USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume III > Part 5
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King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium with the Crown Prince were guests at the Taft house when they visited Cincinnati following the World War. Notables from all over the country assembled there for the notification ceremonies following election of William Howard Taft, half brother of Charles P. Taft, to the presidency of the United States.
Charles P. and William Howard Taft were sons of Judge Alphonso Taft, a distinguished jurist who served at various times as secretary of war (in 1876), as attorney-general, as minister to Austria, and later as minister to Russia.
Charles P. Taft served in the U. S. Congress from 1895 to 1897, during which period the family lived in Washington. On their return to Cincinnati, he again took up the personal direction of his paper of which he continued editor and publisher until his death in 1929.
They had four children, two sons who passed away in early manhood and two daughters, Mrs. Albert S. Ingalls of Cleveland, and Mrs. William T. Semple of Cincinnati.
The Anna Louise Inn, established largely by Mr. and Mrs. Taft as a residence for self supporting young women, was named in honor of their
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younger daughter, Anna Louise. The Inn is quite close to what was formerly the Taft home which now, as the Taft Museum, houses the priceless pictures that Annie Sinton Taft and her husband gave to Cincinnati.
One could hardly find a better illustration of the range and of the reality of their benefactions.
Annie Sinton Taft was undoubtedly an aristocrat, if by the term is implied personal dignity and reserve, personal beauty and personal love of culture.
She was undoubtedly a democrat when judged by the American tradition of helping to provide other human beings with the opportunity for the best achievement and attainment that is in them.
Mrs. Taft was, philosophically and politically, of the conservative school, and a firm believer in individualism.
The innumerable benefits conferred by Mrs. Charles P. Taft and by her husband on innumerable individuals-the present writer among them-attest, most impressively and convincingly, to the generous depth of their convictions and to their keen desire to give to others a real lift in life.
KATHERINE HOUK TALBOTT
KATHERINE HOUK TALBOT, (Mrs. Harry E. Talbott), born in Dayton in 1864, the daughter of George W. Houk and Eliza P. Thruston, was one of the outstanding forces among the patrons of music in the country.
Mrs. Talbott centered interest of the music world when she took the Westminster Choir of Dayton to Ithaca, N. Y., and then to Princeton, and there founded a school now a factor in American music.
Mrs. Talbott financed the school until it became self-supporting. She took the choir on two European concert tours, one to Russia, and one to England, France and Germany. She was the inspiration for development of the choir and the choir school at Princeton is regarded as a living monument to her vision and far-sightedness in the betterment of church choir music.
For many years Mrs. Talbott was the head of the concert series in Dayton and the financial backer of the symphony society, which brought world- famous orchestras to Dayton, and which financed a local orchestra, disbanded several years before her death.
"Runnymede," the birth place of Mrs. Talbott and of her children, was the scene of many brilliant musical and social gatherings. She built the Playhouse so that the community might have an adequate place for events of musical interest and also as an indoor tennis court for her grandchildren.
Mrs. Talbott was a vocalist, having studied with Foley in Cincinnati and Hensell in London. She was one of the charter members of the Mozart Club of Dayton which later became the Dayton Music Club.
The John Burroughs Nature Study Club was founded at "Runnymede" by Mrs. Talbott, and she was the first president. She also founded the Oak- wood Garden Club.
TAFT MUSEUM Cincinnati, Ohio, former home of Mrs. Charles Phelps Taft
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The annual Talbott Festival at the Westminster Choir School was estab- lished in honor of the school's most interested benefactress.
BESSIE TODD
The name of BESSIE TODD is inseparably interwoven with the history of musical culture and development in Ohio, particularly in Crestline, where she makes her home, and in Galion, where she also teaches. She was born in Alliance, Ohio, but was only four years of age when brought to Crestline by her parents, William N. and Charlotte (Lawson) Todd, both natives of Pennsylvania, and the latter of English descent. The family genealogy traces both sides of the father's family to Mary, Queen of Scots. The Todds, who were a very wealthy family, left Ireland at the time of the religious wars there. Miss Todd's father organized the first band and choral society in Crestline. His family numbered four sons, in addition to his daughter Bessie, these being Dr. H. W. Todd, a practicing physician of Galion; Harold Todd, one time conductor of a Detroit regimental band which won considerable recognition and acclaim; Clarence and Joseph Todd.
Bessie Todd attended the Crestline schools and the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, but gained her musical education largely under the tutelage of Lhevinne in Paris, Philipp of the Paris Conservatory and Edwin Hughes of New York. For a short time she taught music in Bucyrus, then began teaching in Crestline and later in Galion. She has been an outstanding personality in the musical life of Crawford County, particularly in the two cities just mentioned. She divides her time between the two places, in both of which she maintains studios, and she also teaches special music classes in the Crestline schools.
For thirteen consecutive seasons Miss Todd has sponsored Sunday after- noon concerts in the Galion Senior High School auditorium, which are open to the public free of charge and which present the best in musical talent that the county and neighboring cities afford. By the free-will offerings and through her own salary as a teacher of special musical classes in the schools, she has financed the payment for concert grand pianos in both Galion and Crestline high schools and she made special trips to New York to obtain reduced prices on these high priced instruments and gave her personal note for them.
Through the efforts of Miss Todd, the need for a pipe organ in the Galion High School Auditorium was called to the attention of Mrs. Paul Freese, a Galion resident, who donated the organ, which was one of the first to be installed in a high school of Ohio.
Students in both Galion and Crestline have richly benefitted by Miss Todd's personal efforts to give the students and community the best that music affords. On numerous occasions she has taken her pupils abroad for
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study, among whom was Theodore Schaeffer, now a New York pianist and organist, who studied at Fontainbleau for three months in 1929, while at another time she took Theodore and Arthur Poister and Lela Reece to Paris to study under the finest teachers there. Approximately forty of her pupils have become teachers of music, and she has presented more than two hundred student recitals, all for the benefit of various churches and schools in Galion and Crestline.
At one time Miss Todd was a member of the Todd Musical Club, which flourished in Crestline at an earlier day. She has traveled extensively, com- pletely covering the United States and parts of Canada and has been to Europe five times, being in Paris when the World War was declared. She has also included parts of South America in her travel itinerary.
To no woman is a community more devoted than is Crestline-and Galion -to Bessie Todd. Hers is a gracious, intelligent personality, as is evinced in her home, where is found choice literature and many beautiful and interest- ing art objects, which she has collected in her travels.
WILLA EYRE ULMSCHNEIDER
With the history of musical and cultural development in Hamilton the name of WILLA EYRE ULMSCHNEIDER is inseparably interwoven. No other individual has done more to establish high standard in music appre- ciation or to promote a permanent interest in the art and through her teaching and leadership she has added much to the joy and pleasure of her fellow citizens. Hamilton is proud to number her among its native daughters. Her father, Frank Eyre, a native of England, was an engineer who after coming to this city established the gas works here. He married Julia Sullivan and they became parents of three children, one of whom died in infancy, while the surviving sister of Mrs. Ulmschneider is Mrs. Lydia B. Yates of Cincinnati.
In Hamilton, Willa Eyre spent her girlhood days and after attending the public schools she continued her education in Notre Dame Academy for seven years. From early childhood she manifested a deep interest in music and when but fourteen years of age began playing the organ in the First Methodist Church of Hamilton, while later she was director of the choir for twenty-five years. While in Notre Dame she had instruction from Sister Mary Gonzaga, who was noted for her musicianship, and was there recognized as a prize pupil for several years. As choir leader in the Methodist Church she was ambitious for the musicians and singers under her direction and did not confine her instruction to the simple church music, but taught them the unusual, the difficult and pretentious church music so that the choir attained fame and distinction and drew many music lovers to the church. For twelve years she was also organist in Jewish synagogues, also in Catholic churches and in other Protestant churches. She has recently resigned her position in
BESSIE TODD
Crestline and Galion, Musician and Educator
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the First Methodist Episcopal Church and is now organist and choir director in the United Presbyterian Church and in Bene Israel Temple and is organist in the Griesmer-Grim Funeral Home.
Mrs. Ulmschneider has played at the dedication of all the leading public buildings in Hamilton, including the Masonic Temple, the Mercy and Fort Hamilton Hospitals and many others. Her ability as an accompanist far far exceeds that of the usual musician and she has acted as such for many famous artists who have appeared in Hamilton and who have highly praised her for her skill. She is a most ardent and loyal supporter of the Civic Concert Association which has brought to Hamilton within the last two years many musicians distinguished not only in this country but also in foreign lands and as general chairman of the organization she has done much to increase the membership and to promote interest and enthusiasm. Through her efforts the Twilight Musicales, features of the annual Christmas-in-Every-Home proj- ect, have been greatly advanced. She arranged and directed "The Seven Last Words," a pre-Easter program of the United Presbyterian church, and at which her daughter, Mrs. Jane Eyre Mayer, was one of the soloists. The daughter is a graduate of Wittenberg College and also of a College of Music, is the wife of Richard Mayer and like her mother is a talented musician and church organist.
Mrs. Ulmschneider belongs to the First Methodist Episcopal Church and was formerly identified with the leading women's clubs of Hamilton but by reason of the pressure of her professional activities, she has withdrawn from all but the Woman's City Club and the Business and Professional Wo- men's Club. She has been styled "The First Lady" in Hamilton's musical circles by reason of her talents and achievements and one of the local papers wrote of her: "Synonymous with all things musical in Hamilton is the name of Mrs. Willa Eyre Ulmschneider who has long been identified with the pro- motion of the artistic and cultural interests of the community and whose splendid musical gifts have always been generously devoted to any artistic enterprise, whether of a religious, social or civic nature. Endowed with un- usual musical talent and a keen musical appreciation fostered from early childhood and trained under superior teachers, she is an outstanding figure as pianist, organist, accompanist and director."
EDITH KANTZER UNGER
EDITH KANTZER UNGER (Mrs. William Unger) has been a resident of Bucyrus for thirty years and throughout the entire period has been a promi- nent figure in the musical circles of the city as music supervisor in the public schools, as teacher of voice and as choir director, nor is her acquaintance in art circles limited by the boundaries of the city for she is president of the North Central Lutheran Choir Association of Ohio. What she has accom- plished in her particular field constitutes an interesting tale. A native of
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Wayne County, Ohio, she is a daughter of John B. and Elizabeth (Biber) Kantzer, the former born in Ashland County, Ohio, in 1857 and the latter in New Washington, this state, in 1860. She comes of a family in which musical talent and appreciation of the art have been pronounced traits. Her great- grandfather, George Kantzer, in 1840, was the first choral leader in the Luth- eran church on the Mohican river, near McZena, Ohio, and her grandfather, John B. Kantzer, succeeded his father in that position when seventeen years of age. Her father, John B. Kantzer, was organist of the same church for fifteen years and Mrs. Unger was organist of the Sunday school from the age of eleven to the age of sixteen years, when the family removed to Loudonville, Ohio.
The three daughters of the family inherited the musical ability and music appreciation of their ancestors. Barbara Kantzer, sister of Mrs. Unger, is now music supervisor at South Bend, Indiana. She had held the same position in Bucyrus from 1919 to 1925 and for three years she taught music in the high school of Athens, Ohio. She holds the Bachelor of Science degree from Ohio University at Athens and a Master of Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music at Rochester, New York, awarded her in 1937. She has taught music in the James Whitcomb Riley junior-senior high school in South Bend since 1928 and she is a member of the Sigma Alpha Iota, a national honorary musical fraternity, the Kappa Delta Pi, a national honorary educational fra- ternity and the Alpha Xi Delta, a national social fraternity. Mrs. Unger's other sister, Mrs. Nevin Bretz, the former Martha Kantzer, was at one time a piano and organ teacher in Bucyrus. She is now living in Goshen, Indiana, where she takes an active part in musical circles as organist of the Lutheran church and as accompanist for a community choral society. She was graduated from Heidelberg University, at Tiffin, Ohio, in 1917 and was assistant organ teacher at Heidelberg during the World War. She was organist at Good Hope Lutheran church in Bucyrus for several years prior to her marriage to Nevin Bretz, an optician, in 1920, at which time she removed to Goshen and entered actively into the musical life of that city. She is also a member of the Fine Arts Club there.
Mrs. Unger, like her sisters, has devoted much of her life to music. She attended the Loudonville, Ohio, high school, from which she was graduated in 1903, and afterward spent a year in study in the Wooster University Con- servatory of Music. She completed a course in Heidelberg College in 1915, receiving a teachers' certificate in voice, and finished a course at the Siver- Burdette Music Institute at Evanston, Illinois, as a public school music teacher.
In 1920 Edith Kantzer became the wife of William Unger, a member of the American Institute of Architects, and has one child, Barbara Ann, now fourteen years of age. Mrs. Unger has made her home in Bucyrus for thirty years. Prior to her marriage she taught voice at Heidelberg University from 1914 to 1916 and was music supervisor in the Bucyrus city schools from 1914
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to 1920. The following year she began teaching voice and also became a choir director in Bucyrus, and has followed those lines of musical activity since. From 1928 until 1930 she was director of the Lecture Recital Club at Marion. In 1921 she composed the music for a poem written by Colonel Kilbourne for the Bucyrus Centennial and she directed all the music for the Centennial. She was the founder and director of the Bucyrus Community Chorus, which was an auxiliary of the Bucyrus Music Club. This group was the first of its kind to travel to neighboring towns to give recitals. The organization has been in existence for eighteen years under the same director. Under her maiden name, Mrs. Unger gave two recitals in Chicago at the MacBurney studios in 1916 and 1917. She studied under Oley Speaks and appeared with him, Miss Mar- garet Speaks and Mr. Edward Poe in "In a Persian Garden" at the Heidel- berg Conservatory of Music.
Mrs. Unger belongs to the Good Hope Lutheran church of Bucyrus and has membership in the New Era Club of Bucyrus, of which she has been presi- dent several terms, while in 1938 she was elected to the presidency of the North Central Lutheran Choir Association of Ohio. She has charge of the presenta- tion of the annual production of Handel's "Messiah," which has been pre- sented for the last ten years jointly by the Bucyrus Music Club in cooperation with the Bucyrus Ministerial Association and through all her musical activi- ties has made definite donation to a progressive civilization.
GRACE UPDEGRAFF
GRACE UPDEGRAFF, of Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, was born with a fine voice, studied hard and after a while became widely known as lyric soprano. But it is doubtful if the finest and most appreciative audience of her concerts ever gave Grace the thrill that she experienced after singing "The Star Spangled Banner" at a Republican state convention held at Martin's Ferry more than 30 years ago.
Delegates rose in their seats, electrified. They clapped, pounded, whistled for encore after encore. Some of the delegates living today still refer to the occasion regretfully. "Nobody can sing that way nowadays", they say.
SUE HARVARD, now a well known New York soloist, was also very popular as singer in the same community. Her former home was at Steuben- ville. ---
MARY H. VAN DOREN
MARY H. VAN DOREN (Mrs. Harold L. Van Doren), head of the music department, Toledo Museum of Art, pianist and lecturer, was born in Emporia. Kansas, the daughter of William and Emily Huggins. She took her A. B. and Mus. B. at Emporia College and entered the Juilliard School of Music on a scholarship won in widespread competition. For a period she was piano teacher at the Baldwin School, Bryn Mawr, also at St. Thomas Choir School,
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N. Y. She was married in 1933 to Harold L. Van Doren, a designer in the industrial field.
Mrs. Van Doren made her debut as pianist at the Town Hall, New York, and has been soloist with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, also with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her home is at 604 Winthrop St., Toledo, Ohio.
CYRENA VAN GORDON
CYRENA VAN GORDON, noted mezzo contralto, was born in Camden, Ohio. the daughter of Oscar and Cora Murphy Pocock.
She studied with Mme. Louise Dotti at the College of Music, Cincinnati, Ohio ; with Charles W. Clark at Chicago Conservatory of Music; and with Cesare Sturani, New York.
Miss Van Gordon made her operatic debut with the Chicago Grand Opera Company as "Amneris" in "Aida" and was identified with this organization, later known as Chicago Civic Opera Company, until it disbanded.
She has since been with the Metropolitan Opera Association, New York.
The repertoire of this gifted singer includes all the leading mezzo and contralto roles of the standard operas. She is known throughout the United States in the concert field.
THELMA VOTIPKA
THELMA VOTIPKA, contralto with the Metropolitan Opera Company, was born in Cleveland of Czech parents, graduated from South High school and from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. This was followed by study with Lila Robeson of the Metropolitan. Later Miss Votipka went to New York to continue her studies and there auditioned and won a contract with Edward Johnson and the "Met."
Miss Votipka made her first appearance with the "Met" opera in Cleve- land in 1939, singing in "Otello," "Louise," "Die Walkure," and "Lucia di Lammermoor."
While she was resident in Cleveland, Miss Votipka sang in the high school glee club, and the choir of the Boulevard Presbyterian church.
MABEL WAGNALLS
The talent and achievements of MABEL WAGNALLS (Mrs. Richard J. Jones), are as impressive in their way, as is the beautiful Wagnalls Memorial which this gifted artist and author herself established to the memory of her parents at Lithopolis, O.
Mabel Wagnalls' present home is in New York and she was born at Kansas City, the daughter of a famous publisher. But her "Letters to Lith- opolis from O. Henry to Mabel Wagnalls" have definitely identified her with Ohio and she has lived in the state at various periods. She studied music in
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Paris and Vienna, also in Berlin, under Franz Kullak. She made her debut in Berlin in 1889 and in America-with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra-in 1892. Her career as author began in the nineties also. "Miserere" was published in 1892, "Stars of the Opera" and "Selma the Soprano" in 1898, and "The Rose Bush of a Thousand Years" from which was developed the motion picture "Revelation" came out in 1919. Music terms of the dictionaries pub- lished by her family were the special work of Mabel Wagnalls and she was the originator of "Imagery in Music" recitals. She was married to Richard J. Jones in 1920. Their residence is No. 1 Lexington Ave., New York.
JESSIE AYRES WILSON
JESSIE AYRES WILSON, musician, teacher of music and church and concert singer, has advanced far in her chosen art field through study in this country and abroad, having had instruction from some of the most eminent American and European teachers. Living in Sidney, where she has always made her home, she is a representative of one of the oldest pioneer families of the state. Her maternal grandfather, Jeremiah Ayres was the first white settler of Wapakoneta, where he conducted a hotel and engaged in various other lines of business, in which, through his sound judgment and keen in- telligence, he accumulated considerable wealth. It was his daughter, Irene Ayers, who married Dr. Albert Wilson and became the mother of Miss Wilson, of this review.
At the usual age Miss Wilson entered the public schools of Sidney and in due course of time advanced to her graduation from the high school. From her girlhood she evinced a fondness for music and at her graduation from the Cincinnati College of Music, she was the gold medallist. She then went to New York, where she studied voice under Francis Fischer Powers and after- wards was an organ pupil of Samuel P. Warren of that city. While in New York she sang in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin and also played the prelude and the postlude, being there associated in her art work with Dr. George Prentice.
On leaving the eastern metropolis Miss Wilson went to Europe and in Paris was a student of voice under Jacques Bouky and of organ under A. Guilmond, thus making continuous progress in her chosen field. Following her return to the United States she played the organ for some years in Dayton, Ohio, in the Jewish Temple, the First Reformed Church and the First Lutheran Church of that city and she gave organ recitals in many of the states of the Union. In 1929 she returned to Europe for further study and she makes frequent trips to New York with Amy Ellerman. She is not only widely known as a teacher of music, but also as a church and concert singer and she has been connected with Herbert Witherspoon and has also studied in Chicago with Charles W. Clark, who was an idol of the French public.
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Although Miss Wilson was an only child and her mother passed away in 1928, while her father died in 1903, she has always regarded Sidney as her home, notwithstanding her professional interests have often called her else- where. Here she has many friends with whom her association dates from her girlhood, as well as those of her more recent years. She belongs to the Presbyterian Church, to the Business Girls Club of Sidney and to card and other amusement groups and she heads a group of fourteen music-loving people, known as the Colonial Singers. She is also the permanent president of the City Music Club and is president of the Middlewest district of the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs.
LAURA WOOLWINE
LAURA WOOLWINE, who under her stage name "Bellini" toured the American continent in grand opera, was born in Lebanon, Ohio and died there several years ago at the age of 80.
Within this span of four score years, Laura Woolwine first found fame and later peaceful contentment. In her early twenties she was graduated from the Conservatory of Music of Milan, Italy.
She came home, traversed the country, then Mexico, in opera and later made a second tour with no less a star than Emma Abbott.
When her career finally ran its course, Laura Woolwine, like the sensible woman she was, went back to her home town and lived there happily ever after.
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