Clara Kern Bayliss

Clara Marie Kern was born on her family's farm near Kalamazoo, Michigan, the daughter of Manasseh Kern (1809–1892) and Caroline Herlan Kern.^[1][2] She was the first woman to graduate from Hillsdale College in Michigan, in 1871. She later earned a master's degree from the same school, in 1874.^[3][4]

Bayliss was head of the Education Committee of the Illinois Congress of Mothers.^[5][6] In that role, she emphasized the need for physical training and manual skills for all children,^[7] declaring that "When a child is reared in such a manner that he considers physical labor menial and unbecoming, he has lost the power of correct judgment; he lives in an unreal world, where all things have fictitious values, and he begins to talk of the 'occupation' of owning money".^[8] She also encouraged school libraries,^[9] and nature study for children.^[10]

Bayliss was vice president of the Illinois State Teachers Association.^[11] In 1907, she established the Child Culture Center in Macomb, Illinois. She was founder of the Macomb chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1910. In 1927 she was elected a vice president of the Society of Midland Authors.^[12] She supported the creation of an Illinois state museum, to house and study local archaeological finds, which otherwise were sent to neighboring states.^[13] She wrote against "the selfishness of men in public", citing excessive smoking, loud whistling, crowding, and other noisome behaviors.^[14]

Books by Bayliss included In Brook and Bayou: or, Life in the Still Waters (1897),^[15][16] Lolami in Tusayan (1903),^[17] Two Little Algonkin Lads (1907),^[18] The Little Cliff Dweller (1908),^[19] Old Man Coyote (1908), Philippine Folk Tales (with Berton L. Maxfield, W. H. Millington, Fletcher Gardner, and Laura Estelle Watson Benedict),^[20] A Treasury of Indian Tales,^[21] and A Treasury of Eskimo Tales (1922).^[22] She also wrote about Illinois history for the Illinois State Historical Society,^[23] about birds for The Auk,^[24] about geography for the School News and Practical Educator,^[25] and contributed to The Child-Study Monthly, which was edited by her husband.^[26]

Bayliss was the last surviving member of a small group of people chosen to witness the opening of Abraham Lincoln's casket in 1901, when Lincoln's remains were re-interred to prevent vandalism.^[27] She was also considered Madison's last surviving Civil War widow.^[28]

Clara Kern married educator and editor Alfred Bayliss in 1871. They had two daughters, Zoe and Clara.^[29][30] Alfred Bayliss died in 1911. Clara Kern Bayliss died in 1948, just before her 100th birthday, at a hospital in Madison, Wisconsin.^[31][32]