MISS JANE A. AVERY.
In this connection I cannot forbear from a brief word concerning Miss J. A. Avery, Mrs. Hine’s sister and aid in all good works. Miss Avery was one of the most lovable persons I have ever met, her self-sacrificing spirit and constant thought of others being most marked. And with a saintly spirit she had an attractive personality quite beyond the ordinary.
She has been compared to a bit of delicate Sevres china, and possibly that is as good a comparison showing her daintiness as could be made, but Miss Avery was something more than merely attractive; her devotion to any duty in hand was such that she never had a thought of fear, nor did she allow the discomfort of pain to interfere. Before the day of trained nurses she was caring for an uncle—Judge Edward Avery of Massillon, Ohio—who required constant attention, and while so engaged the bones of one foot were crushed by the falling of a heavy iron. The doctor insisted that she must not stand on this foot, but this injunction she felt it was impossible to obey, and made that same doctor whittle out a thin board and bind it to the injured foot, and thus she hobbled about in constant pain, but giving the unremitting attention required by her patient.
One who knew Miss Avery well for many years writes that she “was one of those rare characters whose mission it is to bring comfort and cheer to their fellows. She was one of those large natures of whom Goethe says, ‘They impress not by what they do, but by what they are’.
“Wherever she went she was welcome; she had the remarkable faculty of seeing at a glance what was needed, and without a word doing the right thing, the wonderful gift of tact which, with a loving nature, makes the possessor a tower of strength. So winning was her personality that she made friends wherever she went, and always said laughingly that she could travel all over Europe with only her mother-tongue.”
It is impossible at this date to go into details concerning all those who were active during the early days of this period, but there are a few in regard to whom I have been able to secure some bits of information.
MR. HORACE H. NICHOLS.
Mr. Horace H. Nichols was a man who left his impress on all those who came in contact with him. Mr. Nichols was a carpenter and builder in Newark before his removal to Woodside. He secured the contract for fencing the cemetery and that brought him this way, and the beauties of the country gave him a longing to turn farmer, and so he bought a considerable tract here in 1846, and in 1852 built the white house which still stands back from the road. Here he started the growing of fruit, and was very successful, as many of us can testify.
Mr. Nichols had the character of a saint and, while not an aggressive man, was always ready “to dig down in his jeans” whenever the church called for help, and was ever looking for the opportunity to do his share—rather an unusual trait.