Austinburg in Ashtabula County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Betsey Mix Cowles
(1810-1876)
Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, August 10, 2018
1. Betsey Mix Cowles Marker
Betsey Mix Cowles dedicated her life to fighting slavery and improving the status of women. Her desire for a formal education led her to Oberlin College, where she completed two years of study in 1840. An advocate of immediate abolition, Cowles lectured on the moral depravity of slavery, opened her home, at this site, to fugitive slaves. Opposed to expansion of slavery into the West, Cowles protested the Mexican War. Cowles served as president of Ohio's first women's rights convention (in Salem) in 1850, and the following year wrote a treatise on equal pay for working urban women. She served as the first dean of women at Grand River Institute, and later became one of the first women public school superintendents in Ohio.
Erected 2003 by The Ohio Bicentennial Commission, The International Paper Company Foundation, and The Ohio Historical Society. (Marker Number 6-4.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Abolition & Underground RR • Education • Women. In addition, it is included in the Ohio Historical Society / The Ohio History Connection series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1840.
Location. 41° 45.228′ N,
this page online
Regionally, this marker is on Ohio’s Lake Erie Shore and in the Western Reserve. It is also in the American Midwest and on the Great Lakes. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, and the Northwest Territory.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Austinburg Honor Roll (approx. 1.3 miles away); The Underground Railroad in Austinburg (approx. 1.3 miles away); Ashtabula County Courthouse (approx. 4½ miles away); Owen Brown, Son of John Brown (approx. 4½ miles away); Bicentennial of the United States of America (approx. 4½ miles away); Ashtabula County Korea War Memorial
Photographed by Mike Wintermantel
2. Betsey Mix Cowles
Also see . . . Betsy Mix Cowles. Oberlin College Library website entry (Submitted on September 27, 2024, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)
Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, August 10, 2018
3. Betsey Mix Cowles Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on September 27, 2024. It was originally submitted on August 11, 2018, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This page has been viewed 648 times since then and 36 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 11, 2018, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
