EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: CLARA BARTON P/9

                                                    Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Clara Barton. She lived from 1821 - 1912.

 Clara was the youngest of Stephen and Sarah Barton's five children. Her father was a prosperous farmer. As a teenager, Clara helped care for her seriously ill brother - her first experience as a nurse.

Clara's family directed their painfully shy daughter to become a teacher upon the recommendation of a renowed phrenologist L.N. Fowler, who examined her as a girl. She began teaching at 18, founded a school for workers' children at her brother's mill when she was 24, and after moving to Bordentown, New Jersey, established the first free school there in 1852. She resigned when she discovered that the school had hired a man at twice her salary, saying she would never work for less than a man.

In 1854 she was hired as a recording clerk at the US Patent Office in Washington, DC, the first woman to be appointed to such a post. She was paid, the same salary as her male colleagues. However, the following year, Secretary of the Interior, Robert McClelland, who opposed women working in the government, reduced her to copyist with a lower salary. In 1857, the Buchanan Administration eliminated her position entirely, but in 1860, she returned as a copyist after the election of President Abraham Lincoln.

P.S. I will continue the story of Clara Barton in my next post. 

Read Part Ten HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: LUCY STONE P/8

                                   Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Lucy Stone. She lived from 1818 - 1893.

Lucy set another precedent in 1858 when she reminded Americans of the "no taxation without representation" principle. Her refusal to pay property taxes was punished by the impoundment and sale of  the Stone's household goods. At the end of the Civil War, Lucy went to Kansas to work on the referendum for suffrage there. She also served as president of the New Jersey Women Suffrage Association and helped organise the New England association, in which she would be active after the family moved to Boston in 1869. At the same time, Lucy served on the executive committee of the American Equal Rights Association.

In 1869, Lucy broke with suffragists Elizabther Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and others over passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, which granted voting rights to black men but not to women. Lucy was willing to accept this measure for her abolitionist goals while continuing to work for women's suffrage. Elizabeth and Susan formed the National Women Suffrage Association (NWSA). Lucy, Julia Ward Howe, and others formed the American Women Suffrage Association (AWSA). Lucy edited the AWSA publication, the Woman's Journal. in 1879. Lucy registered to vote in Massachusetts, since the state allowed women's suffrage in some local elections, but she was removed from the rolls because she did not use her husband's surname.

Lucy lived to see the reunifications of the two suffrage associations in 1890. She gave her last speech in 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition and died later that year at age 75.

Read Part Nine HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: LUCY STONE P/7

                                    Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Lucy Stone. She lived from 1818 - 1893.She was born in Massachusetts and was raised in a Congregational Church. She embraced her father's anti-slavery zeal.

Lucy was frustrated by the inequality that discouraged women from becoming educated.At age 16, she worked as a teacher, saving her money so she could attend college. In 1843 she attended Oberlin College in Ohio, Even progressive Oberlin, however, did not permit Lucy to explore her interest in public speaking. When she graduated in 1847, she declined the "honour" of writing a commencement speech that would be read by a man.

Almost thirty when she completed her education, Lucy's career prospects seemed dim since few professions were open to women. Renowed abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, however, hired her for his American Anti-Slavery Society. She wrote and delivered abolitionist speeches, while also becoming active in women's rights. Like other female abolitionists, Lucy was often heckled and at least once physically attacked by a mob. Nevertheless, she proved so popular that soon she was out-earning many male lecturers.

In 1850, two years after the Seneca Falls Women's Right Convention, Lucy organised the first national Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her speech there was reprinted in the international press. For five years, Lucy travelled throughout the US and Canada on the lecture circuit. She continued to attend annual women's rights conventions and presided over the 7th one.She met Henry Blackwell, the brother of physicians Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell, who convinced her to marry him by promising they could create an egalitarian marriage. Intended for publication, their 1855 vows omitted the then-common reference to wife obedience and included a protest against marital law. She also set a new standard by retaining her maiden name. While living in New Yersey, Lucy gave birth to two children, though the second one did not survive. Daughter Alice Stone Blackwell became a feminist and abolistionist, working alongside her parents.

P.S. In my next post I will continue with the story of Lucy Stone.

Read Part Eight HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: SUSAN B. ANTHONY P/6

 

 

Read Part One HERE

In this blog I will contine to focus on a woman named Susan B. Anthony. She lived from 1820 - 1906.

In 1872, Susan was arrested in her hometown of Rochester, New York for voting in violation of laws that allowed only men to vote. She was convicted in a widely publicised trial. Although she refused to pay the fine, the authorities declined to take further action. In 1878, Susan and her friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton arranged for Congress to be presented with an amendment giving women the right to vote. Introduced by Senator Aaron A. Sargent, it later became knows as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.

Susan travelled extensively in her support of womens' suffrage, giving as many as 75 to 100 speeches per year and working on many state campaigns.She worked internationally for women's rights, playing a key role in creating the International Council of Women, which is still active. She also helped to bring about the World's Congress of Representative Women at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

When Susan first began campaigning for women's rights, she was harshly ridiculed and accused of trying to destroy the institution of marriage. Public perception of her changed radically during her lifetime, however. Her 80th birthday was celebrated at the White House at the invitation of President William McKinley. She became the first female citizen to be depicted on U.S. coinage when her portrait appeared on the 1979 dollar coin.

Susan saw several improvements to the lives of women, more women were going to college, controlling their own property, getting better job opportunities, and leaving abusive husbands. After her death in 1906 in Rochester, New York, the suffragists' momentum continued. Once New York State gave women the right to vote in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson supported a constitutional amendment. In 1920 the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution "Women's Right to Vote" passed the House and Senate. The 19th Amendment became knows as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment as already mentioned. 

Read Part Seven HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: SUSAN B. ANTHONY P/5

                                                                   Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Susan B. Anthony. She lived from 1820 - 1906. Susan was born into a Quaker family committed to social equality. She collected anti-slavery petitions at age 17. In 1856 she became the New York state agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society,

In 1851, she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who became her lifelong friend and co-worker in social reform activities, primarily in the field of women's rights. Together they founded the New York State Temperance Society in 1852 after Susan was prevented from speaking at a temperance conference because she was female. 

They founded the Women's National League in 1863, which conducted the largest petition drive in the United States history up to that time, collecting nearly 400,000 signatures in support of the abolition of slavery. In 1866, they initiated the American Equal Rights Association, which campaigned for equal rights for both women and African Americans. They began publishing a women's right newspaper in 1868 called The Revolution. By 1869, they had founded the National Woman Suffrage Association as part of a split in the women's movement. In 1890 the split was formally healed when their organisation merged with the rival American Woman Suffrage to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association, with Susan as its key force. In 1876, Susan and Elizabeth began working with Matilda Joslyn Gage on what eventually grew into the six-volume History of Woman Suffrage. The interest of Susan and Elizabeth diverged somewhat in later years but the two remained close friends.

P.S. I will continue my story on Susan B. Anthony in the next post.

Read Part Six HERE

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: LAURA SMITH HAVILAND P/4

 

                                                           Read Part One HERE

In this blog I will continue to focus on a woman named Laura Smith Haviland. She lived from 1808 - 1898.

Laura, who had been involved in hiding slaves at her farm, would personally escort some slaves to Canada, where they were free. Even under the Fugitive Slave Acts, Laura maintained her operation - risking imprisonment and physical harm to herself.

Laura also worked to reunite families separated by slavery. Her work once incited a southern slave owner to put a bounty on her head after he threatened her at gunpoint. Neverthess, Laura's work continued. She travelled to the South on many occasions to aid escaped slaves. Her first trip was made in 1846, in an effort to free the children of fugitive slaves Willis and Elsie Hamilton. The children were still in the possession of their mother's former slave owner, John P. Chester. Chester had learned of the Hamilton's whereabouts and sent slave-catchers after them but they were not succesful in catching them. However, Mr Chester did not forget Laura. His family would continue to haunt her for fifteen years, pursuing her legally in court. Thankfully, the Judge who presided over her case was sympathetic towards abolitionists and delayed her case, thereby making it possible for her to evade legal punishment.

She wrote, "I would not for my right to become instrumental in returning one escaped slave to bondage, " she wrote. "I firmly believe in our Declaration of Independence, that all men are created free and equal, and that no human being has a right to make merchandise of others born in humbler stations, and place them on a level with horses, cattle, and sheep, knocking them off the auction-block to the highest bidder, sundering family ties, and outraging the purests and tenderest feelings of human nature."

Read Part Five HERE

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EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: Laura Smith Haviland P/3

                                                          Read Part One HERE

In this blog I will focus on a woman named Laura Smith Haviland. She lived from 1808 - 1898.

Laura was born in Kitly Township, Ontario, Canada, to devout Quaker parents. In most of her early years, from Canada to New York, Laura's life revolved around the farm. She learned to read and write from her parents, and was an "inquisitive" well-read young girl - even though she lacked a formal education,

Through her reading she became deeply interested in the institution of slavery.

At age 16 she met Charles Haviland, Jr., a young Quaker man with a similar background. They got married one year later, and then moved to Michigan. Surrounded by people of shared values, Laura and others formed the Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society, the first abolitionist group in Michigan. The family also opened up a school, named the Raisin Institute, where Laura taught. Despite the protests of some, Laura insisted that the school be open to all races and religions. It was the first integrated school in Michigan, and Laura reported that the success won over concerned parents, as the students got along so well. 

During that time, the Havilands also hid runaway slaves on their farm. Their home was the first Underground Railroad station in Michigan, and it developed a reputation as a safe haven for former slaves who had escaped fugitive slave catchers.

 

P.S. I will continue Laura Smith Haviland's story in my next blog. 

Read Part Four HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: PHOEBE WORRALL PALMER P/2

                                                                                    Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on an Evangelical Woman named Phoebe Worrall Palmer. She lived from 1807 - 1874.

Phoebe was actually a reluctant preacher who never pursued official church ordination. She simply gave talks. As she obedeyed the Lord, she found herself pioneering alone in a man's world, and as a result, she encountered rude and bitter opposition.

At least, 25,000 people in the northeastern United States, in eastern Canada, and in England, were converted during her meetings that ran from a few days to several weeks.

In her book, "4 Years in the Old World," Phoebe records the events of an extended time of ministry that she and her husband spent in England. In the City of Newcastle, for instance, Phoebe says that the Lord was saving the people by scores daily. God was moving through her minstry in such a powerful manner that she remarks, "Now the entire community seems to acknowledge the revivals power." She notes, "The power of God is sensibly felt to be present to heal."

Despite the fruitfulness of her minstry, Phoebe endured considerable rejection and criticism because she was a woman functioning in public ministry. Perhaps her most vocal critic wrote "Are we so ignorant as to require a sister to travel from conference to conference to instruct us?"

Another male critic suggested that she would have been better engaged in washing dishes then in writing.

Phoebe was also a prolific writer. For example, in 1859 she published "The Promise of the Father," in which she laid out the Biblical case favouring women in ministry. Her influence was extensive, to say the least, and she inspired women leaders such as Catherine Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army.

In 1856, to accommodate Phoebe's popularity and to extend her influence, her husband purchased the top periodical of the day called The Guide to Holiness Magazine. 

Despite all of this, Phoebe Worrall Palmer was "written out of history" and was only recovered in the 1950s by a scholar's research.

Read Part Three HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: PHOEBE WORRALL PALMER P/1

 

In this post I will focus on an evangelical woman named Phoebe Worall Palmer. She lived from 1807 -  1874.

Phoebe has been called the most influential theologian the church has yet produced. She was the key figure in the Holiness Movement of the 1800s. This revival movement spread to every denomination in America and spanned the Atlantic to the British Isles. She was its dominant theologian, most important Bible teacher, most prominent evangelist and most influential writer and editor. Yet she was never ordained and only gave talks.

Before arriving at this time of great fruitfulness, she had to overcome a great deal. For example, as children came along, Phoebe became a doting mother. Totally consumed with parenting, the time she once gave to the Lord, she now gave to her children. What a devasting blow it was, then, when her first two babies died in tragic accidents in her loving home. Filled with unbearable grief, Phoebe found herself on her knees desperate for the answer to her nagging questions, "Why?"

The answer she heard was this; She had devoted herself to her childen but these gifts from God had actually displaced God in her life. They had become idols.

Immediately, she repented. For Phoebe, this meant turning from a life ruled by the things of this world to a life directed by the Holy Spirit and eternal values. With this establised, Phoebe soon gave birth to two more precious children.This time, she kept her priorities aligned with God's will. This meant, among other things, sharing with nannies the care of her children. Obedience to the call resulted in Phoebe becoming one of the most influential Christian leaders of the 1800s.

As already mentioned, Phoebe was the dominant theologian, Bible teacher, most prominent evangelist and most influential writer and editor in the Holines Movement. This influence began in 1840 when she became the leader of the Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness, a meeting that convened at her home. It drew many prominent churchmen of all denominations, and at least four leading Methodist Bishops sat under her teaching in her home.

Phoebe was so in demand that beginning in 1841 and for the next 20 years, she was away from home most of the time. With her popularity, her husband at first presided over the home and vigorously supported her in every possible way. He financed her travels, since she often ministered without receiving an honorarium. In addition, he went into the publishing business to incease her reach as an author, and he closed his medical practice and accompanied Phoebe in her ministry, "carrying her suitcases."

P.S. I wll continue the story of Phoebe Worall Palmer in my next post.

Read Part Two HERE