Woman’s Relief Corps No. 48

Following the Civil War, the Woman’s Relief Corps was formed as an auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization whose members were Union Veterans of the Civil War. The purpose of the Woman’s Relief Corps was to aid and assist Union veterans, as well as the widows and orphans of Union veterans.

In Sandusky, the McMeens Corps, Woman’s Relief Corps, No. 48, served as an auxiliary to the McMeens Post of the G.A.R. The women of the W.R.C. helped provide food, entertainment, and a listening ear to the residents of the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home in Sandusky, now known as the Ohio Veterans Home. In 1913, a monument which honored the Civil War dead was unveiled at the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home. Members of the W.R.C. throughout the state spent two years raising money for the monument. A photograph found on Lake Erie’s Yesterdays shows several members of the Woman’s Relief Corps at a Memorial Day ceremony held at the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home in 1914.

Emogene Niver Marshall was a member and past president of the Woman’s Relief Corps, No. 48. She also was a past president of the Ohio W.R.C. Following her brother’s death in a Civil War prison camp, she devoted her life to patriotic work. The residents of the Soldiers and Sailors Home called her the “Angel of the Home.”

On February 11 and 12, 1896, a charity opera under the auspices of the Woman’s Relief Corps in Sandusky was held at the Nielsen Opera House. The opera, entitled “Egypta,” was based on the life of Moses. It featured a huge cast of local adults and children as well as many musical numbers. The program is several pages long, and can be viewed at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.