Harriet Canfield

Harriet Canfield, better known as "Miss Hattie" to the parents of her students at Jennings School, was a nationally known writer whose work appeared in the New York Times and the Ladies' Home Journal.

Canfield came naturally to writing. She was the daughter and granddaughter of pioneer Akron newspaper publishers. Grandfather Horace Canfield had started the first Cuyahoga Falls newspaper, Ohio Review, in 1833. He later moved to Akron and started the American Democrat. Her father, also named Horace Canfield, was also a newspaper editor/publisher.

Canfield started her journalism career on the Summit County Beacon, the family newspaper. She then started submitting stories elsewhere. The Beacon Journal characterized some of them as "burning love stories." She sold these and other stories through the McClure Syndicate, a well-regarded editorial service that provided features to newspapers across the East. In addition, she sold stories to the New York Times and the Ladies' Home Journal.

Her journalism, however, probably never paid the bills. For that, she relied on her teaching career. She taught at both the old Crosby School and Jennings School.

"Miss Hattie" never married.

--Kathleen L. Endres