BLACKWELL FAMILY
Antoinette Brawn Blackwell BiographicalAunt Nettie's Reminisces, Aug. 16, 1896.
After the semi-continual of Oberlin, a number 
of reminiscences by L.S. & others were printed in 
the Journal, for several weeks. 
On the way to Oberlin, in [46] '45 or '46, Aunt 
Nettie was riding in the state between Cleveland 
& Oberlin, they were talking about Oberlin, & a 
gentleman from Rochester, N.Y., a patron 
of Oberlin on his way there, told Aunt Nettie 
about Mamma, & rather warned her against 
Mamma, as a woman's rights woman &
unorthodox. This excited Aunt Nettie's 
curiosity, & she asked about her as soon as 
she got there. By leaning forward at supper 
table, she could see Mamma, who sat on 
same side. She looked very youthful, & 
talked & talked away to the [a] clergyman who 
kept the boarding house, & Aunt Nettie 
thought she was rather too pronounced, 
talked rather too much, for so young a 
person. They became (not full) classmates (Aunt 
N. going right into 3d year), & became 
friends almost at once, because of natural 
affinity. Both were preparing for 
public speakers, & they were the 
only girls there who were. [Look up 
Aunt Nettie's speech at Memorial 
Meeting in Newark, N.J., about 
3 years after death). Dress pecurliarly


2
plain & neat, & always wore smoothest
& [most] nicest linen collars, wh she
washed & ironed herself. Dresses were
mostly calico, [wh she] always just
as clean as possible - I remember seeing her wear only
three that first summer - & she had
an idea that sensible people wd
always dress just so simply. Member
of Ladies' Board held her up to the
other students as example [of] for
poor students - how to be very
simple & economical, & yet exquisitely
neat. Would no more have
taken tea than wine in those days,
& rebuked Aunt N. if she took
an occasional cup & "Flower pot on
head."
At first meeting of Gen. Federation
of Women's Clubs in Chicago, Aunt
Nettie gave account of debating
club; & at first National Council
in Washington, she [you] & mother
both gave reminiscences of Oberlin.
Look these up.
Aunt Nettie was boarding at
the boarding house, & Mamma at3
Prof. Whipple's; but Aunt Nettie used 
to slip over sometimes to sleep with 
Mamma, - with connivance of some 
of the faculty, who trusted them.
She was kind to all the colored 
men- very loyal in antislavery matters -
and she darned the stockings of a 
young white man, and he dropped 
the letter in which she offered 
to do it, if he wd bring them to her; 
and everybody thought he did it on purpose. 
She kept portraits of Garrison, Parker, Gerrit Smith &c
in her room, & always praised
them & stood by them, though
they were unpopular.  Could always
ridicule & laugh a certain nervous 
& fidgetty colored man out of his
fads (the one who threatened to cut his
throat).  Colored people all thought
a great deal of her.  "Because she
was a Garrisonian?" A.S.B.  "Because
she was herself," Aunt N.  She 
was fond of everything except composition -
writing; she wrote them because 
she had to, but did not care for it.

4
Made them brief & terse.  Good in all
her studies.  Was very prompt, &
used to lecture Aunt N. for being
untidy & absent-minded, & not 
caring.  Aunt N. had stain on her 
dress & did not know how to get it
out; [Ma?} told Mamma so when
she spoke to her about it: & Mamma
said "Oh, Nettie, soap & water will
take out grease spots!"
First year Aunt N. was
there, [she was] Mamma boarded for some
months at boarding hall [school];
next year when they were both seniors at Prof. Whipple's.
Sarah Pellett night have 
letters of Mamma's.  Lives in  one
of the Brookfields.
Mamma came back to Oberlin
after she had graduated, while Aunt
Nettie & Sarah Pellett were still there -
She was on her way to speak somewhere 
in Ohio.  She made only a
short stay, & Sarah was rather
vexed that she would not
stayover another day.  [M] They 5

all three slept together; Mamma was 
tired with her journey, & after she 
had gone to sleep (as they supposed) 
Sarah Pellett said, "She is always 
in a hurry.  She is like her
father; he was always in a 
hurry & pushing things through."
Mamma heard  & was vexed. 
She was practical; understood all sorts 
of household work; could sew &c.
Could tell you how to do things.  
Was never a bit afraid to speak 
her mind, when she either approved 
or disapproved of what 
people were doing.
Aunt N. & Mamma took a 
walk at sunset one day & talked 
over what would be possible for 
women (no one had done anything 
as yet but Abby Kelly & the
Grimkes;  it was all in the air), 
& Aunt N. had made up her 
mind what she would do, & she

6
asked Mamma if she thought 
it would be possible for a woman 
to be a minister, & Mamma said 
she thought not.
   When they were each the mother 
of one baby, they were talking of 
matrimony one day, & Aaron Powell 
was there.  Aunt Nettie said, "Marriage 
is not a necessity," & Mamma
turned & said emphatically.
   "Nettie, marriage is a necessity."  
She heartily approved of Aunt Nettie's marrying.

Aunt Nettie's Reminiscences of Mamma at Oberlin & elsewhere. Rev. Antoinette L. Brown Blackwell, D. D., the
first woman to be ordained a minister, was
educated at Oberlin.
Antoinette Brown was born in a log cabin
at [in] Henrietta, N. Y., on May 20, [184] 1825. Before
she was sixteen she began to teach school, receiving
a dollar a week and "boarding around." She [was]
longed to go to college, and cherished the hope of
becoming a minister. Her parents and her brother
thought it impossible. Her mother urged her to
go as a foreign missionary instead. [She prepared
for her daughter all the] Antoinette stuck to
her plan, and finally got her father's [?]
to go to Oberlin. Before she arrived [there] she was
warned against a [young] student there named
Lucy Stone, who was promulgating dangerous
and radical ideas; but the two young wom
soon became great friends, [and later in]
a friendship cemented later in life by their
marrying brothers.
Antoinette entered the Ladies' Literary [?]
in the [Junior L] junior year, and was graduated
in 1847, with Lucy, who was in the regular
classical course. The account of their organizing
the first debating society ever formed among2
college girls has already been given. In Antoinette's
senior year, a rumor got abroad that she meant
to study theology, and she was summoned
before Mrs. Finney and several members of the Ladies' Board; [who plead] They
pleaded with her earnestly to give up so wild
a notion. After quoting many persons who thought
women ought not to preach, Mrs. Finney said,
"You certainly will never have the courage to put
your opinion against that of all these wise,
good men!" Antoinette answered, "Prof. Finney
has done just that,-"referring to his [differin]
dissenting from the orthodoxy of his day. And
she added, "What he has done, why cannot I
do?" The students had to write essays. During
her senior year in the literary course, Antoinette
wrote [an two] an exegesis dealing with the texts, "I
suffer not a woman to teach," and, "If the
woman would know anything, let them ask
their husbands at home." President Mahan heard
of it. He was the most liberal of the faculty
He sent for [the] her essay, and published it in the
Oberlin Quarterly Review, [of which he was the
editor] while she was still an undergraduate.
He was editor of the Review. Prof. Fairchild
was the assistant editor, and he wrote for the
same issue an article on the orthodox side of
the woman question. "When he came to the
boarding house to see me, we could not help


3
laughing in each other's faces," said Antoinette,
in telling of it, long after. "He had been my
brother's classmate, his sister was mine. We
were well acquainted, and he was as kind as
kind could be, but determined in his overview.
[Later] Years later, when I joined the Unitarians, they
wondered if I had done anything for which
I had to leave the Orthodox fold, and they
asked me for a letter of recommendation. I
applied to Prof. Fairchild, who had [was] then become President
Fairchild, and he gave me a beautiful one.
The Oberlin men were the most kindly and
generous possible in criticising and helping
on people who trod on their tenderest feelings,
as Lucy and I did. The Oberlin women were
much less so. Prof. Morgan, Professor of
Old Testament Literature and Theology, spent
a whole class session discussing my
paper and trying to show me that I was
not altogether right. Prof. Finney said
afterwards that he believed [thought] there were
some women divinely ordained to preach,
and that I might be one of them. "He
was very kind, and gave me the benefit
of the doubt." After she had been graduated
from the literary course, her father and
brother renewed their efforts to dissuade [dissen]4
from entering the theological school, and refused
her any financial help.
Miss Adams, the lady principal at Oberlin, then
promised to get her [some] enough teaching to do in the preparatory department of
the college to [help] pay half the expenses of her theological course. But
Miss Adams fell ill, and in her absence the Ladies' Board (composed
principally of the professors' wives, and strongly opposed to women
ministers) made a rule that no graduate of the college should be allowed
to teach in the preparatory [girls] department or in the lower classes. This was done on purpose to bar her out. [Then But] Thereupon
Miss Atkins, the assistant principal, got up a private drawing class for
Antoinette, who had for some time taught drawing in the lower school. Her
class included Prof[essor (afterwards President)] Fairchild and a number
of the theological students, and proved no profitable that it enabled
her to meet all her expenses.
When the theological school [afar] opened, each
student, as part of the literary [exercises] work, had in
turn to read an essay, to take part in a discussion,
and to give a sermon or oration.
[The students made up the list of those]
Antoinette's essay [was received] passed without objection.
But when it was her turn to take part in a
discussion - to "speak in public" - [there was] the trouble began
The students themselves made up the programs
for these discussions. They handed the list, with
her name on it, to Prof. Morgan. He was the
kindest of the professors, but also the most
bigoted on the woman question. His face
flushed [as] and his voice trembled as he read
the hit. The young men who had prepared it were
ordered to stay after class. Then the professor
said to [asked] them, "Why did you make that appointment,


5
when you knew I did not believe in
having women speak?" They answered, "Why,
our constitution requires every student to do it."
"I'll see about that. You can go." he said, curtly.
Some [A] time passed. Rumor said there was
faculty meeting after faculty meeting. [But
when] Oberlin College had been founded with
an express proviso that all its opportunities
should be open to women. [thought] It had never
occurred to anyone that women might wish
to [study the] go through the theological school,
but there was no way to keep them out.
"I went to the class not knowing what to
expect," said Antoinette, in telling the story
later. "But the [dear] dear old professor said, before
the [ela] lesson began: 'Antoinette, I believe you
are wrong. I should stop you in this if
I could. But I have no authority to do it.
I shall give you the very best instruction
that I can while you are my pupil.' And he 
did, all through the three years." That was
in 1848. When Oberlin celebrated its semicenntennial
many years later, Antoinette was among the invited speakers [there]. Prof.
Morgan was the only one of the old professors
left. He was very old and feeble. He spoke
to her very kindly, laid his hand on her
head, and his last words to her were,
"Dear child, God bless you!"
Some of the [theological] students had been local4.
from entering the theological school, and refused 
her any financial help. [handwritten]
       Miss Adams, the lady principal at Oberlin, then
promised to get her enough teaching to do in the preparoty department of
the college to pay half the expenses of her theological course. But
Miss Adams fell ill, and in her absence the Ladies' Board (composed
principally of the professors' wives, and strongly opposed to women
ministers) made a rule that no graduate of the college should be allowed
to teach in the preparatory department or in the lower classes. This was done on purpose to bar her out. Therefore
Miss Atkins, the assistant principal, got up a private drawing class for
Antoinette, who had for some time taught drawing in the lower school. Her
class included Prof Fairchild and a number
of the theological students, and proved so profitable that it enabled
her to meet all her expenses.
          When the theological school opened, each
student, as part of the literary work, had in
turn to read an essay, to take part in a dis-
cussion, and to give a sermon or oration.
Antoniette's essay passed without objection.
But when it was her turn to take part in a
discussion - to "speak in public" - the trouble began.
The students themselves made up the programs
for these discussions. They handed the list, with
her name on it, to Prof. Morgan. He was the
kindest of the professors, but also the most
bigoted on the woman question. His face
flushed and his voice trembled as he read
the hit. The young men who had prepared it were
ordered to stay after class. Then the professor
said to them, "Why did you make that appoint-

5.
ment, when you knew I did not believe in
having women speak?" They answered, "Why,
over constitution requires every student to do it."
"I'll see about that. You can go." he said, curtly,
some little time passed. Rumor said there was
faculty meeting after faculty meeting.
Oberlin College had been founded with
an express proviso [?] that all its opportunities
should be open to women. It had never
ocurred to anyone that women  might wish
to go through the theological school,
but there was no way to keep them out.
"I went to the class not knowing what to
expect", said. Antoniette, in telling the story
later. "But the dear old professor said, before
the lesson began: Antoniette, I believe you
are wrong. I should stop you in this if
I could. But I have no authority to do it.
I shall give you the very best instruction
that I can while you are my pupil". And he
did, all through the three years." That was
in 1848. When Oberlin celebrated its semicentennial
many years later Antoniette was among the invited speakers. Prof.
Morgan was the only one of the old professors
left. He was very old and feeble. He spoke
to her very kindly laid his hand on her
head, and his last words to her were,
"Dear child, God bless you!"
Some of the students had been local6
preachers before entering the theological school.
They asked for a student's license to preach, and
so did she. They granted licenses to all the young
men, and told Antoniette that she might act
on her own responsibility. So she began
to preach and lecture occasionally. Her first
sermon was given in a school house in
Henrietta, Ohio. One of her class mates, a
young man, went with her and led the
singing. She received many marks of good will [much kindness] from
her fellow students. [Lettice] Another young
woman, Lettice Smith (Holmes) was also
following the [theological] course, but never
took part in any speaking. During their
three years in the theological school, the
names of these two young women were never published with those of
the other students, but [in a [?] with a
break between and] were marked with a star
and the words "Resident graduates [students] pursuing
the theological course". [and] When the catalogue
came out after they got through, [they] their
names were left out entirely, and continued
to be left out of the list of graduates for
about 40 years. Then they were put in as
full-fledged graduates of the theological [graduate] school.
Although the faculty at
the close of her course did not recognize
Antoinette as a graduate, many people in
the town felt a great deal of sympathy
with her, including one of the founders of

7
the college, Father Kemp. Some of her classmates
who had always stood by her went to Father
Kemp and proposed that she should be
ordained, along with a young man in the
class who was going out as a foreign
missionary; and they hunted up enough
other ministers who were in favor to
fill out [arrange] an ordination service. But Antoinette 
thought it would be ungrateful
on her part to take the Oberlin
church for her ordination, when the
faculty so decidedly disapproved of her
entering the ministry; and she refused.
 A Mrs. Barnes, of New York, who had
often attended the lectures and recitations at the theological school,
offered Antoinette a good salary if she would work for a social purity
society in New York and do missionary work there. She did so for a time;
but the ladies were shocked by her attending and speaking at the first
National Woman's Rights Convention held at Worcester, Mass., in 1850); and
after that she worked as a free lance, lecturing and preaching where she
could. Channing, Garrison, Gerrit Smith, Samuel May and others helped
her to opportunities. She went all through New York State with
[?] [?ony],  holding meetings in behalf of woman's rights; and
she wrote much for the papers and magazines.
  Horace Greeley and Charles A. Dana offered
to engage a hall and give her $1000 a year
and her board (an almost unheard of salary
for a woman at that time) if she would preach regularly in
New York City. But she felt in her modesty8
that she was too young and inexperienced
[for a metropolitan pulpit. She declined 
the offer] to support the responsibilities
of a great metropolitan pastorate.  Instead, she
accepted a call from the Congregational church
at South Butler, N.Y., with a salary of $300.
a year. Here she was regularly ordained as an
orthodox Congregational minister in 1853.
The event called down tremendous denunciation
from pulpit and press. Dr. Cheever
declared that any woman who would let
herself be ordained was an infidel, and
any church that would ordain her was
an infidel church.
    She was appointed by her church a
delegate to the World's Temperance Convention
in New York, a convention composed
largely of ministers. Her credentials were
accepted, but when she rose to speak
the convention went into a prodigious
uproar which drowned her voice. This
lasted two days. Despite the efforts made
in her behalf by Channing, Phillips,
Garrison, Powell and others, including
Neal Dow, the president of the Convention, 
she was not allowed to be heard.
     A period of religious doubt
led her to resign her pulpit. She emerged

9
from this season of darkness a Unitarian, and
her faith has ever since been steady and unclouded.
Soon after she married Samuel C. Blackwell,
resigning her pastorate,
a brother of [the Doctors Elizabeth and Emily] 
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the earliest woman
physician, and of Henry B. Blackwell,
who had married, a few years before, her
college friend, Lucy Stone. The cares of
bringing up a large family made
regular pastoral work impossible, but
she has always preached and lectured
as she had opportunity.  [A beautiful
girl in her youth, she is now a
handsome and cheery grandmother 
in great demand]
She [and] was one of the most active workers
with Julia Ward Howe in the Association 
for the Advancement of Woman,
which for many years held its
annual Congresses all over the
country. A beautiful girl in her
youth, and gifted with a singularly
buoyant and serene temperament,
she is now a handsome and cheery
grandmother. At he age of 88, she
still preaches an occasional sermon10.
with much acceptance in [her home]
[town] the Unitarian church of Elizabeth
N.J., where she resides with a married
daughter. She is the author of several
philosophical works, one of which [them, the]
"The sexes throughout Nature", contains
interesting reminiscences of her life at
Oberlin. She has also written a 
novel and a volume of poems.
    Oberlin has given her [an]
unsolicited and honorary degree of A.M.  [and] It also
offered her an A. B. which she
declined. A few years ago it
made her a [D.D.] Doctor of
Divinity, thus royally atoning
for its conservatism of more [more]
[than] than sixty years ago.Antoinette L. Barrow Blackwell's Reminiscences
(Notes taken by A.S. Blackwell) Aug. 19, 1903

[Aunt Nettie said Mamma's] Lucy's friends at Oberlin
were more boys than girls, though her most intimate
friends were [Aunt Nettie] Antoinette Brown and Sarah
Pellet. Others were Lettice Smith, Emmeline
French, "poor thing", she was rather lawless; she
was expelled, or quietly slid out, from Oberlin,
really because she was not a Christian.
They said they had never had a graduate who
was not a Christian.  She did something
lawless which would have given them a
chance to expel her. But we all thought
that if she would only have professed to be a
Christian, she would have been allowed to
remain."
Eliza Fairchild, Helen Cook, Lucy liked
Sarah Pellet, and got her to go to Oberlin
Herman Hall was " like Edith" omit- an excellent
man, bit shy and lacking self-confidence.
Went as a missionary, and married, and
then came back to Oberlin.
   Prof. Finney at his recitations used to
mix up the names of all the class in hishat, turn his head away and draw one and
call on that one to recite, but I think
he wanted to develop Herman Hall, and also
to call out the only woman in the class; and Antoinette
thinks he held their names in his hand;
anyway,he called them up so often that Thomas
Holmes told him it seemed to him that
"Herman and Antoinette got drawn too often"
and they were not drawn so often afterwards.
     Thomas Holmes and Lettice Smith
were from Michigan; they took the four years
course, then married, and came back and
took the divinity course together. She washed
and worked her way through college the first
four years and would not take any money from
him, or even let him make her any presents.
She worked in President Fairchild's family. Her
husband approved of her studying theology, and
said it would be the happiest day of his life
when she began to preach.She  afterwards taught
at Antioch College, studied abroad, and helped
her husband for years in his parish at Chelsea,
Mich. She was a very good student, but found

students in the "Ladies' Literary Course",  and those
in the "Regular Classical Course", recited almost
everything together. These were just a few things
that they had separately. Mamma and Aunt
Nettie went to the theological school which took
three years more.
   " They had confidence in us", said Aunt
Nettie; and in proof of it she mentioned that she
was allowed to leave the girls' dormitory (the
Ladies' Boarding Hall) at night, go through
Tappan Hall, which was then the men's dormitory, 
and join Mamma in her room, and spend
the night with her; and they lay awake and
talked about all sorts of things. She thinks that
Mamma at this time was boarding in the family
of one of the officials of the colleges.
       Miss Adams, the lady principal, was a
pleasant person, very light as to complexion and
hair, and so careful of her skin that she had
soft water to wash in. She had had anoffer of marriage from one of the finest professors 
at Oberlin, but had refused him. Later she
had an offer from one of the younger men -
a theologue, and she was interested in him.
She got Aunt Nettie to come and sit by her at the
table. The young man talked a great deal; he
liked to discuss, and so did Aunt Nettie; and
Miss Adams would sit in silence and listen. She
was trying him out. Aunt Nettie thinks Miss Adams
invited her to sit with her on purpose. Miss Adams
married him, but it did not turn out very
happily. He was too overbearing, did not appreciate
enough what she was, and wanted himself to be
head and front of everything.Antoinette L. Brown Blackwell's Reminiscences.

Notes taken by Alice Stone Blackwell, Aug. 19, 1903

Lucy's friends at Oberlin were more boys than girls, though her most intimate friends were Antoinette Brown and Sarah Pellet.  Others were Letitia Smith, Emmeline French, "poor thing, she was rather lawless; she was expelled, or quietly slid out, from Oberlin, really because she was not a Christian.  They said they had never had a graduate who was not a Christian.  She did something lawless which would have given them a chance to expel her.  But we all thought that if she would only have professed to be a Christian, she would have been allowed to remain".

Eliza Fairchild, Helen Cook, Lucy liked Sarah Pellet, and got her to go to Oberlin.  Herman Hall was an excellent man, but shy and lacking self-confidence.  Went as a missionary and married, and then came back to Oberlin.

Prof. Finney at his recitations used to mix up the names of all the class in his hat, turn his head away and draw one and call on that one to recite; but I think he wanted to develop Herbert Hall, and also to call out the only woman in the class; and Antoinette thinks he held their names in his hands; anyway, he called them up so often that Thomas Holmes told him it seemed to him that Herman and Antoinette got drawn too often and they were not drawn so often afterwards.

Thomas Holmes and Lettice Smith were from Michigan; they took the four years' course, then married, and came back and took the divinity course together.  She washed and worked her way through college the first four years, and would not take any money from him, or even let him make her any presents.  She worked in President Fairchild's family.  Her husband approved of her studying theology, and said it would be the happiest day of his life when she began to preach.  She afterwards taught at Antioch College, studied abroad, and helped her husband for years in his parish at Chelsea, Mich.  She was a very good student, but found it hard to express herself.

Prof. Finney's first wife was a conservative, and labored with Lucy and Antoinette against becoming lecturers or preachers.  His second wife was much more liberal, and he liberalized under her influence.  Once in Brooklyn, when Prof. Finney and the second Mrs. Finney and Antoinette were walking up and down, he was cautioning Antoinette against becoming too ultra a Garrisonian and unorthodox, and to be very prudent and maidenly, etc. - a nice fatherly talk, only he was a little fidgetty lest she might get off the track somehow, and Mrs. Finny said, "Antoinette, follow your own convictions," and he grinned and said nothing.Antoinette L. Brown entered Oberlin in the third year of the "Ladies Literary Course".  She says:
"The students were those who had come to learn, not because they were sent by parents to obtain a fashionable education.  Few colleges could show a better record for thoroughness.  Many of the students were older than college students of today, and not a few had been preachers or teachers of considerable experience before coming to Oberlin.  Many of them taught in the preparatory department, then much larger than the college.  The closest and most cordial relations existed between the people of the village, the school, and the faculty, which has continued to this day."Antoinette Brown Blackwell "reminisced" and A. S. B. noted down what she said:

"What a hard time I had financially at Oberlin!"  It was just after she had finished her regular college studies, and wanted to study theology, and was preparing by studying Hebrew in the long vacation.  Her father had said he had spent as much on her education as on that of any of his other children, and could do no more.  He wanted to prevent and switch her off from theology, knowing how hard it would be.  Her brothers also disapproved of her studying theology, and would not help her.  Mr. Peter Moyers, of Rochester, Michigan, the principal of a school in Michigan where she had taught the previous vacation for weeks (and who was very anxious to have her come back there and teach) promised to stand behind her financially, and she went on with her study of Hebrew, trusting to that.  Then he suddenly died.  Miss Adams, the lady principal at Oberlin, was very kind and friendly and sympathized with Antoinette and promised that she should be allowed to do enough teaching in the institution to pay half her expenses.  Then Miss Adams fell ill, and while she was ill the rest of the Ladies' Board being strongly opposed to Antoinette's studying theology, and determined to drive her back to teach at that place in Michigan, where they knew she was desired, got together and voted not to give her any teaching - that the teaching in the college must all be done by undergraduates!  She was in despair, having no one to stand by her.  Then Miss Atkins, the assistant principal, advised her to give lessons in drawing, and promised to get her pupils; and by this she was able to pay all her expenses, working only half as long hours as she would have done if teaching in the institution.  Miss Atkins was a very sweet person; had lost her lover and would not marry for a long time, but finally did.

Antoinette had among her pupils a number of the theological students and one of the Professors - Prof. Fairchild, who was afterwards president of the college said: "It showed on which side their sympathies were".

When Antoinette went to Oberlin she was put in a back room with no view but a woodpile and back places.  She made a sketch of the woodpile from the window, and when she was doing it Miss Adams came in.  She tried to hide the sketch, but too late.  Miss Adams saw it, and she was at once made teacher of drawing to the girls of the lower classes, and among other girls who chose to come in to the drawing class.  Later she was appointed to teach a composition class.  So when this straitness of means for her theological course arrived, she had already been teaching drawing.Aunt Nettie's Reminiscences - Summer of 1918
      Mamma at Oberlin used to mind the
clothes of the students, both white and colored.
Aunt Nettie did not, as she disliked sewing.
      When Aunt Nettie was on her way to Oberlin
in the stage-coach, she had for a fellow passenger
a trustee of the college, from Rochester, who knew
her family. He told her that there was one young
woman at Oberlin named Lucy Stone, who was
a good scholar, and had nothing objectable
in her behaviour, but who held wild and radiant
ideas on religion and other objects; and he
advised Aunt Nettie that to become intimate
with her. This excited her curiousity; and
the first person she inquired about after she
get there was Lucy Stone. Mamma was pointed
out to her, in the dining room. She was
sitting not far form Aunt Nettie, and just
across the aisle. (the men and women sat on
opposite sides of long tables). Mamma was talking
with the man who had change of the boarding hall
and with Nelson Cox (afterwards "Sunset Cox"), and
she was laying down the law to them, and as
she looked liked a girl of seventeen, with her small
figure, hair cut short (as many of the young girls
wore it then), her rosy cheeks and bright smile,
Aunt Nettie thought she was taking too much
upon herself for so young a girl; but when she
learned that Mamma was 27, she thought
it was all right.
       Mamma and Aunt Nettie each spent
five years at Oberlin, but they were only two
years together. Mamma was there three years
before she came. Mamma spent one year
in the preparatory department, Aunt Nettie says.
      Aunt Nettie entered in the Junior year.
They were supposed to be taking different courses,
but the college was small and poor, and the

it hard to express herself.
       Prof. Finneys's first wife was a conservative,
and labored with Lucy and Antoinette,
against becoming lecturers or preachers. His
second wife was much more liberal, and he
liberalized under her influence. Once in
Brooklyn, when Prof. Finney and the second
Mrs. Finney and Antoinette were walking
up and down, he was cautioning Antoinette
against becoming too ultra a Garrisonian and
unorthidox, and to be very prudent and maidenly 
etc- a nice fatherly talk, only he was
a little fidgetty list she might get off the track
somehow, and Mrs. Finney said " Antoinette, follow
your own convictions, " and be grinned" and
said nothing.