Showing posts with label Women of Influence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women of Influence. Show all posts

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Lucy Ella Gonzales Parsons: A Force in the Fight for a Better World.

On March 7, 1942, fire engulfed the simple home of 91-year-old Lucy Gonzales Parsons at 3130 North Troy Street. It ended a life dedicated to liberating working women and men of the world from capitalism and racial oppression. 
Lucy Parsons, 1886.
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George Markstall, second husband of Lucy Parsons, blind anarchist whose first husband was hanged for his part in the Haymarket riot of 1886, died last night in Belmont Hospital of burns suffered in the same that took Mrs. Parsons' life Saturday. She was burned to death in the flat they occupied at 3130 North Troy Street. Markstall, 72 years old, tried unsuccessfully to save Mrs. Parsons from the burning building. Firemen Found him overcome in a bedroom. Mrs. Parsons, 91 years old, was found dead in the kitchen.
                                                            Source:  Chicago Tribune, Monday, March 09, 1942, pg 16.

A dynamic, militant, self-educated public speaker and writer, she became the first American negro woman to carry her crusade for socialism across the country and overseas. Lucy Ella Gonzales was born in Texas in 1851 (the year is questionable) of African-American, Mexican and Native-American ancestry and was born into slavery. The path she chose after emancipation led to conflict with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), hard work, painful personal losses, and many nights in jail. 
Albert Parsons
In Albert Parsons, a white man whose Waco Spectator fought the KKK and demanded social and political equality for Negroes, she found a handsome, committed soul mate. The white supremacy forces in Texas considered the couple dangerous and their marriage illegal, and soon drove them from the state.

Arriving In Chicago
Lucy and Albert reached Chicago, where they began a family and threw themselves into two new militant movements, one to build strong industrial unions and the other to agitate for socialism. Lucy concentrated on organizing working women, and Albert became a famous radical organizer and speaker, one of the few important union leaders in Chicago who was not an immigrant.

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The late labor history scholar Bill Adelman wrote what is the definitive story of Haymarket. A paragraph from his description indicates the significance of the event and the horrors that all involved endured:

"The next day, martial law was declared in Chicago and throughout the nation. Anti-labor governments around the world used the Chicago incident to crush local union movements. In Chicago, labor leaders were rounded up, houses were entered without search warrants, and union newspapers were closed down. Eventually, eight men, representing a cross-section of the labor movement, were selected to be tried. Among them were (Albert) Parsons and a young carpenter named Louis Lingg, who was accused of throwing the bomb. Lingg had witnesses to prove he was over a mile away at the time. The two-month-long trial ranks as one of the most notorious in American history. The Chicago Tribune even offered to pay money to the jury if it found the eight men guilty."

In 1886, the couple and their two children stepped onto Michigan Avenue to lead 80,000 working people in the world's first May Day parade and a demand for the eight-hour workday. A new international holiday was born as more than 100,000 marched in other U.S. cities. By then, Chicago's wealthy industrial and banking elite had targeted Albert and other radical figures for elimination — to decapitate the growing union movement. A protest rally called by Albert a few days after May Day became known as the Haymarket Riot when seven Chicago policemen died in a bomb blast. No evidence has ever been found pointing to those who made or detonated the bomb, but Parsons and seven immigrant union leaders were arrested. As the corporate media whipped up patriotic and law-and-order fervor, a rigged legal system rushed the eight to convictions and death sentences.

When Lucy led the campaign to win a new trial, one Chicago official called her "more dangerous than a thousand rioters." 

Albert Parsons was framed and tried for the Haymarket bombing, which is generally attributed to a police provocateur. Parsons wasn't even present at Haymarket but cared for the couple's two children while Lucy Parsons was organizing a meeting of garment workers. After the Haymarket legal conspiracy, Lucy led the campaign to free her husband. Parson was one of eight who were convicted and one of four hanged on November 11, 1887. 

When Albert and three other comrades were executed, and four others were sentenced to prison, the movement for industrial unions and the eight-hour day was beheaded. Lucy, far from discouraged, accelerated her actions. Though she had lost Albert — and two years later lost her young daughter to illness — Lucy continued her crusade against capitalism and war and exonerated "the Haymarket Martyrs." She led poor women into affluent neighborhoods "to confront the rich on their doorsteps," challenged politicians at public meetings, marched on picket lines, and continued to address and write political tracts for workers' groups far beyond Chicago.
Lucy Parsons
Though Lucy had justified direct action against those who used violence against workers, in 1905, she suggested a very different strategy. She was one of only two women delegates (the other was Mother Jones) among the 200 men at the founding convention of the militant Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the only woman to speak. First, she advocated a measure close to her heart when she called women "the slaves of slaves" and urged IWW delegates to fight for equality and assess underpaid women's lower union fees.

In a longer speech, she called for nonviolence that would have broad meaning for the world's protest movements. She told delegates workers shouldn't "strike and go out and starve, but to strike and remain in and take possession of the necessary property of production." A year later, Mahatma Gandhi, speaking to fellow Indians at the Johannesburg Empire Theater, advocated nonviolence to fight colonialism. However, he was still 25 years away from leading fellow Indians in nonviolent marches against India's British rulers. 

She led many demonstrations of the unemployed, homeless and hungry, including a memorable 1915 Poor People's March of the Unemployed of over 15,000 people in Chicago on January 17, 1915, where "Solidarity Forever" was sung for the first time. WWI songwriter Ralph Chaplin had finished writing "Solidarity Forever" two days prior. Marchers demanded relief from hunger and high levels of unemployment.

The demonstration also persuaded the American Federation of Labor, the Jane Addams' Hull House, and the Socialist Party to participate in a subsequent massive demonstration on February 12, 1915.

Eventually, Lucy Parsons' principle traveled to the U.S. sit-down strikers of the 1930s, Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the antiwar movements that followed, and finally to today's Arab Spring and the Occupy movements.

Lucy was an unrelenting agitator, leading picket lines and speaking to workers' audiences in the United States before trade union meetings in England. In February 1941, poor and living on a pension for the blind, the Farm Equipment Workers Union asked Lucy Parsons to give an inspirational speech to its workers, and a few months later, she rode as the guest of honor on its May Day parade float. 
Lucy Parsons
For years, Lucy Parsons was harassed by the Chicago Police Department, who often arrested her on phony charges to prevent her from speaking at mass meetings. Following her death in a suspicious fire at her home, the police and FBI confiscated all her personal papers and writings. Federal and local lawmen arrived at the gutted Parsons home to make sure her legacy died with her. They poked through the wreckage, confiscated her vast library and personal writings, and never returned them. 

Lucy Parsons' determined effort to elevate and inspire the oppressed to take command remained alive among those who knew, heard, and loved her. But few today are aware of her insights, courage, and tenacity. Despite her fertile mind, writing and oratorical skills, and striking beauty, Lucy Parsons has not found a place in school texts, social studies curricula, or Hollywood movies. Yet she has earned a prominent place in the long fight for a better life for working people, women, people of color, her country, and her world.

Her fighting spirit and contributions to improving this world will not be forgotten via the exposed history.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Thursday, November 16, 2023

Dr. Bertha Van Hoosen, the first woman to head a medical division at a coeducational university, Loyola University Medical School.

Born on March 26, 1863, Bertha Van Hoosen spent her early years on her parents' farm in Stony Creek Village, Michigan. Free to roam about and observe the life cycle of the animals on the farm, she later recalled that the toughness of farm life gave her a practical, realistic outlook. As a young girl, she attended several public schools close to her home before graduating from high school in Pontiac, Michigan, at age 17. Following the example of her older sister Alice, she enrolled in the literary department at the University of Michigan in 1880. She met two women who had decided to study medicine here, and their enthusiasm inspired her to follow in their footsteps. Despite her parents' refusal to finance her education, she enrolled in Michigan's medical department after receiving her bachelor's degree in 1884. To pay her way, she earned money teaching calisthenics at a high school, serving as an obstetrical nurse and teacher, and demonstrating anatomy. Four years later, she graduated with her doctor of medicine degree.

Dr. Van Hoosen accepted a series of residencies, first at the Woman's Hospital in Detroit, then at the Kalamazoo, Michigan, State Hospital for the Insane, and finally at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston. She felt ready to begin private practice after four years of additional hospital training.

With money saved from her previous jobs, young Dr. Van Hoosen opened a private clinic in Chicago in late 1892. Like most new practices, hers grew slowly. To keep the practice afloat, she taught courses in anatomy and embryology at the Woman's Medical School of Northwestern University. At the same time, she continued her postgraduate training, accepting a clinical assistantship in gynecology at the Columbia Dispensary in Chicago (later reorganized as the Charity Hospital and Dispensary), where she received further instruction in surgery and obstetrics. As her medical expertise grew, Dr. Van Hoosen's private practice flourished, and she was in great demand as a teacher. 
Dr. Bertha Van Hoosen
In 1902, though her appointment was opposed by the male faculty, she was made a professor of clinical gynecology at the Illinois University Medical School, a position she held until 1912.

In 1913, Dr. Van Hoosen was appointed head of the gynecological staff at the Cook County Hospital, thus becoming one of the first women in the United States to receive a civil service appointment. In 1918, she was awarded a prestigious post as head of obstetrics at Loyola University Medical School, making her the first woman to head a medical division at a coeducational university. Dr. Van Hoosen continued to maintain her private practice and to serve as an attending physician at several additional Chicago hospitals.

Dr. Van Hoosen devoted herself to treating women and children throughout her career. In addition to helping develop better methods of prenatal care, she lectured widely on sex education as a member of the Chicago Woman's Club Committee on Social Purity. In addition, she pioneered the use of scopolamine-morphine anesthesia during childbirth. Popularly known as "twilight sleep," this form of anesthesia rendered patients unconscious without inhibiting their reflexes. Dr. Van Hoosen delivered thousands of healthy babies and published a book and several articles detailing her research.
Dr. Bertha Van Hoosen's Surgical Training.


An outspoken feminist, Dr. Bertha Van Hoosen grew increasingly vocal over the medical establishment's discriminatory treatment of women. Barred from membership in the Chicago Gynecological and Obstetrical Society and discouraged by her isolation within the American Medical Association, she called for a meeting of medical women in Chicago. Their panel led to the formation of the American Medical Women's Association in 1915, with Van Hoosen as the organization's first President.

In 1947, Bertha Van Hoosen, M.D., published an autobiography detailing her pioneering role in medicine and her abiding interest in women's health issues. After more than sixty years, she had done much to advance the position of women in medicine—training physicians, fostering closer ties among her women peers, and serving as a model for those striving to enter fields previously closed to women. In addition, Dr. Van Hoosen could reflect on a rewarding career teaching and practicing obstetrics.

Throughout her career, Dr. Van Hoosen trained several dozen women surgeons. She maintained close ties to her female colleagues, offering surgical assistance to her female peers throughout the United States and her travels through Europe and Asia. 

After retiring from practice in 1951 at age 88, she died of a stroke on June 7, 1952. She is buried at Old Stoney Creek Cemetery in Rochester Hills, Michigan.
Dr. Bertha Van Hoosen's Illinois State Historical Society marker is located in the
South Lobby of the Fine Arts Building at 410 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago.

GOOGLE MAP
Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Friday, September 8, 2023

Emma C. Kennett was a female architect and real estate developer in Chicago. (1885-1960)

Between 1910 and 1920, there was an apartment building boom in the Rogers Park Community of Chicago. Many of the spacious apartments in buildings on Sheridan Road and Estes, Greenleaf, and Lunt Avenues were built at that time. Some had two bedrooms, many had three bedrooms, and some even had three baths.

Emma Kennett was born in Chicago in 1885. She worked in a builder's office before marrying James Kennett, a Chicago building contractor. She reentered the building profession when the marriage ended to support her young family. She founded the Kennett Construction Company in 1923 and began developing apartment buildings in Rogers Park.

Kennett was the active head of the Kennett Construction Company of Chicago, who, with a Black partner, Joseph Frederick Rousseau, built more than 80 buildings in the Howard-Jarvis-Ridge areas of Chicago's Rogers Park community. She designed the buildings in Gothic, French, and Spanish styles. By the mid-1920s, she was worth five million dollars ($89 million today).

Kennett designed and built apartment buildings, townhouses, and commercial properties. She was known for her innovative designs and her commitment to quality construction. 

FIRM HISTORY
Kennett Construction Company, 1923-1952 
Kennett Realty Company, 1952-1960. 

Kennett's buildings were known for their eclectic architectural styles, which reflected the popular trends of the time. She used Tudor Revival, Italian Renaissance Revival, and Spanish Mission Revival styles, among others. She also paid attention to the details of her buildings, using high-quality materials and finishes.
Normandy Apartments, 2300 West Farwell Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 1920s.


Kennett was a successful businesswoman and a pioneer for women in the construction industry. She was featured in several articles in the Chicago Tribune, which noted her success as a woman in a male-dominated field. She was also a member of the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
2320-22 West Farwell Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 1928.


Kennett continued to develop buildings in Chicago until the early 1950s. She died in 1960 at the age of 75. Her legacy is one of innovation, quality, and perseverance. She was a role model for women in the construction industry, and her work helped to shape the city of Chicago.
2326 West Farwell Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 1920s.


Most of Kennett's buildings still stand today and are a testament to her talent and vision. Kennett designed all her buildings, assisted only by local architects, including Arthur C. Buckett and Herbert J. Richter, to ensure the correct technical details. 

A PARTIAL LIST OF KENNETT PROJECTS:
  • 1141 West Devon Avenue, Sun Parlor Apartments, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2020 West Jarvis, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2029 West Jarvis, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2114 West Arthur Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2300 West  Farwell (Normandy apartments), Chicago, Illinois
  • 2308-10 West  Farwell, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2314-2316 West Farwell, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2320-22 West Farwell, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2326 West  Farwell, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2332-2334 West  Farwell, Chicago, Illinois
  • 6644 North Artesian Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 7339 North Seeley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 7349 North Seeley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 7351 North Seeley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 7352 North Seeley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois - razed
  • 7354 North Seeley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 7355 North Seeley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 7356-58 North Robey (Damen Avenue today), Chicago, Illinois
  • 7358 North Seeley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 7359 North Seeley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 7360 North Seeley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 7360-62 North Robey (Damen Avenue today), Chicago, Illinois
  • 7361-7363 North Seeley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 7440-42 North Hoyne Avenue, (Chateau Le Mans), Chicago, Illinois
  • 7441-43 North Navarre Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 7446-48 North Hoyne Avenue, (Maison Louviers), Chicago, Illinois
  • 7447-49 North Hoyne Avenue, (Barcelona apartments), Chicago, Illinois
  • 7452-54 North Hoyne Avenue, (Chateau Beauvais), Chicago, Illinois
  • 7453-55 North Hoyne Avenue, (Valencia apartments), Chicago, Illinois
  • 7536 North Seeley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
  • 1065 Estate Lane, Lake Forest, Illinois
  • 1070 Estate Lane, Lake Forest, Illinois
  • 1111 Estate Lane, Lake Forest, Illinois
  • 1144 Estate Lane, Lake Forest, Illinois
  • 1221 Estate Lane, Lake Forest, Illinois
  • 136 Custer Avenue, Evanston, Illinois
  • 1416 Fairway Drive, Lake Forest, Illinois
  • 1433 Fairway Drive, Lake Forest, Illinois
  • 810 S. Ridge Road, Lake Forest, Illinois
  • 960 S. Ridge Road, Lake Forest, Illinois
Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Albert D. J. Cashier (1843–1915), born Jennie Irene Hodgers, served in the Union Army during the Civil War.


In historical writing and analysis, PRESENTISM introduces present-day ideas and perspectives into depictions or interpretations of the past. Presentism is a form of cultural bias that creates a distorted understanding of the subject matter. Reading modern notions of morality into the past is committing the error of presentism. Historical accounts are written by people and can be slanted, so I try my hardest to present fact-based and well-researched articles.

Facts don't require one's approval or acceptance.

I present [PG-13] articles without regard to race, color, political party, or religious beliefs, including Atheism, national origin, citizenship status, gender, LGBTQ+ status, disability, military status, or educational level. What I present are facts — NOT Alternative Facts — about the subject. You won't find articles or readers' comments that spread rumors, lies, hateful statements, and people instigating arguments or fights.

FOR HISTORICAL CLARITY
When I write about the INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, I follow this historical terminology:
  • The use of old commonly used terms, disrespectful today, i.e., REDMAN or REDMEN, SAVAGES, and HALF-BREED are explained in this article.
Writing about AFRICAN-AMERICAN history, I follow these race terms:
  • "NEGRO" was the term used until the mid-1960s.
  • "BLACK" started being used in the mid-1960s.
  • "AFRICAN-AMERICAN" [Afro-American] began usage in the late 1980s.

— PLEASE PRACTICE HISTORICISM 
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PAST IN ITS OWN CONTEXT.
 


Cashier adopted the identity of a man before enlisting in the Civil War and maintained it until her death. Over 400 documented cases of women disguising themselves as men and fighting as soldiers on both sides during the Civil War. 

Cashier became famous as one of several women soldiers who served as men during the Civil War. However, the consistent and long-term (at least 53 years) commitment to a male identity has prompted contemporary scholars to suggest that Cashier was a transexual man.
Albert D. J. Cashier
Cashier was very elderly and disoriented when interviewed about immigrating to the United States and enlisting in the army, and had always been evasive about early life; therefore, the available narratives are often contradictory. According to a later investigation by the administrator of Cashier's estate, Albert Cashier was born Jennie Hodgers in Clogherhead (or Clogher Head) County Louth, Ireland, on December 25, 1843, to Sallie and Patrick Hodgers. Typically, the youth's uncle or stepfather was said to have dressed his charge in male clothing to find work in an all-male shoe factory in Illinois. Even before the war's advent, Hodgers adopted Albert Cashier's identity to live independently.  Sallie Hodgers, Cashier's mother, was known to have died before 1862, by which time her child had traveled as a stowaway to Belvidere, Illinois, and was working as a farmhand to a man named Avery.

Cashier first enlisted in July 1862 after President Lincoln's call for soldiers. As time passed, the need for soldiers only increased. On August 6, 1862, the eighteen-year-old enlisted in the 95th Illinois Infantry for a three-year term using the name "Albert D.J. Cashier" and was assigned to Company G.  Cashier was listed in the company catalog as nineteen years old upon enlistment and small in stature.

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Sources differ about how tall Cashier was. Some report 5'3",  and others say 5 feet.

Many soldiers from Belvidere participated in the Battle of Shiloh as members of the Fifteenth Illinois Volunteers, where the Union had suffered heavy losses. Cashier took the train with others from Belvidere to Rockford to enlist to answer the call for more soldiers.  Along with others from Boone and McHenry counties, Cashier learned to be a volunteer infantryman of the 95th Regiment at Camp Fuller. After being shipped out by steamer and rail to Confederate strongholds in Columbus, Kentucky and Jackson, Tennessee, the 95th was ordered to Grand Junction, where it became part of the Army of the Tennessee under General Ulysses S. Grant.

The regiment fought in approximately forty battles, including the Siege of Vicksburg. During this campaign, Cashier was captured while performing reconnaissance  but managed to escape and return to the regiment. In June 1863, still during the siege, Cashier contracted chronic diarrhea and entered a military hospital, somehow evading detection.

In the spring of 1864, the regiment was also present at the Red River Campaign under General Nathaniel Banks and, in June 1864, at the Battle of Brice's Crossroads in Guntown, Mississippi, where they suffered heavy casualties. 

Following a period to recuperate and regroup following the debacle at Brice, the 95th, now a seasoned and battle-hardened regiment, saw additional action in the Winter of 1864 in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign, at the battles of Spring Hill and Franklin, the defense of Nashville, and the pursuit of General Hood.

During the war, the regiment traveled a total of about 9,000 miles. Other soldiers thought that Cashier was small and preferred to be alone, which were not uncommon characteristics for soldiers. Cashier fought with the regiment through the war until honorably discharged on August 17, 1865, when all the soldiers were mustered out after losing 289 soldiers to death and disease.

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Historians claim the 95th had traveled 9,960 miles in three years of campaigns.

Cashier was one of at least 250 soldiers who were female at birth and enlisted as men to fight in the Civil War.

After the war, Cashier returned to Belvidere, Illinois, for a time, working for Samuel Pepper and continuing to live as a man. Settling in Saunemin, Illinois, in 1869, Cashier worked as a farmhand and performed odd jobs around the town, which can be found in the town payroll records. Cashier lived with employer Joshua Chesbro and his family in exchange for work and slept for a time in the Cording Hardware store in exchange for labor. In 1885, the Chesbro family had a small house built for Cashier. Cashier lived in Saunemin for over forty years and was a church janitor, cemetery worker, and street lamplighter. Living as a man allowed Cashier to vote in elections and to later claim a veteran's pension under the same name.  Pension payments started in 1907.

In later years, Cashier ate with the neighboring Lannon family. The Lannons discovered their friend's sex when Cashier fell ill but decided not to make their discovery public.

In November 1910, Cashier, who was working for State Senator Ira Lish, was hit by the Senator's car and broke his leg. At the Hospital, his real sex was discovered. The local Hospital agreed not to divulge his sex assignment, and he was sent to the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Quincy, Illinois, on May 5, 1911, to recover. Many friends and fellow soldiers from the Ninety-fifth Regiment visited.

Cashier remained a home resident until March of 1913 when, due to the onset of dementia, he was sent to a state hospital for the insane. Attendants there discovered his sex assignment and forced him to wear a dress. The press got a hold of the story, and soon, everyone knew that Private Albert Cashier had been born as Jennie Hodgers.

Cashier lived there until an apparent deterioration of mind began to take place and was moved to the Watertown State Hospital for the Insane in East Moline, Illinois, in March 1914.  Attendants at the Watertown State Hospital discovered Cashier's sex. At that point, Cashier was made to wear women's clothes again after presumably more than fifty years of dressing as a male.  In 1914, Cashier was investigated for fraud by the Veterans' Pension Board; former comrades confirmed that Cashier was, in fact, the person who had fought in the Civil War, and the board decided in February 1915 that payments should continue for life.

Although initially surprised at this revelation, many of Albert Cashier's former comrades supported Cashier and protested his treatment at the state hospital. 

When Cashier died on October 10, 1915, he was buried in his full uniform and given a tombstone inscribed with his male identity and military service. The monument was inscribed "Albert D. J. Cashier, Co. G, 95 Ill. Inf." 

Cashier was given an official Grand Army of the Republic funeral service and was buried with full military honors.  It took W. J. Singleton (executor of Cashier's estate) nine years to track Cashier's identity back to the birth name of Jennie Hodgers. None of the would-be heirs proved convincing, and the estate of about $282 ($8,575; 2023) was deposited in the Adams County, Illinois, treasury after payment of funeral expenses. 
In the 1970s, a second tombstone, inscribed with both names, was placed near the first one at Sunny Slope Cemetery in Saunemin, Illinois.
Cashier is listed on the internal wall of the Illinois memorial at Vicksburg National Military Park.
Cashier's house has been restored in Saunemin, Illinois.




Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Friday, February 17, 2023

Mary Todd Lincoln's Life, a Timeline Summary, (1818-1882).

1818
On December 13, Mary Ann Todd was born in Lexington, Kentucky. She was often called Molly. Her parents, Eliza and Robert Smith Todd were members of a socially and economically prominent Kentucky family. Robert Smith Todd had 16 children: seven with his first wife, Eliza Parker, and nine with his second wife, Elizabeth Humphreys.

1825
Mary's mother, Eliza, passed away on July 5.

1826
On November 1, Robert Todd married Betsy Humphreys. Mary entered Shelby Female Academy (aka John Ward's) located in Lexington. During nine of the next ten years, Mary attended school, first at Shelby and later at Madame Mentelle's. There she lived at school during the week and at home on weekends. The curriculum stressed the French language and the art of dancing. Mary excelled in school and was considered one of the best students in the class.

1832
On February 29, Mary's older sister Elizabeth married Ninian Wirt Edwards, the son of the man who had been Illinois' territorial governor, United States Senator, and later Governor of Illinois. At the time, Ninian was a student at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Mary entered Madame Mentelle's boarding school for girls.

1833
Elizabeth and Ninian Edwards moved to Springfield, Illinois.

1836
Mary's sister, Frances, moved to Springfield.

1837
Mary spent three months in the summer visiting her sister Elizabeth in Springfield. Most likely, she did not meet Abraham Lincoln during this visit. In the fall, Mary returned to Ward's, not as a student but as an apprentice teacher helping Sarah Ward with the younger children.

1839
Mary went to Springfield, Illinois, to live with the Edwards family. Mary was clever and intelligent and soon became prominent in society. She met a rising lawyer/politician named Abraham Lincoln (most likely at a ball).

1840
In the summer, Mary traveled to Columbia, Missouri, to visit her uncle, Judge David Todd. She became a good friend of the judge's daughter, Ann. Mary became engaged to Abraham Lincoln.

1841
Mary and Abraham broke up on January 1. Mary started dating others, including a rising political star named Stephen A. Douglas. Rumors that she became engaged to Douglas were false, however.

1842
Mary and Abraham got back together again. On the rainy evening of November 4, Reverend Charles Dresser married them in the Edwards' home. Abraham placed a gold wedding ring on her finger, and the words "Love is Eternal" were engraved inside the ring. She wore this wedding band until the day she died. At first, the Lincolns boarded at the Globe Tavern in Springfield, from 1842-1844, for $4.00 a week.
The Globe Tavern, Springfield, Ill.


1843
The couple's first child, Robert Todd Lincoln, was born on August 1 at the Globe Tavern, and he was named after Mary's father. After Robert's birth, Lincoln sometimes called Mary "Mother." At times he called her "Molly." On occasion, he endearingly referred to her as his "child-wife." She often called him "Mr. Lincoln." Sometimes it was just "Father." (Rarely did she call him Abraham and never just "Abe.") The family moved and rented a three-room frame cottage at 214 South Fourth Street in Springfield late in the year.

1844
The Lincolns purchased (from Dr. Charles Dresser) a one-story house in Springfield for $1,500. It was located at the corner of Eighth and Jackson Streets, and this would prove to be the only house the Lincolns ever purchased.
1846
On March 10, the Lincolns' second child, Edward ("Eddie"), was born. The Lincolns had their first picture (a daguerreotype) taken by a photographer in Springfield.

1847
Mary and the children went to Washington, D.C., with Abraham, who was elected to the House of Representatives. In the fall, they stopped to visit the Todds in Lexington on the way (a three-week stay). In Washington, the Lincolns lived at Mrs. Ann G. Sprigg's boardinghouse. (The Library of Congress occupies this site today.)

1848
During the summer, Mary, Abraham, Robert, and Eddie traveled through New York State, visited Niagara Falls, and took a steamer from Buffalo across the Great Lakes. Mary did not return with Abraham to Washington for the 2nd session of the Thirtieth Congress, and she and the boys stayed in Springfield.

1849
Abraham's term in the House ended, and his political career stalled. The Lincolns once again were together in Springfield. Mary's father, Robert Smith Todd, died July 16, apparently of cholera.

1850
In January, Mrs. Eliza Parker, Mary's grandmother, passed away. The Lincolns' son, Eddie, died on February 1. The Lincolns' third child, William Wallace ("Willie"), was born December 21.

1851
Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, a man Mary never met, passed away.

1853
The Lincolns' last child, Thomas ("Tad"), was born on April 4.

1857
In September, the Lincolns traveled to New York. They toured New York City and revisited Niagara Falls and other points in the East.

1858
During the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Mary did her "campaigning" in Springfield. To anyone who would listen, she called Stephen Douglas "a very little giant" beside "my tall Kentuckian." In mid-October, Mary traveled to Alton to hear the last of the debates (the only one of the seven she attended). Robert Lincoln also was present. At Alton, Mary witnessed one of Abraham's best performances during the debates. It was a cloudy, threatening day, and Douglas was hoarse, which helped Abraham.

1860
Abraham was elected president in the fall election. On Election Day, when the outcome was inevitable (which he heard at the Springfield telegraph office), Abraham immediately decided to go to his home. He said, "I guess there's a little lady at home who would like to hear this news." As he neared the Lincoln residence on 8th Street, he yelled, "Mary, Mary, we are elected."

1861
The Lincoln family traveled to Washington, D.C. and took up residence in the White House. Mary refurbished the White House but overspent Congress's appropriation money for this task.

1862
Willie died in the White House on February 20. Mary was never quite the same again. She ceased social activities until the following year. She never again entered the room in which Willie died. Mary's half-brother, Sam Todd, was killed fighting for the Confederacy in the Battle of Shiloh. Frequently with Tad at her side, Mary visited wounded soldiers in hospitals. She took them fruit and flowers and stopped at each bed for conversation. She helped in fundraising efforts for the wounded. Helping comfort the soldiers, they helped comfort her broken heart over Willie's death.

1863
On July 2, 1863, Mary was involved in a carriage accident in which she was thrown to the ground and hit her head hard on a rock. The wound became infected, and she required nursing care for three weeks. Mary's half-brother, Aleck Todd, was killed fighting for the Confederates at Baton Rouge. Another Confederate half-brother, David, was wounded at Vicksburg and died in 1867. The husband of one of Mary's younger half-sisters (Emilie), General Benjamin Hardin Helm, was killed at age 32 in the Battle of Chickamauga. Mary assisted in raising funds for the Contraband Relief Association.

1864
Mary began showing increasing signs of irrationality, especially in matters concerning money. She worried that her wild spending would be discovered if Abraham lost the Election of 1864. More time was spent in seances with mediums and clairvoyants. At least eight seances were held in the White House (during Mary's time as First Lady). Abraham was curious about the spiritualists but was not a believer.

1865
Mary and Abraham attended the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre on April 14, and John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham. Mary entered a period of extreme grief.

1866
In January, the Congressional Committee on House Appropriations began investigating whether Mary had taken White House property such as bedding, utensils, china, table linen, etc. The investigation was terminated when no wrongdoing was discovered. Mary was depressed by a statement made by William Herndon, Abraham's former law partner, and Herndon claimed Ann Rutledge was the true love of Lincoln's life. Mary bought a home at 375 W. Washington Boulevard in Chicago for $17,000, and she moved out and rented it the following year.

1868
Mary and Tad traveled to Europe and spent much of the next three years in Frankfurt, Germany. Tad was a student at Dr. D. Hohagen's Institute near Frankfurt from October 1868 to April 1870. On September 24, 1868, Robert Lincoln married Mary Eunice Harlan.

1869
Mrs. Lincoln vacationed in Scotland during July and August.

1870
On July 14, Congress passed a bill granting Mary a $3,000 annual lifetime pension.

1871
The Lincolns returned to the United States. In Chicago, on July 15, Tad died of complications resulting from fluid in the lungs. Tad was at the Clifton House when he passed away. Services were held at his older brother's home on Wabash Avenue. Tad's remains were carried by train to Springfield for burial in the Lincoln Tomb.

1875
Mary's only surviving son, Robert, instigated a hearing in which Mary was declared insane by a jury of 12 men. The court admitted that "the disease was of unknown duration; the cause is unknown." (The night after the verdict, Mary may have tried to commit suicide.) Mary, now 56, spent several months in a private asylum in Batavia, Illinois, but she was released with the help of Myra Bradwell.

1876
After her release from Bellevue, Mary went to Springfield to live with her sister, Elizabeth Edwards. On June 15, a second court hearing reversed the insanity ruling of the first one. Mary was now a free woman again, free to make her own decisions. On June 19, she wrote a letter to Robert in which she unleashed all the resentment she had harbored against him for a long time. Worried that her friends would still regard her as a lunatic, Mary once again traveled to Europe and spent much of the next four years living in Pau, France.

1877
Mary visited Marseilles, Naples, and Sorrento.

1879
At age 60, in Pau, France, Mary fell from a stepladder and injured her spinal cord. In pain, she traveled to Nice, France.

1880
On October 16, Mary boarded a ship (l'Amerique) bound for New York City. On board the ship, she was about to take yet another fall down a steep stairway, but actress Sarah Bernhardt, another passenger on the ship, saved her. When Sarah told her she might have died, Mary replied, "Yes, but it was not God's will." Mary returned to Springfield and again began living in the home of her older sister, Elizabeth Edwards. Physically, she had a cataract in her right eye, her weight had declined to approximately 100 pounds, and her arthritis was getting worse.
Amerique, C.G.T. Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (French Line).


1881
A variety of physical ailments caused Mary's health to decline rapidly. She was nearly blind. On a Sunday in May, Robert and his daughter visited her. Mary traveled to the mineral baths at St. Catherine and then to New York. A doctor diagnosed her with kidney, eye, and spinal sclerosis. Some researchers feel she has had diabetes for years.

1882
In January, Congress raised Mary's annual pension from $3,000 to $5,000. They also voted for a donation to Mary of $15,000. Mary lived in a darkened room in Elizabeth's home with the shades always pulled. On July 15, the anniversary of Tad's death, she collapsed in her bedroom. Mary may have had a stroke. 

The next day, a Sunday, Mary passed away at 8:15 P.M. Thus, she died in the same home she was married in. Mary was still wearing her wedding ring with "Love is Eternal" engraved on the inside when she passed away. Her estate was worth $84,035 (mostly in bonds). She died without leaving a will (like Abraham). Mary was buried in a white silk dress that the Edwards family quickly ordered from Chicago. She was 63 years old at the time of her passing. The funeral was delayed until Robert, then Secretary of War could reach Springfield from Washington. Services were held at the First Presbyterian Church at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, July 19, with Reverend Dr. James Armstrong Reed presiding. The pallbearers included the governor of Illinois. Mary was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, with all of the family members except Robert. 

Robert died in 1926 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

The Adolf R. Harseim Merchandise Store, Secor, Illinois, and famous resident Wilhelmina "Minnie" Vautrin.

Secor, Illinois, was named after Charles A. Secor, a partner in the engineering firm that laid out the eastern branch of the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad Company. Secor is 25 miles east of Peoria.


The General Store was established by Rudolph Harseim, born May 8, 1830, an early settler arriving in 1862. The General Store was passed on to his son Adolf R. Harseim in 1910.


Rudolph died on December 21, 1905. His wife, Katharina, lived from 1836 to 1921.

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Minnie Vautrin
Wilhelmina "Minnie" Vautrin (1886-1941), born in Secor, Illinois, on September 27, 1886. Miss Vautrin, an American missionary to China and known as 金陵女子大学, the "Goddess of Mercy." She was the president of Ginling College, University of Nanking, China. During WWII, Nanjing was invaded by Japanese Imperial troops in December 1937. The invasion aftermath is known as the 'Nanjing Massacre.' 

During the Nanking Massacre aka the Rape of Nanking, the college, led by its acting principal Professor Minnie Vautrin, harbored thousands of women hiding from the Japanese Imperial Army and saved hundreds of children and women from rape and worse.

The city is strangely silent—after all the bombing and shelling. Three dangers are past—that of looting [Chinese] soldiers, bombing from aeroplanes and shelling from big guns, but the fourth is still before us—our fate at the hands of a victorious army. People are very anxious tonight and do not know what to expect . . . Tonight Nanking has no lights, no water, no telephone, no telegraph, no city paper, no radio.”            December 13, 1937, The Diary of Minnie Vautrin. 

Vautrin guarded the college with the motto: "Whoever wants to go through this gate will have to do so over my dead body."

From August 12, 1937, to April 1940, Vautrin kept a daily diary, recording war crimes committed by Japanese troops in Nanjing. She returned back to the United States for medical treatment on May 14, 1940.

Vautrin is highly honored in China for establishing a sanctuary on the grounds of Ginling college to protect Chinese non-combatants  women  from the six-week massacre and other unspeakably evil things. Minnie was posthumously awarded the "Order of the Brilliant Jade" by the Chinese government for her actions during the massacre. 
Salt River Cemetery, Shepherd, Michigan.
She committed suicide in May 14, 1941 and is buried in Salt River Cemetery, Shepherd, Michigan.
Order of the Brilliant Jade.
Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

The Disappearance of Candy Lady, Helen Vorhees Brach, Unwrapped.

The name "Brach" conjures up thoughts of candy corn, caramels, chocolates, and various other delicious bagged confections and hard candies. 

However, in the annals of crime, the name Brach conjures up Helen Vorhees Brach, the wealthiest woman in the United States, to disappear and be presumed murdered.

Started in 1904, the E. J. Brach & Sons candy company at one time sold two-thirds of the bagged candy in the United States and operated the largest candy manufacturing plant in the world. In 1966, the founder's son, Frank Brach, sold the company to American Home Products Corp. for $136 million ($1.1 billion today).
The Candy Lady, Helen Vorhees Brach


Frank took his fortune and retired with his third wife, Helen Brach, a red-haired Appalachian hat-check girl he'd met at a Miami Beach country club. They were married in 1950. When Frank died in 1970, Helen's share of the Brach fortune totaled nearly 160 million in today's dollars. The millionaire widow spent her time socializing with female friends, riding in her pink and lavender Cadillac (Brach's brand colors), her Brach's Candy Purple Rolls Royce, and giving generously to the welfare of animals.

Brach was a dog lover and owned two, Candy and Sugar the Poodle. Both dogs are buried at the tomb.
Helen Brach owned this cool 1971 Rolls Royce Corniche finished in a special-order magenta color that Rolls Royce named "Brach Candy Purple."


In 1973, ubiquitous con man and gigolo Richard Bailey was introduced to Helen at a dinner party. The almost 20-year younger Bailey showered her with flowers, gentlemanly attention, and dancing. Helen enjoyed Bailey's company, and they became a regular pair in social circles. Still, Bailey couldn't resist swindling the Candy Lady, as he and his crooked buddies liked to call her. Bailey bought three rundown racehorses from his brother in 1975 for $18,000 and sold them to Helen for $98,000 (nearly $500,000 today). When Bailey tried to sell Helen more horses a year later, she grew suspicious and reportedly hired an independent appraiser who confirmed that her horses were essentially worthless. Helen detested being cheated on, especially by someone Helen dated. A friend suggested that she should go to the local district attorney. She told the friend that she'd take care of it when she returned from a checkup at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

After nearly a week of tests, a healthy Helen checked out of the Mayo Clinic. On her way out, she stopped at the clinic's Buckskin Shop to buy cosmetics. The cashier, Phyliss Redalen, recalled Helen saying: "Please hurry and finish wrapping. My houseman is waiting." Once Helen stepped outside that Thursday, February 17, she was never heard from again.

The houseman was John "Jack" Matlick, hired by Frank Brach in 1959 as a chauffeur and the handyman of his estate in Glenview, Illinois, just north of Chicago. Whether the Brachs knew that Matlick had been in prison for various offenses, including aggravated robbery and that he regularly beat his wife is doubtful. After Frank's death, Helen expanded Matlick's duties to running her Glenview estate.

Strangely, Matlick didn't report Helen's disappearance for two weeks. He told police he'd picked her up from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on the 17th and drove her home, where she stayed all weekend. He said on the following Monday, he dropped Helen at O'Hare around six in the morning to travel to her recently purchased condo in Fort Lauderdale. After that, he never heard from her again, he said.

Helen's paramour, Richard Bailey, told police he'd been staying at The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach with a young woman. He said Matlick explained over the phone that Helen would arrive in Florida on Monday, the 21st, so he prepared to see her. When she didn't arrive in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, he called her house again, he claimed, but Matlick answered each time and told Bailey she wasn't in. Bailey told police he gave up inquiring about Helen because he thought she'd dropped him for another male admirer.

Unbelievably, that's where the investigation ended. The clues dried up, and no one pushed authorities to dig deeper. Helen's closest relative was a brother living a simple life in Ohio with absolutely no curiosity. A court declared Helen dead in 1984, and her friends, relatives, and charities moved on much wealthier than before. To this day, no one has been able to explain what happened to Helen Brach with any reliability. Though several theories have floated about, there are three that stand out above the rest:

The Butler Did It
John "Jack" Matlick
Jack Matlick said he picked up Helen at O'Hare; however, the Mayo Clinic clerk recalled Helen saying her houseman was waiting on her, presumably outside the clinic in Minnesota. No one saw Helen at the airport or on a plane. Matlick also said Helen stayed at her Glenview home for three days and four nights upon her return. Yet, Helen's friends didn't hear from her, calls to her home were answered only by Matlick, who told callers that Helen wasn't in, and the painters working inside the house that weekend didn't see her. Matlick said he took Helen to O'Hare at 6:00 a.m. to travel to Florida, but Helen hated mornings and the first flight for Ft. Lauderdale didn't leave until 9:00 a.m. Again, no one spotted Helen at the airport or on a plane. No friends in Chicago or Florida, particularly those who typically picked her up at the airport, had heard anything about her traveling to Florida.

Moreover, no airline ticket was purchased in Helen's name to fly to Florida or anywhere else. Helen's gardener chillingly explained to detectives that he'd seen Matlick with two strangers standing in Helen's house that weekend. One was a young woman wearing a baggy dress and a wig similar to Helen's. Police also found in Matlick's possession a receipt dated February 21 (the Monday he said he'd taken Helen to the airport) for a toll exit near a farm owned by Helen in distant Ohio. Later, Matlick was accused of forging more than $13,000 in checks on Helen's account that February and stealing currency worth $75,000 from her home (all totaling $375,000 today). Matlick signed an agreement with Helen's estate to forgo a $50,000 bequest in her last will and testament in exchange for no charges being brought over the forgeries and stolen currency. Astonishingly, authorities lost interest in Matlick as a suspect, and he was never arrested. He died in 2011 of natural causes.

The Boyfriend Did It
Richard Bailey
After Helen's disappearance, Richard Bailey continued selling worthless horses and separating wealthy women from their money. In 1989, however, federal prosecutors in Chicago reopened the Brach case. Although they never learned exactly what happened to Helen, they indicted Bailey on 29-charges of racketeering, mail and wire fraud, and money laundering under the federal RICO statute, typically used in organized crime and drug trafficking cases. Bailey also was charged with conspiring to murder Helen Brach. Authorities believed Bailey hired someone to kill Helen to avoid arrest for fraudulently selling worthless horses to her and others. 

Bailey knew, so the prosecution's theory went, that Helen had learned she'd been swindled, and with Helen's wealth and connections, the Chicago justice system would likely throw him under the bus. 

Bailey waived a jury trial and pleaded guilty to racketeering and fraud but maintained his innocence regarding Helen's disappearance. In a federal sentencing hearing, a judge can consider all "relevant conduct," even if it falls outside the guilty plea. 

In doing so, the judge listened as notorious con man Joe Plemmons told the judge that Bailey had offered him $5,000 to kill Helen just weeks before she disappeared. Feeling that Richard Bailey was not repentant for his life as a swindler, the judge sentenced Bailey to thirty years in federal prison (this was a sentencing hearing to a guilty plea only—Bailey was not found guilty of Helen's murder beyond a reasonable doubt). Bailey was released from a Florida prison in July 2019 at eighty-nine, still proclaiming that he had nothing to do with Helen Brach's disappearance.

Richard Bailey, 89, was released Thursday, July 25, 2019, from a federal prison in Florida after serving his time. Although her body has never been found, Brach was declared legally dead, and investigators suspect her remains were dissolved in a chemical vat or blast furnace in 1977 with help from the Chicago Outfit when she threatened to expose horse traders who had swindled her out of millions of dollars. He was sentenced to 30 years on the "preponderance of evidence" that he was actually her killer, a supposition that Bailey has always denied.

Everybody Did It
Silas Jayne, Horseman and Criminal
Joe Plemmons called detectives in 2004 to tell them yet another story about Helen's death. This time, he implicated eleven people, including Matlick, but not Bailey, whom he had testified against ten years earlier. He said Helen had been murdered at the direction of Silas Jayne, a notorious bad man in Chicago's horse world, while Jayne was in prison for conspiring to murder his brother, George. Jayne didn't want Helen Brach going to the district attorney since his farm had sold worthless horses to Bailey for years as part of a scheme to swindle wealthy buyers. According to Plemmons, Jayne's cronies beat Helen unconscious in her Glenview home, then Plemmons shot her twice and cremated her body in a furnace. Most rejected Plemmons' story, and no arrests resulted. Plemmons died in 2016.

So that leaves Helen Brach's disappearance in 1977 as convoluted as that of Jimmy Hoffa's abrupt departure two years earlier. It should be beyond dispute that Jack Matlick knew what happened to Helen Brach, but he died without telling. Perhaps he killed Helen in Minnesota or shortly after her return to Glenview and transported her body to Ohio, where he buried it on the Brach farm. The motive may have been simple robbery to repay his mounting gambling debts. Yet, based on the gardener's remarks, Matlick may not have acted alone. Was Jayne's horse mafia or con man Bailey working with Matlick? Possibly, but it's not crystal clear that Bailey was involved. It's also difficult to believe Plemmons' 2004 story that Jayne and ten others conspired to kill Helen. Though it's a flashy horse mafia story, Jayne would've had to kill half of Chicago to keep that story quiet.

In the end, Helen made the mistake of keeping a violent ex-convict as her houseman and dating a lifelong conman who cheated women without shame. The hat-check girl could never have imagined that her millions would make her a target for murder when she accepted Frank Brach's proposal, and it was the unfair price she ultimately paid for becoming the Candy Lady.

February 17, 1977, the day Helen Brach disappeared, is used as her date of death

By Philip Jett
Edited by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.