Chloe Merrick Reed

In addition to teaching, she conducted appeals to her hometown of Syracuse, New York for contributions of money, goods, and clothes.

[1] Chloe Merrick taught in Syracuse public schools from 1854 to 1856, and 1860 to 1862, as did her sister Emma and her husband Ansel Kinne, who also served as a principal.

[1] In late 1862 Merrick responded to a local effort through the new Freedmen's Relief Association of Syracuse, part of a national organization.

[2] She collaborated with others to fund the purchase and renovation of the Finegan plantation, which the National Freedmen's Relief Association bought at a tax sale to establish a school.

[1] Her brother-in-law Ansel Kinne was appointed as Superintendent of Florida's Freedmen's Bureau schools, starting after the war.

[1] Merrick met the widower Harrison M. Reed in 1863, when he was serving as Tax Commissioner of Florida and toured Amelia Island to review the confiscation of Confederate properties.

[1] After Reed left office, they lived on a farm south of Jacksonville, Florida along the St. John's River in Duval County.

[1] Merrick supported legislative and local efforts to alleviate social problems, improve education, and provide relief for the poor.

Among these was a privately funded hospital in Jacksonville, organized by Merrick's wealthy sister-in-law, Martha Reed Mitchell.

She was posthumously honored in the late 20th century as a Great Floridian by a plaque at the historic Simmons-Merrick House at 102 South 10th Street in Fernandina Beach.