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209,https://marykatemcmaster.org/WOC/items/show/209,"FERREE, Mrs. Susan Frances Nelson",,"
Susan Frances Nelson Ferree is our Woman of the Week. Please view the link in our profile to see links related to Susan.
Susan Frances Nelson Ferree was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on January 14, 1844, and grew up in Keokuk, Iowa. She married Jerome D. Ferree in 1860 and had several children. From the 1860s to the late 1870s, the family first lived in Keokuk, Iowa, and then moved to Ottumwa, Iowa.
Her A Woman of the Century profile notes:
""Mrs. Ferree is a great lover of poetry, of which she has written much, but she excels in journalism. Some of her newspaper correspondence from Washington, D.C. is exceptionally fine. She is an untiring worker for temperance and for the advancement of woman (sic). She is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, Woman's Relief Corps, the Iowa Woman's Suffrage Association, and the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and a communicant of St. Mary's Episcopal Church of Ottumwa"" (287).
In addition, Susan was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was one of the three Ottumwa, Iowa delegates to the DAR meeting in Washington, D.C. in 1901.
Susan and Jerome were living on Ingraham Street in Los Angeles, California, in 1910, but they moved to San Diego, California, the following year. After she did not accompany him to Arizona, the couple divorced in 1913.
Susan passed away in Monterey, California, on September 30, 1919, and her ashes were buried in the family plot in Ottumwa.
",,,,,"McMaster, MaryKate",,,,,,,"POINT(-13042388.477273 3857911.43253)|POINT(-10172062.364985 4923307.4532203)|POINT(-10286431.865705 5014869.4584646)|POINT(-10192896.829666 5002173.7457996)|10|-10192152.1658050|5006903.2869241|osm
Siusan Frances Nelson Ferree was born in Mount Pleasant, IA on January 14, 1844. She later lived in Keokuk, IA, Ottumwa, IA, and San Diego, CA.",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Arizona republican. (Phoenix, Ariz.), November 27, 1913, Page PAGE THREE, Image 3^^Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Iowa), September 18, 1900, Image 7^^Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Iowa), March 18, 1911, Image 2^^Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa), January 31, 1901, Image 6^^Susan Frances Nelson Ferree Find A Grave^^Susan Frances Nelson Ferree photo on FamilyOldPhotos.com",,,"January 14, 1844","Mount Pleasant, IA","September 30, 1919","Journalist^^Poet^^Reformer^^Temperance Reformer^^Suffragist^^Philanthropist",,"^^^^^^^^^^","journalist and reformer",,,"FERREE, Mrs. Susan Frances Nelson",,1841-1850,Female,American,,,,Episcopalian,,IA,,,,,1844,,,,"Mount Pleasant, IA; Keokuk, IA; Ottumwa, IA; San Diego, CA",,,"Philanthropy^^Reform^^Temperance^^Women's Rights^^Writing/Publishing",,,,,,"287",,,,"Mount Pleasant, IA^^Keokuk, IA^^Ottumwa, IA^^San Diego, California",,"Order of the Eastern Star^^Woman's Relief Corps (U.S.)^^Iowa Woman's Suffrage Association^^Woman's Christian Temperance Union^^Daughters of the American Revolution",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Nelson, Susan Frances",,,,"1841-1850,1844,DAR,Daughters of the American Revolution,Episcopalian,IA,Iowa Woman's Suffrage Association,January,journalist,Mount Pleasant,Order of the Eastern Star,Philanthropy,poet,Poets,Reform,reformer,Susan Frances Nelson Ferree,Temperance,temperance reformer,woman suffragist,Woman's Christian Temperance Union,Woman's Relief Corps,Women's Rights,Writing/Publishing",https://marykatemcmaster.org/WOC/files/original/e4b859db6e58575609c488210fc14a8d.jpg,Person,"A Woman of the Century Women",1,0
189,https://marykatemcmaster.org/WOC/items/show/189,"FEARING, Miss Lillian Blanche","Blind authors^^Blind lawyers^^Blind poets","Author and lawyer Lillian Blanche Fearing was born in Davenport, Iowa, on November 27, 1863. Despite being blind from birth, Lillian achieved much during her lifetime. Lillian's obituary in the Rock Island Argus notes, in part:
""At the age of 8 she published her first poem, and by the time she was 12 years old her verses were appearing regularly in the Boston Transcript. Personal letters commending her work were sent her by Oliver Wendell Holmes, John G. Whittier, and Edmund Clarence Stedman.""
When she was taking courses at Union College of Law in Chicago, Lillian's mother ""was her constant companion and read books to her"" (The Comet). When she graduated, Lillian was the only woman in her class and one of four scholarship recipients (Watertown Republican).
Well regarded by her peers, Lillian was one of the people feated in literary critic William Morton Payne's ""Literary Chicago"" in the February 1893 edition of New England Magazine. The article mentioned many men and women, including Eliza Allen Starr, Olive Thorne Miller, Amanda T. Jones, Harriet Monroe, and Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Payne praised Fearing's work as ""remarkable"" and, speaking of her poem ""In The City By The Lake,"" he noted: ""A note of song stronger and more sustained has hardly been sounded by any other American woman"" (696). Readers of New England Magazine would have known of Lillian, since she had published ""The Bivouac of Sherman's Army"" in that periodical's August 1890 issue.
In 1894, Lillian wrote a piece for Chicago Woman's Times about the need for a different title than Miss for adult single women. She noted that males are called master and then Mr., but that females are addressed as Miss until they are married. She was perturbed that it took marriage to allow a woman to have a mature adult title. Lillian's words were reprinted in the March 10, 1894 edition of The Caldwell Tribune (Idaho Territory), giving her thoughts an even larger audience.
Throughout her life, Lillian received praise in the press for her work as a lawyer, her writing, and her phenomenal work ethic. The Irish Standard's characterization of her serves as a fine example of the admiration Lillian's contemporaries had for her:
""Miss Blanche Fearing is a graduate of the Chicago Law School and surely finding her way to a successful legal career. She is a poet, also, but her verses do not begin with 'whereases' or 'know all men,' etc., but are marked by the true poetic quality. Miss Fearing's profession means a livelihood to her. Her literary work is the overflow of her life. When it is known that Miss Fearing is entirely blind, the courage, enthusiasm, and perseverance that her work in these two lines exhibits fill one with admiration for the beauty and strength of character that so triumph over untoward circumstances and make life so noble, useful and sweet.""
She was very fortunate to have a supportive family. According to the Republican News Item, Lillian's mother and sister played the crucial role of reading legal documents to her.
Lillian's image and a discussion about her were included in ""Women Lawyers of America,"" a lengthy December 13, 1896, article in The San Francisco Call. Others noted included local lawyer Clara Shortridge Foltz, Myra Bradwell, Ellen A. Martin, Kate Pier, Ada Miser Kepley, Ella Humphrey Haddock, and Cornelia Hood.
On March 21, 1900, The Western News dedicated an article, ""Blind From Infancy: This Girl is Now Widely Known as a Writer and Lawyer."" While the use of the word ""girl"" must not have pleased Lillian, she must have been happy to hear that the paper had written about her and called her ""a dual success in her dual professions of author and lawyer.""
Unfortunately, Lillian passed away in Eureka Heights, Illinois, later that year. When she died on August 13, 1900, this courageous woman was just thirty-six years old.",,,,,"McMaster, MaryKate",,,,,,,"POINT(-10083419.298756 5089212.828762)|POINT(-10243631.310019 5185829.232501)|POINT(-9760643.0461167 5137890.0781587)|POINT(-9937750.0292861 4970925.3331785)|7|-10083591.8792340|5093924.4549579|osm
Lillian Blanche Fearing was born in Davenport, IA on November 27, 1863. She later lived in Vinton, IA, Chicago, IL., and Eureka Heights, IL.",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Lillian Blanche Fearing's Obituary
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.), August 15, 1900, Page 5, Image 5^^The Western news. (Stevensville, Mont.), March 21, 1900, Image 3^^The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.), July 17, 1890, Image 1^^Watertown republican. (Watertown, Wis.), July 23, 1890, Image 7^^St. Paul daily globe. (Saint Paul, Minn.), June 13, 1892, Page 4, Image 4^^The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.), January 13, 1893, Image 1^^The Caldwell tribune. (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]), March 10, 1894, Image 3^^The Irish standard. (Minneapolis, Minn. ;), October 26, 1895, Image 2^^A review of The Island Lily. An Idly of the Islas of Shoals.
The San Francisco call. (San Francisco [Calif.]), August 15, 1897, Page 23, Image 23^^The Western news. (Stevensville, Mont.), March 21, 1900, Image 3^^Republican news item. (Laport, Pa.), November 15, 1900, Image 7",,,"November 27, 1853","Davenport, IA","August 13, 1900",Lawyer^^Author^^Poet^^Novelist,,"
By newspapers [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Courtesy of Cornell University Library, Making of America Digital Collection.
^^^^^^^^^^","lawyer and poet","Fearing, Blanche, 1863-1901","Fearing, Blanche 1863-1901","FEARING, Miss Lillian Blanche","Fearing, Blanche^^Fearing, L. Blanche^^Raymond, Russell",1861-1870,,American,,,,,"Fearing, Blanche, In The City By The Lake. In Two Books. The Shadow, and The Slave Girl. Chicago: Searle & Gorton, 1892.
These publishers were women.
Haithi Trust^^Fearing, L. Blanche, ""The Bivouac of Sherman's Army,"" The New England Magazine Volume 0008 Issue 6 (Aug 1890), 661-665.
Courtesy of Cornell University Library, Making of America Digital Collection.
^^Fearing, Blanche. The Island Lily. An Idly of the Islas of Shoals. Chicago: Donohue & Henneberry, 1897.^^Fearing, Lillien Blanche. The Sleeping World and Other Poems. By Lillien Blanche Fearing. Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1887.
Haithi Trust^^Fearing, Blanche. Asleep and awake / by Raymond Russell [pseud.] Chicago: Charles H. Kerr and Company, 1893.
Haithi Trust
",IA,Single,,No,,1863,"Iowa College^^Union College of Law",,,"Davenport, IA; Vinton, IA; Chicago, IL; Eureka Heights, IL","Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894^^Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 1833-1908^^Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892",,"Law^^Women's Rights^^Writing/Publishing",,,,,,"286",,,,"Davenport, IA^^ Vinton, IA^^Chicago, IL^^Eureka Heights, IL","A Woman of the Century lists her first name as Lillian, but her The Sleeping World and Other Poems lists it as Lillien.",,,"BOSTON TRANSCRIPT^^CHICAGO WOMAN'S TIMES^^NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE (BAY STATE MONTHLY 1884-1886)",,,,,,,,,,,,"Searle & Gorton^^Donohue & Henneberry^^A.C. McClurg & Co.^^Charles H. Kerr Company",,"Fearing, Lillian Blanche",,,,"1861-1870,1863,A.C. McClurg & Co.,blindness,Boston Transcript,Charles H. Kerr Company,Chicago Woman's Times,Davenport,disability,Donohue & Henneberry,Edmund Clarence Stedman,IA,John Greenleaf Whittier,Law,lawyer,Lillian Blanche Fearing,New England Magazine,novelist,Novelists,November,Oliver Wendell Holmes,poet,Poets,Searle & Gorton,women as authors,Writing/Publishing","https://marykatemcmaster.org/WOC/files/original/f49f543032304fd98caef18dd51385d4.jpg,https://marykatemcmaster.org/WOC/files/original/702629827e9e47116594c1b6bf6a2dd7.jpg",Person,"A Woman of the Century Women",1,0