In honor of National Women’s Month, here is the second set of the 12 women chosen by the Munising Business and Professional Women’s Club to honor in their 1976 bicentennial publication as introduced in the March 14 edition of The Beacon.
“Swede” Emma Neilson was a graduate nurse, trained in Sweden, and served as a midwife and medical assistant in Au Train, where she had staked out a 160acre homestead at age 48 in 1890 — the first to take a claim in that area.
Working alone, with simple tools, she cleared and cultivated acres of virgin timber and built a cabin by herself. (The cabin still stands by the roadside on the western side of the lake — once used as a gift shop and museum for Avery Color Studio.)
She earned her place as a courageous woman for her grit and self-reliance, pioneer spirit and thriving in a reclusive life of her own choosing. However, Swede Emma was also infamously remembered as having been a scary figure to children with her gruff manners and dressing in a masculine and severe style of clothing, topped off with a man’s old felt hat.
It was said that she could argue politics with the best of them, lacing her strong opinions with a litany of swearing. Her skill in hunting and trapping also brought her notoriety as did the continuous feuding with neighbors, yet Swede Emma was the one they called for when capable help and skilled nursing were needed. She died at 79 years of age in 1916. Her grave site is not known.
Mary Kasseler Oliver, born in 1859, came to Rock River when she was about 20 years old to teach school. She, along with two other women, formed a board in 1888-89 that conducted the teachers’ examinations, a system that certified teachers in Michigan before the normal schools were established.
Miss Kasseler married John Oliver, a filer at Charlie Johnston’s sawmill in Rock River, who was quoted to have said that she struck a bonanza when she married him. The bio notes that after the Olivers moved to Marquette, John worked at a Duluth, Minnesota, sawmill, coming home for Christmas and the Fourth of July, but did take his wife there when she became too feeble to live by herself. Mary died at 69 years of age; her burial site is unknown.
Frieda I. Schwartz was born in 1894 in downstate Kalkaska and taught school before coming to Munising, where her father worked at Munising Woodenware. She took a job at McDougal Mercantile Company but left there in 1920 to work in the front offices of Munising Paper Company, retiring in 1967 from Kimberly- Clark Corp.
Frieda was a member of the Munising Methodist Church choir for over 50 years, served on the church board and taught Sunday school. She was also involved with church camping and was drafted as a craft leader at the Methodist Institute Summer Bible Camp on Lake Michigamme in Marquette County.
She helped organize the first Girl Scout Troop for Munising, helping girls to earn Senior Scout honors; became a charter member of the BPW Club; helped organize the Senior Citizen’s Club and Center; and belonged to the Munising Community Chorus.
Frieda was able to enjoy seeing herself included in the BPW list of women honored in their bicentennial booklet, passing away in 1980 at 86 years of age and buried at Maple Grove.
Sophia Wood migrated to Alger County in 1898 when she was 18 years old and was hired as assistant editor of the Grand Marais Herald. Two years later, she married its publisher and editor, Arthur D. Wood. (I just love a good old Hallmark story. …) In 1910, the couple moved with their four children to Munising, where they purchased the Munising News.
When the Women’s City Club was organized, Mrs. Wood was the membership chair. She was active at Sacred Heart Church and a charter member of the Munising Hospital Auxiliary. Sophia died three years after publication of this list of women and was buried at Maple Grove in 1979 next to her husband.
Una Walters was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1891 but moved with her mother to London at age 3 after her father passed away. Sir John Simon, Una’s paternal grandfather, was a member of the British Parliament and Queen Victoria’s counsellor. Una was educated at Mansfield College, where she studied voice and piano.
After receiving her diploma from the Royal College of Music in 1909, she came to Munising, where her mother moved to after visiting relatives here. In 1914, Una married a local grocer, Edward Walters, and they raised four children. Una’s musical skills were put to use teaching piano and playing for the Ideal Orchestra, a popular dance band at the Old Opera House and the Beach Inn. She served as organist and choir director at St. John’s Episcopal Church and mentored the Junior Music Club, directing many fine stage plays and minstrel shows for them.
Una was also an active member of the Munising BPW, Order of the Eastern Star, Red Cross, Hospital Auxiliary and Munising Drama Club. When Mr. Walters retired from the grocery store in 1950, they moved to Menominee, Michigan, where she served as an organist for the Episcopal Cathedral there until 1971. There is no known grave site or date of death.
Jean MacIntosh Tearnan was born in Scotland in 1887 and entered medical training at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, graduating in 1914, acknowledged by the doctors for her diagnostic abilities. In 1914, she left Scotland and served on the high seas during the First World War. She joined the U.S. Army in 1917 and served as a Red Cross nurse until 1919.
In late 1920, she went to Detroit and worked at John Harper Hospital and studied to become a public health nurse. In 1923, Jean moved to Munising to serve as Alger County’s first public health nurse, reaching remote areas on snowshoes in winter and driving her big Dodge car on two-rut roads in summer. She became superintendent of the Munising Hospital and married Dr. Raymond Tearnan in 1936. She retired from Little Traverse Hospital in Petoskey in 1968, passed away in 1973 and is buried in Flint.
Further information on Munising’s Business and Professional Women’s Club and its membership will be published in an upcoming issue of The Beacon.
