USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume I > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
MRS. JAMES H. CANFIELD
MRS. JAMES H. CANFIELD is said to hold the All Ohio-and perhaps nation wide-record as an organizer of woman's clubs. She came to Columbus in 1895, when her husband became president of the Ohio State University. She was main factor in the formation of 26 clubs, besides serving Columbus and the national and state federation of women's clubs in numerous ways. Mrs. Canfield, it is explained in "We, Too, Built Columbus," was not moti- vated by personal or party feminism in this service. It was simply that she believed that the woman's club offered the best approach whereby women could be encouraged to a real interest in the world in which they lived. "She
300
WOMEN OF OHIO
was" says Mrs. Robert E. Rockwood, "among the first to realize the possi- bilities of club work in the liberation of American women, so long handicapped by lack of opportunities, so long bewildered by the new leisure the machine age had forced on them."
ADA MYRTLE OAKLEY CARRAN
ADA MYRTLE OAKLEY CARRAN, wife of Edward F. Carran, is the president of the Federation of Women's Clubs of Greater Cleveland and has long been interested in civic affairs, cooperating earnestly and heartily in movements whereby the public shall become informed on vital current prob- lems, leading to active support of such measures as seem to promise develop- ment and upbuilding for the community. Such has been the work of Mrs. Carran outside of her home, for first of all her interest has centered in her own household.
A native of Detroit, Michigan, born in 1888, she is a daughter of Thomas Rowland and Clara (Lawrence) Oakley. On both sides, as far back as the ancestry can be traced, she is of English lineage. Her father was born in London, England, June 14, 1857, and her mother in Birmingham, England, March 13, 1860. Her father's people were sea captains, sailing the seas from England to Australia. Her mother left England at an early age and became a resident of Michigan. She was a niece of Lady Inglis, whose husband, Lord Inglis, a writer and poet, was knighted by King Edward VII.
Mrs. Carran was a small child when her parents removed with the family from Detroit to Buffalo, New York, and after a few years they came to Cleve- land, where Mrs. Carran has since lived-always on the West Side, the past twenty years in Lakewood. She attended the Cleveland public schools and has since pursued many courses of study and received a great deal of private instruction, so that she is a well read woman and one who is continually in- creasing her knowledge by reading and keen observation. Her mind seems to have a natural analytical trend and her deductions are clear and logical. This was early manifest in her speculations in the stock market, which have proven pleasurable and profitable and to which she was attracted through the fact that her husband was at one time a broker.
It was on the 30th of January, 1908, that Ada Myrtle Oakley was married to Edward Franklin Carran, who was born in Cleveland, March 9, 1883. He attended the public schools of his native city and in his early youth was known as "the boy orator of Cleveland". For a time he engaged in the brokerage business on his own account and he has had experience as a reporter on the Cleveland newspapers. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Mason. His parents were Robert A. and Eva A. (Lee) Carran, the latter a native of Corn- ing, New York, while the former was born at Newburgh, New York on the farm which his father had settled on coming to America from the Isle of Man.
301
WOMEN OF OHIO
The grandfather, Robert Carran, raised the flag on the public square in Cleveland until his death which occurred in 1912, when he had reached the venerable age of one hundred and one years. Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Carran have become the parents of a daughter and son-Amo, now the wife of Howard J. Oster, living in Lakewood, and Edward Franklin Carran, Jr., at home.
Mrs. Carran usually supports the Democratic party, her affiliation there- with resulting from a belief that the party was most for the man who needed help, and at times she has worked hard in elections. She was a member of the Reporters Plan to study all the emergency projects, believing that "the things we are the least up on are the things we are the most down on." It has always been her purpose to thoroughly inform herself on vital questions, before giving her support thereto.
Her first interest in club life was the Parent-Teachers Association, because it is the link between the home and the school and her first office therein was that of motion picture chairman. The department was then in its infancy twenty years ago, with much to be done, but with little knowledge as to how to do it. For eighteen years she headed some group interested in better motion pictures and has been helpful in accomplishing much that is worthwhile, at the same time realizing the great future possibilities in visual education in the schools. Mrs. Carran held the office of president of the Lincoln Parent Teachers Association, giving her a broad outlook as to character building in youth. In charge of the welfare work of the Lakewood Woman's Club, she was con- cerned with the welfare of many people and always saw that Christmas baskets were sent to needy families. For three years she was president of Alpha Alpha chapter of Pi Omicrom, a national sorority, which studied and had for its aim educational guidance. She was also a director of the League of Women Voters and a member of the board of the Lakewood Young Women's Christian Asso- ciation. She has been a trustee and vice president and is now president of the Federation of Women's clubs of Greater Cleveland, in which a multiplicity of duties devolves upon her having to do with the benefit and uplift of the individual and the betterment of the community at large. To her religious activities, Mrs. Carran gave the same thoughtful consideration that has always influenced her decisions. In early life she attended churches of various de- nomination, acquainting herself with their beliefs and forms of worship but later united with the Episcopal church, to which her parents belonged, and for many years has been a member of the Ascension Church of Lakewood, as are her children.
Mrs. Carran's hobby is antiques and twelve years ago Mr. and Mrs. Carran purchased a farm of five hundred acres on which stood a house built more than a century ago. Neither had experience in country life, but both loved the out-of-doors, its freedom, its fresh air, its beauty and its wild life of birds, animals and flowers. They decided to remodel the house and furnish it with antiques and it should be their summer home where all of their family
302
WOMEN OF OHIO
could have an extended vacation, and where in the fall and winter Mr. Carran could indulge his love of hunting. Their city home is at 17221 Edgewater Drive, Lakewood, and their two residences furnishes them opportunity for comparisons in distinguishing what is worthwhile in life from what is false and unreal.
MARY BROWN CARVIN
MARY BROWN CARVIN is actively identified with women's clubs in Toledo and is now in charge of current events programs in the Zonta Club and also is giving radio talks along similar lines. Her people have been closely identified with the development of the middle west. She is a daughter of Ignatius and Martha (Marsee) Brown and a granddaughter of Hiram Brown, who became one of the pioneer attorneys of Indianapolis, Indiana, where he settled in 1823. One of his daughters married a son of the Dalzell family and another daughter was Mrs. James Yohn, whose son Fred became a world famous artist. In 1853 Ignatius Brown established the Brown Abstract Com- pany and when he died left the business to his two sons, Hiram and Lyndsay, who conducted it for a time, after which Hiram purchased his brother's interest and remained active in the business until his death. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Ignatius Brown numbered four children, there being two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, in addition to the two sons already mentioned, and all are residents of Indianapolis with the exception of Mrs. Carvin. The Marsee family, from whom Mrs. Carvin is descended in the maternal line, was also one of prominence in Indianapolis. Her mother's brother was the distinguished Dr. Joseph W. Marsee, a noted surgeon who always practiced his profession in Indianapolis, and a ward in the city hospital there is dedicated to his memory.
Mrs. Carvin was reared in Indianapolis, where she attended the grade schools and graduated from the high school, while later she completed a course of study in the Normal school of that city. She is also a graduate of the Indiana Law School and while she never practiced law she was admitted to the Indiana bar on the 24th of October, 1914. She also holds a teachers life certificate, permitting her to teach in the schools of that state.
In 1900 was celebrated the marriage of Mary Brown and Francis A. Carvin, also of Indianapolis. He was a contractor and when the United States became involved in the World War, the government sent him to Lorraine because of his knowledge of re-inforced concrete construction. In 1920 they established their home in Toledo, where they have since remained and Mr. Carvin engaged in the building of auto truck bodies and other equipment, in which he still continues.
Mrs. Carvin is a member of the Methodist church, in the work of which she takes a helpful part. Always interested in civic and government affairs, she helped to promote the suffrage movement in Detroit. She had been a
303
WOMEN OF OHIO
pupil under May Wright Sewall in her girlhood days in Indianapolis and was also a student under Dr. Lillian Martin of Stanford University. Mrs. Carvin has been quite active in the club life of Toledo. She belongs to the Zonta Club, of which she was formerly president and she is now in charge of their current events study class and also gives radio talks on current events. She is a director of the City Managers League, is a member of the Caroline Scott Harrison Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution at Indianapolis and belongs to the Toledo Young Women's Christian Association. Her affilia- tion is regarded as a valuable asset to any organization to which she belongs for she always keeps abreast of the times and is a fluent, earnest and interest- ing speaker, who can add much to any worthwhile discussion.
MARY ANN COLE COOKE
MARY A. COOKE, one of the early club women of Ohio was born in Cin- cinnati in 1853 and died in 1912. She was the eldest daughter of Coleman and Sarah Ann Cole. Her father was a member of the board of trustees of the colored schools of Cincinnati, and she was one of the early graduates of Gaines High School. After graduation, she taught about five years in the public school at Cleves, Ohio, then was married to Henry E. Cooke, a native of Rich- mond, Va., who had adopted Cincinnati as his home.
Mrs. Cooke was the mother of three daughters, Sarah Cooke Paghe, Har- riet Cooke Simms, and Surelda Cooke Brown; Mrs. Paghe and Mrs. Brown followed the profession of teaching before marriage, while Mrs. Simms is at present a successful chiropodist of Cincinnati.
After her youngest daughter entered high school, Mrs. Cooke became enthusiastically interested in club work. She organized the "Valley Forge", the first club formed among the women of Wyoming, Ohio for uplift work, and one that is known throughout the State Federation for the excellency of its work. She was its first president, and continued in that office until her death in 1912.
She was active in establishing a day nursery in Lockland, Ohio, and was honored by having it named for her-The Mary A. Cooke Day Nursery.
Mrs. Cooke had two sisters, SARAH COLE GOODE and FANNIE COLE COX, teachers in the Cincinnati public schools. Mrs. Goode was an accom- plished pianist, a writer and an able elocutionist. She was a charter member of the Wheel of Progress Club, the second oldest federated club of Cinein- nati. Mrs. Cox, a teacher for eighteen years until her marriage, was also a singer who took the leading soprano roles in the productions of the Mozart Circle.
ALICE V. COSTOLO
ALICE V. COSTOLO of Sidney, has taken active and helpful part in social service work and is now president of the City Federation of Women's Clubs.
304
WOMEN OF OHIO
She was the seventh in order of birth in a family of ten children whose parents were Michael and Bridget (Ronan) Quinlan, both of whom were natives of Ireland and came to the United States about eighty-five years ago, settling in Champaign county, having accompanied their parents to the new world. They were married in this state and the father followed the occupation of farming in pioneer times.
Mrs. Costolo pursued her education in the rural schools of Shelby county, Ohio and in November, 1888, she was married in Sidney to Dr. J. W. Costolo, who was engaged in the practice of medicine at Fort Laramie, Ohio, where they remained until 1896, when they came to Sidney, the Doctor continuing to follow his profession here until his death, which occurred March 7, 1918. He was a member of the Catholic church, to which faith the family has always adhered.
Mrs. Costolo first took up club activities in 1902 as a member of the Newman Fortnightly and she was also a member of the Ladies auxiliary of the Wilson Memorial Hospital. While her husband was superintendent of the Tuberculosis Hospital for a period of four years, she was matron of the institution. It was really Dr. Costolo who built the hospital and he was one of its trustees. While he lived Mrs. Costolo took a deep interest in assisting him in his work and in sustaining him in all of his professional and philan- thropic activities. In 1920 she pursued a six months course in social service and she was sent to Buford, South Carolina, as director of the home which was opened as a recreation center there for the benefit and entertainment of the marine service training post. Returning to Sidney she is now president of the City Federation of Women's Clubs, and is widely known and popular in club circles here, utilizing every opportunity to further the ideals of women's service for mankind and to bring these ideals into practical use in the community.
FRANCES G. COULTRAP
FRANCES G. COULTRAP (Mrs. Henry W. Coultrap), of McArthur, Ohio, former president of the Southeast District, Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs, has also been very active in church and missionary society work.
She has headed women's missionary groups at McArthur for 20 years.
Mrs. Coultrap was former state chairman of public welfare in the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs and belongs to the D. A. R., to the McArthur Civic Club and to Phi Beta Kappa, Ohio Wesleyan University sorority.
ELIZABETH GALLAGHER DEIBEL
With the organized activities among the Catholic women of Youngstown, ELIZABETH GALLAGHER DEIBEL is actively and prominently associated. She resides at 2220 Fifth Avenue and is a native of the city in which she makes her home, born on the 9th of November, 1877. Her parents, John
305
WOMEN OF OHIO
and Rose (Kennedy) Gallagher, were both born in Ireland and became residents of Youngstown in the early 1870s. Here Mrs. Deibel was reared, acquiring her early education in the schools of this city and finishing at Loretta Convent in Letterkenny, Ireland. She was married in Youngstown, February 5, 1902, to Christy William Deibel, who is also a native of this city, and they have become the parents of five children: John C .; Sister Rosemary ; Ella, now Mrs. Stephen W. Wheeler of Youngstown; Rosemary, who is now Mrs. George Mclaughlin, of Flushing, Long Island; and Chris- topher William, Jr., who died September 8, 1928.
Mrs. Deibel is widely known in the Catholic organizations of Youngs- town, having taken a very active and helpful part in this work. She is a life member of the National Council of Catholic Women, is a member of the Catholic Daughters of America and is active in Catholic social service organizations. She is a charter member of the Newman Club, a literary society of Youngstown, is identified with numerous welfare organizations, belongs to the Club of the Little Flower and is a communicant of St. Edwards Roman Catholic Church.
ANNE JOPLING DERBY
ANNE JOPLING DERBY, editor of the History of the Ohio State D.A.R., was born in Virginia, the only daughter of Thomas C. and Anne Wilmer Barnett Jopling. On her father's side of the family Mrs. Derby comes from the old Virginia aristocracy and is a great-great-great-grand niece of George Washington. Her maternal ancestry is equally distinguished, tracing descent from noted Hollanders who settled Long Island, also from pioneers of Virginia and Maryland.
Educated at Virginia private schools-the Liberty Female Institute, Belmont Seminary and Randolph Macon College, Anne Jopling early dis- played ability as leader. At the age of ten years, it seems, she was already president of the Young Girls Society of her Bedford, Va. home.
Following her marriage to E. Vane Lester, who soon thereafter became chief engineer of a New York Railroad, Mrs. Lester became deeply interested in club work for young girls sponsored by the Episcopal Church in New York City and was head of this work when she left the metropolis to make her permanent resident in Ohio.
Her first achievement after establishment of her home at Dayton was to organize a branch of the United Daughters of the Confederacy among Dayton women of Southern descent, thus bringing formerly widely separated groups closer together.
Mrs. Lester was a charter member of the McGuffey Society and was accorded the honor of making the main address when a special set of Me- Guffey readers was presented to the Historical Society of Ohio at a meeting held at Ohio State University.
306
WOMEN OF OHIO
During the World War, Mrs. Lester led Liberty Loan drives among patriotic societies of Dayton. She was an indefatigable worker for the Red Cross and also served as a hostess at Camp Sherman.
A charter member of the Dayton Woman's Club and regent of Jonathan Dayton Chapter of the D. A. R., she later became state historian for the Daughters and devoted three years to compiling and editing the Ohio State history of this organization. Through this work, Mrs. Lester became known as an authority in this field, her history was listed by every state library and a copy was filed in the Library of Congress.
Among organizations in which she is active are the Dayton Women's Literary Club, the Friday Afternoon Club, Colonial Daughters of America, Daughters of American Colonists, Magna Charta Dames, College Women's Club and Christ Church of Dayton.
Despite her many and varied activities, Anne Lester had time for skilled home making and for the rearing of three sons. After the death of Mr. Lester in 1929, she devoted much attention to occupational therapy in behalf of veterans of the National Military Home.
Some years ago Mrs. Lester was married to Charles D. Derby. Their home is now at Lewisburg, where she continues to exemplify the many fine talents and tendencies which have enriched her own life as well as the lives of others.
GRACE E. LIMMER DETZER
GRACE E. LIMMER DETZER of Toledo, is the wife of Harry J. Detzer, a well known business man of Ohio, who is manager of the Cleveland Paint & Paper Company, with headquarters in Toledo, and she is a daughter of Henry and Emma (Hartsing) Limmer, both natives of this state. Mrs. Detzer was born in Toledo, where her father was engaged in carpentering, but both he and his wife are now deceased. They had a family of five chil- dren: Fred, who married Matilda Benning; Albert, who married Jennie Hildebrand of Toledo; Frank, who married Mattie Kroff; Elnora, the wife of Lawrence Martin of Toledo; and Mrs. Detzer.
The last named pursued her education in the schools of her native city, passing through consecutive grades until graduated from Central High School. In June, 1913 she became the wife of Harry J. Detzer and they have two sons, Harry, Jr., who was graduated in business administration from Notre Dame University in 1939; and James, who is a sophomore in Central High School of Toledo.
Mrs. Detzer is much interested in woman's clubs and in church work. She belongs to the Toledo Woman's Club and to the Woman's Educational Club and is a member of St. Vincent's Guild and St. Anthony's Guild and has been chosen president for the term of one year. Mrs. Detzer's activities in the Guild are very great and further the work to an appreciable extent. The
307
WOMEN OF OHIO
organization supplies and makes the linens for Mercy Hospital, also furnishes supplies for the surgical work, the delivery room and for the kitchen. As president of Mercy Hospital Guild, with a thorough understanding of the work being carried on, Mrs. Detzer wisely and capably directs the activities of the society and thus greatly furthers the interests of the hospital. Her church affiliation is with Our Lady of Perpetual Help and she has been president of the Altar Society of the church. She also has membership in the Toledo Council of Catholic Women and to St. Ursula's Scholarship Asso- ciation. She is always willing and ready to advance the interests and activ- ities of the church in any way and she deserves much credit for what she is doing as president of Mercy Hospital Guild.
ANNA McDONALD FELL
Since 1936 ANNA McDONALD FELL has been diocesan president of the Toledo Council of Catholic Women and throughout the period of her residence in Toledo she has been an active worker among the Catholic women of the city and in their organizations, especially in connection with their musical activities. Mrs. Fell is a native of Chicago and a daughter of Henry and Anna (Clark) McDonald, both of whom were natives of Troy, New York, where they were reared and married. In 1870 they removed to Chi- cago, where the father became a contractor, continuing in that business throughout his remaining days. To him and his wife were born seven children, namely : Mary Elizabeth, Charles H., Anna, Jeremiah, Mary Jane, Catherine, now deceased, and one who died in infancy.
Mrs. Fell attended the pariochial schools and later was a pupil in the St. James High School, which was the second Catholic high school for girls in that city. Later she took and passed the teachers examination and for eight years taught in the public schools of her native city. During a part of that period she studied voice under Thomas Taylor Drill and appeared in concerts and oratorios as a soloist. She was also one of the leaders in the organization of the Irish Choral Society of Chicago, which was directed by Thomas Taylor Drill and she was a member of the Catholic Woman's Club of Chicago.
In 1907 Anna McDonald became the wife of George N. Fell, a Toledo lawyer and came to this city to live. They have two sons, George H., who is a graduate of St. John's College and studied law at Harvard, since which time he has engaged in the practice of his chosen profession, and Charles F. Fell, who is a lieutenant in the United States Army. He was graduated at West Point in 1934 and is now a member of the Signal Corps, being sta- tioned in the Canal Zone. He married Harriette Hebert, of Holyoke, Massa- chusetts, the marriage being performed in the chapel at West Point, and they have two children, Mary Ann and Nicola. The older son, George Fell,
308
WOMEN OF OHIO
Jr., was formerly president of the junior division of the city manager group and at this writing (1939) is president of the Young Men's Republican Club.
Mrs. Fell belongs to the League of Women Voters. Among the first clubs with which she became associated after removing to Toledo was the Eurydice Club, a choral organization for which her musical talent and training well qualified her. She joined St. Mary's Church, of which Mr. Fell was a member, but for two years after her removal here she was the contralto soloist in the Second Congregational Church. She belongs to the Toledo Woman's Club, in which she is serving on the civics committee and she is diocesan chairman for Lucas County. In 1919 the Toledo Catholic Woman's Choir was organized with two hundred voices under the direction of J. Charles Kunz and in 1923 Mrs. Fell became president, serving for six years. The chief vehicle of expression for this choir were the works of the Catholic masters. When Archbishop Samuel A. Stretch came to Toledo, the Toledo Council of Catholic Women was made a diocesan organization and Mrs. Fell became the first deanery president, filling the position for five years, while in 1936 she was elected diocesan president of the Toledo Council of Catholic Women and is still serving. There were seven deaneries under the direction of Bishop Karl J. Alter-Toledo, Sandusky, Tiffin, Lima, Mansfield, Defiance and Fremont. Mrs. Fell is very active in promoting the work of the society and her labors are effective and beneficial to the organization.
KATHRYN CARROLL FLETCHER
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.