USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume III > Part 11
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
Mrs. Davis is an active member of Union Baptist Church and a member of the Board of Missions and no work comes before her church obligations.
In 1908, she was one of a committee that requested Y. W. C. A. activities for Negro girls. This was not secured until 1919, and came as a result of the patriotic service rendered by negro women during the World War. Led by the late Dr. Jennie D. Porter, she with others, sold Liberty Bonds, formed the Soldiers' Comfort Club which was remarkable in the service rendered. This attracted attention of many citizens and out of it grew the West End Y. W. C. A. The work grew so rapidly that in 1922 more space was necessary. Property was purchased, the buildings were enlarged. Mrs. Davis led a drive among her own women for funds to furnish the building. As the result, $2,795.50 was raised and the building was completely furnished by members of her own branch.
Two years later when there was a city wide Y. W. C. A. building cam- paign, Mrs. Davis was captain and led the women of her group, who, raised $50,000.00 for a building fund.
This fund has never been used, but someday, it is hoped may be the nucleus for a new building for Negro women and girls. Mrs. Davis was in- vited into the membership of the Cincinnati Woman's City Club; she has served as secretary of the Home for Aged Colored Women twenty-six years.
952
WOMEN OF OHIO
She has served the Community Chest since its organization; is a mem- ber of the Negro Civic Welfare Committee, of the Optimist Welfare Club, and for many years a Juvenile Court advisor.
Her interest in racial uplift led her beyond her own city. When Zanes- ville, Ohio, needed a community center for their youth, they called on Mrs. Davis. She directed a financial drive and $10,000.00 was raised in 12 days. Today that city has one of the most attractive centers in the state, paid for by their own citizens, led on by the inspirational leadership of this unselfish woman.
No woman of the Negro race takes higher ground in regard to citizenship. Two days after the 19th amendment passed she mailed several hundred let- ters urging women to take their proper place as citizens. She was among the women who volunteered to go into localities in Hamilton and Butler Counties and instruct illiterate voters in the use of the ballot.
Mrs. Davis accepts no pay for service rendered. This is her contribu- tion to good citizenship.
Mrs. David budgets her time carefully, there must be allowance for her friends, for a symphony, for a lecture, for writing pageants, for needle work, for her garden, one of the most attractive in the community. The Davis home on Walnut Hills has an open door for youth as well as for age.
Not long ago the women of Cincinnati gave a testimonial dinner in honor and appreciation of the valuable service Estelle Rickman Davis has rendered the community. Her constant co-operation, initiative, enthusiasm and wisdom were cited as a living design for human service. A better pattern, it was agreed, would be hard to find.
MAUDE ROSALIND DELONG
MAUDE ROSALIND DeLONG has been closely associated with many organizations and movements which have had direct bearing upon the wel- fare of women and of the community in general. She is well known as an educator, as a club woman, as a church worker and as one who has labored intelligently and resultantly for the improvement of motion pictures, all of which entitles her to a place among Ohio's honored and representative women.
Mrs. DeLong is a native of West Virginia and a daughter of James and Edith (Day) Daly, the father a native of West Virginia, while the mother was born in England. Mrs. DeLong pursued her education under private tu- tors in England while spending a part of her girlhood with her maternal grandmother, Mrs. Susanna Day and after the removal of her parents to Eugene, Oregon she pursued her studies in the northwest, completing her high school course in Bellingham, Washington. Following her graduation she went to the Philippine Islands and taught the first school there, continuing her educational work at intervals there for ten years. She then returned to Washington and took a business course in Seattle, after which she again
953
WOMEN OF OHIO
went to the Philippines, where she taught in the government schools for about five or six years. She was also secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association there and organist in the Union Church, formed of people of vari- rious denominations. She was also the first woman to ride a bicycle in the Islands and she had many most interesting and sometimes unique experiences.
Returning to her home in the state of Washington, Maude R. Daly be- came the wife of Oscar DeLong. They removed to Toledo, Ohio, and Mrs. DeLong here became president of the Why Club and also president of the Housewives League. She entered actively into the Girl Scout work and then took up the Girl Reserve work in which she spent about twelve years. She also became interested in "Children's Gardens" which claimed her attention about six years. With the development of the motion picture industry and the acceptance of pictures as a major form of recreation she began study- ing along that line as to the effect upon the young and was made president of the Toledo Motion Picture Council, occupying that office for six years, while at the present time (1939) she is chairman and adviser to the Toledo High School Motion Picture Council, in which connection she aims to secure pictures of a more educational nature. She also was director of motion pictures for Lucas County and she attends the Union and the institutes that are seeking to introduce higher standards in the presentation of pictures. She is also a representative of the National Board of Review for better motion pictures.
All of the time she has been active as above indicated, Mrs. DeLong has also been doing private tutoring with sub-normal children and continued in this field of educational work. For four years Mrs. DeLong was president of the Toledo Woman's Christian Temperance Union which was the first organization of the kind ever formed. She was the organizer of the Golden Wedding Club, formed of couples that have been married a half century or more, and to which Henry Ford belongs. She has had a most interesting and eventful life, has made ten round trips across the Atlantic and crossed the Pacific twelve times. She was one of the first persons to receive a wireless message aboard ship and she has once made the entire trip around the world. Five of her former pupils in the Philippines came to the United States, worked their way through college here and are now teaching. For sixteen years Mrs. DeLong has been "mother" of the choir of the Epworth Episcopal Church. No good work fails to elicit her sympathy and to a great extent her active support. She has crowded much into a busy and useful life, in which her hand has been constantly extended to assist others, accompanied by re- sults that are seen in character building for the individual and in the ad- vancement of plans and projects of general public benefit.
MARY CONCANNON ECCLES
MARY CONCANNON ECCLES, wife of Hon. William Eccles, who was a native of Morrow County, spent the greater part of her life on a farm
954
WOMEN OF OHIO
near Mt. Gilead with her husband. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, had a good education and taught in the primary grades in different schools in that city.
She there met Mr. Eccles, who as a young man located in St. Louis where he practiced law. After his retirement from active law practice he, with his wife, returned to Morrow County, where he died in 1897.
Mrs. Eccles was a member of the Women's Twentieth Century Club of Mt. Gilead and became much interested in the Mt. Gilead Library which was a project originally of the women's clubs.
In 1913 she purchased a lot and building and presented the building to the Library Association, one of the most generous gifts of the kind ever made in the Mount Gilead Community. She was noted for her hospitality and was a woman of great culture, and outstanding in the county.
Mrs. Eccles died about 1925.
AMY EDWARDS
AMY EDWARDS (Mrs. Paul B. Edwards), whose social and civic services have made her an outstanding woman of Newark and of Licking Co., was born at Newark, attended elementary and high school in that city and was graduated from Denison University, later receiving her M.A. from Ohio State University.
For a time she taught school at Toboso, O., then at Cambridge and later at Newark High School. She married Paul B. Edwards, now superintendent of Newark Public Schools and as her efficient co-operation with the social work of the Red Cross, Community Chest and other organizations for human helpfulness develped, recognition of her fine citizenship also increased. Mrs. Edwards is an active member of the Unity Reading Circle, of the Newark Research Club, of the Girl Scout Council and of many other effective groups.
MARY MUHLENBERG HOPKINS EMERY
MARY MUHLENBERG HOPKINS EMERY (Mrs. Thomas J. Emery), known in Cincinnati and many other places as "Lady Bountiful" because of the vast extent of her philanthropic activities was born in 1844 in Bond Street, New York City.
She was the daughter of Richard H. Hopkins, a successful merchant of old Connecticut stock, whose ancestors came on the Mayflower, and Mary Denny Muhlenberg Hopkins, whose grandparents were early settlers in Ohio. Her father for many years owned and edited the first newspaper published in Pickaway County.
Mary received her early education in the public schools of Brooklyn, New York and later attended Packer Institute.
On the death of her father, the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he had relatives and friends. Mary Muhlenberg Hopkins married in 1866, Thomas J. Emery, representative of an English family in this country. The
955
WOMEN OF OHIO
Emerys had two children, Albert and Sheldon, both of whom died in early youth.
As a young married woman Mrs. Emery took a prominent part in the social, church and charitable activities of Cincinnati, civic activities at this time being a closed avenue for women. The Children's Hospital on Mt. Au- burn was erected by Mr. and Mrs. Emery.
Their philanthropy expressed itself always in practical ways, often in the form of greatly needed bricks and mortar, so that there soon followed the colored orphan asylum on Walnut Hills, the Vacation House at Clermontville on the Ohio River, and the Fresh Air Farm at Terrace Park.
Mr. Emery died in 1906, and shortly afterwards Mrs. Emery began the wider distribution of their fortune which included, among many other proj- ects, the erection of the Parish House of Christ Church; the Ohio Mechanics Institute, containing Emery Auditorium; the Medical School Building, in connection with the Cincinnati General Hospital; the wing of the Art Mu- seum which houses the Emery collection of paintings. She also made possible the weekly "Free Day" at the Art Museum and endowed the B. K. Rachford Chair of Pediatrics at the Medical College.
Perhaps the most imaginative and impressive expression of her generosity was the creation of "Mariemont," a model village of the English type on the outskirts of Cincinnati, planned to house 9,000 persons, with shops, markets, hotel, bank, theatre, school and "village green," all within walking distance of the residents. This housing plan, financed by Mrs. Emery, was not a charitable undertaking-but intended to provide reasonable living quarters in an ideal community.
Mrs. Emery died at Edgecliffe, Cincinnati, Ohio on October 12, 1927 at the age of 82.
GERTRUDE B. ENGLISH
Perhaps the most potent force in all the humanitarian activities of the country is the American Red Cross, by reason of the nation-wide extent of the society, the breadth of its contacts and its thorough organization, per- mitting of almost immediate relief in emergencies. It is a matter of justifi- able pride to every true American citizen, and the strength of the local or- ganizations constitute the power of the national body. Hamilton County ranks high in its achievement in this field. For fifteen years GERTRUDE B. ENGLISH has been the executive secretary of the Red Cross for this county and a steady and substantial growth has been maintained throughout this period.
Born in Cumberland, Maryland, Mrs. English pursued her education in the public schools of her native city and of Hagerstown, Maryland, and after leaving high school, prompted by the humanitarian spirit which has always been one of her most marked characteristics, she attended Red Cross training
956
WOMEN OF OHIO
schools. Soon afterward she took up social work and on leaving the east came to Mansfield, Ohio, where for eighteen years she has been actively connected with the Red Cross, spending fifteen years of the time as the execu- tive secretary for Richland county, building up one of the most efficient county organizations in the state. The roll call fifteen years ago brought only sixty- seven members from the entire county. The following year, Mrs. English having assumed her present office the roll call showed several thousand on the membership list, with a steady increase since that time until in 1938 the response was within a few hundred of the ten thousand mark, which figure was reached during the World War and the Richland County Chapter heads all other chapters in the state for per capita memberships, according to the report of Everett Dix, eastern area manager. Mrs. English attends all training centers throughout Ohio and takes cognizance of every oppor- tunity to promote her own efficiency and increase and improve the work of the Richland county chapter.
Mrs. English is a member of the National Conference for Social Work and is constantly reaching out along broadening lines to meet the needs of humanity. She has membership in the Methodist Church in which she is an active and earnest worker as she is also in the Young Women's Christian As- sociation.
Her husband, Bruce A. English, is deceased and her home interests cen- ter in her three children-Paul A., Robert W. and Anita L.
MARGARET FERGUSSON
Among the many groups representing the extensive foreign-born popu- lation of Cleveland, more than 60 percent are foreign born or children of for- eign parents, MARGARET FERGUSON, director of the International In- stitute of the Cleveland Y. W. C. A., has done particularly effective work.
Under her direction, the Institute has grown from a place where Eng- lish and little more was taught to foreigners, to a center where 28 different nationality groups find widely varied programs blending of the best of many cultural backgrounds.
In 1936, by order of King Carol of Roumania, Miss Fergusson was given the "Crown of Roumania" in recognition of her work with Roumanian women and girls in Cleveland. The same year she was selected by the Inter- national Y. W. C. A. to spend three months in Hungary making a short study of Y. W. C. A. work in that country.
She has visited Europe three times, but she has yet to go as the ordinary tourist. Instead of confining her stay to big cities, with occasional brief stop- overs in rural sections, Miss Fergusson has concentrated on the small vil- lages so that she could better understand the kind of background of hundreds of families who look to the Institute for adjustment in a new land.
Connected with the Institute since 1923, Miss Fergusson has been its director since 1926.
957
WOMEN OF OHIO
JANE GERTRUDE FISHER
JANE GERTRUDE FISHER, executive of the Jewish Federation for Social Service of Dayton, O., was born in Warsaw Poland, came to the U. S. in 1904, took courses at Teachers College, N. Y. School for Social Work, and at the University of North Dakota. She was formerly head worker of Newark Social Center, superintendent of Israel Orphan Asylum, New York City, and executive secretary of the Cass County Chapter American Red Cross, of Fargo, North Dakota. Her home is at 124 Cambridge Ave., Dayton, O.
HENRIETTA ROBERTSON FLEISCHMANN
HENRIETTA ROBERTSON FLEISCHMANN (Mrs. Charles Fleisch- mann), for years representative of one of Cincinnati's best known families, mother of Julius Fleischmann, once mayor of Cincinnati and head of the Fleischmann Company, was born in New York City, in 1844.
She married Charles Fleischmann in 1869, and thereafter made her home in Cincinnati, Ohio, where her husband's interests were predominantly located. Always active in charitable and civic works, Mrs. Fleischmann's name was linked during her lifetime with almost every movement for good. She was particularly interested in establishing the Children's Fresh Air Fund and the Cincinnati Kindergarten Association. She was one of the chief sponsors of the Cincinnati May Festivals, since become musical events of international reputation, and always she contributed enthusiastically to the Cincinnati Symphony orchestra.
Mrs. Fleischmann died at her home in Cincinnati, Ohio on December 17, 1924, at the age of 80, surviving her husband for twenty-five years, during which time she promoted the welfare of her city with understanding and generosity.
MRS. PAUL FRANK
MRS. PAUL FRANK, a resident of Crestline from the time she was a young girl, won for herself a foremost place in the life of her community through her intense interest in education, civic service and business.
In club life she held the distinction of being the first president of the Crawford County Federation of Women's Clubs; the founder of the Crest- line Woman's Club and its president for the first two years, and the president of the Crestline Federation of Women's Clubs for a dozen years. She was the first state chairman of thrift for the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs.
Her civic spirit organized the Girls' Welfare Club composed of 100 girls of high school age which was active for ten years. She also organized and headed the Civic League and was instrumental in organizing the Todd Music Club.
958
WOMEN OF OHIO
Mrs. Frank held a teachers' life certificate, receiving it when she was twenty. She was an elementary teacher and during the World War was in charge of seventh grade work.
An ardent Methodist, Mrs. Frank headed the home and foreign mission- ary societies of her church as president for two years after these organiza- tions were combined for service.
Her father and mother, James Franklin and Eva Appleman Pocock, were both descendants of the Colonies and her revolutionary ancestor, John Har. ris, born in New Jersey, was one of George Washington's aides at the Bat- tle of Trenton. Consequently Mrs. Frank was an active Daughter of the American Revolution belonging to Jared Chapter of Mansfield, Ohio.
She gained her business experience in her mother's millinery shop in Crestline when she was sixteen, and this stood her in good stead in 1931 when she entered her husband's woman's apparel and department store in Crestline to act as buyer and bookkeeper. This store had been in her hus- band's family since 1874.
Mrs. Frank's death occurred suddenly early in 1939 while she was with her husband on a vacation trip to the south.
MARY FRANCES BRIDGER FREER
One of the pioneer citizens of Ashland was MARY FRANCES BRIDGER FREER, practical philanthropist, who raised nine motherless children, gave to Ashland County the soldier's monument on the courthouse grounds, the town clock in the tower of the Methodist Church, was a contributor to the churches of Ashland and gave to the county a 92 acre farm and the residue of her estate, some $13,000, for the Ashland County Children's Home.
Mrs. Freer was born in Kingston Point, N. Y., learned the trade of tailoress in New York City and came to Ohio in 1836. She married Jonas Freer, a tavernkeeper, in the village of Rowsburg, nine miles east of Ash- land. Later they moved to Ashland where Mr. Freer went into the grain and wool business, became a shipper of livestock and in 1873, with his brother Randolph, a co-founder of the Ashland Farmers' Bank. Mrs. Freer died at her home on Center Street July 13, 1901.
In 1931, William A. Duff, well known Ashland County historian, one of the nine motherless children raised by Jonas and Mary Freer, dedicated to them his three-volume history of North Central Ohio.
DULCE BRUTTON GALLAGHER
In both number and variety, the men and women who have taken their civic, economic and community problems to DULCE BRUTTON GALLAGHER would themselves constitute a sizable community.
Since her marriage, in 1928, to Andrew C. Gallagher, Cincinnati attorney, this civic spirited and socially minded woman has accepted no public position
959
WOMEN OF OHIO
but she has none-the-less devoted large part of her unusual ability to con- ferences, surveys, studies, reports and committees dealing with matters of local, state or national importance.
Public education, public health, public safety, public welfare, city gov- ernment-these and other fundamental fields of service have challenged her keen interest and commanded her skilled co-operation.
Mrs. Gallagher headed an important study on the Cincinnati public school survey. She has served on the City Charter Committee, as board member of the Woman's City Club ; board member of the Consumer's League; board member of the League of Women Voters and in other significant capacities.
Dulce Brutton was born in New York City, her parents moving to Cincinnati during her infancy. She entered the public schools, later attended private schools and took the Liberal Arts course at the University of Cin- cinnati, graduating with A.B. degree. She received the Phi Beta Kappa, also the Brown prize for excellence in English.
After a year of teaching at Margaret Hall School, Versailles, Ky., Dulce Brutton became assistant librarian of the Cincinnati Mercantile Library and later registrar at the Cincinnati University. She gave up this position on her marriage.
Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher have one child, Andrew Cadwallader Gallagher, Jr.
ALICE GANNETT
ALICE GANNETT, head worker of the Goodrich Social Settlement, Cleveland, has labored in this capacity for twenty years of ever increasing service. After her graduation from Bryn Mawr, Miss Gannett did social work in New York City and later spent several years with the Federal Children's Bureau. She is a former president of the Ohio Consumer's League, the practical utility of which organization she greatly furthered. The under- lying principle of this expert in social service is the development, within the individual, whether child or adult, of creative ability and individual re- source. Her work has won high local as well as general commendation.
CONSTANCE HACKLE GIRARDOT
CONSTANCE HACKLE GIRARDOT, who was one of the organizers of the Catholic Woman's League of Toledo and its first secretary and who has done much other organization work both in Ohio and other states, is the widow of Dr. Adolph Girardot and a daughter of Joseph and Katherine (O'Connor) Hackle, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Roches- ter, New York. Their family numbered four children, Georgia, Ernest, deceased, Constance and Amelia.
960
WOMEN OF OHIO
Miss Girardot was born in Toledo and here attended St. Mary's school and the Ursuline Academy, from which she was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree. She also devoted a year to study in the evening classes at St. John's University and was a student in the Toledo Normal School for a year. It was in 1902 that she married Dr. Adolph Girardot and they became the parents of eight children, as follows: Paul, who died in infancy ; Katherine; Constance, the wife of Alvin Borer, of Toledo, who is with the Pillsbury Company and they have two children, Constance and Michael; Eugenia ; Lawrence; Norman; and Adolph and Joseph, who have departed this life.
Dr. Girardot served in the World War and contracted tuberlosis from which he died and the two sons, Adolph and Joseph, also became victims of that malady, one dying at the age of nineteen, the other when twenty-four years of age.
Aside from rearing her family and managing her home, Mrs. Girardot has devoted much time to societies connected with her church. In 1920 she became one of the promoters of the Toledo Catholic Woman's League, of which she was the first secretary and she also assisted in organizing the Toledo diocesan board of the National Council of Catholic Women and was appointed by Bishop Stritch to the position of secretary, which office she continued to fill for ten years and is still a member of the board. In 1916 she was elected a member of the investment board of the Catholic Ladies of Columbia, served for ten years and for six years was its secretary, while from 1921 until 1938 she was president and directed the organization work in the four states of Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Indiana and she introduced the juvenile insurance department while in office. Mrs. Girardot also served on the board of the National Fraternal Congress of America and on various committees. She is a communicant of St. Mary's Church of Toledo. She possesses executive ability, keen insight and understanding and has been a force in leading Catholic women in fields of service for the church and for humanity.
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.