Catherine Wilson, Executive Director GCHS (originally a grad school paper, written in 2006)

Using primary and secondary sources to study local history is a skill that professional historians, genealogists, and museum personnel should learn and use constantly. In this way, these groups can gain an insight into the lives of ordinary people, as well as helping visitors with their research. A local history topic that has become popular in recent years is the study of groups of women. In particular, one kind of women’s group has interested this writer: those who wanted to help the poor and needy.

Xenia, Ohio, had several relief societies through the 1850s and 1860s, especially during the Civil War. The earlier groups were generally focused on helping poor families, and this changed into a concern for soldiers’ families who were in want while the breadwinner was away at the front. Poor relief still existed during the war, but the emphasis moved to Ladies’ Soldiers Aid Societies. Which women were joining these relief societies; were African American women involved? What about single women? Were they all daughters or wives of merchants? In short, was this effort concentrated among a single group, or did it cross ethnic, economic, and religious boundaries? If I wanted to find out more about these women, there are many sources to consult. Identifying sources to use involves getting information by following leads.

For personal information about socially prominent women, one would probably be in luck. It seems that most, if not all, relief society members were white, relatively wealthy, and well-connected in the social structure. I found these things out through census research and published county histories. Since many of these women were neighbors, I began with census information. Census records can show financial standing, and give clues to relationships between families by listing neighbors and household residents after 1850. Real and personal estate values document the former, and the researcher can make assumptions by studying households containing different surnames. Sometimes these assumptions are wrong, because even primary documents can give faulty information, like blending families or assigning incorrect names to individuals. Ages are also prone to change census to census: not by the full ten years as prescribed, but occasionally a person will age only six years from 1850 to 1860.

Published county histories are particularly useful for this group, because these were the people with enough money to pay for an entry. These histories are unlikely to show any minority presence, however, unless the family was prominent. This is quite possible in Greene County, with the presence of Wilberforce University close by; there were many African-American families associated with higher learning or of professional standing who appear in Broadstone’s History of Greene County.

Newspapers are a wonderful source for relief society articles. Whose house was made available for the next week’s meeting; which aid society made the most socks or donated pecks of apples; which regiments seemed to be the “favorite sons” of Greene County: these are some of the items that the newspaper reveals. This information can help flesh out the dry facts of names, dates and ages from the census. For information about the societies themselves, their activities, and any resolutions they might have made, I would consult in particular the Xenia Torch-Light, which was active from 1838 to 1888, and the Xenia Sentinel (1863-65). The Torch-Light mentioned soldiers’ aid society meetings in nearly every issue from 1861 to 1865, in both Xenia and its surrounding communities. The Torch-Light was the only Greene County newspaper that covered the complete Civil War period, and even 1865 is missing from the microfilm I consulted.

Manuscripts would probably be the next source to try; however, unless the holding repository has a good finding aid or guide, this task can range from merely difficult to impossible. Unless the researcher stumbles upon a gold mine, the time to check this source would be after more easily available ones are exhausted. Fortunately, Greene County has some knowledgeable archives and historical society personnel to help with collections that do not have finding aids.

Another source for personal information and family ties between society members would be vital records and other local government documents. Wills and deeds would be most useful; court records, tax lists, and voting registers would be sketchy in regards to women during this period of history. Some sources are online, but should be viewed with caution, including the FamilySearch database from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (AKA Mormons). Many of those records are from original primary sources, such as actual transcriptions of marriage records; however, there are still a few taken from individual submissions.

Church records, if extant, are another possibility. Many relief societies were sponsored by or held in churches. This might also help show social ties and standing. Every town seems to have its “church of social cachet:” in Xenia, it was probably the Presbyterian Church, from the number of times that it was mentioned in the newspapers of the 1855-1865 time frame. The Methodists had a strong presence in Greene County at this time also.

Oral history records would probably be non-existent for this project. It is possible that interviews with relief society women exist, but they would be harder to locate than manuscripts. Photographs may give a sense of the times in which aid societies flourished, but unless they are identified as such, they may or may not be useful for particular information. Of course, pictures of how people looked can illustrate the dry facts presented in a paper, and can only enhance an exhibit or article that may come from it.

Accuracy and value of sources, and what they can tell researchers about this topic, are important. Again, the accuracy of county histories is good, noting the bias toward white & wealthy families, but not as reliable as newspaper coverage. Women doing good works were the perfect women to write about in the newspapers. Relief work was a socially acceptable way for a woman to get her name in the paper, by acting as a good example for others “in the best Christian manner.”

Potential sources

Broadstone, M. A. History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions. Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen, 1918. Two volumes.

Chapman Bros. Portrait & Biographical Album of Greene & Clark Counties, Ohio. Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Family Search database. http://www.familysearch.org.

Dills, R. S. History of Greene County : together with historic notes on the Northwest and the state of Ohio.Dayton, Ohio, Odell & Mayer, 1881.

Greene County Chapter, Ohio Genealogical Society, compilers. Greene County, Ohio, Cemetery Inscriptions. 9 volumes. Xenia OH: The Chapter, 1982-86.

Hodge, Robert A. and Lois L. Marriage & Death Notices from the Xenia (Ohio) Torch-Light, 1844-1870. Fredericksburg VA: the authors, 1978.

Robinson, George F. History of Greene County, Ohio; embracing the organization of the county, its division into townships, sketches of local interest gleaned from the pioneers from 1803 to 1840… Chicago: S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1902.

Trolander, Imogene D., ed. Women of Greene County: biographies of women, 1750-1994: women’s organizations, 1861-1994. [Yellow Springs OH]: Women’s History Project of Greene County, 1994.

U. S. Bureau of the Census, population schedules. 1850, Greene County, Ohio; 1860, Greene County, Ohio; 1870, Greene County, Ohio.

Xenia Sentinel weekly newspaper. Microfilm at Greene County Room, Greene County Public Library, Xenia OH.

Xenia Torch-Light weekly newspaper. Microfilm at Greene County Room, Greene County Public Library, Xenia OH.

Woodland Cemetery, Xenia OH. Interment records, 1847-1888.