EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; HELEN BARRETT MONTGOMERY P/38

                                                           Read Part One HERE                                                                                                                

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Helen Bsrrett Montgomery. She lived from 1861 - 1934. The Women's Educational and Industrial Union, of wich Helen was president for many years, founded a legal aid office, set up public playgrounds, established a "Noon Rest" house where working girls could eat, and opened stations for mothers to obtain milk.

Helen also became known in the city for her advocacy of education. She was the first woman to be elected to the Rochester School Board, as well as to any public office in Rochester, 20 years before women had the right to vote. She served a total of ten years as a member of the Board.

Helen was the first woman to translate the New Testament into English from Greek and have it published by a professional publishing house. It was published in 1924 as The Centenary Translation, issued by the American Baptist Society. This version has been reprinted as The New Testament in Modern English and labeled Montgomery New Testament.

Helen died in 1934.                                                                                                                                                                               

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; HELEN BARRETT MONTGOMERY P/37

                                                            Read Part One HERE                                                                                                             

In this story I will continue to focus on a woman named Helen Barrett Montgomery. She lived from 1861 - 1934. Helen's involvement and leadership in church circles and the city's women movement led her to serve as a delegate to annual meetings of the Northern Baptist Convention, the association of Northern Baptist churches where she helped to decide policy.        

In 1921, Helen was the first woman to be elected president of the Northern Baptist Convention. She strongly believed that women had an active role to play in the church and society.

Helen worked as well on social reforms, especially those to benefit women. In 1893, she joined Susan B. Anthony in forming a new chapter of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union in Rochester, which served poor women and children in the city. She served as its president from 1893 - 1911. 

Read Part Thirty-Eight HERE                                                                                                                                                                                       

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; HELEN BARRETT MONTGOMERY P/36

                                                            Read Part One HERE                                                                                                              

In this post I will focus on a woman named Helen Barrett Montgomery. She lived from 1861 - 1934. Her parents  were Amos Judson Barrett and Emily Barrows Barrett. Helen was born in Kingsville, Ohio. USA. Her parents moved to Rochester, New York, when she was a child so that her father could attend the Rochester Theological Seminary. After his graduation he became pastor of Lake Avenue Baptist Church in the city.

Helen studied at Wellesly College, where she graduated with a teacher certification in 1884. She taught in Rochester and afterwards at the Wellesley Preparatory School in Philadelphia. In 1887, Helen married William A. Montgomery.

Helen stayed on at  Lake Avenue Baptist Church, the church her father was the pastor of until his death. In 1892 the congregation licensed her to preach. She organised and taught a women's Bible class at the church, which she led for 44 years in the midst of her other activities.

Read Part Thirty-Seven HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; JANE ADDAMS /35

                                                                               Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to share my story of a woman named Jane Addams. She lived from 1860 - 1935. Under Jane's direction, the Hull House team provided an array of vital services to thousands of people each week: they established a kindergarten and day-care for working mothers; provided job training; English language, cooking and acculturation classed for immigrants; established a job-placement bureau, community centre, gymnasium and art gallery.

 Aside from writing articles and giving speeches nationally about Hull House, Jane expanded her efforts to improve society. Along with other women reformers, she was instrumental in successfully lobbying for the establishment of a juvenile court system, protective labour legislation for women, and more playgrounds and kindergartens throughout Chicago.

Jane also became active in the women's suffrage movement as an officer in the National American Women's Suffrage Association and prosuffrage columnist. She was also among the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People.

Sadly, a heart attack in 1926 took a toll on her health and though she pushed on, she never fully recovered.

Jane died in 1935.

Read Part Thirty-Six HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; JANE ADDAMS P/34

                                                                              

                                                                               Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Jane Addams. She lived from 1869 - 1935. Jane's parents were John Huy Addams and Sarah Weber Addams. They lived in a small farming town of Cedarville, Illinois, USA. Her father owned a successful mill, fought in the Civil War, was a local politician and counted Abraham Lincoln among his friends.

Jane graduated at the top of her class from Rockford Female Seminary in 1881. For the next six years she attempted to study medicine, but her own poor health derailed her. While on a visit to London with her friend Gates Starr, she visited Toynbee Hall, a settlement house on the city's East End that provided much-needed services to poor industrial workers. Jane vowed to bring that model to the United States.

In 1889, Jane and her friend Gates founded Hull House in Chicago's poor industrial west side, the first settlement house in the US. The goal was for educated women to share all kinds of knowledge, from basic skills to arts and literature with poorer people in the neighbourhood. They also envisioned women living in the community centre among the people they served. 

Read Part Thirty-Five HERE

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT P/33

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Read Part One HERE

In this story I will continue to focus on a woman named Carrie Chapman Catt. She lived from 1859 - 1947. Carrie also became active in the newly formed National American Woman Suffrage Association. She was a delegate to its national convention in 1890, became head of field organising in 1895 and was elected to succeed Susan B. Anthony as president in 1900. 

She continued to give speeches, plan campaigns, organise women, and gain political expertise. Carrie's organisational, speaking and writing skills establised her reputation as a leading suffragist.  

From 1902 -1904, Carrie was a leader in the formation of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, serving as its president from 1904 - 1923 and thereafter as honorary chair until her death. She resigned as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1904 to care for her ailing husband,

In 1915, Carrie resumed leadership of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which had become badly divided over suffrage strategies. Under Carrie's leadership, several key states - including New York in 1917 - approved women's suffrage. In addition, to her suffrage work, Carry was active in several other causes, including international peace. She, furthermore, worked for child labour protection laws.

Carried died in 1947.

Read Part Thirty-Four HERE

                                                                                                                                                                    

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT P/32

                                                                Read Part One HERE                                                                                                                                                       

In this story I will continue to focus on a woman named Carrie Chapman Catt. She lived from 1859 - 1947. After graduation, Carrie returned to Charles City to work as a law clerk and, in nearby Mason City, as a school teacher and principal. In 1883, at the age of 24, she was appointed Mason City school superintendent, one of the first women to hold such a position. In February 1885, she married Leo Chapman, publisher and editor of the Mason City Republican newspaper, at her parents' Charles City farm. Sadly he died the following year in San Francisco, California, where he had gone to find new employment. Arriving just a few days after her husband's death, Carrie remained in San Francisco.      

In 1887, Carrie returned to Iowa to begin her crusade for women's suffrage. She joined the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association, organised suffrage events throughout the state, and worked as a professional lecturer and writer. In 1890, she married engineer George W. Catt. He supported his wife's suffrage work both financially and personally, believing that his role in the marriage was to earn their living and hers was to reform society. 

Read Part Thirty-Three HERE