Charlotte Reeve Conover (June 14, 1855 – September 23, 1940) was an American author, lecturer, political activist, educator, and "

Dayton's Dayton's was an American department store chain founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1902 by George Draper Dayton. It operated several local high end department stores throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest for almost 100 years. Although it ...

historian".

Early life and education

Conover was born to physician Dr. John Charles and Emma Barlow Reeve on June 14, 1855. She attended Dayton Central High School, Cooper Seminary, and the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

Writing career

Conover wrote books about Dayton history and articles for ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...

'', '' Harper's'' and ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

''. She wrote a regular column called "Mrs. Conover's Corner" for the ''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...

'' and served as editor of the

Women's Page The women's page (sometimes called home page or women's section) of a newspaper was a section devoted to covering news assumed to be of interest to women. Women's pages started out in the 19th century as society pages and eventually morphed into ...

for four years. Her four-volume history ''Dayton and Montgomery County'' was in 1965 considered "the most authentic public record of Dayton and its pioneer citizens." She was noted for her "pioneering studies" of area history. In her later years she lost her eyesight but continued to write columns for the ''Dayton Daily News''; friends visited to help her read, and the paper's owner and editor, Governor Cox, never knew that she was blind.

Impact

In 1901, Conover martialled the Young Women's League of Dayton to take over the publication of the ''Dayton Daily News'' – known as "The Day The Women Got Out The News" – on March 30, 1901, as a fundraiser for the organization. Conover was a leader of the Woman's Suffrage Party of Montgomery County. In ''The Importance for Women to have Suffrage: An Address before the Woman Suffrage Association'' she spoke of the importance of suffrage and equality of the sexes to the country's future. Conover was a founder of the Dayton Woman's Literary Club and served as its fourth president, from 1895 to 1897. She encouraged other writers, among them fellow Daytonian

Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American C ...

. In 1932, one of her lectures, ''Ramblings of an Ancient Daytonian,'' was reprinted in its entirety in the ''Dayton Daily News''. The ''Dayton Daily News'' in 1940 called her "Dayton's foremost historian." This obituary appeared on the front pages of the ''Dayton Daily News'' and the ''Dayton Herald'', and on the editorial page of the ''Dayton Journal''. NCR chairman of the board E. A. Deeds called her "perhaps Dayton's most outstanding citizen."

Personal life

Conover married lawyer Frank K. Conover on October 14, 1879. They had four children, Elizabeth Dickson, John Charles Reeve, Wilbur Dickson, and Charlotte Mary.

Awards and honors

Conover was inducted into the Dayton Walk of Fame in 2007. Paul Laurence Dunbar dedicated his ''Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow'' to her. She is listed in ''Woman's Who's Who of America 1914–1915''.

Bibliography

* Some Dayton Saints and Prophets * Concerning the Forefathers: Being A Memoir, with personal narrative and letters of two pioneers Col. Robert Patterson and Col. John Johnston (1903) * Recollections of Sixty Years By John Johnston, Indian Agent for the US Government (1915, with John Johnston) * Memoirs of the Miami Valley (1919) * Dayton: An Intimate History * Dayton and Montgomery County (1932) * Builders in New Fields (1939) * David Gebhart, Alpha 1827 - Omega 1907: A Memory and an Appreciation * On Being Eighty and Other Digressions * A History of the Beck Family * The Patterson Log Cabin * The Story of Dayton * Harvest of Years: Four sprightly essays

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conover, Charlotte Reeve Journalists from Ohio 20th-century American women journalists American columnists American women columnists Educators from Ohio American women educators 20th-century American journalists Writers from Dayton, Ohio 1855 births 1940 deaths 19th-century American women writers American women historians 19th-century American historians 20th-century American historians Burials at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum University of Geneva alumni Women's page journalists Blind writers Blind scholars and academics Historians from Ohio American blind people American writers with disabilities