1897 - Influential Beekeeper and Nice Lady - Mrs. J. N. Heater, of Columbus. Nebraska

(This is an interesting book.)

Successful Beekeeper,

Mrs. J. N. Heater

(1893 article)

The subject of this sketch was born in Defiance Co., Ohio, of Scotch, Irish, Dutch, and English parentage. Bees have been kept by her ancestry for many generations.

Mrs. Heater's maiden name was Anna E. Case. She moved with her parents from their Ohio home to Niles, Mich. After several years spent on a farm near the latter place the family moved to South Bend, Indiana. 

Her life up to this time was passed much as is the life of any farmer's child, until she entered the high school in Mishawaka, Ind., and where she finished her career of instruction three years later.   She now took up the rod and cudgel and assumed control in the school room in one of the city schools of Mishawaka. Her health failing she was obliged to resign and return to her home at South Bend, where, after regaining health she entered her father's store as bookkeeper. Preferring the school-room however she soon found herself again engaged in this work and taught several very successful schools in St. Joseph Co. Ind.

In 1876 she joined her parents in St. Edwards, Neb. where they had previously moved. Here she continued her chosen pursuit of school work for one year, when she was married Sept. 18th, 1877, to J. N. Heater.  This worthy personage was, and still is a member of the grip sack fraternity, managing the the business of an eastern manufacturing establishment in the southwestern states, and his entire time is spent on the road.

 To one of so much ambition and former activity, the fact of merely living, soon become extremely monotonous. Having always been much interested in the study of the honey bee, in 1881 she purchased seven colonies and made a practical study of them. 

The next spring 14 nuclei colonies were added and success attended the venture from the very first. For the last, ten years her Eureka apiary has numbered from 100 to 150 colonies of care fully bred Italian bees. 

Several years ago implements and supplies were added to the venture and now this lady owns and conducts one of the most complete supply houses in connection with her splendidly equipped apiary to be found in the west. 

 She personally superintends every branch of the business; issues an annual catalogue and price list, and ships bees, queens, honey and supplies to all parts of the west.

She is an active member of the Neb. Beekeepers' Association, and has many times been honored by this society and she is now an officer of the association.

It is believed that Mrs.Heater has an age which is supposed to be somewhere between 25 and 50. The picture is a late one and hardly does her justice.  (Isn't that an odd comment on her age!!?)

Mr. and Mrs. Heater's home and apiary are located about live blocks from the Union Pacific depot at Columbus, Neb., and her apiary is always open to visitors, and especially to all bee-keepers.

We expect Mrs. H. will be one of the exhibitors at the state fair, and every beekeeper should get acquainted with her. As a writer, she is well versed, and one article prepared by her at our last state convention, was copied by papers in several of the states.

Above from the Nebraska Bee-keeper, August 1893

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1895 issue

Last week we gave but a simple announcement of the sudden and unexpected death of one of our best loved of women bee-keepers—Mrs. J. N. Heater, of Columbus, Nebr.

 This week it is with a sad heart that we record some of the particulars concerning her departure, and somewhat of her devoted life and labors. Permit us to say that for much of our information we are indebted to the enterprising newspapers published where Mrs. Heater lived and labored.

About three months ago Mrs. Heater left her home to go to Kansas City, Mo., to spend the winter. She was apparently in the best of health, and when on Saturday, March 13 a dispatch was received that she had past away at 4 o'clock that morning, it created a great shock in the community where she was so well known and beloved by all.

The funeral services were held at the family residence, Tuesday. March 16, the Rev. A. L. Mickel, of the Methodist church officiating, with hundreds of friends of the deceased present to pay their respects and extend condolence to the bereaved husband.

The particulars of the death are very sad.  An operation had been performed on Mrs. Heater for some ailment, and was considered successful. but the administration of the necessary anaesthetic had a bad effect on the patient's system, and she was taken down and continued to sink until the end.      

On Friday night, Mrs. Heater could not sleep, and towards morning. Mr. Heater, who was at her bedside, said to his wife: "Shall I sing to you? Perhaps it will put you to sleep.”  The suffering one nodded assent, and Mr. Heater softly sang a favorite song, and she seemed to drop into a gentle sleep, but, alas, the watching husband soon found to his sorrow it was the sleep of Death.

Mrs. Heater was born in Defiance county, Ohio, March 5, 1856. Her maiden name was Annie E. Case. She came to Nebraska in 1875 with her parents and settled in St.Edward, Boone county. She was married to Mr. Heater September 6, 1876. and in July, 1878, they took up their residence in Columbus.

Mrs. Heater was a woman of amiable disposition, warm hearted and of generous sympathies. She was kind hearted, a good neighbor, a loving wife, and merited the good will of all with whom she was acquainted.

Before her marriage, Mrs. Heater taught school in Indiana and Nebraska. About 15 years ago she embarked in the bee-business as a source of employment in the absence of her husband, whose business called him away from home most of the time. For many years she was the leading exhibitor of bees and honey at the State fair. She was one of the distinguished bee-keepers of Nebraska‘s bee and honey display at the World's Fair. She enjoyed the distinction of being the “Bee-Queen of Nebraska."  

In bee-literature Mrs. Heater was known far and wide. She was on the “Question-Box” staff of the American Bee Journal for a number of years, and many of her contributions on bee-culture have been published and widely circulated.

In this sad hour, Mr. Heater has the tender sympathy of a host of friends who well know the loss he has sustained.

It was our good fortune to meet Mr. and Mrs. Heater at the World's Fair convention, in 1893.  Both Mrs. York and the writer were wonderfully drawn toward them, as we felt that in them we had found two true and noble persons.

At the Lincoln convention, last October, we again had a very pleasant meeting with both Mr. and Mrs. Heater. We distinctly remember walking from the hotel to the convention hall with Mrs. Heater, one morning, her husband having some business to attend to that forenoon. Mrs. Heater was so cheerful, so hopeful. and talked on about her prosperous bee and supply business, her property interests, her home, church work, and busy life in general.

Her paper on “ The Past and Future of Bee-Culture," read at that meeting, was a bright gem. It will be found in full in the published report.

But Mrs. Heater is gone. No more will her sweet voice and Winsome ways bless our conventions, or her intelligent pen grace the pages of our literature.

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Want to know the names of the other folks in the group above?

1904 - Beekeeping Brings Health to Women

There is nothing like a testimonial to appeal to a receptive reader!  This article by Albert Cook contains a few.  

Albert Cook wrote this in 1904 at the age of 62.  He was an open minded man for his time, although the cultural bias of the 19th century are noticeable in his phrasing, his intent is clearly supportive of women run businesses.  Women have worked apiaries "forever", but a dedicated business is different than farm work which includes bees within the money making opportunities from surplus crop and animal products.

This following illustrations are not from the article but were published 1905 

showing women students of beekeeping.

Tuskegee & Its People - Their Ideals and Achievements By Booker T. Washington

http://www.womenintexashistory.org/learn/papers/

(Beekeeping's) ADAPTATION TO WOMEN. 

Apiculture may also bring succor to those whom society has not been over-ready to favor — our women.  Widowed mothers, dependent girls, the weak and the feeble, all may find a blessing in the easy, pleasant and profitable labors of the apiary. Of course, women who lack vigor and health can care for but very few colonies, and must have sufficient strength to bend over and lift the small-sized frames of comb when loaded with honey, and to carry empty hives. 

With the proper thought and management, full colonies need never be lifted, nor work done in the hot sunshine. Yet, right here let me add, and emphasize the truth, that only those who will let energetic thought and skillful plan, and above all promptitude and persistence, make up for physical weakness, should enlist as apiarists. 

Usually a stronger body and improved health, the result of pure air, sunshine and exercise, will make each successive day's labor more easy, and will permit a corresponding growth in the size of the apiary for each successive season.  One of the most noted apiarists, not only in America, but in the world, sought in bee-keeping her health, and found not only health, but reputation and influence. Some of the most successful apiarists in our country are women. Of these, many were led to adopt the pursuit because of waning health, grasping at this as the last and successful weapon with which to vanquish the grim monster. 

 That able apiarist, and terse writer on apiculture, Mrs. L. Harrison, states that the physicians told her that she could not live; but apiculture did for her what the physicians could not do— restored her to health, and gave her such vigor that she has been able to work a large apiary for years. 

Said "Cyula Linswik"—whose excellent and beautifully written articles have so often charmed the readers of the bee- journals, and who has had many years of successful experience as an apiarist — in a paper read before the Michigan convention in March, 1887:

 "I would gladly purchase exemption from indoor work, on washing-day, by two days' labor among the bees, and I find two hours' labor at the ironing-table more fatiguing than two hours of the severest toil the apiary can exact." 

I repeat, that apiculture offers to many women not only pleasure but profit.   Mrs. L. B. Baker, of Lansing, Mich., who had kept bees very successfully for four years, read an admirable paper before the same convention, in which she said: 

"But I can say, having tried both (keeping boarding-house and apiculture), I give bee-keeping the preference, as more profitable, healthful, independent and enjoyable. ...I find the labors of the apiary more endurable than working over a cook-stove indoors, and more pleasant and conducive to health. ... I believe that many of our delicate and invalid ladies would find renewed vigor of body and mind in the labors and recreations of the apiary. By beginning in the early spring, when the weather was cool and the work light, I became gradually accustomed to outdoor labor, and by midsummer found myself as well able to endure the heat of the sun as my husband, who has been accustomed to it all his life. Previously, to attend an open-air picnic was to return with a headache. ... My own experience in the apiary has been a source of interest and enjoyment far exceeding my anticipations." 

 Although Mrs. Baker commenced with but two colonies of bees, her net profits the first season were over $100; the second year but a few cents less than $300; and the third year about $250. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating",  and such words as those above show that apiculture offers special inducements to our sisters to become either amateur or professional apiarists.  At the present time almost every State has women bee-keepers, whose success has won attention. 
($300 is worth, in today's dollars, around $8,000.)

True it is, that in neatness and delicacy of manipulation, the women far surpass the men. The nicest honey produced in Michigan, year after year, comes from the apiary of two ladies who I believe are peers of any bee-keepers in our country.

The Bee-keeper's Guide: or, Manual of the Apiary, 1904, Albert Cook, (1842-1916)

1889 - BEE-KEEPING FOR WOMEN FROM A WOMAN'S STANDPOINT

from: The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture

I really like the advice given in this article.  While currently everyone says one should start with a minimum of two hives so you can compare their behaviors, this article takes it a step further and recommends the first year to approach the hives more like a naturalist/scientist.  That is a very attractive approach for me.  

This series of papers, “Women's Chances as Breadwinners”,  was commenced in the January number (Ladies' Home Journal, Volumes 7-8) with “How to Become a Trained Nurse,” and continued in the February number with “Women as Stenographers,” and in March with “Women as Dressmakers.” ... 

Future papers in the series will consider - “Women as Telegraphers", "Women Behind the Counter”,  “Women as Journalists”, “Women on the Stage” - "Women as Artists”, “Women as Doctors”, “Women as Teachers”, “Women as Type-setters", etc., etc

IV.—BEE-KEEPING FOR WOMEN FROM A WOMAN'S STANDPOINT

BY JULIA ALLYN

BEE-KEEPING offers to women an agreeable, healthful, and lucrative employment. While there may be no fortunes in bee-keeping, except to the few, yet to all there is, usually, satisfactory reward for labor and money expended. Thousands of women long for a change of occupation—for release from the store, the shop, the factory, the school; indeed, in many cases, the saving or prolongation of life demands a change.

Naturally, their thoughts turn to the country—to a life that may bring them into the open air a part of the time. It is saying very little for bee-keeping to say that it will bring more than thousands of women earn by city occupations. Indeed, bee-keeping has proved so profitable to farmers and others successful in other occupations that they have given all their attention and time to the production of honey.

There are many women bee-keepers in the land, and they are as successful as men. A school-teacher was told that she must find employment that would take her into the open air. She became a bee-keeper, was successful, had a large apiary, and employed several women to help her. Health, enjoyment, independence and money was the result. Women ought to be better bee-keepers than men for they have, usually, a gentler, finer touch than men.

The qualifications of a beekeeper are  patience, absence of fear and perfect command of self. Fear must be overcome or concealed. It may be present at first, but usually gives place to confidence after a little experience. The theory that bees instinctively select some persons as natural enemies, has no foundation in fact. 

Nearly all bee-keepers wear veils, and all beginners should wear gloves of rubber. The dress is a divided skirt, but made so full that it is not noticed. Each part of the skirt, is gathered at the bottom into a hem or band to button round the ankle below the top of the boot. In working among bees, the bees often crawl over the person, but they do not sting except in self-defense when pinched in the folds of the clothing, or otherwise. To begin bee-keeping, buy in the spring two colonies of Italian bees, and then with bees and books serve an apprenticeship during the season. 

Let no beginner attempt to keep bees for profit the first season. It has been done, and been successful, but it is the exception, and often, if not usually, has resulted in loss and disappointment. The bees should be bought as near home as possible to save express charges, and long journey for the bees. When the bees come, place them where they are to remain. One colony is to serve as a standard. It is to be studied as a full colony, and allowed to swarm in the natural way that the bee-keeper may have the experience of hiving a swarm. 

While the beginner is acquiring experience, she may raise bees for use next year. Therefore, the other colony is divided immediately on arrival, placing half of the colony in a new hive, and removing to the place where it is to remain. There are now three colonies, a full colony and two half colonies. Later in the season, when the half colonies have become whole colonies, they are divided again. Supposing that the standard colony will cast a swarm, there will be six colonies in the fall with which to begin in the spring. The swarm cast by the standard colony may be divided, also, if desired, giving seven in all. Of course, the divided colonies will store no honey, only honey for their own use. 

With a year's study and practice the student of apiculture is prepared to undertake beekeeping for profit. In the spring the six or seven colonies may be increased to twelve or fourteen, and that number will be enough to manage in the first year of actual work. The different methods adopted for the production of honey need not be given here. When the bee-keeper comes to the practical work in an apiary, she will have learned of these methods and will follow the one that seems to be best. 

As to product of honey. In an ordinary season, a colony of bees, by the non-swarming, double-hive system, will produce not less than fifty pounds of honey, often seventy-five and a hundred pounds. This honey, if properly marketed, will bring the producer twenty cents a pound. By the system referred to, one person, with occasional help, may attend to one hundred colonies if comb-honey be the product. If extracted honey be the object, assistance will be required in extracting the honey. As to the sale of honey. This fact may throw some light upon it. Though millions of pounds of honey are produced every year, yet honey is practically unknown to the great body of the people. On the tables of the rich or poor it is a comparative stranger. In some of the larger cities very little honey is on sale.

There are abandoned farms north, east, south and west, and there are tons of honey on these farms running to waste; and at the same time there are thousands of women pinched by want, wearied by toil, who could earn on these farms, with the help of the bees, more than they earn now and be comfortable and contented.