Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Rotch, Charity Rodman

ROTCH, Charity Rodman, philanthropist, b. in Newport, R. I.. 31 Oct., 1766; d. in Kendol, Ohio, 8 Aug., 1824. She was the daughter of a sea-captain, and married Thomas Rotch, of Nantucket, in 1790. For some time she lived in that town, but in 1801 she settled in Hartford, and in 1811 failing health led her to take up her residence in Kendol, Ohio. Her husband died in 1823 and bequeathed to her his personal property to be disposed as she should decide. She determined to found a school for orphan and destitute children, and a few years after her death the fund that she left reached the sum of $20,000. The interest of this money was subsequently applied to the purchase of a farm of 185 acres near Massillon, Ohio, on which was erected, at a cost of $5,000, a building for educational and dwelling purposes. In this institution boys are thoroughly instructed in the art of husbandry and girls in culinary duties and the making of their own wearing-apparel. The course is four years in length.