Category: Women/Gender

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC WOMEN (NCCW)

The Cleveland Diocesan Council of the NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC WOMEN (NCCW) began as one of the country's earliest local groups, organized by Bp. JOSEPH SCHREMBS in 1922. Schrembs had founded the national organization (1919-20) while serving in Toledo. NCCW, a federation of over 150 organizations, supports, empowers, and educates Catholic women.

NORTON, ANDRE

NORTON, ANDRE (17 Feb., 1912 - March 17, 2005)  born Alice Norton, was a prominent American science fiction author known better by her pseudonyms Andre Norton and Andrew North. Norton was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Adalbert Freely Norton and Bertha Stemm Norton.

NORTON, GEORGIE LEIGHTON

NORTON, GEORGIE LEIGHTON (29 Nov. 1864-18 Aug. 1923) headed the Cleveland School of Art (see CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART) for 3 decades during the critical period of its development. A native of Newton, Mass., she was the daughter of George and Emily Leighton Norton and a relative of Harvard art historian Charles Eliot Norton.

NOTRE DAME ACADEMY

NOTRE DAME ACADEMY opened on 10 Sept. 1877. It was founded by the SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME who began an educational tradition which continues to the present.

NOTRE DAME COLLEGE

NOTRE DAME COLLEGE is a Catholic liberal arts institution founded in Cleveland by the SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME in 1922.

O'NEILL, CORDELIA L.

O'NEILL, CORDELIA L. (7 Feb.

OHIO WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION (OWSA)

The OHIO WOMAN’S SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION (OWSA) led and organized Ohio women in the long fight for the right to vote for almost half a century. Founded in Cincinnati in September 1869, with national suffrage leaders such as Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone in attendance, its purpose was to “advance the cause of woman suffrage and thereby to make our government in fact what it is in theory – a government of the people.”

OSIKA, CHARLOTTE

OSIKA, CHARLOTTE "Lottie" (3 Dec. 1916-1 Dec. 1993) was an officer for The Union of Poles in America and secretary of Branch # 71 who, during her 50 year association, increased membership and helped the organization prosper.

PARKER, ADELE von OHL

PARKER, ADELE von OHL (13 Dec. 1885 - 21 Jan.

PERRY, ELEANOR (ROSENFELD-BAYER-PERRY)

PERRY, ELEANOR (ROSENFELD-BAYER-PERRY) (13 Oct. 1914-14 March 1981) went from writing whodunits with her first husband in Cleveland to writing screenplays for her second husband in New York and Hollywood. A Cleveland native, she earned a B.A. and M.S. from WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY and married local attorney Leo G. Bayer.

POOR CLARE (COLETTINE) RELIGIOUS

The POOR CLARE (COLETTINE) RELIGIOUS, who live a life of prayer and poverty as decreed by both St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare, established their first American convent on 10 Aug. 1877 in a former school at McBride and Broadway in Cleveland.

POWER, EFFIE LOUISE
PRENTISS, JENNIE WARREN

PRENTISS, JENNIE WARREN (17 October 1870-5 April 1946) was a women’s educator who was a founder of the predecessor to LAUREL SCHOOL.  She was born in Cuyahoga County, Cleveland, Ohio to parents Chauncey Prentiss and Emily Hanks.

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN is descended from a number of Presbyterian organizations, including the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church of Cleveland organized on 12 June 1872 at Second Presbyterian Church. That group had grown out of the Parlor Missionary Society, organized in 1833 at FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (OLD STONE).

PRICE, CONSTANCE MATHER

PRICE, CONSTANCE MATHER (21 July 1918 - 25 May 1997) was active in civic affairs, sports, and theater throughout her life. She was born in Boston to Madeleine Almy and Philip Richard Mather, an industrialist and philanthropist who was on the board of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

PRICE, GRACE FINLEY

PRICE, GRACE FINLEY "Momma Grace" (30 April 1896-2 July 1992) was, with her husband, Rodger, a pioneer African American entrepreneur. Born in Paulding, Ohio, to Ida Stuart, Grace attended Paulding public schools. She met Rodger in Toledo, and they lived in Detroit before coming to Cleveland in 1927.

PRIDGEON, LOUISE JOHNSON

PRIDGEON, LOUISE JOHNSON (27 Jan. 1891-18 July 1932) was the first practicing African American woman lawyer in Cleveland who was also active in welfare work and politics.

Born in Gallipolis, Ohio to Joseph and Mary (Ferguson) Johnson, Louise attended public school in Springfield, graduating from Springfield High School in 1907. Louise came to Cleveland in 1913 and found work as a bookkeeper.

PYKE, BERNICE SECREST

PYKE, BERNICE SECREST (22 Mar. 1880-10 May 1964), the first woman ever elected a delegate to a national political convention and the first woman to serve in a Cleveland mayor's cabinet, was born Bernice Secrest in Frankfort, Ross County, Ohio. After high school graduation in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1898, she attended Ohio Wesleyan University and received her A.B. degree from Smith College in 1902.

QUINTRELL, MARY CORINNE

QUINTRELL, MARY CORINNE (8 Jan. 1839-18 July 1918) was an educator in Cleveland public schools who introduced the phonic method of teaching reading, and a founder of the CLEVELAND SOROSIS SOCIETY.

RAINEY, SHERLIE HEREFORD

RAINEY, SHERLIE HEREFORD (3 Feb. 1939-7 Aug. 1992), mayor of WOODMERE (1985-89), was the first African-American woman to hold a mayoral position in Cuyahoga County. In 1991 she received the highest number of votes in the Woodmere Village Council race.

RANSOM, CAROLINE L. ORMES

RANSOM, CAROLINE L. ORMES (1838-18 Feb. 1910) was a portrait painter born in Newark, Ohio, daugther of John and Elizabeth Ransom. She began her art education in New York, taught by A. B. Durand, Thos. Hicks, and Donald Huntington in landscapes, figure painting, and portraits. She then studied 2 years with Wilhelm von Kaulkoch in Munich. Ransom returned to America in 1860, setting up a studio in Cleveland.

REDINGER, RUBY VIRGINIA

REDINGER, RUBY VIRGINIA (3 April 1915-9 Feb. 1981) was a Cleveland novelist and college educator whose most famous works were The Golden Net (1948) and George Eliot: The Emergent Self (1975) each of which received critical praise and established Redinger's reputation as an author.

REGNATZ, CAROLINA/CAROLINE OBELZ

REGNATZ, CAROLINA/CAROLINE OBELZ (1879-19 Jan. 1936) was one of Cleveland's best known caterers and restaurant proprietors.

Born Carolina Obelz in Belli-Kikinda, Austria-Hungary, she was the daughter of French parents, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Obelz. Receiving no formal education, Carolina applied herself in the catering business. She married Anton Regnatz in 1901 and they came to America in 1906.

ROBERTSON, JOSEPHINE (JO) WUEBBEN

ROBERTSON, JOSEPHINE (JO) WUEBBEN (1900-19 Oct. 1990) pioneered first as a woman reporter in daily journalism and later as a reporter in the field of medical journalism. The daughter of a Lutheran minister, she was born in Napoleon, O., raised in Logan, and received degrees from Ohio Univ. and Ohio State Univ.

ROBESON, LILA PAULINE

ROBESON, LILA PAULINE (4 April 1880-7 Dec. 1960) was an international opera star and the first Cleveland-born artist to sing with the Metropolitan Opera (1912-1922) in New York.