Let's Talk about “Miss Catherine”.

Today we are going to go way back to the April 1967 issue of the Tallow Light (I was 2). Among other things such as cemetery listings for the Smith Cemetery in Bartlett and a visit to Marietta by Ralph Waldo Emerson, is an article about Catherine Ewing and the Children’s Home, written by Ralph L. Schroeder.

The article discusses the life of Catherine Amelia (Fay) Ewing and her career as a teacher, finishing up with her amazing efforts to found the County Children’s Home in Marietta in 1867.

The article starts with this description of Miss. Ewing:

“Catherine Amelia (Fay) Ewing, large of structure, fair haired, masked with purpose, webbed with faith and charity, and thus mantled in the Divine...the seventh child and the fourth daughter of the eleven children...”

Now I am not sure exactly what “masked with purpose” means, but the term “Mantled in the Divine” would persuade me not to mess with this woman.

The article goes on to discuss Catherine Ewing’s time teaching among the Choctaw Nation and teaching in Arkansas before returning to Ohio to drive the creation of the County Children’s Home, letting no one stand in her path.

It is just one article about Catherine Ewing that can be found in the pages of the Tallow Lights. A search of the online index of issues 45-50 will find another article on “Miss Catherine” and the Children’s Home in issue 46, page 79. I have not, at present, searched all the indexes held in the collections, but I am certain that there are more articles to be found.

The WCHS has back issues of nearly all of the Tallow Lights since 1967 available to read in the Archives and Collections. Members receive the latest issue four times a year and encourage members to submit articles for publication.

Due to the current pandemic, the The Archives are only open by appointment. To arrange a visit please contact us here.