What part of NY was she from? 'Good friends are like stars.........You don't always see them, but you know they're always there'. 'Remember yesterday, dream about tomorrow, but live today'. Please Visit my eBay Website: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/windfallmoon I am NOW Cancer FREE thanks to GOD & XanGo! Fight CANCER! Get HEALTHY! Click Here to see How! http://jameswhitecountry.com/XANGO.html EMAILING FOR THE GREATER GOOD Join me > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:46:07 -0500 > Subject: Re: [WELLS] Mary Fletcher (Frances) Wells (c1835-1893) > > I don't think she was Catholic. All her siblings were Methodists. The A.M.A. > was Protestant based abolitionist group. Its leaders were chiefly > Congregationalist and Presbyterian, both black and white. The association > became most closely aligned with the Congregational Christian Churches. > > Ron > > -------------------------------------------------- > From: "Rosemarie Novak" <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 10:53 PM > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [WELLS] Mary Fletcher (Frances) Wells (c1835-1893) > > > > > Mary Frances. Was she actually Catholic? > > > > > > 'Good friends are like stars.........You don't always see them, but you > > know they're always there'. > > 'Remember yesterday, dream about tomorrow, but live today'. > > Please Visit my eBay Website: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/windfallmoon > > > > I am NOW Cancer FREE thanks to GOD & XanGo! > > Fight CANCER! Get HEALTHY! Click Here to see How! > > http://jameswhitecountry.com/XANGO.html > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > EMAILING FOR THE GREATER GOOD > > Join me > > > > > >> From: [email protected] > >> To: [email protected] > >> Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:00:48 -0500 > >> Subject: [WELLS] Mary Fletcher (Frances) Wells (c1835-1893) > >> > >> Mary F. Wells was my 3rd great aunt. Charlotte Fulton has been seeking > >> information on her and her adopted son George Wells for a book she is > >> writing on the Trinity School. Mary was born in New York and moved South > >> during the Civil War working as a nurse. She was one of the co-founders > >> of Trinity School in Athens, AL for freedman in 1865. Below is an article > >> written by Charlotte Fulton describing her research so far: > >> > >> Published September 26, 2009 06:49 pm - My months-long search for a photo > >> of Mary Frances Wells paid off this week when an archivist in Ann Arbor, > >> Mich., located online an 1893 book with a biography and picture of the > >> woman who founded Trinity School in Athens in 1865. > >> > >> Long-sought photo discovered of Trinity School founder > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> Editor's Note: Charlotte Fulton, a local historian and former feature > >> writer for The News Courier, is in the midst of research for a book she > >> is writing on Trinity High School. The book will be published in > >> conjunction with a project to preserve historic Trinity School and create > >> a museum. That project is headed by Athens-Limestone Community > >> Association. > >> > >> > >> > >> By Charlotte Fulton > >> > >> For The News Courier > >> > >> > >> > >> My months-long search for a photo of Mary Frances Wells paid off this > >> week when an archivist in Ann Arbor, Mich., located online an 1893 book > >> with a biography and picture of the woman who founded Trinity School in > >> Athens in 1865. > >> > >> Former students of Trinity and those familiar with local history know > >> about the heroic missionary who came South during the Civil War to care > >> for wounded soldiers and stayed to teach freedmen. But it is unlikely > >> that any one of them has seen her likeness. Prior to this week, the only > >> indication I have had that an image of Wells ever existed was in a 1913 > >> letter written by Louise Allyn, a later Trinity principal, saying that a > >> portrait of Miss Wells had burned in the fire that had just destroyed > >> Trinity School. > >> > >> Since January I have made hundreds of e-mail and telephone contacts to > >> places like Amistad Research Center in New Orleans; Mt. Holyoke College > >> in Massachusetts and other older schools for women in the East; > >> Chautauqua Institute in New York; Fisk University and other schools > >> connected with the American Missionary Association, which for most of > >> Trinity's history was its sole sponsor; and dozens of historical and > >> genealogical societies. > >> > >> Information about Wells' teaching career abounded, but about her early > >> life - nada. And photos? Zilch. > >> > >> In the research process I became a sleuth, reading letters and other > >> documents for clues to be followed: a friend's name, where Wells spent > >> her summers, the mention of a sister. The trail that led to Brian > >> Williams, the archivist who located Wells' photo, began when I read a > >> letter Wells wrote to AMA officials, saying she belonged to the > >> Presbyterian Church in Valparaiso, Ind. When I called First Presbyterian > >> in that city, the church membership chairman located records where Wells > >> had transferred her membership to the Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, > >> Mich. > >> > >> I went online to the Web site for First Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor > >> and looked over the church staff to guess who might be most receptive to > >> my request. I chose an associate pastor named Melissa (May) Rogers who, > >> ironically, turned out to be a young woman I had met and interviewed when > >> she was serving First Presbyterian of Athens as an intern. And it was > >> when she turned me over to church member Brian Williams, that I hit pay > >> dirt. In short order, Williams responded with information about burial > >> records, and then with an internet link to the book, "A Woman of the > >> Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied By > >> Portraits of Leading American Women in all Walks of Life," edited by > >> Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore. > >> > >> Written during Wells' lifetime and published in the year she died of > >> consumption at her retirement home in Chautauqua, the biography solves > >> one mystery and presents another. > >> > >> American Missionary Association literature consistently lists Wells as a > >> graduate of Mt. Holyoke, but there is no record of her ever having > >> attended that school, nor has a thorough search of other women's schools > >> uncovered her. According to her biography in "A Woman of the Century," > >> Wells prepared to enter Michigan University, but because females were not > >> accepted as students at the time, she took the course of study privately. > >> > >> The mystery posed by the biography is this: The woman Athens has always > >> known as Mary Frances Wells is listed as Mary Fletcher Wells, both in the > >> biography and in cemetery records from her interment in Ann Arbor. > >> > >> But that's a mystery for another day. > >> > >> > >> > >> Here is what the biography that Charlotte found says: > >> > >> She was a philanthropist and educator, and was born in Villenova, > >> Chautauqua County, New York. Her father Roderic McIntosh (sic.) Wells, > >> was of Scotch origin. She began to teach at fourteen years of age, still > >> pursuing her studies. She taught successfully in high schools and > >> seminaries in Indiana, and for several years was associate editor of the > >> "Indiana School Journal." Failing health obliged her to rest. > >> > >> When the Civil War broke out, she received the news with much > >> seriousness. She saw as if by inspiration, that the war was to emancipate > >> the slave, that the liberated slave must have teachers, and she must be > >> one of those teachers. During the war she received a letter from Abraham > >> Lincoln, asking her to take charge of a contraband school near > >> Washington. Her health was then insufficient, and she was obliged to > >> decline. A few months later there came another call, to which she > >> responded, and for nearly two years, in the hospital in Louisville, > >> Kentucky, she watched beside the sick and dying soldiers. > >> > >> With the close of the war came a renewal of the call to teach the > >> freedmen, and she went to Athens, Alabama. She was cordially welcomed by > >> Chaplain and Mrs. Anderson, and she had for assistants Mrs. Anderson and > >> Mr. Starkweather, a Wisconsin soldier. At the hour appointed for opening, > >> there came in multitude, three-hundred strong. Miss Wells remained at the > >> head of Trinity School twenty-seven years. > >> > >> >From the crude beginning in 1865 has been developed a flourishing > >> >institution, with boarding, industrial and normal departments, sending > >> >out every year many teachers, who do efficient work among their people. > >> >From that school, under the American Missionary Society, have grown a > >> >church and many auxiliary societies. Failing health has made rest and > >> >change imperative, and she is now living in her summer home in > >> >Chautauqua, where in 1878, she was among the first to join the > >> >Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. She was graduated in the > >> >class of 1882. She traveled with the Fisk Jubilee Singers the first four > >> >months of their introduction to the public. > >> > >> A book on the Fitch Jubilee singers (Dark Midnight when I Rise) gives > >> some more insight into her character: > >> > >> "Wells was the principal of the Trinity School and one of the very few > >> women the American Missionary Association (A.M.A.) entrusted with a > >> superintendency. A graduate of Mount Holyoke, which was second only to > >> Oberlin in providing missionaries for the A.M.A., Wells was a former > >> Civil War nurse and Michigan schoolteacher who had been disowned by her > >> wealthy family for working among the freedman (This is not true since the > >> Wells were not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination nor did they > >> disown her. My great-grandmother, her great niece, wrote of wishing to > >> visit the school that Mary Wells helped found. In 1870 one of her nieces > >> was living with her in Athens.) She became a member of the black > >> community of Athens and was almost legendarily brave. One night as she > >> was correcting papers, Klansmen surrounded her school and, taking aim at > >> the glow of her lamp through a tattered quilt she hung every night in her > >> door, shot at her. But "she calmly continued her writing, [and] d! > > id! > >> not put out the lamp." For years afterward, "the colored people kept the > >> door through which there was shooting' until the building was burned down > >> by the Klan. > >> > >> Anyone have additional information on her? It has been some time since I > >> worked on Roderick Wells family. I believe he is descended from Thomas > >> and Frances (Albright) Wells. > >> > >> > >> > >> Ron Carlton > >> > >> > >> > >> ------------------------------- > >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > >> in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > > in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Villenova, Chautauqua County, New York. Ron -------------------------------------------------- From: "Rosemarie Novak" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, October 17, 2009 1:27 PM To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [WELLS] Mary Fletcher (Frances) Wells (c1835-1893) > > What part of NY was she from? > > > 'Good friends are like stars.........You don't always see them, but you > know they're always there'. > 'Remember yesterday, dream about tomorrow, but live today'. > Please Visit my eBay Website: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/windfallmoon > > I am NOW Cancer FREE thanks to GOD & XanGo! > Fight CANCER! Get HEALTHY! Click Here to see How! > http://jameswhitecountry.com/XANGO.html > > > > > > > > EMAILING FOR THE GREATER GOOD > Join me > > >> From: [email protected] >> To: [email protected] >> Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:46:07 -0500 >> Subject: Re: [WELLS] Mary Fletcher (Frances) Wells (c1835-1893) >> >> I don't think she was Catholic. All her siblings were Methodists. The >> A.M.A. >> was Protestant based abolitionist group. Its leaders were chiefly >> Congregationalist and Presbyterian, both black and white. The association >> became most closely aligned with the Congregational Christian Churches. >> >> Ron >> >> -------------------------------------------------- >> From: "Rosemarie Novak" <[email protected]> >> Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 10:53 PM >> To: <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [WELLS] Mary Fletcher (Frances) Wells (c1835-1893) >> >> > >> > Mary Frances. Was she actually Catholic? >> > >> > >> > 'Good friends are like stars.........You don't always see them, but you >> > know they're always there'. >> > 'Remember yesterday, dream about tomorrow, but live today'. >> > Please Visit my eBay Website: >> > http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/windfallmoon >> > >> > I am NOW Cancer FREE thanks to GOD & XanGo! >> > Fight CANCER! Get HEALTHY! Click Here to see How! >> > http://jameswhitecountry.com/XANGO.html >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > EMAILING FOR THE GREATER GOOD >> > Join me >> > >> > >> >> From: [email protected] >> >> To: [email protected] >> >> Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:00:48 -0500 >> >> Subject: [WELLS] Mary Fletcher (Frances) Wells (c1835-1893) >> >> >> >> Mary F. Wells was my 3rd great aunt. Charlotte Fulton has been seeking >> >> information on her and her adopted son George Wells for a book she is >> >> writing on the Trinity School. Mary was born in New York and moved >> >> South >> >> during the Civil War working as a nurse. She was one of the >> >> co-founders >> >> of Trinity School in Athens, AL for freedman in 1865. Below is an >> >> article >> >> written by Charlotte Fulton describing her research so far: >> >> >> >> Published September 26, 2009 06:49 pm - My months-long search for a >> >> photo >> >> of Mary Frances Wells paid off this week when an archivist in Ann >> >> Arbor, >> >> Mich., located online an 1893 book with a biography and picture of the >> >> woman who founded Trinity School in Athens in 1865. >> >> >> >> Long-sought photo discovered of Trinity School founder >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Editor's Note: Charlotte Fulton, a local historian and former feature >> >> writer for The News Courier, is in the midst of research for a book >> >> she >> >> is writing on Trinity High School. The book will be published in >> >> conjunction with a project to preserve historic Trinity School and >> >> create >> >> a museum. That project is headed by Athens-Limestone Community >> >> Association. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> By Charlotte Fulton >> >> >> >> For The News Courier >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> My months-long search for a photo of Mary Frances Wells paid off this >> >> week when an archivist in Ann Arbor, Mich., located online an 1893 >> >> book >> >> with a biography and picture of the woman who founded Trinity School >> >> in >> >> Athens in 1865. >> >> >> >> Former students of Trinity and those familiar with local history know >> >> about the heroic missionary who came South during the Civil War to >> >> care >> >> for wounded soldiers and stayed to teach freedmen. But it is unlikely >> >> that any one of them has seen her likeness. Prior to this week, the >> >> only >> >> indication I have had that an image of Wells ever existed was in a >> >> 1913 >> >> letter written by Louise Allyn, a later Trinity principal, saying that >> >> a >> >> portrait of Miss Wells had burned in the fire that had just destroyed >> >> Trinity School. >> >> >> >> Since January I have made hundreds of e-mail and telephone contacts to >> >> places like Amistad Research Center in New Orleans; Mt. Holyoke >> >> College >> >> in Massachusetts and other older schools for women in the East; >> >> Chautauqua Institute in New York; Fisk University and other schools >> >> connected with the American Missionary Association, which for most of >> >> Trinity's history was its sole sponsor; and dozens of historical and >> >> genealogical societies. >> >> >> >> Information about Wells' teaching career abounded, but about her early >> >> life - nada. And photos? Zilch. >> >> >> >> In the research process I became a sleuth, reading letters and other >> >> documents for clues to be followed: a friend's name, where Wells spent >> >> her summers, the mention of a sister. The trail that led to Brian >> >> Williams, the archivist who located Wells' photo, began when I read a >> >> letter Wells wrote to AMA officials, saying she belonged to the >> >> Presbyterian Church in Valparaiso, Ind. When I called First >> >> Presbyterian >> >> in that city, the church membership chairman located records where >> >> Wells >> >> had transferred her membership to the Presbyterian Church in Ann >> >> Arbor, >> >> Mich. >> >> >> >> I went online to the Web site for First Presbyterian Church in Ann >> >> Arbor >> >> and looked over the church staff to guess who might be most receptive >> >> to >> >> my request. I chose an associate pastor named Melissa (May) Rogers >> >> who, >> >> ironically, turned out to be a young woman I had met and interviewed >> >> when >> >> she was serving First Presbyterian of Athens as an intern. And it was >> >> when she turned me over to church member Brian Williams, that I hit >> >> pay >> >> dirt. In short order, Williams responded with information about burial >> >> records, and then with an internet link to the book, "A Woman of the >> >> Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied By >> >> Portraits of Leading American Women in all Walks of Life," edited by >> >> Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore. >> >> >> >> Written during Wells' lifetime and published in the year she died of >> >> consumption at her retirement home in Chautauqua, the biography solves >> >> one mystery and presents another. >> >> >> >> American Missionary Association literature consistently lists Wells as >> >> a >> >> graduate of Mt. Holyoke, but there is no record of her ever having >> >> attended that school, nor has a thorough search of other women's >> >> schools >> >> uncovered her. According to her biography in "A Woman of the Century," >> >> Wells prepared to enter Michigan University, but because females were >> >> not >> >> accepted as students at the time, she took the course of study >> >> privately. >> >> >> >> The mystery posed by the biography is this: The woman Athens has >> >> always >> >> known as Mary Frances Wells is listed as Mary Fletcher Wells, both in >> >> the >> >> biography and in cemetery records from her interment in Ann Arbor. >> >> >> >> But that's a mystery for another day. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Here is what the biography that Charlotte found says: >> >> >> >> She was a philanthropist and educator, and was born in Villenova, >> >> Chautauqua County, New York. Her father Roderic McIntosh (sic.) Wells, >> >> was of Scotch origin. She began to teach at fourteen years of age, >> >> still >> >> pursuing her studies. She taught successfully in high schools and >> >> seminaries in Indiana, and for several years was associate editor of >> >> the >> >> "Indiana School Journal." Failing health obliged her to rest. >> >> >> >> When the Civil War broke out, she received the news with much >> >> seriousness. She saw as if by inspiration, that the war was to >> >> emancipate >> >> the slave, that the liberated slave must have teachers, and she must >> >> be >> >> one of those teachers. During the war she received a letter from >> >> Abraham >> >> Lincoln, asking her to take charge of a contraband school near >> >> Washington. Her health was then insufficient, and she was obliged to >> >> decline. A few months later there came another call, to which she >> >> responded, and for nearly two years, in the hospital in Louisville, >> >> Kentucky, she watched beside the sick and dying soldiers. >> >> >> >> With the close of the war came a renewal of the call to teach the >> >> freedmen, and she went to Athens, Alabama. She was cordially welcomed >> >> by >> >> Chaplain and Mrs. Anderson, and she had for assistants Mrs. Anderson >> >> and >> >> Mr. Starkweather, a Wisconsin soldier. At the hour appointed for >> >> opening, >> >> there came in multitude, three-hundred strong. Miss Wells remained at >> >> the >> >> head of Trinity School twenty-seven years. >> >> >> >> >From the crude beginning in 1865 has been developed a flourishing >> >> >institution, with boarding, industrial and normal departments, >> >> >sending >> >> >out every year many teachers, who do efficient work among their >> >> >people. >> >> >From that school, under the American Missionary Society, have grown a >> >> >church and many auxiliary societies. Failing health has made rest and >> >> >change imperative, and she is now living in her summer home in >> >> >Chautauqua, where in 1878, she was among the first to join the >> >> >Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. She was graduated in the >> >> >class of 1882. She traveled with the Fisk Jubilee Singers the first >> >> >four >> >> >months of their introduction to the public. >> >> >> >> A book on the Fitch Jubilee singers (Dark Midnight when I Rise) gives >> >> some more insight into her character: >> >> >> >> "Wells was the principal of the Trinity School and one of the very few >> >> women the American Missionary Association (A.M.A.) entrusted with a >> >> superintendency. A graduate of Mount Holyoke, which was second only to >> >> Oberlin in providing missionaries for the A.M.A., Wells was a former >> >> Civil War nurse and Michigan schoolteacher who had been disowned by >> >> her >> >> wealthy family for working among the freedman (This is not true since >> >> the >> >> Wells were not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination nor did they >> >> disown her. My great-grandmother, her great niece, wrote of wishing to >> >> visit the school that Mary Wells helped found. In 1870 one of her >> >> nieces >> >> was living with her in Athens.) She became a member of the black >> >> community of Athens and was almost legendarily brave. One night as she >> >> was correcting papers, Klansmen surrounded her school and, taking aim >> >> at >> >> the glow of her lamp through a tattered quilt she hung every night in >> >> her >> >> door, shot at her. But "she calmly continued her writing, [and] d! >> > id! >> >> not put out the lamp." For years afterward, "the colored people kept >> >> the >> >> door through which there was shooting' until the building was burned >> >> down >> >> by the Klan. >> >> >> >> Anyone have additional information on her? It has been some time since >> >> I >> >> worked on Roderick Wells family. I believe he is descended from Thomas >> >> and Frances (Albright) Wells. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Ron Carlton >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> >> quotes >> >> in the subject and the body of the message >> > >> > >> > ------------------------------- >> > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> > quotes >> > in the subject and the body of the message >> > >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes >> in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >