Some Remarkable Women

It's something of a challenge to prepare a walk based on early Janesville area women. For one thing, there isn't as much written about them in old newspapers or in their obituaries, other than information about their spouses and children. I know of two women whose diaries have been published, Nellie Tallman and Mary Laurentine Beers, the latter having been a local teacher. Some of the wealthier women did church and charity work, such as Nellie Tallman, and also some no doubt influenced their husbands in terms of philanthropy.  Less well-to-do women worked in their own homes or in service to others, in factories or farms, became nurses or teachers.  It just isn't that easy to find quality information about many of them.

Some of the famous local women like Carrie Jacobs Bond, Frances Willard, or even Lavinia Goodell are not buried at Oak Hill.  But that isn't to say that one can't find interesting women who influenced the world for good right here in Janesville.  This walk could be a start.

Let me remind you again that a map is very useful. If you enjoy hunting for old stones, having a map can save you time and energy,  though you still will have to do some hunting. Stop by the cemetery office to get one for yourself, or look at my previous posts. It also wouldn't hurt to head to Find a Grave, and look at photos of the headstones, just so you know what you are looking for.

1.  Nellie Gregg Williams (block 52) Nellie's headstone, a small flat gray granite marker, is fairly easy to find.  If you turn right at the chapel and continue along the flat road, her grave is on the left on the side of the hill where the road curves a bit.

Nellie married a man a decade older than she was, and when he died they were childless.  All this was before World War I.  Nellie became interested in the young soldiers who were headed off to European battlefield from Company M.  She wrote them letters, sent cookies and candies, and in return they sent photos of themselves, their brides and babies.  She kept in touch after the war, and then did the same thing for soldiers going off to World War II.  In addition she  was active in other patriotic activities, like the annual Armistice Day dinner.  In 1934 she was concerned about soldiers who did not have family lots in which to be buried, so she donated nineteen lots from block 311 to be used exclusively for veterans.

2.  Emogene Davis Jacobs Minor (block 39) Further up the side of the hill from Nellie Williams you will see the large monument for the Bond family. There is a smaller monument, gray granite to James Benjamin Minor and Emogene Minor very nearby.

Pretty much everyone knows that the famous composer Carrie Jacobs Bond was from Janesville, but she is buried in California.  Emogene, known as Emma, was Carrie's mother. Daughter of Yankee pioneers of Rock county, she was married three times, first to Carrie's father, Dr. Hannibal Jacobs (who lost the family fortune and then died young), then to John Williams (briefly) and finally to James Minor (whom she divorced).  Mrs. Minor taught china painting for a time, and later was a seamstress in downtown Janesville.

3.  Sarah Copeland Fifield (block 19) You need to head south, and cross Center Dr., the road the head up the hill on the right the chapel, and walk across almost the other other road that also leads up the hill.  There is a monument to Elbridge and Sarah Fifield, gray granite, and Sarah also has her own headstone.

Old obituaries of pioneers can be fascinating.  According to Sarah Fifield's notice in the Janesville Gazette, she was born in Massachusetts in 1827, a direct descendant of Miles Standish, and came as a teen-aged girl to Jefferson county to keep house for her brothers.  There she met Elbridge Fifield and was united in marriage in 1853.  They lived for a time in Jefferson, but later moved to Janesville where she was described as a "leader in social life" and a devoted mother of of four children.

4.  Sarah Fifield Bull (block 19) If you found Sarah Fifield, Sarah Bull  is very nearby in the Fifield lot.

Sarah Fifield Bull was Sarah Fifield's sister-in-law.  The Fifield family made their money in lumber, and were respected members of the community. Sarah married Hiram Bull, and their only biological child died in infancy and is buried in this family lot.  They moved to Bull City, Kansas, where Sarah was appointed postmistress.  The Bulls adopted a daughter, Lenora, and then ten months later Hiram Bull was killed in a bizarre accident, attacked by a raging male elk.  Hiram had no will and many debts, which added to Sarah's difficulties.  But she persevered, getting some help from local businessmen with finances, running a general store.  Eventually she and her adopted daughter returned to Janesville, where she passed away in 1912.

5.  Laura Kendall Arms (block 82) Head back north until you return in Center Drive, the main road that heads up the hill.  Then turn left (west) and continue along the flatter part of the road.  Block eighty-two will be on the right, a way into the wooded area.  Laura's headstone is an upright marble tablet.

Laura Kendall lived to be one of the oldest pioneer women in Janesville. She arrived in 1838 with her husband, Theodore Kendall, whom she married in Lowell, Vermont, in 1836. They came with their team to Buffalo from Vermont, then on to Detroit by boat, then with others in an emigrant train to Janesville. Mr. Kendall bought a lot opposite the old Myers Hotel, and built a frame house. She and her husband donated money to build the Congregational parsonage and the Y.M.C.A. building.

6.  Frances Cornelia Norton Tallman, (block 89) Most people  have seen the Tallman family plot at the top of the hill.  The family monument is large and red granite, though the pretty marble monument of the lady pointing to heaven for Augusta Beach, the Tallman's daughter, will be the thing that catches your eye first.

I learned about Nellie Tallman by portraying her in cemetery walks sponsored by the Rock County Historical Society, and also by reading Julia Hornbostle's book about her, A Good and Caring Woman: The Life and Times of Nellie Tallman.  Hornbostle used Nellie's diaries and newspaper accounts of the time to tell the story of her life. Nellie was the daughter of Otis and Hannah Norton, born in New York, but living most of her life in Janesville.  The Nortons and the Tallman family were long time friends, so it was no surprise that Nellie married the younger Tallman son, Edgar.  She was also close friends with Edgar's sister Gussie Tallman Beach, who died a young wife in Chicago.  Nellie and Edgar raised two sons, Stanley who became a lawyer, and Charles who worked for the telephone company.  Nellie became the mistress of the Tallman home, now the Lincoln-Tallman Restorations.  The family was wealthy, but also civic minded, and Nellie spent her life running the household, which employed a number of servants, nursing her mother and father-in-law, and her parents until their deaths, raising her two sons, attending church and civic functions, and doing charity work. In particular she raised money for the first city hospital, and for a group called Associated Charities.

7.  Elizabeth Battle Bintliff (block 259) The good news is you don't really have to go looking for Mrs. Bintliff's marker at the back of the cemetery, and the bad news is because her grave is unmarked.  But she is worth considering for the skills and contributions.

 Lizzie Battle was the daughter of parents who started out in Massachusetts, spent time in Ohio, and ended up here in Janesville.  She lived at a time when most women made their mark as nurses or teachers.  She was a gifted pianist and organist, and taught music at Ripon College. She also was the first president of the Wisconsin State Federation of Music.  

8.  Angie Josephine King (block 180) I have to admit that the fact that Angie J. King has no stone to mark her final resting place annoys me.  She holds an important place in not only local history, but in Wisconsin history.  Still you will find no marker for her at Oak Hill.

Angie King was the daughter of Scottish immigrants, her father a wagon maker and her mother a baker.  Angie was born in Ohio, but then her parents came west to Wisconsin settling first in Grant county, and later coming to Janesville. Her father, John King eventually sold his wagon manufacturing business to Robert Hodge, and opened a popular hotel called The Janesville House.  Mr. King died a year later of cholera, and Mrs. King ran the hotel after that.  Angie went to school here in Janesville, and graduated from the Janesville Ladies' Academy in 1822.  Her brother John worked for the post office as a clerk, and Angie worked there as ell. In 1868 she put her name in for the position of postmaster, which was an elected post.  Angie won the election by 42 votes, but was not allowed to serve because she was a woman.  Soon afterward she was fired from her position at the post office.  In 1871 she entered the Chicago Law School, returning to Janesville after the great Chicago fire, and studying law at home.  She was admitted to the practice of law by the Circuit Court of Rock County, becoming the third female lawyer in the state of Wisconsin.  She was a champion of women's suffrage and a firm believer in the rights of women.

9.  Minerva Guernsey King (block 180) Minerva King shares a headstone that resembles an open book with her husband.  Block 180 is in the area between Western Avenue and Summit (both of which run north and south, at the highest part of the cemetery. 

Minnie was the daughter of pioneers settlers Orrin Guernsey and Sarah Cooley, who came to Rock county from New Hampshire. Minerva was one of seven children. She attended the Frances Willard School, and graduated from Boston College in 1879, after studying elocution and the stage.  She joined the then famous Booth and Barrett acting company and became a fine actress. She married Chicago neurologist Oscar King in 1887 and lived for a time in Chicago and also Lake Geneva, where her husband ran a sanatorium.  She was active in the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and is sometimes credited as being one of the founders of the Janesville Public Library (now the Hedberg Library) - though I am having difficulty verifying this.

10.  Julia Newell Jackson (block 185) Block 185 isn't far from the King marker, just closer to Western Avenue. The Newell family monument is an imposing gray granite obelisk, not difficult to spot.

 Julia Newell's parents were from Vermont, and settled in this area in 1846. In 1867 Julia read about a trip by steamer to Europe and the Holy Land, and she decided she would go.  The trip turned out to be an important one for her, since she met her future husband, Dr. Abraham Reeves Jackson, but also because of a fellow traveler whose acquaintance she made, Mr. Samuel Clemons, also known as Mark Twain.  She thought him to be rather handsome, but disliked his southern drawl. To read about the trip, just read a copy of Twain's book, The Innocents Abroad. Travel can be so interesting!

10. Janet Bell Day (block 176) The headstone you are seeking is in an area north of the wide grassy strip the runs up the hill, not far the the circular drive.  It's on the side of the hill, and you may have to search a bit for the flat gray headstone.

 Janet, known as Jennie, was born in Janesville in 1856, and spent much of her life here.  Following her marriage to John Day, she became interested in the subject of elocution, and became a faculty member of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, teaching this subject.  Locally she directed plays at the high school, and was a member of the school board.