extensive and efficient employment service.
For many years Miss Campbell has been prominent in social and civic organizations-chiefly those which have made possible better social and eco- nomic conditions for women and children. She was a charter member of the American Association of Social Workers and has helped to organize a number of Cincinnati's important social agencies, serving as a member of the Board in a number of these-The Juvenile Protective League, the Trounstine Founda- tion for social research, the Bureau of Municipal Research-and as a member of the executive committee of the Cincinnati Community Chest.
Miss Campbell has long been interested in the Woman's Trade Union League and in the work of labor organizations. Since her childhood days, under the influence of her father who was a prominent abolutionist, she has been keenly alive to the inter-racial problems. She helped to organize the Negro Civic Welfare Association in Cincinnati on which she has served as a board member for many years.
Miss Campbell was one of the organizers and the first president of the Woman's City Club of Cincinnati, is an active member of the League of Women Voters and was one of the organizers and now serves as a member of the Board of the Cincinnati Peace League.
Thru all these organizations, as well as in her capacity as director of the Vocation Bureau and of the Schmidlapp Fund and as special lecturer at the University of Cincinnati, Miss Campbell consistently works in the interests of child welfare. She served as chairman of the Vocational Guidance Section of the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection. Her interest in social and industrial problems and her activities in all fields emphasize the importance of helping boys and girls choose and prepare for the work thru which they may reach their finest development as individuals and thru
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which they may render their greatest service to others. At the same time Miss Campbell is keenly interested in industrial problems and in doing all in her power to improve working conditions not only for young people who must enter industry at an early age but also for adult workers and such economically handicapped groups as the Negroes.
In 1931, Edith Campbell was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities by the University of Cincinnati, the first woman graduate of this University to be so honored.
In 1933, she was appointed by the Governor of Ohio to serve as a trustee of the Ohio State University, the first Ohio woman thus distinguished. She has collected many other "firsts", or rather has been selected for them. Nor is this hard to understand for Edith Campbell is undoubtedly, in many ways, Cincinnati's foremost woman citizen.
HAZEL JUNE CLARK
HAZEL JUNE CLARK, cooperating teacher at the Raschig school in Cincinnati, was the first president of the Cincinnati Council of Childhood Education. She has for a number of years been a strong factor in the steady development which has always characterized the educational system of the city and has been instrumental in introducing and adapting progressive modern ideas, which have proven very beneficial. She is a graduate of Teachers Col- lege and is a member of Kappa Delta Pi, an honor educational fraternity of that institution. She also belongs to the Pi Theta, an honorary kindergarten fraternity and the Kindergarten Alumnal organization and was formerly a member of the executive board of the committee of one hundred at the Uni- versity. She is also a charter member of Cincinnati Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, national honor society in education, which includes only one tenth of the white women teachers in any school system.
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