USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume II > Part 25
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BESSIE D. MOORE, who became the first woman member of the Dayton bar, began the practice of her profession in 1917 and has largely specialized in real estate and probate law. Born in Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, May 1, 1879, both her paternal and maternal ancestral lines are traced back to colonial days. The Moore family is of Scotch-Irish lineage. Her great- grandfather, Daniel Stull served as a captain in the Revolutionary War and her great uncle Oscar F. Moore was a member of congress and a colonel of the Union Army in the Civil War. Hambleton Moore and his wife, Maria Jones (Clark) Moore, were the parents of James Hambleton Moore, who was born October 16, 1849 and died December 2, 1916. He married Letitia McNeill, who was born January 27, 1851, and passed away January 9, 1936. She was a daughter of John R. and Mary (Davis) McNeill and through this line Bessie Davis Moore is the great-granddaughter of James Davis, who fought for American independence in the Revolutionary War.
Although born in Chillicothe, Bessie F. Moore was but nine months old when her parents James and Letitia Moore, removed to a farm in Pike County, near Waverly, Ohio, and there she remained until 1891 when she returned to her native city, where she made her home until January, 1904. At that date she came to Dayton, where she has since lived. In the meantime she had graduated from the Chillicothe High School with the class of 1896 and from the Chillicothe Business College in 1897. She acquired her early legal education in the office of her father and later was a law student under the preceptorship of Lee Warren James of Dayton. In her father's office, which she entered immediately after leaving school, she did the work of secretary and law clerk and also did part time work for a wholesale hard- ware concern. On coming to Dayton, in January, 1904, she became secretary in the law office of Rowe & Shuey and remained with that firm and its successors for thirty-five years. Her interest in the work led to her continuous study of legal principles and on the 29th of June, 1917, she was admitted to practice in the Ohio courts. This was followed by admission to the United States district court, November 4, 1920, and the United States circuit court of appeals, March 5, 1935.
Miss Moore was associated with Lee Warren James, of the law firm of James & Coolidge of Dayton for many years, as a member of the firm, but since May 1, 1938 has practiced independently with offices in the Callahan Building in Dayton. Probate practice and real estate law claim the major part of her attention, and she displays particular aptitude in legal work of this character. She has the respect and confidence of her contemporaries and colleagues at the bar and is an esteemed member of the Dayton Bar Asso- ciation, the Ohio State Bar Association, the Dayton Law Library Association. the American Bar Association and the Dayton Women Lawyers Club, her
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fellow members acknowledging the ability of Dayton's first woman lawyer.
Miss Moore is also well known in business circles for she has made various investments in farms, real estate and insurance, is a stockholder in several banks and building associations and an official in a real estate cor- poration. Her public activities also cover the years 1935 and 1936 when she was chairman of the minimum wage board for food establishments and hotels in Ohio. For many years she served on the Community Chest and was also active in the Chamber of Commerce. Her political support is given the Democratic party.
Her membership connections cover a wide scope and indicate much concerning the nature and breadth of her interests outside of professional circles. She was a member of the board of trustees of Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1927, and at the present time is serving on its execu- tive committee. She has belonged to the Dayton Altrusa Club, a classified club of professional women since 1917, served as national president of Altrusa in 1919-20, and was president of the local organization in 1935-6. For thirty- five years she has been a member of the Young Women's Christian Asso- ciation, belongs to the Young Women's League, of which she served as a board member for twelve years and as vice president, is a charter member of the Dayton Woman's Club, has been a Daughter of the American Revolution since 1897, belongs to the Dayton Art Institute and to the Methodist Church.
SUSAN M. REBHAN
SUSAN M. REBHAN, Cleveland attorney, was graduated from Mac- Murray College and received her LL.D. from Ohio State University. She was formerly chairman of the Ohio State Bar Examining Board and served for a year as member of Cleveland City Council.
Miss Rebhan began her public service as general secretary of the Youngs- town, O., Y. W. C. A. and from 1921 to 1923 was national city secretary for the organization, with offices at New York. She is a director of the Cleveland and of the Ohio League of Women Voters, of the Cleveland Women's Hospital Association and a former director of the Cleveland Woman's City Club.
MABEL LAURA RIEBEL
MABEL LAURA RIEBEL (Mrs. John A. Riebel), referee of the Court of Domestic Relations of Columbus, was born in that city, attended Ohio State University, took her B.E. at the Capitol College of Oratory and did graduate work at Harvard summer school. She was married to Dr. Riebel, a surgeon, in 1892 and has for years been deeply interested in civic and welfare work. Mrs. Riebel was formerly president of the City Federation of Women's Clubs, chairman of the committee on public health of the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs and a former president of Zonta. Her home is at 158 Buttles Ave., Columbus.
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ESTELLE THORPE RUSSEL
ESTELLE THORPE RUSSEL, Cleveland attorney, received her LL.B. at John Marshall School of Law and did graduate work at Cleveland College. She now heads a law firm of five members, all of them women and previously filled many important positions.
For a year Mrs. Russel was referee of the Eighth District, Ohio Court of Appeals. She served as assistant police prosecutor of Cleveland from 1929 to 1930 and the following year as assistant director of law for the city. She is a former officer of the Cleveland Bar Association, an active member of the Ohio Bar Association, of the League of Women Voters and numerous other professional and civic organizations.
MARIE S. SCHAFFTER
MARIE S. SCHAFFTER, who is engaged in the general practice of law in Wooster, where she has spent the greater part of her life, was born near Woodsfield, Ohio, a daughter of John A. and Mattie (Barber) Suppes, both natives of this state. Marie is the elder of two children. When Marie was a year old the family moved to Oklahoma. When she was four and a half her mother died in Oklahoma of typhoid fever, and Marie and her sister came to Ohio to live with their maternal grandmother, Mrs. Sarah J. (Twinem) Bar- ber. She attended the public schools at Wooster, Ohio and completed the high school course as a member of the class of 1925. She was afterward a student in Wooster College for two years and then transferred to Ohio State Univer- sity, where she pursued her law course and was graduated in 1931 with the Bachelor of Laws degree. While in high school she had taken active part in the debating as she did at Wooster College and, while at Ohio State University she was a member of the girls' varsity debating team and showed marked ability as a speaker.
Following her graduation Mrs. Schaffter began the practice of law in Wooster and has made steady progress in her profession, her clear reasoning. her logical deductions and her gift of oratory all being features in her success. After congress passed the emergency farm legislation, she was appointed in 1933 a member of the legal staff of the Federal Land Bank of Louisville, Ken- tucky as real estate title examiner. She was next asked to join the staff of the general counsel for the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, first at Colum- bus, Ohio and later at Cincinnati and had charge of probate litigation in Ohio until the fall of 1937 when she resigned to accept an invitation to engage in general law practice with C. A. Weiser, former probate judge of Wayne County. He died in 1938 and Mrs. Schaffter has continued in general law work in Wooster where she is accorded a growing clientele.
Mrs. Schaffter is a member of the Wayne County, Ohio State and Federal Bar Associations and thus keeps in touch with modern professional thought,
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methods and purposes. She is a member of the Delta Sigma Rho, honorary debating fraternity, and Kappa Beta Pi, legal sorority, and is active in the Business and Professional Women's Club, having formerly been president of the Wooster Club, and a member of the state board of directors for several years, while at present writing she is serving as first vice president of the state organization. She is an excellent public speaker and is frequently called upon to address gatherings on some important and interesting public question.
Mrs. Schaffter is married to Earl F. Schaffter.
EVA EPSTEIN SHAW
EVA EPSTEIN SHAW, Toledo, Ohio attorney, was born in New York City, attended Toledo University and took her LL.B. at St. John's University Law School. She is a member of the state board of bar examiners, director of the Toledo Hebrew School and the author of many magazine and newspaper articles on the legal status of women.
BEATRICE KELLY SHARPE
BEATRICE KELLY SHARPE (Mrs. George E. Sharpe) is one of the most prominent women of Steubenville, a fine speaker, active in club work, a social leader. But Mrs. Sharpe takes due pride in what represents greater personal effort and therefore a more worth while achievement. She was the first woman attorney in Jefferson County.
FLORENCE HARTMANN WELLS
FLORENCE HARTMANN WELLS, educator and attorney at law, more- over has the distinction of being the first woman in Ohio to be elected to both branches of the state legislature. She has filled various other offices, both within and outside of the legal profession and her record is one of continuous progress and of constantly growing usefulness. Today she is engaged in law practice and at the same time is a teacher in the Davis Business College.
Mrs. Wells was born in Archibald, Ohio, where her grandfather, Fred- erick Stotzer, was the first business man of the town and in fact he was one of the founders of Archibald in association with Henry Hurst and Solomon Levy. He also served as the first mayor there and he opened a harness shop which was the first commercial enterprise of the new municipality. Today his grandson, Harold Stotzer, occupies the same building, in which he too is conducting a harness shop in connection with a hardware store. The parents of Mrs. Wells were Dr. George W. and Emma Elizabeth (Stotzer) Hartmann, the former being a country physician at a time when all calls were made with horse and buggy and often over poorly improved roads. The Doctor died in 1925, while his wife passed away in 1924. They were parents of six children : Dr. C. F. Hartmann, now living at the old homestead at Wauseon, Ohio, and successfully practicing medicine ; Mrs. Wells; Donald, who died in infancy;
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Ruth, who died in early childhood; Helen E., who is music supervisor in the grade schools of Mansfield, Ohio; and Clarence, who died in infancy.
Mrs. Wells attended the public schools of Wauseon until graduated from high school there and soon after she was married to Roy Wells. Of their two children, one died in infancy and the other, Audrey Wells, was graduated from the same school at Wauseon, which her mother had attended. She after- ward became a student in the University of Michigan, where she met Dr. Frank I. Terrill and they were married. Her husband is an able physician who is now superintendent of the Montana Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Deer Lodge, Montana.
Mrs. Wells' first business experience came to her when she accepted a position as telephone operator, serving for six weeks. She also devoted ten years to music at home. In 1907 she became a student in the Davis Business College where she is now teaching although some years passed before she became one of the instructors there. After completing her business course, she became associated with the Aetna Life Insurance Company with which she remained for five years, and later she was with the firm of Wright, Russell and Fay of Toledo and afterward with Geer and Lane, Toledo attorneys, for whom she did bookkeeping and briefing. In order to acquire the legal vocabulary she attended the University of Toledo and later entered night school for the study of law, being graduated in 1923 with the Bachelor of Law degree. She then passed the required state examination and was admitted to practice in the Ohio courts. When women were granted the right of franchise she was taken into the municipal court of Toledo, being the first woman to occupy the position of deputy clerk, and it was while she was filling that office that she pursued her law studies and was admitted to the bar. She then took up the work of the profession in association with the firm of Kirkbride, McCabe and Boessel and while thus practicing she was made a delegate to a Republican pre-primary convention at Columbus. In the fall of 1924 she was prevailed upon by a group of club women to become the Republican candidate for the legislature and won in the election, being the second woman elected to the Ohio general assembly but the first one to become active. She led the ticket when making the contest and served for one session in the house.
In 1927 Mrs. Wells was nominated for the senate and was again the victorious candidate. She served that year as secretary of the finance com- mittee and was a member of the committee on committees. While serving in the senate, she learned that there was an opening in the prosecutor's office in Toledo and in July she resigned her legislative position and became assistant prosecutor of Lucas County. While serving in the position she was the only woman elected to the charter commission and she was the first woman in Ohio to be elected to the house of representatives and to the senate. She also served as state central committeeman for two terms.
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On leaving the prosecutor's office Mrs. Wells became a partner in the law firm of Hunt, Stickney and Wells and after a few months she was offered the position of assistant trust officer in the Ohio Savings Bank and Trust Com- pany, where she spent one year. During all of this time Mrs. Wells was keeping up her studies by attendance at night schools. She became a candidate for clerk of the courts of Lucas County and in the primary she won by the largest majority ever known in Lucas County. She also became interested in welfare work, with which she was actively connected for a year when the Democrats took it over. For about two months thereafter she engaged in lecturing and then took a position in the county auditor's office. While thus employed she again ran for clerk of the courts in 1936 and again won in the primaries, but again went down in the Democratic landslide of that year.
Mrs. Wells has had a wide and varied business experience and in addition to her other work has done some court reporting. Going to Bowling Green (Ohio) College, she got her credits to teach and in 1935 she came to the Davis Business College as an instructor. In 1938 she was granted her Bachelor's degree in business administration, with all of the teacher's degrees included. At the primary of 1938 she headed the woman's organization in favor of Robert Taft. While she is now teaching she also practices law and she is a member of the Lucas County and Toledo Bar Associations. She has member- ship in the Eastern Star, of which she is a past worthy matron and a past deputy grand matron. She was the first mother's advisor for the Rainbow Club for Girls in Ohio and is a past president of the Zonta Club and of the Business and Professional Women's Clubs, of which she is now (1939) state finance chairman. She is also a past president of the P. E. O. and she belongs to the Collingwood avenue Presbyterian church. All activities for the promo- tion of civic, political, educational or moral progress receive her endorsement and her own record is one of steady advancement since she started out in the business world. She is constantly raising her standards as her experience and knowledge of affairs broaden and she never stops short of the attainment of her goal.
LILLIAN M. WESTROPP
LILLIAN M. WESTROPP, judge of the municipal court of Cleveland, was born in the city which is still her home and is a daughter of Thomas and Clara S. Westropp. After completing her preliminary education, she entered Baldwin-Wallace College, where she received her LL. D. degree. For a year she filled the position of assistant prosecutor of Cuyahoga County. Her advancement in her chosen profession has been continuous and her ability brought to her judicial honors in her selection for the position of judge of the municipal court. The fairness and impartiality of her decisions make hers an enviable record in this position.
Judge Westropp was the first woman elected to the executive committee of the Cleveland Bar Association and has had definite part in the growth and
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progress of the organization. She has taken an active interest in political questions and was the organizer and formerly secretary of the Democratic Women's Association of the State of Ohio and is a leading member of the League of Women Voters. She is also president of the Cleveland Women's Federal Savings and Loan Company and she cooperates in many movements for the benefit of women particularly as well as in those projects which have to do with the general welfare.
ELSIE H. WHITTINGHAM
ELSIE H. WHITTINGHAM has served since 1934 as city solicitor and legal representative of the city of Alliance, Ohio. She was previously com- missioner of the Sinking Fund and also city auditor.
For this civic service Miss Whittingham was prepared by her education at Mt. Union College, by constructive participation in civic and political affairs and by devotion to public interests in general.
She is a former president of the Alliance Quota Club and of the Demo- cratic Women's Club and since 1929 has been secretary of the Alliance Anti Tuberculosis League.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Women in Business, Industry and Library Service
MARIE REMINGTON WING
Attorney for Region Five, Social Security Board, Cleveland
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY
By MARIE R. WING, Cleveland Attorney for Region Five, Social Security Board
Half a million women in Ohio are engaged in gainful occupations according to the U. S. Census of 1930. Of these, 294,000 are in business and industry. Ohio has a large variety of industries, larger, perhaps, than any other state. This has given Ohio women a wider range of opportunity in business and in industry than is afforded women of most of the other states.
Ohio women are also fortunate in living in a state where the legal status of women compares favorably with that in other parts of the country. Ohio statutes have not only removed most of the inequalities of women under the common law-in regard to control of earnings, property, marriage, divorce, etc .- but within recent years the Minimum Wage Law and Women's Hours of Work Law have been passed to prevent unfair exploitation of women in industry.
The fact that women's organizations in Ohio are strong and active has also been of advantage to business women and to some extent to women in industry. Such organizations as the Business and Profes- sional Women's Club, the Consumers League and the Young Women's Christian Association have for many years worked for increased op- portunties and for better working conditions, especially where women are concerned.
Trade unions in which women have membership are not yet as numerous as they should be. However those that do exist are a great strength to women in the industries represented.
The fact that certain Ohio women have attained outstanding suc- cess in business and industry is due in large part to the progress made by a great number of women of the rank and file who have in good times and bad, in season and out, demonstrated their industry, skill and intelligence in all kinds of occupations.
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There is no longer any question but that business and industry need the services women have to offer as much as the women them- selves need the opportunity to earn a livlihood. Perhaps more.
Outstanding leaders in turn furnish inspiration to the younger women as they enter these fields. May their interests deepen and widen as their abilities increase.
LOUISE H. ADAMS
LOUISE H. ADAMS, of Columbus, business and advertising manager of the Fur, Fish and Game Magazine, was born at Gallipolis, the daughter of Arthur R. and Murilla Harding. She received her B. A. and B. S. at Ohio State University, married Ivan R. Adams in 1929 and has two children. Mrs. Adams is a former president of the Columbus Women's City Panhellenic Club. Her home is at 556 Piedmont Road.
IMOGENE BAKER
Among the efficient and enterprising business women of Toledo is num- bered IMOGENE BAKER, who established and has since conducted the Imo- gene Baker Studio, in which connection she has gained a liberal and well deserved patronage because of the fine quality of the photographic work which she does. Miss Baker was born in Perry County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Rev. Mark and Melissa (Elder) Baker, also natives of the Keystone state, although they came to Ohio thirty-five years ago. Mrs. Baker is now living in Toledo with her daughter. Mr. Baker, who is a minister of the Methodist church, is now again in Pennsylvania. In the family were three children, as follows: Asa M., who married Lela Munson of Ovid, Michigan, and has three children, Bion, Eileen and Gale; Faye, who is the wife of Clifford E. Verrol, who is engaged in the investment business in Detroit, but they make their home in Toledo and have one child, Faye Joanne; and Imogene, who completes the family.
Miss Baker attended both the grade and high schools of Altoona, Penn- sylvania and was graduated from a preparatory school in that city. She pursued her art studies in photography in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, and also received business training in the Davis School of Toledo. She had con- siderable business training and experience before establishing her studio, being for some time with the Whitt-Gregg studio in the Spitzer building, after which she decided to engage in business for herself and opened her place in the same building. The Imogene Baker Studio has been well patronizd from the begin- ning. The public was more or less familiar with her work and she soon demonstrated that she was thoroughly familiar with the latest and most improved photographic processes. She is very efficient in getting a good like-
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ness and in bringing out characteristics without which photography means little. She understands light and shadow as well as color and tone and pose and her work has proven highly satisfactory. Moreover Miss Baker is well known socially in Toledo, where she has a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of her acquaintance.
MARY H. BATEMAN
MARY H. BATEMAN, one of the outstanding business women and philan- thropic workers of Zanesville, finding keen pleasure in helping a fellow traveler on life's journey, was born on a farm near this city and is a daughter of Francis A. and Sarah Heenan. Her father, a native of England, came to Ohio with his parents in his boyhood days, the family settling in Mus- kingum County, where the grandfather of Mrs. Bateman purchased land and established one of the early nurseries of this section. On that place Francis A. Heenan was reared and after reaching man's estate he married Sarah Hague, who was one of the early school teachers of Muskingum County.
Mrs. Bateman was born and reared on a part of the farm on which her grandfather first settled on coming from England. She attended first the district schools and afterward the grade and high schools of Zanesville and she was instructed by her mother in cooking, sewing and other household duties that would make her a good wife and mother. On the 22nd of Febru- ary, 1903 she was married to William M. Bateman, who was reared in the same neighborhood as his wife. Coming to Zanesville he engaged in the under- taking business, which he carried on until his death and which is still con- tinued under the name of the Bateman Memorial Home by Mrs. Bateman and her son William. Mr. Bateman was one of the very capable, reliable and successful business men of Zanesville for in addition to the undertaking busi- ness he became well known in financial circles as the president of the First National Bank, also of the First Trust and Savings Bank and as founder and president of the Mosaic Tile Company. Whatever he undertook he accomplished and obstacles and difficulties, such as beset any business enterprise, seemed but to serve as an impetus for renewed energy and progressiveness on his part. Moreover he was a man of very charitable disposition, who was constantly helping others and who gave generously to churches, to the Young Men's Christian Association, to hospitals and to other projects for the benefit of mankind. He was also prominent in Masonry and loyally followed the teach- ings and high purposes of the craft. He was also serving as a trustee of Denison College at the time of his demise, which occurred in 1926.
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