Norwalk High School Class of 1907 Demographics – Education After Graduation – The Women

As we saw in my last post, only two women out of seventeen in the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 went on to a degree-producing college, Florence Davidson and Harriott Wickham.

Florence Davidson

Florence Davidson attended Oberlin College beginning in the fall of 1907, just after graduation, and studied there for at least two years. [1] Her story is an interesting one, and frustrating. As we’ll see when I get around to publishing her biography, she was adopted after her father died by her mother’s new husband, Charles Davidson. [2] By 1909, the Davidson family moved to Massillon, Ohio, [3] and by 1910 were living in San Bernardino, California, where her adoptive father was a machinist in a railroad roundhouse, and Florence was a music teacher. [4] Then, she disappears. I cannot find any record of her at all after the 1910 Census.

All of this raises more questions than answers. How did Charles Davidson afford to send Florence to college on a machinist’s pay? Because Florence was a music teacher in California, I assume that she studied music at Oberlin, but have not found proof of that. I like to imagine that she had a part in the beginning of the movie industry in California and changed her name. But that is only a fantasy. Her life is a mystery I would love to solve.

Harriott Wickham

Harriott Wickham studied one additional year at Norwalk High School and then taught in a one-room school in Peru Township, just outside of town. Not long after the end of the 1908-1909 school year, she received startling news, Her uncle, oil magnate and philanthropist Louis Severance (brother-in-law of Harriott’s grandfather, David Benedict), had decided to pay her way at Wooster College. It was a dream come true. Years later, she wrote about her school experience:

That fall [1909] I entered Wooster College – and spent 4 “school years” there – very good years! – that prepared me for teaching in high schools of S. Dakota & Wyoming – the years that made a “westerner” of me, & years in Deer Creek Canyon, with Angus & the children. [5]

And that’s all the women in the class who went on to college: two out of seventeen female students in the Class of 1907. Three other women attended a technical school after graduation: Lillian Smith went to a teaching school in Toledo and Chicago. [6] Florence Bascom attended nursing training at a hospital in Lakewood, Ohio. [7] Irene Bragdon went to a “normal school” for teachers in Ypsilani, Michigan. [8] Lillian and Florence married soon after completing their schooling. Irene Bragdon never married, and had a career teaching in Minneapolis.

Lillian Smith

Florence Bascom

Irene Bragdon

 

Higher education was beyond the reach of most women graduates of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907. That was not the case for the men of the class, however. In my next post, we’ll see where they went to college, and how that opportunity shaped their lives.

Footnotes:

[1] The only evidence I have that Florence attended Oberlin are from short newspaper accounts reporting that she returned to Norwalk for a visit from attending school there. For example: “Personal Mention,” Norwalk Daily Reflector, May 9, 1908, page 3, column 5.

[2] Cuyahoga County Archive; Cleveland, Ohio; Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1810-1973; Volume: Vol 56; Page: 109; Year Range: 1903 May – Oct.

[3] U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Massillon, Ohio, City Directory, 1909.

[4] U.S. Census: 1910: San Bernardino Ward 3, San Bernardino, California; Roll: T624_94; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 0120; FHL microfilm: 1374107.

[5] The story of Harriott Wickham’s education at Wooster College are mostly from her diaries, 1908 to 1914.

[6] “Personal Mention,” Norwalk Daily Reflector, January 6, 1908, page 3, column 5 and “Personal Items,” Norwalk Evening Herald, August 14, 1911, page 4, column 4.

[7] US Census 1910; Cleveland Ward 10, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: T624 1169; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 0175; FHL microfilm: 1375182

[8] “Deaths and Funerals: Irene Bragdon,” Norwalk Reflector Herald, November 17, 1944, page 8, column 4.

 

 

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Commencement 1907 – Musical Interludes

Eight graduates of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 spoke at the Commencement Ceremony on June 14, 1907 — two each chosen in four categories: for best grades for regular work, and best grades for literary work, and those chosen by their fellow students and by the faculty.

Those were not the only graduate contributions to the program, however. Musical performances also shone. As The Norwalk Evening Herald reported, “All the speeches were fine, and the choruses and other musical numbers correspondingly good.”

After Homer Beattie’s oration, “The Call of the Wild,” Florence Bascom and Lillian Smith sang a ballad, “Oh, That We Two Were Maying,” with the young ladies’ voices “blending well, making the number most pleasing.”

Oh! that we two were Maying,
Down the stream of the soft spring breeze;
Like children with violets playing
In the shade of the whisp’ring trees.

Oh! that we two sat dreaming
On the sward of the sheep-trimm’d down,
Watching the white mist streaming
O’er river, and mead, and town.

Oh! that we two lay sleeping,
In our nest in the churchyard sod,
With our limbs at rest on the quiet earth’s breast,
And our souls at home with God. [1]

 

Florence Bascom

Lillian Smith

Nina Humiston’s recitation of the poem, “Bud’s Fairy Tale” was followed by “Come Where the Lillies Bloom,” sung by Ruby Hoyt, Lillian Smith, class president Arthur Young and Sheldon Laning.

Come where the lilies.
The sweet fragrant lilies;
Oh, come where the lilies bloom so fair;
Down in the meadows,
The green verdant meadows,
Oh, come where sweet fragrance tills the air. [2]

 

Ruby Hoyt

Lillian Smith

Arthur Young

Sheldon Laning

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Between Alice McCammon’s essay, “Fashion Rules the World,” and Carrie Spurrier’s “Vennering,” the Girl’s Glee Club sang two ballads, “Carmena Waltz,” and “There Little Girl Don’t Cry.”

Miss Spurrier was followed by “The Jolly Blacksmith’s Lay,” [3] sung by the high school quartet: Robert Venus, Sheldon Laning, Arthur Young, and underclassman, Carlton McCague.

 

Robert Venus

Sheldon Laning

Arthur Young

 

Just before Superintendent Beechy’s final remarks and presentation of diplomas, a Mrs. O. M. Harter sang “Slumber Song,” written by Minnie Cleghorn, who had contributed so much to the education of the Class of 1907, especially the young women of the class.

 

Footnotes

[1] Lyrics are from The LiederNet Archive. Check out this YouTube video for a performance by “Belle and two Beaux” as part of their Victorian evening. Janet Shell, mezzo-soprano. Mark Oldfield, baritone. John Flinders, piano.

[2] Lyrics are from American Old Time Song Lyrics.

[3] Find the lyrics to “The Jolly Blacksmith’s Lay” in the 1910 edition of a trade journal The Master Printer, page 687 on Google Books.

 

Other Sources

Descriptions of musical performances during the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 commencement program are from “Forty Seventh Annual,” The Norwalk Daily Reflector, June 13, 1907, page 1, column 3; “School Life is Ended,” The Norwalk Daily Reflector, June 15, 1907, page 1-2, column 6; and “Get Their Diplomas,” The Norwalk Evening Herald, pages 1,4.

The links for the performers of musical numbers during commencement are to their person pages on the WeRelate wiki.

 

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Norwalk High School Commencement, 1907

On Friday, June 14, 1907, one-hundred and ten years ago today, the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 walked across the stage at the Gilmer Theater to receive their diplomas.

What did those young people experience that memorable evening? Well the Norwalk Daily Reflector and the Evening Herald reported extensively in their issues the next day, giving us a blow-by-blow description of the pomp and ceremony.

How did they look that night — these young people about to “join those who are fighting life’s battles,” as the Daily Reflector put it. How were they dressed? We don’t need to imagine. We have a photo taken that very evening at the Gilger. [1] Aren’t they are good looking crew?

 

Norwalk High School Class of 1907 Front Row: Ruth Jenkins, Irene Eline, Irene Bragdon, Myrtle Woodruff. Second Row: Lillian Smith, Eugene Bloxham, Arthur Young, Carrie Spurrier, Harriott Wickham, Robert Venus, Ruby Hoyt. Third Row: Sarah Barnett, Fred Osborne, Nina Humiston, Earl Sinclair, Florence Davidson, Inez Adams, Stephen Young, Fred French. Fourth Row: Homer Beattie, Florence Bascom, Alice McCammon, Sheldon Laning, Edna West, Harry Holiday, Cleo Collins.

 

The audience arrived at the Gilger to find the auditorium decorated with the school colors of black and gold and Stewart’s Orchestra playing “Slavery Days.” The Norwalk High School Classes of 1904 and 1906 occupied boxes decorated with their class colors. After all had settled into their seats, the curtain rose to reveal the Class of 1907, dressed as captured in the photo above, the women holding a single stemmed American rose. Above them hung a banner in black and gold, with the class slogan “Immer Siegend,” (always victorious). Accompanied by the orchestra, the class sang the chorus of the hymn, “A Dream of Paradise.”

Father in heaven above,
Glorious and mighty;
Send forth Thy Light of Love,
O King most mighty!
Father, Glorious and mighty;
Send forth Thy Light of Love.
Thy Light of Love. [2]

To great applause, the curtain lowered, and when it again raised, the class were seated in wicker chairs set in a semi-circle on the stage. With them were School Superintendent A. D. Beechy, the school faculty, and members of the board of education.

This graduation ceremony was not like what we experience today. There was no Valedictorian and Salutatorian, nor did a respected member of the community address the graduates. Instead, this ceremony focused on the graduates, with orations and essays by speakers selected for academic excellence, interspersed by musical performances by others in the class. [3]

Who were the speakers, and why were they chosen? The newspapers are handy references for this as well. Eight young men and women were honored in four categories: Arthur Young and Irene Bragdon for best grades in regular school work. Inez Adams and Alice McCammon for best grades in literary work; Sheldon Laning and Nina Humiston were chosen by the class; and Homer Beattie and Carrie Spurrier were chosen by the faculty. [4]

What did they talk about, these speakers? The subjects may surprise you. We’ll see what they said, and who they were, in subsequent posts, beginning with Mr. Young and Miss Bragdon.

 

Footnotes:

[1] The commencement photo is from the papers of Harriott Wickham, my grandmother,

who kindly wrote the names on the back. As I reported in my post, Mystery Girl, missing from this photo is Gertrude Ryerson. Newspaper accounts tell us that twenty-six graduates were at the ceremony, so I do not know why she is not in the commencement photo. It is a mystery. I clipped this image of her from a photo of the Senior / Junior study hall that I also found in my grandmother’s papers.

[2] “A Dream of Paradise,” by Claude Littleton, 1900. Full text of the lyrics and an audio file of the tune are at Hymnary. org.

[3] Lengthy descriptions of the ceremony and fulsome praise for the graduates are in “School Life is Ended,” The Norwalk Daily Reflector, June 15, 1907, page 1-2, column 6, and “Get Their Diplomas,” The Norwalk Evening Herald, pages 1,4.

[4] “Forty Seventh Annual,” The Norwalk Daily Reflector, June 13, 1907, page 1, column 3.“Get Their Diplomas,” The Norwalk Evening Herald, pages 1 and 4.

 

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Bachelor Hall – The Chorus Girls – Who Are They?

In my last post, I presented the cast of a performance of Bachelor Hall, a play presented on June 5 and 6, 1907 by the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 — with a notable exception: the chorus girls.

According to the Norwalk Daily Reflector, these young women provided the highlight of the show. Accompanied by the Spencer Orchestra, they sang and danced three songs: “When Love is Young,” “Oh, Be Careful of the Alligator,” and “Be My Little Teddy Bear.” So who were these “chorus girls?” [1]

Once again, my grandmother, Harriott Wickham (who was one of their number), comes through again with a photo I found in her papers. Here are the chorus girls from the play Bachelor Hall, apparently performing “Be My Little Teddy Bear.” Unfortunately, she did not include the names. [2]

 

There are eight women in the photo, but the newspapers only reported seven: Lillian Smith, Carrie Spurrier, Ruth Jenkins, Florence Davidson, Cleo Collins, Harriott Wickham, and Irene Bragdon. [3]

Who is who? And which girl is in the photo, but not listed in the cast of characters. Here are individual photos of the seven in clockwise order from upper left as listed in the previous paragraph. See if you can figure out who is in the group photo.

 

Lillian Smith

Carrie Spurrier

Ruth Jenkins

Florence Davidson

Irene Bragdon

Harriott Wickham

Cleo Collins

I must admit that I am not doing well figuring out who is who. Perhaps it is because in the group photo the girls are smiling. After examining the photo closely, I can be sure of only two: Carrie Spurrier, fifth from left (because of the spectacles); and Irene Bragdon, sixth from left.

What do you think?

 

 

Footnotes:

[1] Descriptions of the play and cast are from these newspaper articles: “Bachelor Hall,” Norwalk Reflector, 6/1/1907, page 4, column 5; “Brilliant Success,” The Norwalk Daily Reflector, June 6, 1907 – page 1, column 3; and “Bachelor Hall a Big Hit,” Norwalk Evening Herald, 6/6/1907, page 1, column 6.

[2] The chorus girl photo is from the unpublished collection of Harriott Wickham’s papers in my possession. I clipped the individual photos from the Commencement photo of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907, also in Harriott Wickham’s papers.

[3] The links for each cast member of Bachelor Hall lead to that person’s WeRelate person page.

 

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Shutout – Norwalk HS Girls’ Championship Game 1907

The Norwalk High School Class of 1907 boys’ basketball team did not play in the 1906-1907 intramural championship game. They were eliminated months earlier in the season by the juniors, who went on to win the boys’ championship game the evening of Friday, March 22, 1907. But the senior girls’ team did play–and won, shutting out the freshmen girls six to zip. [1]

I don’t have a championship photo of the senior girls’ team, as I do for the Junior boys’ team. But I can match faces to names with individual portraits of the team members that I clipped from their commencement class photograph.

Lillian Smith

Florence Davidson

Ruth Jenkins

Ruby Hoyt

Sarah Barrnett

Florence Bascom

Harriott Wickham

Clockwise from top left, they are, Lillian Smith, Florence Davidson, Ruth Jenkins, Ruby Hoyt, Harriott Wickham, Florence Bascom, and Sarah Barnett aka, Sara Joslin.

Prim and proper here in their commencement dresses, these girls would have appeared differently on the basketball court in “long, dark woolen bloomers, long sleeved blouse to match the bloomers, dark stockings, and flat-heeled soft shoes.” [2] See the picture of the girls’ gym class at Norwalk High School in 1906 for an idea of what they wore in that class.

We may not think of girls in 1907 engaging in sports, but the “Athletic Girl” was all the rage at high schools and colleges during the first decade of the 19^th century. It was an offshoot of the “New Woman” movement of the last half of the previous century. [3]

There was an active girls sports program at Norwalk High School in 1907, and basketball was an integral part of it. The gym teacher and girls’ basketball coach at the school was English teacher Miss Minnie Cleghorn, whom I briefly introduced in this blog on February 11^th.

What inspired Miss Cleghorn to introduce basketball and physical education to Norwalk High School. We’ll look at that, and learn more about the “Athletic Girl” of the early 1900s, in a series beginning with my next post: Athletic Girl 1907.

Sources:

[1] “Senior Girls and Junior Boys are Champions,” The Norwalk Daily Reflector, March 23, 1907, page 1, column 3. and “Decides Basketball Superiority,” The Norwalk Evening Herald, March 23, 1907, page 4, column 3.

[2] Betty Spears, “Senda Berenson Abbott: New Woman: New Sport;” A Century of Women’s Basketball: From Frailty to Final Four, edited by Joan S. Hult and Marianna Trekel; National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, 1907, Reston, VA; 21.

[3] Robert Pruter, “Chapter 8: The New Athletic Girl and Interscholastic Sports”, The Rise of American High School Sports and the Search for Control: 1880-1930, Syracuse University, 2013; 145-148.

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Norwalk, Ohio High School Class of 1907

Norwalk High School Class of 1907: Front Row: Ruth Jenkins, Irene Eline, Irene Bragdon, Myrtle Woodruff. Second Row: Lillian Smith, Eugene Bloxham, Arthur Young, Carrie Spurrier, Harriott Wickham, Robert Venus, Ruby Hoyt. Third Row: Sarah Barnett, Fred Osborne, Nina Humiston, Earl Sinclair, Florence Davidson, Inez Adams, Stephen Young, Fred French. Fourth Row: Homer Beattie, Florence Bascom, Alice McCammon, Sheldon Laning, Edna West, Harry Holiday, Cleo Collins.

How many times have you come across an old family photo, but have no idea of the identity of the people in it? Unfortunately, too often our ancestors neglected to scrawl identifying information on the backs of their photos. Fortunately for me, my grandmother Harriott Wickham (second row, third from left in the photo above) understood how important it is to record names of people in her photos for future generations. She not only preserved this photo of her graduating class, she also recorded her classmates’ names on an accompanying scrap of paper.

Old Norwalk High School

The members of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 are no more. But in their day, at the beginning of their adult lives, they were full of enthusiasm and hope for the future. As I gazed at their faces, so serious, yet so full of life, I wondered who they were and how they lived their lives? I decided to find out.

Not only had my grandmother recorded the names of her classmates, she kept a diaries during those years that describe many of them and tell of her interactions with them. Unfortunately, the diary for her senior year is missing, but she did preserve one for May 1908 to May 1909. From it, and from information I gleaned from research, I began to form a picture of these young people and their families; of where they came from and how they spent their senior year–and the rest of their lives.

What did they do? In small town America of the early 20^th Century, young people went to balls, hung out at the library, formed societies, performed in plays and concerts, and played basketball (both boys and girls). They had séances and house parties and spent their summers in cottages on Lake Erie, lazing away the days and dancing at “The Grove” at Ruggles Beach at night.

Who were they and their families? What stock did they come from and how did they spend their lives after graduation? Because I have their names, I’ve been able to answer some of those questions. One of the young men in the photo became a U.S. Senator, but the rest of the the class led ordinary lives: some did not do well, some of them had successful careers. But each one of them has a story I want to tell.

Using my grandma’s diaries and research on the internet, I’m continuing to flesh out the stories behind these faces. Over the next year, I’ll post what I’ve learned–and what I don’t know. I ask your help as I take this journey: to correct my mistakes, and to add your stories to the tale of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907.

 

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