Woman of the Century/Catharine H. T. Avery

CATHRINE HITCHCOCK TILDEN AVERY. AVERY, Mrs. Catharine Hitchcock Tilden, author and educator, born in Monroe, Mich., 13th December, 1844. She is the daughter of Hon. Junius Tilden, formerly a prominent lawyer of that State. She was educated in the Framingham Normal School, in Massachusetts, graduating in 1S67. In 1S70, she was married to Dr. Elroy M. Avery. He was for several years principal of the East high schixil and City Normal School, of Cleveland, Ohio, in which positions his wife was his mot able assistant. Dr. Avery is the author of many text-l>ooks, notably a series on natural philosophy and chemistry. He is now engaged in historical research and writing, in which Mrs. Avery is his efficient helper. She is president of the East End Conversational, a club organized in 1878 and comprising many of the bright women of the city. She is a member of the executive committee of the Art and History Club and also of the Cleveland Woman's Press Club. She w as a delegate from the latter club to the International League of Press Clubs, 1892, and took part in the journey from New York to the Golden Gate. Her letters descriptive of the trip were published in the Cleveland "Leader and Herald." She is the regent of the Cleveland Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Four of her ancestors served in the Continental Congress and the cause of freedom. Col. John Bailey, of the Second Massachusetts Regiment, was at Bunker Hill and Monmouth, crossed the Delaware with Washington, and was at Gates's side in the northern campaign which ended in Burgoyne's surrender. The Ciad Hitchcocks, father and son, served as chaplain and as surgeon. The elder Gad, in 1774. preached an election sermon in which he advocated the cause of the Colonies and brought forth the wrath of Gage and the thanks of the Massachusetts General Court. Samuel Tilden, private from Marshfield, and member of the Committee of Safety, completes the list of her Revolutionary ancestors. Descended from six of the "Mayflower" band, she is proud of the Pilgrim blood that (lows in her veins. She has been for twenty years a member of the Euclid Avenue Congregational Church of Cleveland. Mrs. Avery's father died in the spring of 1861. Her husband, when a boy of sixteen years, went to the war, in 1861, with the first company that left his native town. He was mustered out of service in August. 1865.