Attended as Student
Faculty 1892-1894

Birth: 10 Jan 1867, Rowan County, North Carolina, USA
Death: 3 Mar 1947, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, USA

Parents:
Ephraim Lewis Fisher (1834-1912)
Martha Elizabeth Ludwig Fisher (1838-1907)

Sibling:
Bettie F. Fisher Walter (1863-1917)

Spouse: John Alexander Blackwelder (1866-1935)
Marriage: 5 Jan 1897, Cabarrus County, North Carolina

Children:
Ruth Blackwelder (1901-1988)
Mary Elizabeth Blackwelder King (1906-1988)

Burial:
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery, Kannapolis, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, USA

Source: www.findagrave.com, # 42789537.

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Some Pioneer Women Teachers of North Carolina, by Delta Kappa Gamma Society, North Carolina, 1955, p. 34.

DORA ESTHER FISHER BLACKWELDER
1867-1947

Dora Esther Fisher, affectionately known as “Miss Essie,” was a born teacher. One of “her girls,” now the wife of an ex-college president, describes Miss Essie as a “perfect teacher.: Another “girl,” now the widow of a banker, declares it paid dividends to study for Miss Essie as she could bring out what a student knew. A third “girl,” now the grandmother of a large family, frankly admits that Miss Essie was strict but that she could make a student want to learn.

Dora Esther Fisher was born January 10, 1867, at the old Fisher homestead in Cabarrus County, five miles due west of Concord. She was the youngest child of Ephraim Lewis Fisher and Martha Elizabeth Rendleman Nussman and Adolphus Nussman, who was educated at Gottingen University and was the first Lutheran preacher in North Carolina.

Essie always played with her older brother. As a child, she never cared to help with housework but instead followed her father over the plantation and never saw a horse she was afraid to ride. Her Mother was relieved when an exceptionally spirited colt died, for she feared the colt would bring mishap to her youngest child.

Essie;s first formal education was secured in a subscription school in her neighborhood. Not satisfied with what she learned in that school, she became a boarding student at the Mt. Pleasant Female Seminary. Later she studied for two years at Lutherville Female Seminary in Lutherville, Maryland, and was graduated with distinction in 1889. She was an especially fine Latin scholar and had a deep appreciation of Greek and Roman culture.

Miss Essie’s formal teaching covered a period of seven years. She taught in the Cannon Elementary School in Number 4 Township of Cabarrus County; also at Enochville with Professor Peter Wright; and with Professor C. L. T. Fisher and Professor J. H. C. Fisher at Mont Amoena Seminary, which had earlier been known as Mt. Pleasant Female Seminary. She watched with pride as her students lived useful lives in rural and urban communities. Some of her students became teachers; some of her girls married ministers; others served in varied walks of life. Mrs. T. E. Johnston of Salisbury and Constance Cline of Concord are among those who became teachers; in the group who married ministers are Mrs. P. E. Monroe, Mrs. J. L. Morgan, and Mrs. Edward Fulenwider.

When a teaching position at Elizabeth College in Charlotte was offered to Miss Essie, she declined as she was about to be come the bride of John Alexander Blackwelder. For sixteen years after their marriage on January 5, 1897, the Blackwelders made their home in Newberry, South Carolina. Here Miss Essied did not stop teaching, however. Instead, she instructed her children in the home She taught her first child, Oscar Fisher Blackwelder (at present the pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Washington, D. C.), for three years. Her second child was seriously ill during her sixth year therefore Miss Essie was her first grade teacher. This daughter, Ruth, is associate professor of history at Lenoir Rhyne College. Mrs. Blackwelder;s third child showed her talent for music at an early age. Miss Essie, who was an excellent organist, supervised Mary Elizabeth’s practice. This youngest child, Mrs. E. Ray King, is organist and choir director at St. James Lutheran Church of Concord.

Mrs. Blackwelder made her home in Concord from 1913 until her death. Her many associates there knew her as a devoted mother, a sincere friend, an active member of St. James Lutheran Church and a master gardener. During the growing season, she always had flowers to share with her friends, and many shut-ins were cheeered by blossoms from her garden. When she died on March 3, 1947, a young man said to one of her children: “Your mother was my Sunday School teacher when I was twelve years old and I will always remember her.” She was sixty years of age when she taught his class but no one ever thought of her as old Her soft silky hair never lost its auburn color; her grey-blue eyes never lost their warmth and sparkle; her steps were always sure and quick. After she celebrated her eightieth birthday, her youngest grandson said, “My grandmother’s not old.” At her death the little five-year-old boy was told that his grandmother was with Jesus. He asked if there are flowers in heaven. His aunt assured him that the flowers in heaven are beautiful and the little fellow’s reply was, “Grandmother’s growing flowers for God.”

Miss Essie’s students are still teaching and are teaching others how to teach; and, what is more important, are following her example by teaching the greatest lesson of all: how to live.

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The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC), 4 Mar 1947, 10.

DEATH CLAIMS NOTED TEACHER
Funeral Rites For Mrs. John A. Blackwelder Of Concord Set For Today

CONCORD, March 3 – Mrs. Essie Fisher Blackwelder, widow of John A. Blackwelder and member of a distinguished Cabarrus family, died in Cabarrus hospital early today after and illness of 10 days. Death was due to a heart malady and complications. Funeral services will be held at St. James’ Lutheran church Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock. Burial will be in the family plot at Trinity Lutheran church in No. 4 township. Mrs. Blackwelder was born January 10, 1867, at the old Fisher homestead in Cabarrus county, the youngest child of the late Ephriam Lewis Fisher and Martha Ludwig Fisher. She was a great-great-granddaughter of Adolphus Nussman, first Lutheran preacher in North Carolina, and his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Rintleman Nussman. She attended Mont Amoena seminary at Mount Pleasant and was graduated with distinction from Lutherville seminary in Lutherville, Md., in 1889. For several years she taught in the public schools of Cabarrus county, in Professor Peter Wright’s academy and in Mont Amoena seminary, being an exceptionally fine Latin scholar.

She declined an offer of a teaching position at old Elizabeth college in Charlotte to marry John Alexander Blackwelder January 5, 1897. For 16 years the Blackwelders made their home in Newberry, S. C. Since 1913, the family has lived in Concord. Mrs. Blackwelder is survived by three children, Mrs. E. Ray King of Concord, Miss Ruth Blackwelder, professor of history at Lenoir Rhyne college, Hickory, and Dr. Oscar Fisher Blackwelder, pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Washington, D. C.