JOURNAL OF THE
NINETEENTH
ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE DEPARTMENT
OF MICHIGAN
WOMAN’S
RELIEF CORPS
Auxiliary
to the
GRAND ARM
OF THE REPUBLIC
PONTIAC,
MICHIGAN JUNE 11 AND
12, 1902
(Note: there was a picture of Jennie L. Bond with this article)
IN
MEMORIAM
Mrs. President and
Members of the Nineteenth Annual Convention
Department of Michigan Woman’s Relief Corps:
One year ago,
at the close of our happy Convention in Flint, there came suddenly upon us one
of those dread tragedies which shock and startle the human heart and make it
feel its utter helplessness. At that time, without one moment’s warning, two of
our dear coworkers were removed from among us__Elizabeth Humphrey of Adrian,
widow of General William Humphrey, a Past Department Commander of the Grand Army
of the Republic, and her sister, Harriet S. Applegate, widow of Thomas
Applegate, also of Adrian.
By the same sad
accident we were bereaved of our beloved Comrade, Major George W. Buckingham,
formerly of the Twenty-third Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and his lovely
daughter. Suitable notices were published in the daily press at that time
touching the life, associations and labors of these three prominent and
distinguished people.
It remains for us of
the W. R. C. Tenderly to recall once more the personality, the services, the
memory of these, our sisters. So united in their lives were they that we cannot
but rejoice that death did not divide them. And most tenderly we recall that
kind face of Major Buckingham. With our limited vision, our ways, which are not
as God’s ways, dare we say that their removal from earth was untimely? Dare we
lament too bitterly their painless exit from a world of care and sorrow? How
vain and empty now our eulogy over graves on which God’s sunshine falls! “They
rest from their labors and their works do follow them.”
We who remain, with
reverent eyes and uplifted hearts, do hereby
Resolve, That we bow
in humble and loving submission to the will of our Heavenly Father saying, in
the language of the lamented McKinley. “This is God’s way, His will be done.”
“Their toils are
o’er
Their troubles
cease;
From earthly cares
in sweet release
They’re hushed in
quiet sleep.”
Respectfully
submitted in F. C. And L.,
ALLASEBA M. BLISS
MARY A. McCONNELLY
SARA a. C. PLUMMER
Committee
IN
MEMORIAM
Name Corps No.
Elizabeth S.
Humphrey 072
Harriet S.
Applegate 072
Past Senior Vice
Rena A.
White 039
Electa L.
Mudge 039
Julia E.
Stevens 039
Jennie
Bradley 082
Mary
Hack 114
Jermimia
Hartgrove 114
Cornelia D.
Went 027
Malinda A.
Judd 138
Emily Van
Zant 232
Harriet
Easton 152
Mary E.
Dunston 152
Lottie A.
Leroy 031
Catherine
Hoover 005
Elizabeth
Stebbin 034
Ellen
Wiley 023
Esther
West 082
Roxina
Slade 208
Alice S.
Garlick 007
W. H.
Easton 003
Catherine
Renner 007
Louise
Gray 136
Adeline
Travis 082
Eunice
Ball 010
Euphrasia
Baird 103
Lottie
Markham 082
Ellen M.
Darbee 039
Betsey
Hemsted 023
Sister
Biddle 001
Lovina
Smith 078
Ann
Ames 024
Mary
Pulver 011
Sarah E.
Giles 105
Julia
Frazier 105
Catherine
Phillips 074
Anna
Thorn 175
Nancy
Tyler 135
Maggie
Spaulding 008
Mary I.
Gregory 072
Lois
Henderson 171
Lulu
Rich 201
Florence
Frayer 201
Mary
Kingsbury 201
Catherine
Snyder 028
Anna
Merrill 057
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE LEGISLATIVE AND ANNEX COMMITTEE:
Celia
A. Lozee, Department Secretary:
I have the
honor to submit, through you, to the Nineteenth Annual Convention of the Woman’s
Relief Corps, the report of the Secretary of the Legislative and Annex
Committee, of the Michigan Soldiers’ Home.
In taking up this
work, by the appointment of our honored President, our hearts were filled with
grief at the loss of her who had charge of it for the prior two years.
Personally my associations with Mrs. Humphrey had been closer than the ordinary,
the Fraternity having been deepened by the bond of regimental comradeship of our
husbands, in the Second Michigan Infantry. But the hand was still that we had
loved and some one must pick up the threads that it had held to the last, begin
where she left off, and going on try to grow strong; and when our chairman, Mrs.
Bliss, requested me to act as secretary of the committee compliance seemed a
sacred duty.
The following named
applicants for admission to the Woman’s Building, fifty-one in number, have been
carefully investigated:
(Note: from Barbara Lesser. (Those that have no statement behind them were
approved...only listed “not approved” behind those who weren’t.)
1__Cornelia Went,
Grand Rapids, wife; age 67 years; no children.
2__Catherine Birdsall,
Perry, mother; age 85 years; one daughter.
3__Mary E. Wellman, Grand
Rapids, wife; four children; age 67 years.
4__Hannah Britt, Detroit,
wife; four children; age 76 years.
5__Lorinda C. Ford, Mecosta,
wife; age 73 years.
6__Alzuma M. Snyder,
Hawkins, wife; three children; 70 years.
7__Harriet W. Arnold, Grand
Rapids, wife; four children; age 57 years
8__Julia A. Schlamb,
Wyoming, wife; two children; age 49 years
9__Ellen Call, Grand Rapids,
wife; age 75 years.
10__Harriet A. Turner,
Moline; wife, five children; age 67 years. Not Approved.
11__Deborah Wood, Flint,
wife; two children; age 55 years; divorced. Not Approved.
12__Melissa Parker, Sand
Lake, wife; age 61 years
13__Charlotte L. Selden,
Pontiac, widow; two children; age 71 years.
14__Catherine E. Dunham,
Ionia, widow; age 63 years.
15__Lucy A. Branch, Hartford,
wife; five children; age 73 years, Approved October 21. On the 22nd I
received word that Mrs. Branch died on the 19th.
16__Mary Lamb, Grand Rapids,
widow; age 48 years. Not approved on account of marriage limit.
17__Sophia E. Carlisle,
Monroe, widow; one son; age 74 years.
18__Lucy C. Dunham, White
Cloud, wife; age 66 years.
19__Fannie M. Morris, Coral,
mother; two children; age 80 years.
20__Flavilla A. Fisher, Grand
Rapids, widow; age 48 years. Not approved on account of marriage limit.
21__Alvira H. Curtis,
Charlotte, widow; age 54 yrs. Approved conditionally by committee. Not Approved
by the Board.
22__Lucy E. Keeney, Ensley,
wife; two children; age 68 years.
23__Bridget Doherty, Grand
Rapids, widow; eight children; age 75.
24__Elizabeth Ackley,
Fremont, widow; two children; age 71 years.
25__Ann W. Miner, West
Leroy, widow; age 65 years.
26__Mary Rogers, Fremont,
widow; three children; age 60 years.
27__Emaline E. Munson, Grand
Rapids, wife; two children; age 49 years.
28__Lucinda Youngs, Mt.
Clemens, widow; two sons; age 71 years. Action deferred as she
decided to remain for a time in Mt. Clemens.
29__Eliza Jaqua, Grand
Rapids, widow; age 59 years.
30__Lydia Hummer, Mecosta,
wife; age 49 years.
31__Emma Swan, Grand Rapids,
wife; two children; her husband receives a pension of $24 per
month and had gone to live with a brother for the winter. Approved
Conditionally.
32__Orfa Eliza Winters,
Otsego, wife; two sons; age 50 years.
33__Hannah Strait
Hendershot, Greenville, mother; age unknown.
34__Emma E. Shuler, Grand
Rapids, wife; three children; age 67 years.
35__Mary E. Lathrop, Rose
Lake, wife; three children; age 63 years.
36__Elizabeth Town, Solon,
wife; one son, age 71 years.
37__Mary L. Simons, Sparta,
wife; three children; age 58 years.
38__Orsavilla Fry, Sparta,
wife; three children; age 52 years.
39__Mary Ann Church,
Saginaw, widow; one child; age 75 years.
40__Catherine Smith, Grand
Rapids, wife; four children; age 56 years.
41__Anna M. Stratton,
Comstock, wife; six children; age 54 years.
42__Amanda Decker, Brooks,
wife; one child, age 58 years.
43__Kate B. Fosdick,
Petoskey; one child; age 50 years. Not Approved on account of marriage limit.
44__Mary E. Keyes, Ionia,
widow; age 59 years.
45__Electa A. Kingsley,
Grand Rapids, wife; four children; age 64 years. Investigation
pending.
46__Caroline E. Sherman,
Plainwell, wife; one child; age 71 years.
47__Elizabeth J. McIntyre,
St. Johns, widow; one son; age 73 years. Not Approved.
48__Prudence Matilda
Cadwell, Luther, wife; three children; age 68 years. Died while
application was being investigated.
49__Drusilla L. Williams,
Mulliken, wife; six children; age 56 years. Conditionally.
50__Margaret Whalen, Grand
Rapids, widow. Investigation pending.
51__Mary C. De Gloppin,
Grand Rapids, wife; age 59 years.
Of this number
thirty-two were wives, sixteen widows, two mothers, and one divorced. Three had
applied for pensions which were not yet granted; eight received $8 per month,
and two $12 per month; one application received $15 and decided not to go for
the present and action on the application was deferred.
Number of applications
approved 38
Number approved
conditionally 03
Number not
approved 06
Died while investigation was
pending 01
Died after being approved by
Committee 01
Action
deferred 01
Action
pending 02
And now,
ladies, comes a portion of the report I had hoped the dear woman, who has charge
of the Woman’s Building might be present to give you, as I feel it would have
been an inspiration to you and a strength to her in the discharge of her arduous
duties, could she have looked into your faces and felt the magnetism of your
hearty support. Too much credit cannot be given Mrs. Rutherford for the able
manner in which she discharges her duties as Matron of the Woman’s Building.
Report of Matron of the Woman’s Building,
Michigan Soldier’s Home,
June 2, 1902.
Mrs. Abbie R. Flagg,
Secretary Legislative and Annex Committee Woman’s Relief Corps, Battle Creek,
Michigan.
Madam.__ I
have the honor to submit herewith statistics of the Woman’s Building of the
Soldiers’ Home, for the year ending June 1, 1902.
The membership June
1, 1901, was as follows: Present, 55; on leave, 18; total membership, 73. During
the year there have been admitted 34; readmitted, 9; total 43. There have been
honorably discharged, 6; summarily discharged, 1; dropped from roll (A. W. O. L.
60 days), 8; died, 7; total 22.
The membership June
1, 1902 was: Present, 75; on leave, 19; total membership, 94. The membership of
the building is as follows: Mothers of veterans, 4; widows of veterans, 35;
wives whose husbands are members of Michigan Soldiers’ Home, 43; wives of
husbands not in Home, 12.
The Woman’s
Building, as added to, now contains, in the basement, a dining room, kitchen,
laundry, smoking room and storeroom. On the first floor are the reception
parlor, quarters for the Matron and sixteen bedrooms. The second contains twenty
rooms. The third floor twenty-one rooms. The third floor is used as a hospital
for those who need more than ordinary care and attention. An elevator connects
the four floors, and is greatly appreciated by all.
The capacity of the
building is less than a hundred, and this winter will probably see every room
occupied with its full quota.
I append below a
list of those who have been admitted during the past year, and a list of those
who have died during the year.
ADMISSION TO THE WOMAN’S BUILDING, JUNE 1, 1901 TO MAY 31, 1902.
DATE
OF NAME COUNTY AGE
ADMISSION
May
28 COGSHALL, Martha J. Kent 61
June 28 WENT,
Cornelia Kent 75
June
30 BIRDSALL, Catherine Oceana 85
July
4 BARBER, Sylvia Benzie 65
July
9 DUFFANY, Margaret Cheboygan 65
July 15 LINCE,
L. Maria Kent 68
Aug 7 BRITT,
Hannah Wyane 76
Aug 22 FORD,
Lorinda C Mecosta 73
Sept
3 WELLMAN, Mary E Kent 67
Sept 19 ARNOLD,
Harriet M Kent 51
Sept 25 GERARD,
Elizabeth A Houghton 68
Oct
7 SCHLAMB, Julia A Kent 49
Oct 8 CALL,
Ellen Kent 75
Nov
3 DUNHAM, Lucy Newaygo 66
Nov 21 SNYDER,
Alzuma M Kent 70
Nov 30 PARKER,
Melissa Kent 61
Dec 18 HALL,
Marion C Kent 78
Dec 24 KEENEY,
Lucy E Newaygo 68
Dec 26 MORRIS,
Fannie M Montcalm 80
Dec 30 BOND,
Angeline Cheboygan 65
1902
Jan 3 ` ACKLEY,
Elizabeth Newaygo 71
Jan
5 WINTERS, Orfa Eliza Allegan 50
Jan
6 STRAIT, Hannah Montcalm 78
Jan
9 DENHAM, Catherine Ionia 63
Jan 18 JAQUA,
Eliza Kent 59
Jan
18 McNAMARA, Mary Kent 70
Feb
7 SHULER, Emma E Kent 67
Mar 1 SMITH,
Catherine Kent 56
Mar 3 FRY,
Orsavilla Kent 52
Apr
8 DECKER, Amanda Newaygo 58
Apr
10 STRATTON, Anna M Kalamazoo 54
May
6 SHERMAN, Caroline E Allegan 71
May
6 SELDEN, Charlotte L Oakland 71
Total number admitted,
34; average age of those admitted, 66.
Deaths of members of Woman’s Building, year ending May 31, 1902
Date: Name Age
1901
July 25 WENT,
Cornelia 75
Aug
23 ROCKFORD, Bridget 83
Nov 9 ROSE,
Rosa 64
Nov 16 PROPER,
Elizabeth 64
1902
Jan 3 LEE,
Jennie 61
Feb 11 MORRIS,
Fannie M 80
Feb 12 SWEET,
Jerusha 82
Average age of those
dying, 73. Whole number of deaths of members of the Woman’s Building since
opening January 1, 1894, 39. Whole number admitted since opening, 215.
One member has been
sent to the Michigan Asylum for the Insane during the year.
Respectfully
yours,
Charlotte
Rutherford, Matron.
It would be
impossible to convey to this convention an idea of the amount of time and
thought necessarily given to this work in order to obtain satisfactory results.
Only those closely connected with it can realize its magnitude. It was my
pleasant privilege to be associated with Past Department Presidents Sara L.
Brown and S. A. C. Plummer on the first Department Legislative Committee in the
interests of a Woman’s Building at the Soldiers’ Home, and to be present at this
dedication, at which time I was detailed to take charge of investigation of
applications, which I did for the first two years and three months. And I assure
you my interest in these women has never abated, and old associations have been
closely coupled with the past year’s experience. As Secretary of the Committee
my personal thanks are due my associate members, Mrs. Bliss and Mrs. Foote, for
their hearty co-operation, to the members of the Board of Managers of the Home,
Commandant Judd and Adjutant E. B. Taylor (who has been very helpful in
furnishing needed information, for many courtesies shown and words of
commendation of work accomplished by our Committee, and to the ladies throughout
the Department who have so ably and promptly responded when called upon for
information regarding applicants. Again thanking you, Mrs. President, for the
honor conferred, and with an earnest desire for the future usefulness of the
Woman’s Building, I am,
Respectfully in F.,
C.. And L.,
Abbie R.
Flagg
Secretary
Legislative and Annex Committee.
Moved by
Jennie Bush, East Jordan, that the report on the Committee be accepted and
placed on record. Motion prevailed.
Moved by Henrietta
Playford, St. Louis, that the report of the Annex Committee be printed in the
Pontiac Post of Friday, June 13th. Motion prevailed.
Transcription
by Barbara Lesser July 2004
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