This week’s chosen artifacts include several pieces related to a Cuyahoga Falls woman who not only was a popular educator, but who also wrote a book regarding a little-known incident in the life of President Abraham Lincoln.
The woman is Esther May Carter, daughter of early Cuyahoga Falls physician Dr. Hiram Carter.
Esther had a lengthy and rewarding career in education. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1892, she served as principal of the high school in Cuyahoga Falls for several years. And from 1895-1901, she was a professor of literature at West Virginia Wesleyan University.
She later traveled and studied abroad, intermittently serving as a professor of literature at the French-American College, and as principal of the English Department at the Troy Conference Academy (now Green Mountain College) in Vermont. She later served as Dean of Women at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., from 1905 to 1911.
It was while she was at Lawrence University that she came across information that inspired her to write her first book – “She Knew Lincoln.”
While in Wisconsin, she heard the story about a young African-American woman who had a memorable meeting with Abraham Lincoln shortly before his assassination.
According to the information Carter received, the young woman had been in dire financial straits. Having few friends and a husband who was away serving with the Union Army, she didn’t know who to turn to. She eventually decided to appeal to the President for help.
As the story goes, after making her way past several guards undetected, the woman finally got within a few feet of the President’s office, but not before being restrained by one final guard. Lincoln heard the scuffle and left his office to see what was going on.
Upon seeing the woman, Lincoln reportedly told the guard, “This is a time for all who need me. Let the woman come in.”
Lincoln spoke with her briefly and asked her to return the following day, so they could speak more about her situation.
Unfortunately, that second meeting never happened, as Lincoln was the target of an assassin’s bullet, while attending a play at Ford’s Theater, later that day.
Because Carter felt this incident showed President Lincoln’s great kindness and humanity, she wrote the book “She Knew Lincoln.” It was published in 1930 by Superior Printing and Lithography in Akron.
A few final notes about the amazing Ms. Carter.
While she lived in Wisconsin, she crossed paths with another well-known Cuyahoga Falls resident – Matthew Crawford.
Crawford, a nationally known horticultural expert, was in Wisconsin to scout possible locations for his growing gladiolus bulb business. While in town, Crawford met with Carter. And, as he did for other friends and relatives, he named a new variety of gladiolus bulb for her.
In later years, Carter moved back to Cuyahoga Falls, where she lived at 2328 Second Street.