CADWELL, CLARA [GERTRUDE] (c.1856–1???). Other than the two
facts that Clara Cadwell was born in Jefferson, Ohio, and later lived in Cleveland, almost nothing is known of her life. Her single published literary work,
a novel titled De Barr’s Friends, or Number Seventeen; Trip to Lake Superior
with a Romance (1881), may contain autobiographical elements. The story
tells of a young man traveling aboard an excursion steamer from Lake Erie
to Lake Superior, specifically en route to Duluth, Minnesota, where he
meets and falls in love with an attractive farm girl from Cleveland with a
hint of a mysterious and perhaps unsavory past. In a florid, romantic style,
Cadwell provides colorful descriptions of the ship, the scenery, and the ports
typical of the Great Lakes.