Celeste Brackett Newcomer Explained

Celeste Brackett Newcomer
Birth Name:Celeste Elizabeth Brackett
Birth Date:June 12, 1871
Birth Place:Harper's Ferry, West Virginia
Death Date:February 19, 1951
Death Place:Hillsboro, Virginia
Occupation:Educator
Parents:Nathan Cook Brackett

Celeste Brackett Newcomer (June 12, 1871 – February 19, 1951) was an American educator, bank director, and clubwoman based in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Early life

Celeste Elizabeth Brackett was born in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, the daughter of Nathan Cook Brackett (1836–1910) and Nancy Louise Wood (1842–1936). Her parents moved from Maine to West Virginia under the care of the New England Freewill Baptist Home Mission Society after the American Civil War, to set up freedmen schools and other services, and in 1867 Rev. Nathan Cook Brackett became first president of Storer College, a teacher training and vocational school serving Black students.[1] [2] She graduated from Hillandale College in Michigan, where she also met her husband, a fellow Hillsdale graduate.[3]

Career

After college, Newcomer taught domestic science,[4] covering cookery and home nursing, to women students at Storer College.[5] She worked alongside her parents, her husband, two aunts, and her sister Mary Brackett Robertson.[6] She was also president of the local chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union,[7] co-founded the Bolivar Woman's Club,[8] [9] [10] and served on the board of directors for the Bank of Harpers Ferry.[11]

Personal life

Celeste Brackett married minister and fellow teacher John Curtin Newcomer in 1894.[12] They had four children, Mary Louise (1896–1999), Daniel (1899–1918), Lionel (1903–1988),[13] and John Nathan (1914–1992). Her son Daniel died from measles and pneumonia, while training at an army aviation camp in Texas during World War I.[14] She was widowed in 1937, and after several years of illness,[15] she died in 1951,[16] at a rest home in Hillsboro, Virginia, aged 79 years. The campus house she owned from 1929 to 1944 is now known as the Bird-Brady House, now on the grounds of the Harpers Ferry National Park.[17]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Kennedy-Nolle, Sharon D.. Writing Reconstruction: Race, Gender, and Citizenship in the Postwar South. 2015-05-04. UNC Press Books. 978-1-4696-2108-1. en.
  2. Newcomer. John C.. Newcomer. Thomas W.. Dungan. Anne Newcomer. Dungan. Gary. December 2017. Redemption of a Race: Rev. Nathan Brackett and the Founding of Storer College. Jefferson County Historical Society Magazine. 83. 17–22.
  3. Book: Hillsdale College. Third record of the Alumni Association of Hillsdale College. Hillsdale College Alumni Association. 1908. Hillsdale, Mich. : Hillsdale Standard. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 35, 165. Internet Archive.
  4. Allyson Perry (2014), "Country Schoolgirls: A Study of Rural Women and the Rise of Public Education, 1820-1914". Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 452.
  5. Book: The Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society, 1873-1921. 1922. Providence, R.I. : The Society. Princeton Theological Seminary Library. 31. Internet Archive.
  6. Web site: Powers. Nick. October 26, 2017. The Legacy of Storer College (1867-1955), Part 1. live. 2021-05-30. The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. https://web.archive.org/web/20200918132010/https://www.themsv.org/blog/legacy-storer-college-1867-1955-part-1 . 2020-09-18 .
  7. News: 1913-11-13. Bolivar and Harpers Ferry. 2. Shepherdstown Register. 2021-05-30. Newspapers.com.
  8. News: 1926-01-15. Charters Recently Issued in State. 1. Hinton Daily News. 2021-05-30. Newspapers.com.
  9. News: 1936-04-11. Heads Woman's Club at Harpers Ferry. 12. Harrisburg Telegraph. 2021-05-30. Newspapers.com.
  10. News: 1938-01-20. Bolivar. 11. The News. 2021-05-30. Newspapers.com.
  11. News: 1930-01-13. First Woman Named. 2. Harrisburg Telegraph. 2021-05-30. Newspapers.com.
  12. News: 1894-05-03. Married. 2. Shepherdstown Register. 2021-05-30. Newspapers.com.
  13. News: 1988-06-24. Obituary for Lionel E. Newcomer (Aged 85). 30. The Morning Call. 2021-05-30. Newspapers.com.
  14. News: 1918-02-14. The Death Record. 3. Shepherdstown Register. 2021-05-30. Newspapers.com.
  15. News: 1949-06-06. Among the Sick. 8. The News. 2021-05-30. Newspapers.com.
  16. News: 1951-03-02. Bolivar. 3. The News. 2021-05-30. Newspapers.com.
  17. Mark Barron, "Bird-Brady House", Historic American Buildings Survey, National Park Service; page 6.

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