Lydia J. Newcomb Comings (, Newcomb; July 25, 1850 – September 21, 1946) was an American educator, lecturer, and author. Comings was the co-founder of the School of Organic Education,

Fairhope, Alabama Fairhope is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, located on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay. The 2020 Census lists the population of the city as 22,477. Fairhope is a principal city of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolita ...

, 1905. She was in charge of the Normal School of Expression and Physical Culture, Moravian Seminary and Colleges for Young Women (

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

); Physical Culture Department, Mt. Chautauqua,

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; and Physical Culture and Expression,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua bro ...

Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania Mount Gretna is a borough in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lebanon, PA, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 188 at the 2020 census. It was founded by the Pennsylvania Chautauqua Society, which was at ...

. She was the author of ''Muscular Exercises for Health and Grace''.

Biography

Lydia Jane Newcomb was born in

Spring Lake, Michigan Spring Lake is a village in Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,323 at the 2010 census. The village is located within Spring Lake Township. History In 1837, Captain Benjamin Hopkins purchased land in the area an ...

, July 25, 1850. She was the daughter of John H. and Frances (Sinclair) Newcomb. She received her education at

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grammar and high school and at Mrs. L. H. Stone's Seminary, in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

. Comings taught at Ravenswood (Chicago) public school, 1876–85; and at the Moravian Seminary, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1895-98 (

elocution Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compelli ...

and physical culture). She was a lecturer on physical culture, dress, voice, and similar subjects from 1898 before lecturing on Organic Education. Comings was the founder and incorporator (with five other women) of the School of Organic Education,

, 1907. She served as president of the Board of Trustees from its inception. This was an experimental school for both day and boarding pupils where there were no requirements for the younger pupils and but few for the older ones, where no books were used until pupils were 9 or 10 years of age, and health and individuality were preserved, and cultivated above all else. She was the author of ''Muscular Exercises for Health and Grace'' 1893. In Chicago, in 1902, she married Samuel Huntington Comings (died 1907). She served as president of the Fifth Thursday Club of Falrhope, since its beginning in 1904, this club being a federation of the various clubs in Falrhope. Her recreations included an eighteen-month stay In Europe, Italy,

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, and Germany, with a series of lectures in Naples and

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. She was also the president of the Library Association of Falrhope. Comings favored

woman suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

. Lydia Jane Newcomb Comings died September 21, 1946.

Selected works

As Lydia J. Newcomb

* ''Muscular exercises for health and grace'', 1893

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Comings, Lydia J. Newcomb 1850 births 1946 deaths 19th-century American writers 19th-century American women writers People from Spring Lake, Michigan Educators from Michigan American women educators