The frontier town of Mansfield had already had its share of eccentrics, including mystic/businessman Johnny Appleseed and the incoherently rambling fiddler Orrin Pharris. But little did they know the queen of quirkiness had been born when Phebe Wise arrived in 1848. Or 1846. Or 1852. It's complicated.

The daughter of one of Mansfield's founding fathers, Phebe had a fraught relationship with her father, and it began twisting her natural brilliance. Inheriting her parents' property, Phebe became the target for robbers and an obsessed stalker, situations which culminated in startling acts of violence, from which Phebe emerged, a survivor. It was her strange, hypnotic impact on a young cousin of hers named Louis Bromfield that launched his trajectory toward becoming a world-famous writer who often revisited Phebe in his works.

Historian Mark Sebastian Jordan examines the curious life and legend of Phebe Wise, including historical photos and reports of eyewitness accounts of her life. Copies of Jordan's new book about Phebe Wise will be available for purchase and signing.

Mark Sebastian Jordan is an award-winning writer and author of several books. He has received grants from the Ohio Arts Council, the Richland County Foundation, and more. He writes the History Knox local history column for Knox Pages, music criticism for Seen & Heard International, and does music appreciation talks and notes for the Cleveland Orchestra, the Mansfield Symphony, the Knox County Symphony, and Mid Ohio Civic Opera.

This program is held in the lecture hall of the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum at 203 E. Main Street in Loudonville, Ohio. The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30, with the event beginning at 7:00 pm. For more information on the museum and activities, please call 419 994-4050 or visit www.crfmuseum.com.