Pages

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Ipswich Female Seminary

Photo from Ipswich Chronicle Wicked Local Article by Gordon Harris April 24 2014 Zilpah Grant's Female Seminary, founded in 1828, was the first institute of higher education in the country to offer teacher and missionary training for lower and middle class women.

This progressive move in academia furnished opportunities for many young women in the local community who would not have had access to a costly private academy. The seminary offered a more “vigorous curriculum” to prepare students for employment and work placement, rather than usual courses constituting “the existence for a cultured wife and homemaker.” This philosophy opposed the traditional role of women; the “Spartan-like,” disciplined atmosphere was incredibly demanding.


 

The core program and texts of the Ipswich Female Seminary would be used in both the institutions of Wheaton and Mount Holyoke . Mary Lyons, one of the founders, was a pioneer in the academic world. Her passion and advocacy for female education had a great impact on one Ipswich girl in particular, Eunice Caldwell.(Both Photos of Mary Lyons from Mount Holyoke College the first is by Sarah Cushing Boynton, class of 1848)
After graduating from the school, Eunice Caldwell (photo above from Wheaton College) was put on staff as a teacher from 1830 to 1835. She became Wheaton’s first principal and then associate principal at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary from 1837 to 1838. She married the Reverend John Phelps Cowles*, returned to Ipswich in 1844, and reopened the Ipswich Female Seminary, which they ran until it closed in 1876. At the end, John was blind, but still taught the classics from memory, since his Yale education provided the means to do so. The aim of the school was “to make healthy, companionable and self-reliant women.” According to Academy records, 88 of the school's graduates went on to teach as educational missionaries in the western and southern United States.

Group Portrait of Teachers Helen French (left), Julia Ward (center), Emily Wilson, and Elizabeth Blanchard (right), 1861.
Louise Manning Hodgkins of Ipswich went on to receive a B. A., was matriculated at Oxford University, and later founded the English Department at Wellesley College. She was also the editor of the Heathen Woman's Friend, a monthly magazine published by the American Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Photos above First Photo is from Mount Holyoke College Archives. Second photo was taken by Edward L. Darling, from the collection of William J. Barton. The young women appear to be a group of Ipswich Female Seminary students. Behind them is the High St. house owned by undertaker and upholsterer George Haskell, directly across from North Main St. (The location is now the parking lot for the Ipswich Inn.) The nearby house at 3 High Street served at that time as one of the dormitories for the Ipswich Female Seminary. Gordon Harris Stories from Ipswich
 
Helen Fiske Hunt Jackson graduated Ipswich Seminary daughter of Nathan Welby Fiske, a professor of languages at Amherst College, and Deborah Vinal. Good friend of Emily Dickinson and a long history of Feminism and Missionary work

 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton attended Ipswich Seminary famous for her politics. The second photo is with her son Henry Stanton from Susan B. Anthony Rebel, Crusader, Humanitarian by Alma Lutz Project Gutenberg

Marianne Parker Dascomb graduated Ipswich Seminary in 1833 she is front row center the group picture is Oberlin Female Moral Reform Society More info Dunbarton New Hampshire’s Pioneer Educator in Ohio: Marianne (Parker) Dascomb ( 1810-1879)

Elizabeth Storrs Mead, a graduate of Ipswich Female Seminary, became Mount Holyoke’s first non-alumna president. She led the College through enormous change; strengthening and expanding the curriculum, encouraging teachers to pursue advanced degrees, and allowing students a measure of self-government. In 1896, when the Seminary building was destroyed by fire, Mead initiated a building plan that included the construction of six residence halls, a gymnasium, the greenhouse, and a Physics and Chemistry building.
Mary Abigail Dodge, who wrote under the pseudonym "Gail Hamilton" graduated Ipswich Seminary in 1850 and taught for four years after graduation. She was from Hamilton, MA daughter James Brown Dodge and Hannah Stanwood Dodge. In 1856 she sent samples of her poetry to the antislavery publication “National Era” in Washington which impressed the editor, Gamaliel Bailey, because of her unique and individual style. She was governess to the children of Gamaliel Bailey and while in that position family promoted her.
Emily C Hodgdon attended Ipswich Seminary daughter of Stephen Bartlett and Eliza (Cook) Hodgdon For More see Emily C. Hodgdon & Thomas J. Rayner
Laura Farnum Booth daughter of Rev. Chauncey Booth and Laura Farnum attended the Ipswich Seminary with her cousin Hannah Blodget daughter of Abner Blodget and Hannah Booth of Connecticut. More info see 1835: Laura Farnum Booth to Hannah Blodget
 
Mary Phelps Cowles (Hall) Cummings graduated Ipswich Seminary daughter of Eunice Caldwell and Rev John Phelps Cowles, philanthropist. She was highly educated for her time and among her family, husbands and their friends were prominent figures of the day. Instructor at Mount Holyoke. Married Dr. Adino Brackett Hall, of Ipswich Photos from Woburns Environmental Network The Gift of the East


For other Cowles Family--plus Sheldon and Dodge check out Heirlooms Reunited blog 1860-1905 Autograph Album of Louisa Barr of Erie, Pennsylvania; 1861 Student at Cleveland Female Seminary, Cleveland, Ohio

In 1881 Mary married John Cummings see A Vision for Mary Cummings 

Martha Harward Skolfield (1836-1904) Fifth child of the Harward family of Bowdoinham, Maine, she attended the Ipswich Female Seminary between 1851 and 1855. Martha married Alfred in 1858. They had three daughters with him: Eugenie, Augusta Marie, and Evaline. The last was born while the family lived in Birkenhead, England and died at two years of age. Martha was a strong-willed, principled woman and managed many of the household affairs. She oversaw the selection and purchasing of furniture for the Park Row house as well as the payment of bills and the hiring of help. She made certain that her daughters learned to play the piano and to paint, aesthetic achievements which were derigueur for all proper Victorian young women. From Pejepscott Historical Society



Mary Hodgkins always praised her early education with Caldwell and the Ipswich School:  “I am sure I got my lasting habit of taking world-wide views [from the Ipswich Female Seminary]. Mr. Cowles was in the habit of giving us questions to be answered in chapel, about once a week, that sent us early to the study of Plutarch, Rollin, English History and Literature, and no one was more keen than I to find the answers to such questions as: 'Who was the Man with the Iron Mask?' … 'What were the Seven Wonders of the World?' … 'Where is the Singing Statue of Memnon?' Little I dreamed then that I should see all the places, nearly associated with these historic questions, but I can never be too grateful for the form of outlook she imparted.”

“These loved and venerated teachers still live, and long may the pen lie idle that must one day trace their noble lineaments through the mists of memory. Not often is it given to such a mind as Ellen's to come under the tender training of two such minds as theirs – minds differing as widely from each other as one star differeth from another star in glory, but always two stars, brilliant, high, shining only with a more serene and soft, but not less splendid luster.” – Ellen Chapman Hobbs, student from New England Bygones by E. H. Arr. Eunice remained actively involved in the Essex North Branch of the Women's Board of Foreign Missions for over 24 years, and she served as president for the last three. When she passed, WBFM’s Life and Light wrote a wonderful dedication to this amazing woman who rallied for the betterment of her sisters in her homeland, but also “gave of her mind and soul and money to the promotion of the work of women for women the world over. Her presence exercising her brilliant gifts, and with her own zeal kindling in other hearts fires of zeal which have continued to burn.”



*Rev. John Phelps Cowles
John Phelps Cowles, son of Samuel and Olive (Phelps) Cowles, was born in Colebrook, Conn., January 21, 1805. He entered Yale college in 1821 and graduated at the head of his class in 1826. He studied theology in the Yale Divinity School, under Dr. Taylor, and remained in New Haven after graduating and assisted in the preparation of Webster's Dictionary. He was licensed to preach in June, 1832, and was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Princeton, Mass., June 18, 1833. He resigned this position December 18, 1834, and went to Oberlin, Ohio, with his brother Henry, soon after Oberlin college was established, and in February, 1836, was appointed to the professorship of the languages and literature of the Old Testament in that institution. He was married, October 16, 1838, to Eunice Caldwell, of Ipswich, Mass. 
In October, 1839, he resigned his position in Oberlin college and in March, 1840, was appointed principal of an academy in Elyria, Ohio. Resigning there in April, 1844, ne, with his wife, assumed the charge of the Ipswich (Mass.) Female Seminary, where he remained until over seventy years of age, in full and active work, though blind the last twenty years. He lost his eye-sight in 1855, but retained the possession of all his other faculties until near the time of his death, which occurred from heart failure, March II, 1890, at Ipswich, Mass.
He was a patient, conscientious teacher, and did much to advance the higher education of women, giving to many of those whom his reputation for scholarship drew around him the equivalent of the best part of a college education, long before a college for women was established. He was interested in the work of the American Institute of Instruction, attending its meetings when practicable, and, in 1850, lectured at its annual meeting. During his thirty-five years of darkness, his calm fortitude and untiring patience were silent but efficient lessons, which have become a precious legacy to his widow, his four surviving children, and many friends.
From The Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Instruction, Volume 61 Children Of Eunice and John: Mary Phelps, Roxanna Caldwell, John Phelps, Henry Augustine, and Susan Abby Rice. 



Jun 1, 1943 2pm in Buckland. "Hi, We're having wonderful weather for our short vacation. Can't wait to get home to get weighed and sigh at how much I've gained. Love Alice"


Advertisement
Thursday, March 19, 1846  Boston Recorder (Boston, Massachusetts) 

    The Lace Makers of Ipswich and Newbury & Caldwell Connection



    So ready and brisk with her hands ... she earned by making lace, a silk dress for each of her daughters.
    Caldwell Family Records 

    On August 31, 1654, John was the first Caldwell to arrive in Ipswich, Mass. He married Sarah Dillingham, a woman “of quality so graciously remembered by many generations of descendents” that they visited her resting place for years after her passing. This would hold true for many other female Caldwell family members known for their “remarkable presence” and “singular native and queenly dignity.” Sarah was “a woman of rare qualities of mind, of a generous nature, thoroughly democratic in her ideas, and her whole life was devoted to others. She was always ministering to the comfort of the poor and the sick.” (Caldwell Records)

    The Caldwell women were not just proper society ladies, handing out alms to the less fortunate and attending sewing circles — they were inventive, industrious, highly skilled crafters. The Lace Makers are the most noted among these laborious eager beavers. The Ipswich Historical Society asserts that lacemaking was the first women’s industry in America, and members of the Caldwell family were among the forerunners.

    Lacemaking came on the scene early,* and this painstaking craft provided financial assistance for families during wartime. More importantly, it empowered the local women, giving them a sense of purpose and community. House & Garden references an Aunt Mollie Caldwell who collected the Ipswich workers' lace once a week and took it to Boston by stagecoach; in exchange, she brought back French calico, sugar, tea, coffee, and other goods, including surreptitious little packages of highly desirable snuff.


    It wasn't the lace makers alone who were not paid in currency. Town records as far back as 1640 permit that "No persons are compelled to pay future debts in cash, but corn, cattle, fish and other articles." Mrs. Caldwell not only disposed of the workers' lace, she was also clever enough to buy a bit from a peddler, prick off a pattern from it, and give it to one of the workers to reproduce.

    Samples of Ipswich Lace in linen and silk

    In 1790, Alexander Hamilton urged the country to submit information on the manufacturing industry. Ipswich’s own Rev. Joseph Dana complied with a letter and 36 samples of lace collected from 1789 to 1790. Ipswich had 600 lace makers producing over 42,000 yards of bobbin lace within the year. Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures found "a Manufactory of Lace, upon a scale not very extensive, has been long memorable at Ipswich, in the State of Massachusetts." Dana used the new senator Cabot to entice Governor Trench Coxe to act as solicitor of Ipswich’s inventive women. Coxe brought the samples to a Philadelphia meeting.


    Mary Boardman Caldwell was a part of this pioneer movement, as well as a leading maker and merchant of lace. Perhaps her talents in the craft of lacemaking were just as paramount as her networking skills. Mary was immersed in important social circles, and her marriage to Thomas Caldwell in Newburyport was a socioeconomic windfall, opening up a completely new territory of patrons. Some beautiful examples created by Lace Makers from Ipwsich and Old Newbury families: Elizabeth Heardsley and Sarah Greenleaf Boardman (Mrs. Offin Boardman) Benjamin Greenleaf Boardman
                                                                    
                
    George Lethbridge Saunders, an artist from England, traveled to the States from 1851 to 1853. During his stay, many prominent families commissioned him to paint miniature portraits. His works “meticulously represented the details of lace, jewelry, and background” of the time. Here is an example:


    Boston Intelligencer Ad March 32 1827

     * The oldest sample of lace, credited to Anne Gower Endicott (1620), is housed in the Peabody Essex Museum. It is an example of drawn-work with very fine lace designs and some lettering, including Anne’s name. She learned her craft during her childhood in England. She obviously had a great love for beautiful lace, and this work demonstrates her talent and skill. 

    Ironically, her husband John Endicott set forth a law in 1634 prohibiting the “wearing of silver, gold and silk laces, girdles, and hat bands.” (See my Fashion War in the Colonies  in the Newburyport News for more info.)
    The ministers and magistrates in Ipswich became ardent fashion police, but the public managed to work around the tight grip placed upon them. Occasionally a transgressor was taken before the court and fined, but to remain like Londoners, the spirit for finery and appearance won the day.

     
                              "The Lace Maker", Charles-Amable Lenoir


    Sources
    American Lace & Lace-makers Emily Noyes Vanderpoel, Amasa Stone Mather Memorial Publication Fund
    Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries by Marcus Bourne Huish
    A textile Lover's Diary
    Salem in History
    The Practical Book of Early American Arts and Crafts Harold Donaldson Eberlein, Abbot McClure, Mabel Foster Bainbridge
    The practical book of American antiques, exclusive of furniture Da Capo Press, 1977
    Publications of the Ipswich Historical Society, Issues 10-15
    Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony Thomas Franklin Waters, Sarah Goodhue, John Wise
    San Diego Union 1977 "She Laces with Dying Art"  

    Monday, August 26, 2013

    Emma Melinda Gillett


    Submitted by Lawrence Timothy Phelps - A member of Phelps Genealogy in America from Greenbelt, Maryland. Emma was sister-in-law to James Orlando Phelps, Timothy's Gr-gr-grandfather. President Garfield appointed her first female notary public in Washington. Emma Melinda Gillett (1852- 1927) was a remarkable attorney who helped establish one of the first coeducational law schools in the United States. In 1896, Gillett and a colleague, Ellen Spencer Mussey, sponsored a series of lectures in Washington, D.C., for local women interested in law.
    Despite social pressures against women in the legal profession, Gillett and Mussey held the lectures for two years. They expanded their curriculum and created Washington College of Law, a co-educational institution that later became part of American University. Gillett was born July 30, 1852, in Princeton, Wisconsin. After her father, Richard J. Gillett, died in 1854, Gillett moved to Girard, Pennsylvania, with her mother, Sarah Ann Barlow Gillett, and family. Sarah was daughter of George Barlow 1791-1868 and Millinda Dennis (1799-1881).
    Like Mussey, Gillett attended Lake Erie Seminary in Painesville, Ohio. Upon graduation in 1870, Gillett became a public school teacher. After ten years of teaching, she decided to move to Washington, D.C., to pursue a Legal Education and career. Her plans were thwarted by the refusal of most district law schools to admit women. Gillett overcame the obstacle by enrolling at Howard University Law College, a well-known, predominantly African American institution that did accept female students. She also was elected president of the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia.


    Gillett earned a law degree from Howard in 1882 and a master of law degree in 1883. She began a successful law practice in Washington, D.C., and became vice president of the D.C. region of the previously all-male. Both Gillett and Mussey had been denied admission to the all-male, all-white law schools in Washington, D.C., which likely motivated the women to form the Washington College of Law. Three additional motivating factors have also been identified. First, women's voluntary associations had experienced significant growth during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Second, opportunities for women in higher education had expanded. Third, the women's suffrage movement had grown considerably.
    Gillett and Mussey established a coeducational institution, rather than a women-only law school. They believed that admitting both men and women as students, as well as hiring male faculty and administrators, were necessary to promote gender equality. Perhaps as important, Gillett and Mussey knew that admitting men as students and employing men in faculty and administrative positions were necessary to promote the long-term success of the school. Fifteen years after its establishment, in fact, the number of men enrolled in the school outnumbered the number of women, due largely to the fact that two other law schools in Washington, D.C., began to admit women as students. Nevertheless, only women served as deans of the Washington College of Law until 1947. Washington College of Law earned accreditation from the American Bar Association in 1940 and became a part of American University in 1949.

    Gillett succeeded Mussey as dean of the law school in 1913, heading the institution for ten years. Gillett died on January 23, 1927, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 74.

    "The majority of the [women] practitioners who are sticking to their work and plodding on [their] way to success are unmarried." —Emma Gillett

    Family Tree of Emma Gillett Member of The Daughters of the American Revolution 

    George Barlow 1791-1868 and Millinda Dennis (1799-1881) d. of George Dennis and Sarah Robertson, d. of Daniel Robertson and Esther Nichols. Daniel Robertson served was a soldier in the American Revolution. He was as a Private in the 5th Connecticut. George Barlow was a soldier in the War of 1812. He was son of John Barlow and Plain Rogers, d. of John Rogers and Plain Wilkinson. John Rogers and Samuel Rogers served in the American Revolution as lieutenant and captain of a privateer fitted out at their own expense.
    George Dennis son of Thomas Dennis and Hannah Wilcox. He served as associate County Judge and was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1792.  Information on Ancestry.com Phelps Family Tree

    From History of Baltimore city and county, from the earliest period to the present day: including biographical sketches of their representative men by Scharf, John Thomas, 1843-1898.

    Mary Elizabeth Gillette, sister to born 04 July 1849, in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin married James Orlando Phelps, son of Charles Chesebrough Phelps and Margaret Jordon on 07 December 1865, Girard, Erie Co Pennsylvania. Charles C Phelps son of Erastus Phelps and Polly Yeomans. Erastus, son of Amos Phelps and Anne Filer. Amos Phelps, son of John Phelps and Anne Horsford served in the American Revolution--Private in the Fourth Regiment Conn. Son of the American Revolution application Charles Phelps Gray

    From The Phelps Genealogy "Phelps Family of America" by Judge Oliver Seymour Phelps.

    Further readings:
    • Clark, Mary L. 1998."The Founding of the Washington College of Law: The First Law School Established by Women for Women." American University Law Review 613.
    • "Emma Melinda Gillett." 1927. Women Lawyers' Journal. Available online at <www.stanford.edu/group/WLHP/articles/gillettobit.htm> (accessed June 26, 2003).
    • Lineage book of the charter members of the Daughters of the American Revolution Daughters of the American Revolution Published 1891
    • Barlow Genealogy  Timothy Phelps 
    • The history of the descendants of Elder John Strong, of Northampton, Mass, Volume 2

    Sunday, August 25, 2013

    Vernon Howard Bates 1932 Murders

    A share from Kyle Bradley from FB Ancestry Page:






    Vernon Howard Bates, his wife Louise M., and kids, including my grandmother, Eleanore Louise Bates Bradley, lived in this house. Vernon was shot and killed on the front porch during a nighttime robbery while his daughter Edith slept in the back room. The front half of the house in 1932 was a grocery store, they lived in the back.

    This is the only known photograph of my great grandfather, Vernon Howard Bates. he was born in Foster, Seneca co. Ohio in 1885, married Louise Marie Orlowski in 1906, had nine children, one of them my grandma Eleanor, and was murdered in 1932 near the porch of his own grocery store in a botched robbery attempt. The grocery was located a mile north of Leavenworth Rd. at 63rd St. The porch the burglars stood on while shooting him and the house that his grocery occupied is still standing. Pictured with him is his son, Willis Charles Bates. This picture was taken in 1930, about two years before Vernon's murder.