Administrative/Biographical History
Phoebe Haynes Ainsworth was born in Strongsville, Ohio, on September 14, 1838, of colonial ancestry, the daughter of pioneer parents in the Western Reserve. Ainsworth’s father, Reuben Haynes, moved his family to Oberlin in 1853 for better educational advantages. Phoebe Haynes Ainsworth, belonging to the class of 1861, studied in the Preparatory Department and College from 1854 to 1858. As an undergraduate, Ainsworth, along with one of five siblings, sister Caroline (OC ‘65) was in great demand for concert and choir work. Ainsworth served as head soprano soloist, under the pastorate of President Charles Finney, at the First Church in Oberlin. Ainsworth’s did not graduate with her class of 1861; instead she followed her musical interests, specializing in voice and devoting her life to teaching. She studied music throughout the United States and in Germany. In 1866-67 she taught in the Oberlin Conservatory with music professors John Paul Morgan (d. 1879) and George W. Steele (d. 1902). In 1910 she married Daniel Ainsworth, and together they moved to the mining region in Arizona. When her husband died in 1922, Ainsworth returned to Oberlin to live with her sister, Angeline (Mrs. Henry O.) Swift, and her niece, Cora L. Swift. Phoebe Haynes Ainsworth died at her home on April 11, 1928, and was laid to rest in the Haynes plot in Westwood cemetery.
