USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume I > Part 32
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MARY MCEVOY RODGERS
MARY MCEVOY RODGERS, residing at 258 Norwood avenue in Youngs- town, devotes considerable attention to the women's activities of the Catholic church and is well known in club circles. One of Ohio's native daughters, she was born in Struthers, August 29, 1879, a daughter of Patrick and Anna (Brady) McEvoy, who came from Scotland to the new world in 1867.
Mrs. Rodgers obtained her education in the schools of Struthers and Grove City, Pennsylvania and also in the Normal school of Athens, Ohio. She began teaching in her native town in 1899 and afterward became a teacher in Youngstown, where she continued her professional work until 1907. On the 14th of August, 1907, in Struthers, she was married to William Francis Rodgers of Washington, Pennsylvania, and they have had a family of six children : Richard, who was born in 1908 and died in 1913; William Francis, born in 1910; Rosemary, now Mrs. Raymond Forestal of Youngstown; Annabel, the wife of Dr. William S. Hites of Youngstown; Elinor, at home ; and Jeanette.
Mrs. Rodgers is a member of St. Edwards Roman Catholic church and is secretary of its Altar and Rosary Society. She is also a member of the board of the National Council of Catholic Women, a member of the Catholic Daughters of America, president of St. Elizabeth's Hospital Auxiliary of Youngstown and a past president of the Loyola Study Club of Youngstown. She is also serving on the board of the Federation of Women's Clubs of Youngstown, is a member of the Garden Club of the Little Flower and belongs to the League of Women Voters.
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VALINDA MARIA RICHARDS ROOD
VALINDA MARIA RICHARDS ROOD has been an untiring worker in the church and in connection with civic and philanthropic interests and has had much to do with directing the energies of women's organizations into channels of helpfulness and usefulness, thus enriching the lives of others. Mrs. Rood is a daughter of George H. and Fannie Maria (Young) Richards. Her father was connected with a flour and feed store in Buffalo, New York, and afterward removed to Bronson, Branch county, Michigan, where he developed a fine farm. After the death of his first wife he married Laura Welch, who reared his daughter Valinda and who was teacher of a private school in Dan- ville, New York. Mrs. Rood graduated from high school in Buffalo, New York, and has since taken many post graduate courses. In fact she has always been a student and realizes that the keenest pleasures of life come from intellectual stimulus. Her student habits have carried her into many fields and she is even now studying French. Immediately after completing her high school course she began teaching in the public schools of Buffalo, New York where she continued until 1887, when she removed to Toledo to accept a teaching position.
Mrs. Rood was identified with the schools of Toledo until June, 1893 when she became the wife of Prentice E. Rood, who was engaged in the whole- sale and retail mail order business here and which he and his wife developed together.
Before her marriage Mrs. Rood had become an active factor in women's organized efforts to help humanity. She was one of the founders of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and was one of the active members in the first service work of the Episcopal church, of which she has been a life- long member, being a communicant of St. Mark's. She has taken a most helpful part in many branches of the church work and for four years has been presi- dent of St. Mark's League. Soon after her marriage she became one of the members of a study club and a little later was one of the organizers of the Sorosis Club, of which she was made the first vice president and finished out the term of the president, who removed from the city, at the end of which time she was elected president. She was also one of a committee of five tc ascertain what kind of philanthropic work the Sorosis could do. In 1904 she was one of the principal organizers of the North Toledo Community House. Her work has always been along constructive lines and as one reviews the history of the city and realizes what has been accomplished by organizations with which she has been closely identified, one feels that Mrs. Rood perhaps builded better than she knew. At all events, her labors have been far-reaching, beneficial and resultant.
Mrs. Rood belongs to the Toledo Woman's Club, is a past president of the Woman's Educational Club and has held all offices in the Settlement.
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She served for seventeen months as welfare director of the city, filling out an unexpired term at the request of the mayor. For two terms she was presi- dent of the Young Women's Christian Association. As president of the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs she spoke all over the state in support of war work after this country entered the European conflict and in every possible way upheld the interests of the government. For two years she had a column running in seventy-two newspapers of the state during the administration of Mrs. Zimmerman, then state president of the Federation of Women's Clubs. The breadth of her activities can scarcely be measured and the end is not yet for she continues her efforts for humanity in these various fields which tend to develop character and lead to the acceptance of higher ideals of living.
MRS. GEORGE WASHINGTON ROSS
MRS. GEORGE WASHINGTON ROSS, who in her young womanhood engaged in teaching and has always retained a deep interest in things educa- tional and cultural, was born in Findlay, Ohio, where she still makes her home. Her natal day was May 27, 1857 and she is a daughter of Daniel B. and Jane A. (Hoisington) Beardsley. She pursued her education in the public schools of Findlay until she reached the age of seventeen years when she began teaching here, devoting the ensuing three years to that work.
In 1880 Miss Beardsley became the wife of George Washington Ross, an attorney. They settled in Sterling and Mrs. Ross taught in the schools there and in Rittman, Ohio, for two years. In 1889 they returned to Findlay, where Mrs. Ross has since made her home, covering a continuous period of half a century. In 1893 she joined the Symposium Club, of which she later served as vice president and as president and she also became a member of the Collo- quist Club, of which she was also made the chief officer. At one time she was a member of the Shakespeare Club and for twenty years she served on the Findlay library board, was also connected with the Federation of Women's Clubs and has always manifested a keen and helpful interest in matters pro- moting intellectual advancement in the city. She also took a very active part in World war work, making clothing and doing everything possible to further the interests of the soldiers at the front. In 1917 Mrs. Ross lost her husband who passed from this life on the 11th of October of that year at the age of sixty-three, for he was born June 8, 1854. Mrs. Ross has reared two adopted daughters Jeanette Lance, now Mrs. Louis Allen of Wadsworth, Ohio; and Bettie Ruth Gilliland. Mrs. Ross has long been a witness of the growth and progress of Findlay where she has spent the greater part of her life, now covering eighty-two years, and she is still very alert, keeping abreast with the times and enjoying the companionship of the scores of friends whom she has here and who have always entertained for her the warmest regard.
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JULIA TIPTON ROTH
JULIA TIPTON ROTH of Dennison, Ohio, was the first Ohio state secre- tary of the Daughters of America, a patriotic, benevolent, fraternal organiza- tion, composed of women born within the United States of North America or under the protection of its flag; also of men who have been initiated into the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
The first State Council session of Ohio was held in East Liverpool, August 20, 1894. Mrs. Roth remained Ohio state secretary until the time of her death on Dec. 8, 1928. She was also National Council Secretary. Her husband, Max C. Roth succeeded her in the offices of state and national secretary. Mrs. Roth was an outstanding character. To her untiring efforts is due the phenomenal growth of the Daughters of America, especially in Ohio. She materially assisted in planning for the Home for the Aged and Infirmed members of the order which is located at Tiffin, Ohio and is regarded as the finest home of its kind in the United States. MRS. CORA ANDRIESSEN, of Cincinnati, is the Superintendent of this home.
The first council of the Daughters of America was organized and instituted in Bennett, Pennsylvania, on September 15, 1891. This council was named Pride of Hand-in-Hand Council No. 1. The first council instituted in Ohio was Pearl Council No. 1 of Wellsville, organized October 21, 1891.
The Daughters of America operate their own insurance department. This was organized in the year 1907 by Albert S. Bossong of Cincinnati. On June 30, 1938 this department had 1567 councils enrolled, with a total membership of 123,089. This department has paid out $6,116,189.62 in death claims and the present worth of this department is $1,205,465.62. The membership of the order in the State of Ohio on June 30, 1938 was 38,475; there are over 13,000 members of the order in Cincinnati.
MRS. EMMA MEYER of Cincinnati, past State Councilor of the Daughters of America, who at present occupies the position of president of the Jr. 0. U. A. M. and Daughters of America Reunion Association of Hamilton County, is a leading member of the order. She is also a member of the National Law Committee and is treasurer of Brighton Council No. 100, which is the second largest council in the entire order. This council has a member- ship of 830. The largest council in the order is Fort Hamilton Council No. 109, located at Hamilton, Ohio, with a membership of 847.
The leader of this council is Elizabeth Quinlin, who is the present State Councilor of Ohio.
The Daughters of America has also what is known as an Orphan's Fund Department, supported entirely by voluntary contributions. This department finds suitable christian homes for orphan children of deceased members. At the present time there are 200 or over, children supported by this fund.
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These children are required to be kept in the public schools until they are 16 years of age, at which time support from the Orphan's Fund Department is withdrawn.
GRACE CURTIS SAWYER
GRACE CURTIS SAWYER, a native of Janesville, Wisconsin, and now a resident of Marion, Ohio, is a daughter of Olin A. and Eva (Farlin) Curtis, the former a native of Maine and the latter of Wisconsin. The father devoted his life to preaching the gospel. The daughter pursued her early education in the grade schools of Chicago, Illinois, attended high school in her native state and afterward was a student in Morgan Park Academy. She next went to Boston, Massachusetts and entered Wellesley College, where she spent two years and later was at the University of Chicago for a year.
In 1905 was celebrated the marriage of Grace Curtis and Dr. Carl W. Sawyer and they took up their abode in Marion, Ohio, where the Doctor's father had established the Sawyer Sanatorium, of which Dr. Carl W. Sawyer is now the active head.
Mrs. Sawyer is interested in many cultural activities and progressive enterprises of the city in which she has now resided for more than a third of a century. She belongs to the Woman's Club, a literary club of Marion; is serving on the board of the Civic Orchestra; is a member of the board of the Marion City Hospital ; is a trustee of the Margaret G. Harder scholarship; and belongs to the Methodist church. All this indicates the breadth of her activi- ties and shows her deep concern as to the welfare of the community and the advancement of its humanitarian and cultural affairs.
ROSALIND A. SCHWAB
ROSALIND A. SCHWAB (Mrs. Julian G. Schwab), past president, Cin- cinnati Section, National Council of Jewish Women, was born at Dayton, O., the daughter of Ferdinand J. and Carrie Ach. She was graduated from Wellesley, married in 1912 and has been a skilled and enthusiastic volunteer worker in welfare and civic movements for the past 20 years. Among the organizations she has assisted are the Mid-eastern Conference of Council Sec- tions, the Hamilton County Welfare Department and the Cincinnati Charter Committee.
BERTHA L. SELLARDS
BERTHA L. SELLARDS is closely and helpfully identified with many of the organizations and societies which contribute to the upbuilding of the community and the maintenance of high standards of life for the individual and for the community. She is a resident of Portsmouth and a native of Van
MRS. EMMA MEYER Cincinnati Past State Councilor of the Daughters of America
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Wert County, Ohio, her parents being Mr. and Mrs. Mathew Milton Welker. the former a pioneer resident of Highland County, Ohio. The mother passed away when her daughter was but two years of age. She was educated in the public schools until she had completed her high school course and then entered the Ohio Normal School at Ada, Ohio. It had been her thought and purpose in girlhood to take a course in nursing and become a medical missionary but she was persuaded instead to take over the home management for Dr. Howard Sellards, who made her his bride soon after she left school. He is a native of Kentucky, the son of a physician and has four brothers who also took up the practice of medicine as a life work.
Mrs. Sellards has taken a very active part in many good causes, including church, social, club and civic work. She is a member of the Methodist Church, has been an earnest worker in the Sunday school and for twenty years has been active in home missionary work. She also has membership in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and in the Red Cross. She belongs to the City Federation of Clubs, the Woman's Literary Club, the New Century Club, the Home League and the Garden Club. Thoughtful consideration of the nature and purpose of these different organizations will indicate the breadth of her interests and her activities, which have always been directed along lines of substantial development, leading to higher standards of living. This has brought her the sincere respect of her many friends in Portsmouth, where she has a very wide acquaintance.
CAROLINE M. SEYMOUR SEVERANCE
CAROLINE M. SEYMOUR SEVERANCE was born in New York, in 1820 and died in Los Angeles in 1914. Mrs. Severance spent the first sixteen years of her married life in the frontier city of Cleveland where she pioneered in her own field as definitely as did her husband in his. She called him "a light-hearted man of affairs, a banker."
She was the first woman to lecture in Cleveland in behalf of woman's suffrage. Later she returned to New England, where with Julia Ward Howe and others she organized the first Woman's Club of New England, and became its first president.
Moving later to Los Angeles, she was the founder of the first kinder- garten there. She was a Unitarian, an abolishionist, devoted to the cause of world peace, a staunch believer in woman's suffrage, in birth control, and in a single standard of morals. She was known as "The Mother of Clubs."
ANNA MARIE TENNANT
ANNA MARIE TENNANT, for the past 20 years member of the re- portorial staff of the Springfield, O., Newspapers, Inc., has served this or- ganization with efficiency and loyalty in various capacities. She is music editor of The Sun, feature writer and columnist for that paper, formerly
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conducted the "Betty Fairfax" column for the Daily News and worked on staff assignments for the News.
One of the outstanding achievements of Anna Marie was her chairmanship of the 1935 annual convention of the Ohio Newspaper Women's Association. Virtually all of the manifold tasks on which success of the meeting depended were handled by Miss Tennant personally on this occasion.
Anna Marie was born at Springfield, the daughter of Edwin Irvin and Martha Bockway Tennant. On the paternal side the family is identified with early American History. A Tennant fought in the Revolutionary War, another Tennant was among founders of Princeton University. Educated in Spring- field and at Wittenberg College, Anna Marie began her newspaper career in her home city, where she has been identified with leading civic, social and fraternal organizations. She was for many years an officer of the City Fed- eration of Women's Clubs, also of the Springfield Playground Association. Her knowledge and love of music enabled her to assist in the promotion of the Springfield Concert Series and other important programs. She has been an executive board member of the Fortnightly Musical Club for many years, a leader in the Business and Professional Women's Club, for which she edited "The New Citizen" and is a member of Norris Chapter, Eastern Star, Manito Shrine, White Shrine of Jerusalem, Sigma Alpha Iota, League of American Penwomen and other important organizations.
MRS. GEORGE WASHINGTON TROUT
MRS. GEORGE WASHINGTON TROUT is well known in club circles of Findlay and is also active in the work of the Campfire Girls. She has been a life long resident of Findlay and is a daughter of Edward and Olivia (Huffman) Schwartz. Pursuing her education in the schools here she passed through consecutive grades to the high school, from which she was graduated in 1917. She then attended the Maryland School for Women and for a time was a student in Oberlin College.
In 1920 she became the wife of George W. Trout of the firm of Trout & Jackson, furniture dealers of Findlay and they now have two children, Thomas and Mary.
Mrs. Trout has long been prominent in the social circles of her native city, where she has a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of her acquaintance and she has been quite active in the leading women's clubs of Findlay. She formerly had membership in the Arts and Letters Club and she now belongs to the Shakespeare Club and the Symposium Club. In 1928 she became interested in the Campfire Girls, a national organization, and is serving on the executive board of this society, which is doing much to stimu- late high ideals among young girls-ideals that will develop the best in womanhood and in citizenship. Mrs. Trout also belongs to the Presbyterian Church, all of which indicates that her own life is actuated by a high spirit of service.
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LELIA E. POWELL TURNER
With those women's organizations which have to do with educational and cultural development in Toledo, LELIA E. POWELL TURNER has been closely associated. A native of Paulding, Ohio, she is a daughter of Madison C. and Josephine M. (Miller) Powell, also natives of Ohio, the former born in Urbana. The father, who engaged in mercantile business through most of his life, died in 1904 and the mother passed away in 1906. They had four children of whom Wilfred died in childhood and Edith B. is also deceased. Ralph E. is still a resident of Toledo, where he is engaged in the grocery business.
Mrs. Turner attended the grade schools of Paulding and spent one year in high school there, while later she was a student in Wesleyan University. For some time she was in almost constant attendance on her invalid mother. In Toledo she formed the acquaintance of Robert Turner and on the 16th of July, 1912, they were married in this city, where her husband is an optometrist. They have two children : Robert H., who attended the Northern Illinois College of Optometry and is now a member of the faculty there, being assistant professor of chemistry ; and Margaret Elizabeth, the wife of Robert E. Welty, formerly of Kansas City, Missouri and now connected with the Nickel Plate Railroad.
Mrs. Turner is a member of the Daughters of Veterans, the auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic, and she is eligible through both her paternal and maternal ancestry to membership with the Daughters of the American Revolution. She has been state president of the American Optom- etrists Association Woman's Auxiliary and organized the Ohio branch. She has also been its local president and both the Toledo and the Ohio societies are now affiliated with the national organization. She has always been in- terested in the cause of temperance and is president of the Norwood Union of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She is treasurer of the Fed- eration of Woman's Clubs of Ohio and is corresponding secretary of the Housewives League of Toledo. She was also very active in the City Man- agers League, belongs to the Eastern Star and the White Shrine and has been on the board of the Educational Club and is on the board of the Ohio Minnett Club of Ohio Wesleyan University. She is a member of the Fifth Ward Republican Club and at all times keeps conversant with outstand- ing political problems and conditions. Her name is on the membership roll of the Collingwood Presbyterian Church and in its work she has taken a most helpful and loyal part. All of her interests show that she is alert and understanding and that progressive interests and measures make strong appeal to her.
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MARY BURNS VAHEY
MARY BURNS VAHEY has been actively connected with women's clubs and Catholic women's organizations in Youngstown, where her social qualities and executive ability well qualify her for leadership. Born in Negaunee, Michigan, she is a daughter of James and Julia (Leary) Burns. Her father was a copper miner in the early days of the development of that industry in Michigan and later was a blast furnace man in Youngstown.
Mary Burns was a young child when her parents removed with the family to Youngstown, and here she acquired her education in the local schools and grew to womanhood in this city. She was married in Struthers, Ohio, on the 1st of July, 1896 to William Henry Vahey, the wedding ceremony being performed by the Rev. George Zeerning. Her husband is engaged in the oil business. They have become the parents of three sons: Thomas James, who entered the priesthood and is now in Toronto, Ontario, in the work of the church; Mark Andrew, who is engaged in the oil business with his father; and William Henry Vahey, Jr., who is in the stoker business.
Mrs. Vahey and her family attend St. Edwards Roman Catholic Church and she has membership with the Catholic Daughters of America, of which she is a past president. She also belongs to the Franciscan Study Club, is a life member of the National Council of Catholic Women and is serving on the scholarship loan committee of Seton Circle, a study club. She is likewise a member of the Federation of Women's Clubs and of the Young Women's Christian Association, all of which indicates her deep interest in education, cultural and moral uplifting and she has exerted a widely felt influence along these lines.
GLADYS BLAIR WELSH
GLADYS BLAIR WELSH (Mrs. Dana E. Welsh), of Ada, Ohio, past president of the North-West District of the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs.
MARY THOMPSON WILLIAMSON
MARY THOMPSON WILLIAMSON has the distinction of having been elected the first president of the Federation of Women's Clubs of Youngstown and has long been regarded as a leader in musical circles of the city and in other organizations which have claimed the interest and been promoted by the activities of women. She was born in Caldwell, Missouri, April 16, 1867, a daughter of Dallas Jeremiah and Mary (Cornelius) Thompson, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. The father was a Civil War veteran who fought in defense of the Union and afterward engaged in teaching in Missouri, while in Pennsylvania and New York he was connected with the oil producing business.
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His daughter Mary pursued her early education in the public schools of St. Lawrence County, Pennsylvania and afterward completed her high school course in Youngstown. She also pursued special courses of study in Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, and she has always kept abreast with the trend of modern thought and progress. On the 31st of December, 1900, she was married in Trinity Church of Youngstown to Warren Pyatt Williamson, a member of a family that has been represented in Youngstown for six generations. He was born October 4, 1858 and is a newspaper man and business man of Youngstown. By this marriage there are two sons: Joseph Dallas, who is in business in Youngstown and married Mabel Strickenburgh of Franklin, Penn- sylvania; and Warren Pyatt, Jr. He married Isabel Seymour De Nio, and they have two children, Barbara, born May 9, 1926, and Warren Pyatt Williamson III, born May 14, 1930.
Mrs. Williamson taught school in Youngstown for several years and she has been very active in musical circles and in those societies which promote cultural progress, advance patriotism and seeks the public good along many lines. Aside from being the first president of the Youngstown Federation of Woman's Clubs, she was president of the Monday Musical Club for two years, was state chairman of music of the Ohio Federation of Woman's Clubs during the World War period, and during the war when community singing was first started she acted as state director. She helped to organize the Ohio Federation of Musical Clubs and she is a member and registrar of the Mahoning County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and is Ohio state chairman of radio for the D. A. R. She belongs to the Penn- sylvania Huguenot Society and the Pennsylvania Order of Pioneers and she is a charter and life member of the Institute of American Genealogy, being much interested in the study of genealogy. She was the first president of the American Legion Auxiliary of Post No. 15 of Youngstown and assisted in organizing both state and national auxiliaries, was the first vice president of the Ohio State Auxiliary and has otherwise assisted greatly in the work. Mrs. Williamson served as Mahoning County Chairman of Republican women when President Hoover was elected, has been a member of the Republican committee of Youngstown and has worked effectively for the interests of the party. She has membership in Trinity Methodist Church and has long been a member of its choir. She finds pleasure and recreation in gardening and the cultivation of flowers and those who know her find her a kindly neighbor, a consistent friend and a loyal supporter of every cause with which she is allied.
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