Clan William: Edith Minerva Brace, Teacher

Clan William descendant Emily Cowles and husband C Lusk Brace made smart little babies. Son Dr DeWitt Brace was a world-class physicist. His baby sister, Edith, is the one we will be talking about today. She was a biologist and teacher.

Capt Thomas Munson > Samuel Munson > Samuel James Munson > William Munson > Peter Munson > Lydia Munson > William Zelus Bristol > Emily Cowles Bristol > Edith Minerva Brace

Born 29 Dec 1867 in Lockport, Niagara County, New York, youngest child Edith was a smart cookie. 

She attended University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where brother DeWitt was on faculty. She studied biology with an emphasis on botany and zoology, her true passions.  I believe there was a good chance, since her mother was living with DeWitt prior to his marriage, that she also resided with them in Lincoln, though I have no source to prove that at this time. She received her bachelor of science degree, then attended the University of Chicago, where she recieved her master of science degree in biology. 

Rochester Free 
Academy

Many men of that era with such a scientific and resarch interest, might have gone on to teach at the college level. That was not an easy for a woman and an almost impossible option at that point in time, with rare exceptions. 

Women weren't open to attending University of Rochester prior to 1900, but at least 12 did, including Edith. Those individuals attended classes with men, but could not receive credit for their classes.

Her first noted teaching gig was beginning in late 1899 at the Rochester Free Academy, which was a secondary high school in Rochester, New York. While there she also stayed involved in the science research world, and was the editorial assistant for neurology for the Journal of  Applied Microscopy and Laboratory Methods from 1899.

It's not known when she left Rochester, but in 1904, she was teaching as a professor at Western Maryland University. During the summer of 1904, she participate in a summer program in zoology for the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Science teaching zoology.

In 1908, she began teaching at the secondary level in Brooklyn. Sorting through the various transfers was quite a project, but here's how it broke down so far.

Eastern District HS, Flatbush; Morris HS, South Bronx; Erasmus Hall HS, Flatbush

As I get access to more records, I hope to fill in the blanks for Edith's job history and housing history. Her obituary mentions she worked at Morris High School in the South Bronx between Eastern District and Erasmus Hall high schools, but the only reference I have to her teaching at Morris HS is in 1922, when in the 2nd semester, she was transferred from Morris to Eastern District. We do know she was at Erasmus Hall, teaching biology, from 1924 through her retirement in 1939. 

School and Home History

Some of Edith's residences

Edith wasn't all work. She also vacationed!  In a 1915 article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, titled "Notables at Easthampton," it's mentioned that Edith was spending time at The Osborne House in Long Island. During the middle half of the century, the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania was a hot spot for vacations - honeymooing, skiing, camping, swimming, fishing and more. In the 1940s, Edith visited several times. Buck Hill Inn was built in 1901 on 1,000 acres. The resort, one of the premier resorts in the Poconos, had horseback riding, golf, and tennis. The Inn had a downturn in business in the 1960s and 1970s and closed forever in 1990 and was finally demolished after several failed starts at renovation, starting in 2016.

Buck Hill Inn Entrance, Dining Room, and Olympic-sized pool

World War I and Loyalty Oaths

Now, to the most interesting part of Edith's records. Her opposition to signing a "Loyalty Oath" in 1917 at the onset of World War I.

Summarizing the issue in the most compact way possible, before our entry into World War I against "The Hun," (Germans), a trend swept across the nation to bolster support for us entering the war that required people in government, education, and other industries to sign "Loyalty Oaths," which basically said they agreed with the US involvement in the war and would not do anything to hinder or subvert our policies or efforts around the war.

Now, many people took issue with signing such an oath. Many people lost their jobs for failing to do so and it became basically a witch hunt to punish those who would not sign. That included the Quakers, conscientious objectors, and others who did not agree with the war. Teachers in New York who failed to sign were put in front of what to me sounds like a tribunal and forced to state their case. They were nearly all fired or transferred to less desirable schools. Some would later be rehired, but many were not.

The mob mentality of a large group of teachers against those who refused to sign formed committees and organizations to vilify those who wouldn't toe the line. One group even supported having those who didn't sign interred, as we would later do with the Japanese during World War II.

Our brave Edith made headlines over the course of several days despite the fact she signed the loyalty oath. She refused to sign the next document proferred, which opposed settling for a "negotiated peace." Below is one of the articles that best explains the situation (click the article at the bottom to enlarge). They published her home address and her salary!  

It does not appear as any significant fallout befell Edith for this defiance, but many, many educators fell victim to this rabid "patriotism" from 1917-1919.

One More Fight

In 1915, Edith, along with 200 other NYC teachers, marched on Albany around two different Senate proposed bills.

The Cromwell Bill or Senate Bill 1414, which would put the responsibility for determining the number and pay of teachers, under the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and the Alderman of the city. The NYC Controller was in favor of the move and stated he would not only recommend no raises, but would recommend reducing salaries. The bill was almost universally opposed by teachers. Imagine.

The second bill, known as the Boylen-Kelly Pension bill was supported by the NYC Interborough Association of Women Teachers.

Neither bill seems to have been passed and were left to die in committee.

Alice retired from teaching in February of 1939. She lived the remainder of her days in Brooklyn. At the age of 86 she became ill and was hospitalized in Brooklyn Hospital, where she died on 10 Nov 1954. Her only living relatives were nieces and nephews. 

Edith's Refusal to Sign

Christina Cappoens, A Woman of Wealth

The village of New Amsterdam, 1660

Imagine my surprise to find out that I descended on my working class father's side of the family to
one that was not only wealthy, but one of the most influential families in the history of what is now the United States. My dad always said we were "Heinz57" and it's true. We descend from Germans, English, Scottish, Irish, and Dutch ancestors.  Those Dutch though - they were something.

Christina Cappoens was born in about 1620. There is still discussion as to her parentage, with some saying her family was of Scandinavian blood and some Dutch. This I will not take on. Suffice it to say, she arrived in the new land and married Captain Jacob HAY, who had served in the West Indies. In 1658, Hays died, leaving Christina with her only child, Maria Hay.

Captain Hay built their home in what is now Manhattan on Stone Street. According to the Stone Street Historic District:

 "Stone Street, Stone Street Historic District, Financial District, Manhattan On the southern half of this site, landowner Wessel Evertsen built a house (c. 1660) for Asser Levy, a Jewish butcher and moneylender who successfully fought for permission from the town "to keep guard with other burghers" despite the disinclination of his fellow townsmen to serve with Jews.

 Levy retained the property for ten years, then conveyed the house and lot to Jan Herberding (a/k/a John Harpendingh), who later leased land on the west side of today's South William Street to Congregation Shearith Israel for its synagogue. At the northeast corner of the site Jacob Haey (a/k/a Jacob Heij, d. 1658), who had been a prosperous trader in Curasao and Santa Cruz, erected a comfortable house (c. 1648). Haey also owned a large plantation, in what is now Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which was cultivated by African slaves. His widow, whose second husband was shipmaster David Jochemszen (a/k/a Jochems), continued to live in the Stone Street house until at least 1686. The lane adjacent to this property was very narrow, and remained so for a century; in 1754 residents petitioned to widen it, as it was the "only passage thro Mill Street Commonly Called the Jews Ally [...] to Duke Street." The Haey/Jochems house and its garden were then sacrificed for the widening of the lane; however, documents indicate that the site of 59-61 Stone Street soon again contained two structures. The southern half of the site (No. 59 Stone Street) was associated with Gershom Mendes Seixas (1746-1816), the rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, chief spokesman for American Jewry, and Revolutionary patriot. Seixas was among the city's first philanthropists and for many years was a regent and trustee of Columbia University."

Young Captain Pieter Praa, Jr.

Maria married three times, losing two of her husbands prematurely. She married Phillip Johns
LIEUW in 1668, followed by a marriage to Joost Adriaensen MOLINAER in 1681. To the Molinaer marriage was born one daughter, Sarah. Finally, Maria married Pieter PRAA, a captain in the militia and of Huguenot extraction. They had five daughters, including Catarina, referenced in the will.

Christina was a rare woman of her day. She was able to read and write and signed her various estate documents with a full signature. After she married her second husband, David JOCHEMSEN, they would leave some of the most interesting documents behind - their joint will, which left their estates to the other. Typically, husbands left their estates to their male progeny. Christina's will left her estate to David and her daughter Maria. David died before Christina and Christina died after her own daughter's third marriage, so she provided a detailed codicil to ensure that her two elder granddaughters were treated equally by the father of Catarina, Pieter PRAA. When Christina died in 1693, her will read in part:

"I give and bequeath in particular to my daughter Maria Hays, married to Peter Praa, first my small house with the land from the front to the rear, as far as my right extends, with the lane, except eight inches in said lane, which is to remain to my great house from the front to the rear, which shall be the parting line between my great house and lot and my small house and lot from one street to the other. Which said line (except the aforesaid eight inches), my said daughter shall and may build upon, as to her may seem meet. Provided that my said daughter Maria shall not dispose of the said small house by will or otherwise, but only to receive the rents during her life, and after her death to go to her children or their lawful heirs, and in default of such heirs, then to the next of my kindred in blood, but not to the children of Joost Adriansen, deceased. I also leave to my daughter Maria the use and income of my land and meadow and Bowery, lying at Maspeth Kills, and which is now in possession of herself and her husband, and after her death it is to go to her two children, Sara Molenaer, procured by Joost Adriansen Molenaer and Catrina Praa, procured by her present husband Peter Praa and such other children as she may leave. The said Peter Praa to have the use of the same during his life, but if he remains there after the death of his wife then he shall pay to the children for said Bowery, 10,000 guilders in wampum value."

 She later states:

"If my son-in-law Peter Praa opposes this will, or if he misbehave himself as to the children, he shall be debarred from all benefits." 

The land legacy of the purchases by the long-deceased Jacob Hay and additional purchases made by David Jochemsen, and Pieter Praa and later yet, the union between the MESEROLE and PRAA families, left the family owning much of Greenpoint, Bushwick, and 40,000 acres of New Jersey. I'll cover the vast land ownership of the family in the next post, along with some of the details of their slave ownership.