“Miss Marie Cyr and Miss Katherine Paddock are leaving tonight for a short vacation in Venice. They are traveling on the Orient Express.” From Personnel Notes, Near East Relief newsletter, June 11, 1921. Published for private circulation.
Archives
Emma D. Cushman
Emma Darling Cushman was born in Burlington, NY in 1869. She graduated from Kansas State College and studied Nursing in Paterson, NJ. Miss Cushman traveled to Talas Hospital in Turkey to work as a nurse with the ABCFM in 1899. When her term ended in 1907 she worked in hospitals throughout Turkey, including the city of Konia in central Turkey. In 1917, Miss Cushman turned down the Turkish government’s offer of safe passage from Konia to Constantinople because the government would not agree to protect Konia’s refugee population in her absence. She was particularly devoted to the young girls in her care.
Miss Cushman began working with Near East Relief in 1919. She served as Director of relief activities at Konia, an area with which she was already familiar. Miss Cushman was then placed in charge of one thousand children in the Boyadjikeuy and Yenikuey Orphanages in Constantinople.
In July 1921 Miss Cushman addressed the secretariat of the League of Nations with a letter explaining the difficulties of rescuing women and children, many of whom had sustained physical and psychological trauma, from Turkish harems after years of captivity. In response, the League of Nations opened Neutral Houses for rescued women and children in Constantinople and Aleppo. After the Smyrna Disaster, Miss Cushman accompanied her young charges to Corinth, Greece, where she supervised the new Near East Relief orphanage in a converted army barracks.
Miss Cushman received the Gold Cross of Jerusalem in April 1921 and was named a Knight of the French Legion of Honor in December 1921. Emma D. Cushman devoted more than 30 years of her life to service in the Near East. She died in Cairo, Egypt in 1931.
James H. Crutcher
Mrs. M. P. Cruikshank
James C. Crothers
William J. Cronin
Prof. Steward Crawford
Olive N. T. Crawford
(Mrs. Lyndon S. Crawford, née Olive N. Twichell) of Hartford, Connecticut, who with her husband had been a missionary at Trebizond, Asia Minor, since 1879, died of typhus in that city in April, 1923. Mrs. Crawford had been in charge of work for the Near East Relief in Trebizond for several months prior to her death. She contracted the disease from which she died while helping Greek and Armenian refugees from the interior of Turkey who were awaiting transportation to Greece and other regions of safety.
Olive N. T. Crawford’s personnel record is on file with the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions.
Lindon S. Crawford
Elmer E. Count
Marguerite Conyne
William E. Cook
Elinor M. Cook
Capt. William R. Connatser
Member of the Caucasus Mission, 1919-1920.
Ruth M. Compton
Carl C. Compton
Lowell B. Collins
Edward M. Collier
Nellie A. Cole
Mary E. Cole
Dr. J. P. Cochran
Gertrude Coit
Prof. Harold Close
Mrs. Paul Cleland
Mabel Clarke
Helen Clarke
Beulah Clap
Helen G. Churchill
Thomas D. Christie
Jean Christie
Rose Chilton
Ida D. Chilcott
Adella H. Chickering
Florence Chapman
Mrs. William Nesbit Chambers
William Nesbit Chambers
Dorothea N. Chambers Blaisdell
Simon Chamberlain
Mrs. Edmund B. Chaffee
Edmund B. Chaffee
Charles Carroll
Alice Carr
Alice Carr began her career with Near East Relief in Greece in 1923. A trained nurse and public health specialist, Carr is credited with eradicating malaria at the orphanages in Corinth. She also helped to save the lives of 600 Near East Relief orphans when a dengue fever epidemic swept through Athens in 1928. Alice Carr helped to superintend the transition from Near East Relief to the Near East Foundation. You can read more about her exciting journey in From Relief to Development: The Unstoppable Alice Carr.
Priscilla Capps Hill
Priscilla Capps joined Near East Relief in Athens in 1923. In 1925 she was named overseas director of Near East Industries, which promoted refugee employment and cultural preservation. Priscilla married Henry Hill, an American working in Greece. She operated the Near East Industries shop in Athens until 1940, when the growing threat of World War II forced the Hills to flee to France.
You can read more about Mrs. Hill’s exciting career in Every Stitch a Story: Near East Industries.
Prof. Samuel Caldwell
Mary E. Coughlin Peterson
(Mrs. Axel S.), of Massachusetts, as Miss Coughlin, joined the nursing personnel on the “Leviathan” and was sent to Adana. There she was in charge of the clinic in the orphanage through the winter of 1919-1920. In the Spring she went to the island of Proti and was transferred to the Red Cross (May 18, 1920), which took over the care of the Russian refugees on that island. Mrs. Peterson is now living at 1200 South Carlisle Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Howard W. Cinch
served at Alexandropol in early 1920. He left Batoum May 12, 1920. He may be addressed 1735 Tenth Street, Bay City, Mich.
Ida K. Custer
(Mrs. Ray M.), of Taylor, Pennsylvania, went to Sivas on June 24, 1919, to do orphanage work. She returned with her husband as above.
Raymond M. Custer
of Nyack, New Jersey, started on January 16, 1919, and went to Sivas to supervise industrial work among the refugees and orphans. In February 1921, he was in Marsovan, and he left Constantinople for the States April 2, 1921, arriving on May 3, 1921. His address is now 8520 Pershing Street, Wilkensburg, Pennsylvania, where he is engaged in carpentry work.
Elizabeth L. Morgan Curt
(Mrs. Walter), of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, started for the Near East on March 16, 1920. After a year in the Caucasus Area doing nursing relief, she was transferred to Samsoun and ten months later found herself in Harpoot during the period when heartbreaking groups of refugees kept the American workers at highest tension. After two years’ work in the interior Miss Morgan was about to go to Constantinople when she was detailed in January 1922 to go to Malatia to nurse Miss Edith Wood, ill of typhus. She was in Sivas in February 1922 and then started for Aleppo which she reached on March 27, 1922, en route to Constantinople. She was obliged to walk a part of the way to Aleppo over snow-filled mountain passes. From Constantinople she was sent to the Rodosto Colony (April 19, 1922). On April 29 she was married to Mr. Curt. See above.
Walter E. Curt
of Caldwell, New Jersey, went over on January 16, 1919. He was booked for administrative work in Samsoun and Trebizond. In August ,1920 he gave up the directorship of the Samsoun unit and went to Constantinople to become Station Director of the newly formed Constantinople unit. In April, 1921 he took charge of the Harpoot Unit, giving over the Constantinople charge to Col. Coombs. Later in the year he took over the temporary directorship of the farm colony at Rodosto, starting the experiment while maintaining his work at Harpoot. On April 29, 1922, he married Elizabeth Morgan and together they worked at Rodosto. Mr. and Mrs. Curt severed their connection with Near East Relief in Constantinople in August, 1922. They may be addressed at 9 Brookside Avenue, Caldwell, New Jersey.
Gladys Alma Curry
(Miss), went to Aintab and Beirut, sailing with the “Leviathan” party. She returned to America in early 1920 but soon went overseas again and in 1922 was a volunteer worker with Near East Relief in Constantinople. Her permanent address on this side of the water is care U.S. Mortgage & Trust Co., Madison Avenue and 74th Street, New York City.
Kenneth Lee Cruce
was stationed at Oulou Kishla. He returned to the stated on August 8, 1920. He may be addressed care of J. Lee Croce, R.F.D.3, Fort Smith, AR.
Clinton W. Crow
of New York City went to the Caucasus April 4, 1922 as Supervisor of Building Construction at Kazachi Post and Tiflis. From Constantinople he went to Syra in June, 1923 to advise on the new work on that island, and returned to America later in the summer. His address is 103 Park Avenue, N.Y..
Maude J. Marshall Critchlow
(Mrs. Ray) of St. Johnsbury, VT, started for the Near East on February 28, 1920. She did secretarial work at Tiflis and returned in the summer of the same year. Mrs. Critchlow is now living at the Shoreham, Washington, D. C.
C.F.H. Crathern
(Rev.), attached to the Y. M. C. A. in February, 1919, went out of Marash with the refugees. In the early summer of 1919, he aided in relieving the congestion of the boys’ orphanage in Constantinople by establishing a boys’ camp. He then went to Konia and Aintab to start refugee camps and general Association work. In Urfa he was ill for some time. Now living in Hollis, New Hampshire, Rev. Mr. Crathern speaks for Near East Relief during two months in the year.
Z. Marshall Crane
of Dalton, Mass., signed with Near East Relief when he was in France, to do organization and administration work. He went to Constantinople and later to the Caucasus under especial appointment to Kars. Occupied as a paper manufacturer, he is now living at Dalton, Mass.
Adelaide E. Crane
(Miss), of Lexington, Ky. went over on February 16, 1920, and did orphanage work at Shuf in Syria. She was afterwards stationed at Adana, Beirut, Derindje, and Prinkipo, reaching America September 17, 1920. Miss Crane is now Manager of the Vassar College Alumnae House, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Sara Corning
(Miss), of Hanover, New Hampshire, sailed on February 16, 1919. She was billeted to Erivan for hospital service. Stationed at Marsovan, Miss Corning did a distinguished humanitarian work. She was in Smyrna in October after the disaster and from there went to Greece in January of 1923. In September she was at Oropos and reached America in December, 1923, after an absence of nearly five years. She is now visiting her friends and resting, her address being Chegoggin, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. (From Team Work, 1923)
Sara (sometimes spelled “Sarah”) Corning received the Silver Cross Medal of St. Xavier from King George II of Greece at the Zappeion in Athens in 1923. The Sara Corning Center for Genocide Education in Toronto, ON, commemorates Corning’s life through education. The Sara Corning Society of Yarmouth County preserves Sara’s legacy in her home province of Nova Scotia.
James Percy Coombs
(Colonel), of Appalachicola, FL, signed with Near East Relief in Paris in September 1919 as Managing Director of the Constantinople Area. He turned over his work to his successor, Mr. Jaquith, in April 1921. Col. Coombs had the unpleasant experience of being marooned for some days in Samsoun by the Turks, who prevented his going into the interior and equally prevented his returning to Constantinople. His present address is Rue Freville-le-Vingt, Sevres, France.
Margaret Cooley
COOLEY, MARGARET (Miss), of Berkeley, CA did relief work at Baku during 1919. Her address is 2241 Glen Avenue, Berkeley, CA.
Joel T. Connolly
of Ayer, Mass., started for Aleppo as a sanitary engineer on January 1, 1919, returning April 10, 1920. He is now in St. Louis, Mo. (404 Old Custom House, 3rd and Oliver Streets), occupied as a sanitary and civil engineer and doing a good deal of Near East Relief work.
Edith Cold
(Miss) of Oberlin, Ohio, went out on February 16, 1919, and was appointed to Hadjin. With Miss Alice Clark and Miss Super she endured the siege of that town, being fired on by the Turks when she carried a white flag into the compound of the orphanage. With the others she made her way to Tales and on to Constantinople. From there she went on to Beirut at the end of 1920 and then on to Adana where she was for a year in the American School for Girls. She was decorated by the French fro her work for French prisoners. From Adana she went to Marash. She is now doing missionary work in Aleppo.
Emma Florence Colby
(Miss), of Natick, Mass., went across on June 24, 1919 and did secretarial and other work in the Employment Clothing Bureau which was then operating in the Beirut Area. She remained until September 12, 1920. She is now Secretary and Assistant Treasurer of the Walnut Hill School at Natick, Mass., and is living at 17 Grove Street.
Colin C. Clements
of N. Y., a member of the “Leviathan” party, looked after educational work in Urfa. He prepared a textbook for use in orphanage schools. In May 1920 he left Beirut for Paris. He is now living in Boston at 118 Mt. Vernon Street, his occupation being that of dramatist and author.
Hugh E. Clark
was at Paris when he signed on with Near East Relief. He served at Tiflis and Kars in 1920 and came home at the end of the year. He is now living at Wallingford, Vermont, where he is a compositor and linotype operator.
Charles Robinson Clark
, with his wife, Lilly W., sailed on February 7, 1922, Mr. Clark to work in the Financial Department and Mrs. Clark to do general relief work. They went from Constantinople to the Caucasus where they were attached to Kazachi Post, Alexandropol. They went to Erivan and reached home March 13, 1924. Their present address is Dundee, N.Y..
Alice K. Clark
(Miss), of Evanston, Illinois, went with the “Leviathan” party and taught at Hadjin. During the more than six months’ siege of the town the American compound was captured by the Turks but the diplomacy of the Near East Relief people protected the 300 orphans from the attackers. For several days the Near East Relief personally and several missionaries were forced to live in a closet under the stairs. When the Turks recaptured the buildings on June 13 the inmates were taken to a Turkish camp and held for two days before being sent on to Caesarea. Miss Cold and Miss Super shared these exciting experiences. Miss Clark left Constantinople for the U. S. A. July 10, 1920 and is now living at 1217 Forest Avenue, Evanston, Illinois.
Jessie Roberts White Christiansen
(Mrs. Albert L.), sailed for Trebizond on June 24, 1919, to do secretarial work. After service found her in Beirut from which she sailed for home on November 15, 1921.
Albert L. Christiansen
joined Near East Relief in Constantinople. His first service was in Smyrna, whence he went to Constantinople and Derindje and then to Trebizond where he ran an orphanage farm for nearly a year. Again in Constantinople with the Supply Department his engagement to Miss Jessie Roberts White was announced in February, 1921. In May, Mr. Christiansen was in charge of the Georgian refugee camp at Kavak. Later he was at Marash and Aintab, whence he came out to Beirut in October, 1921. He and Miss White were married on the Mount of Olives in the autumn. They reached American January 17, 1922. He is now the acting agent for the Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and is living at 260 Elm Place, Mineola, Long Island, N. Y.
Loretto C. Quinn Chater
(Mrs. Melville) of Landsdowne, Pennsylvania was in Aleppo when she signed with Near East Relief in 1919. After a holiday in America she returned on February 28, 1920 to do nursing in the Caucasus. Until her marriage to Melville Chater in the spring of 1922 she served in the Erivan, Harpoot, and Constantinople areas, in all of which she did medical and supervisory work in the orphanages.
Melville Chater
of New York began in 1920 to do publicity work for Near East Relief. From Constantinople he crossed to Batoum, being supercargo on the “Quequen”, the first food ship to carry relief into the shut-off Caucasus, April 1921, and traveled through Anatolia, sending home stories of the work of the organization throughout Asia Minor and the Caucasus. He covered the Syrian field in the same way before going back to Constantinople, where he married Miss Loretto Quinn. They came home in August, 1923, and are now living at 37 East 60th Street, New York City.
Georgiana Orcas Ceder
(Miss), of Chicago, Illinois, went to Constantinople on June 24, 1919 to do secretarial work. She returned at the end of 1920 and is now doing secretarial work in Chicago, her address being 5417 Wayne Avenue.
Isabel Hope Still Carter
(Miss), of East Orange, NJ, interested in industrial work, started for Constantinople on February. 16, 1919, with the Wellesley Unit. She severed her connection with Near East Relief on July 17, 1920. At the moment she is in Yarmouth, ME, reading mathematics and writing.
Clara L. Carruth
CARRUTH, CLARA L. (Miss), of Bloomfield, New Jersey, started for Erivan with the “Leviathan” party. Her work was secretarial. She came home May 17, 1920 and is now acting as assistant in the Department of Religious Education of Yale University. Her address is 90 York Square, New Haven, Connecticut.
Stella M. Campbell
(Miss), of Little Rock, Arkansas, was taken on in Paris as an accountant and was attached to the Headquarters at Constantinople. She is recorded in the local publication as having made a “brilliant record of four runs” in a baseball game in which Mr. Jaquith pitched for Near East Relief. March 21, 1922 is the date of her return to N. Y. where she is now managing the Grill’s Tea Room at 35 West 47th Street.
Elizabeth L. Campbell
(Miss), enlisted in Constantinople and was sent to the Caucasus where she was stationed at Alexandropol to do general orphanage work. She came to the States in 1923 and is now doing post-graduate work and designing in Rochester, N. Y. Her address is 14 Atkinson Street.
Margie Lin Caldwell
(Miss), of Bristol, TN, kindergarten teacher, went across on October. 14, 1920. She served in the orphanage school at Ismid, was temporarily at Broussa, and was active in the farm colony experiment at Rodosto. While at Constantinople she, with Miss Cushman and Miss Ahlers, had a narrow escape from drowning. She returned August 2, 1922 and is now field representative of Near East Relief in Texas, her address being 611 Slaughter Building, Dallas.