Woman of the Century/Nettie Leila Michel

NETTIE LEILA MICHEL. MICHEL, Mrs. Nettie Leila, editor, born in Oswego, N. Y., 26th September, 1863. Her father was Mortimer A. Champion, a descendant of the Tifft family, of Connecticut, early settlers of this country. Her mother was Cecelia Penny Champion a descendant of the Clark family, of central New York. She received her early education in the public schools of Syracuse, N. Y., and later in the public schools of Oswego. She was married 29th March, 1882. but her wedded life was of brief duration, extending over a period of less than one year. Being obliged to support herself she went out as an advertising agent for a large wholesale house of Chicago, Ill., and was the first woman in this country to fill such a position. She then became a drummer, visiting the drug trade in the interests of an Eastern supply house. She was one of the first, if not the first, women sent out as an agent for staple articles and Occasioned no little comment, traveling from place to place with her sample trunk. Her territory em- braced the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan. As a drummer she was very successful, but left the road at the end of two years. She then took a course in stenography in Prof. Warner's school in Elmira, N. Y., in 1888, and was graduated in three months, one of the best qualified students sent out by that school during a term of twenty-five years. In the fall of 1888 she entered the office of the "Magazine of Poetry," in Buffalo, N. V., and took charge of the correspondence as an expert stenographer. The following year she became the business manager of the magazine, a position she resigned in 1891 to become its editor. Mrs. Michel is interested in all movements for the advancement of women, and she has represented business interests in various conventions throughout the country. She is a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, Buffalo, of the King's Daughters, and of the Woman's National Press Association.