Page:Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state (Vol. I).djvu/86

82 them in their safety dungeon and whenever there seemed special danger, she would sit up all night, watching. Once the savages came, but they found the cabin door barred so securely that they went elsewhere, for speedier— and safer — depredations. This brings us back to the establishment of Hamilton County’s first school at Columbia, by John Riley with Dunlevy as his assistant. Did the clever, capable and cultured young educator fall in love with the brave, j resourceful and attractive widow? He did. They did. They were married and there is no question but what the ability and prestige of his wife helped the husband to many of the successes which they shared. ELIZABETH HARPER was employed in 1802 to teach the first school in northeastern Ohio, near what is now Unionville. Elizabeth’s pedagogical training was probably meager enough, she cer- tainly could not have qualified for a degree in a teacher’s college of today. But she had what it took in her time. When her mother, realizing what hardships and privations her daughter was undergoing, wanted to send Elizabeth back to Pennsylvania, the girl refused point blank. Who would grind the wheat for the family? They had managed to bring some sacks of the precious grain with them. It was Elizabeth’s special job to walk two miles with a peck of wheat, grind it, carry home the meal and make it into bread. i The small mill was owned by the community. It could grind but a bushel of wheat each day and three other families used it. Women did the grinding. ( The men were felling lumber, building, ploughing, hunting— or fighting. After Elizabeth had taught school one winter, Abraham Tappan was appointed to the position. This did not bother Elizabeth because she also i taught at the school from time to time. Besides, she married Tappan. ANNA SPOFFORD, daughter of Major Amos Spofford, taught the first school opened at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1802. The school was held in the log cabin of Major Lorenzo Carter. Just about everything of consequence seems to have been sponsored, directly or indirectly, by this hardy pioneer, who came from Rutland, Vermont with the first settlers of the Western Reserve. The first ball ever given in Cleveland took place in 1801 the year before the school started. Of course it was held at the Carter cabin. They danced the double shuffle, scamper-down, western swing and half moon — and washed the dances down with honey sweetened whiskey. Remember that the pioneer fathers of the Northwestern Territory were a husky and, in many instances, hard bitten lot. They drank heavily, swore heartily, knew nothing of the toothbrush and did not have to — a man, when he became a man, wore a beard. The boys were fathers to the men. They admired them, emulated them, imitated them. Unquestionably it was raw material with which the pioneer mother and pioneer woman teacher had to deal. But there was one thing in her favor. i