MCAVOY, Miss Emma

Emma McAvoy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 23, 1841.  Author and lecturer are the occupations listed at the beginning of her A Woman of the Century profile, but Miss McAvoy's career included other professions. 

Like many women of her time, this daughter of an Irish immigrant began her career as a teacher.  In April of 1859, Emma was appointed as a teacher in Cincinnati's Third District with a salary of twenty dollars.  Her salary may have been low because she was hired in April, since she is listed as having earned three hundred dollars the next year.  Later, Emma served as a principal in Kansas City, Missouri.  

Upon her return to Cincinnati, Emma began to deliver lectures.  Her A Woman of the Century profile notes: "She was one of the first women who presented parlor lectures on literature in the West" (481).  On February 11, 1879, The Cincinnati Daily Star advertised one of her upcoming lectures:  "Miss Emma McAvoy will deliver, at College Hall, on the evening of the 28th of February, an evening lecture on the subject, 'The Ode and Errors in Conversation.'" Other lectures over the next two years were on "Sonnet, with Hints for Improvement in Conversation," and  "The World's Conversationalists." 

As a popular figure on the lecture circuit, Emma often received praise in the press.  For example, a week before her 1884 speech in Omaha, Nebraska, The Omaha Daily Bee advertised:

"On next Monday evening, November 24th, Miss Emma McAvoy will lecture on the subject, 'Hints for Improvement in Conversation.'  The lady has just delivered four lectures in Denver, and is said to be a pleasing speaker."

She also gave "an able address well delivered" on "Books" in Denver, Colorado, and a  "well attended and thoroughly enjoyed" lecture on "Conversation" in Maysville, Kentucky, during 1896. Emma was still lecturing by 1900, when she lived in Cincinnati with her sister Mary. 

Emma passed away on February 4, 1919, and is buried in Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery.

• Emma McAvoy Find A Grave

• The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]), 18 Oct. 1878. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85025759/1878-10-18/ed-1/seq-1/>

• The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]), 14 Oct. 1878. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85025759/1878-10-14/ed-1/seq-1/>

• The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]), 08 Nov. 1879. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85025759/1879-11-08/ed-1/seq-5/>

• The daily press. (Cincinnati [Ohio), 12 April 1859. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88077413/1859-04-12/ed-1/seq-3/>

• Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]), 30 June 1860. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84028745/1860-06-30/ed-1/seq-3/>

• Daily public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.), 04 March 1896. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86069117/1896-03-04/ed-1/seq-1/>

• Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]), 18 Nov. 1884. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn99021999/1884-11-18/ed-1/seq-8/>