Catharine H. T. Avery
Catharine H. T. Avery (née, Tilden; December 13, 1844 - December 22, 1911) was an American author, editor, and educator of the long nineteenth century. Of Revolutionary ancestry and hailing from Michigan, she was founder and regent of the Western Reserve Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), of Cleveland, Ohio; Vice-president General of its National Society; and editor of the National Society's official organ, the American Monthly. She also served two years as a member of the Cleveland School Board, being the first woman in Ohio chosen to an elective office.
Catharine H. T. Avery | |
|---|---|
| Born | Catharine Hitchcock Tilden December 13, 1844 Dundee, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | December 22, 1911 (aged 67) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Resting place | Knollwood Cemetery, Mayfield Heights, Cuyahoga County, Ohio |
| Occupation | author, editor, educator |
| Spouse | |
After the death of her father in 1861, she moved with her step-mother to Massachusetts. She was educated in the Normal School of that state and taught school in Massachusetts. Soon after the first meeting of the DAR, she became a member of the District of Columbia Society. The first president-general, Caroline Harrison, offered her the state regency of Ohio. She declined, but accepted the regent's commission for the Western Reserve Chapter, which she organized, the first in Ohio. In 1895, she was unanimously elected regent of the state. On retiring from the state regency, she was elected vice president-general from Ohio, and at the expiration of that term, the state bestowed upon her the life title "honorary state regent." From the time she joined the order until her death, 20 years later, she never relaxed her interest or activities in the work of the DAR in Ohio and the U.S. During the last 12 years of her life, she was editor of the American Monthly magazine, the official organ of the national society. Even earlier, she was a generous contributor to the newspapers on subjects which interested her. She was elected to membership in the Cleveland Woman's Press Club, twice serving as its president. She was its delegate to the conventions of the International League of Press Clubs held at Saint Paul, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Avery was a close friend of Lydia Maria Child and attracted the notice of Wendell Phillips.