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Rh for twenty years. The female department of this institution was under Mrs. Stone's charge for many years. Before the war, Mrs. Stone's home was the resort of the abolitionist and equal suffrage leaders. In 1864 Mrs. Stone gave up her educational work and devoted her time to the organizing of women's clubs and societies for the education of women. Mrs. Stone was the first woman to use her influence toward the admitting of women to the University of Michigan, and for the work which she did in this direction, the University of Michigan, in 1891, conferred upon her the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Mrs. Severance was born in Canandaigua, New York, in January, 1820. She is the daughter of Orson Seymour, a banker of that place. Her mother was Caroline M. Clarke Seymour, who must have been a devoted and wise mother to have reared a daughter of such rare genius as Mrs. Severance. January 12, 1840, Miss Seymour became the wife of Theodoric C. Severance, a banker of Cleveland, Ohio, to which place Mr. Severance took his bride and established their first home. Their five children were born there, their mother devoting her entire time to her husband and children; it was an ideal American home. Mrs. Severance, meanwhile, kept abreast with the progress of the times. Her native talent, active mind and accomplishments made her an authority on the ethics of society. In 1853 she was chosen to give a lecture before the "Mercantile Library Association," the first woman to deliver a lecture before such an association. Her topic was "Humanity; a Definition and a Plea." She made such a brilliant accomplishment that she was obliged to deliver it in many places in the state. "The Woman's Rights Association," of Ohio, prevailed upon Mrs. Severance to arrange the lecture in the form of a tract to be distributed throughout the country. Later Mrs. Severance was appointed to present to the legislature