Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in Ozark County fought the ‘Woman’s Holy War’ from 1890s to 1960s
Hatchet granny Carry Nation was WCTU's most radical and widely known member. She became known as "hatchet granny" because she used a hatchet to smash liquor bottles and destroy drinking establishments.
WCTU attracted women from across the country The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in November 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio. After Frances Willard took over leadership in 1879, the WCTU became one of the largest and most influential women’s groups of the 19th century by expanding its platform to campaign for labor laws, prison reform and suffrage. This photo from the Missouri State Historical Society shows women attending the 1914 Missouri WCTU conference in Springfield.
Members of the WCTU signed a pledge card promising their loyalty to the cause. This one from 1877 says: "I hereby solemnly Promise, God Helping Me, to abstain from all Distilled, Fermented and Malt Liquors, including Wine, Beer and Cider, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of, and traffic in, the same."
Viola Hicks wrote letters to the Douglas County Herald complaining about a series of beer ads such as this one from Thursday, October 15, 1964.
The cover of the National Youth Temperance Education Week brochure, published April 23, 1967, urges young people to climb the mountain of self understanding, service to God and man and scholarship. It urges them to “cast aside false thrills” of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.
WCTU members could purchase life memberships for themselves or their loved ones for $25.
Kitty Ledbetter’s grandparents, Clarence and Viola Hicks, owned the Y Store in Wasola in the 1960s. Family members pictured above in front of the store is, from left. front row: Norman "Frankie" Hicks, Treena Hicks, Ava Cudworth. Second row: Eva Hicks, Ruth Hicks Mahan, Clarence Hicks, Viola Hicks, Elsie Hicks Cudworth. Top row: Robert Hicks (holding Terry Hicks), Max Mahan, Amos Ledbetter, Marian Joy Hicks Ledbetter and Paul Cudworth.
Clarence and Viola Hicks, in 1953.
Campaigns for total abstinence from alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs may seem out of step with today’s society, especially now that recreational marijuana is legal. However, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is still very much alive after 150 years of activism. Missouri no longer has a chapter, but 27 states have active memberships including our neighbors in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Temperance societies began promoting alcohol reform as early as the 1820s. By the end of the 19th century it was a powerful movement in women’s history. It drew many women out of the home and into the public sphere for the first time. They became authoritative, spiritual voices in political issues and contributed to the campaign for women’s right to vote.
The ‘hatchet granny’ and Frances Willard
The first WCTU meeting occurred in 1873, and its first annual convention was in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1874.
One of WCTU’s most radical reformers was Missourian Carry A. Nation , who was born as Carrie but changed the spelling of her name in 1903 to Carry in order to represent her lifelong goal, to “carry a nation for prohibition.” Many people called her “hatchet granny” because of her tendency to smash saloons with a hatchet. She was arrested dozens of times in multiple states for what she called “hatchetations.” The Nation published a biweekly newsletter titled The Smasher’s Mail and a newspaper, The Hatchet.
Frances Willard became the union’s president in 1879 and fostered the growth of local chapters. She wrote many straight-talking pamphlets and books about the organization. In her 1884 volume “Woman and Temperance,” Willard wrote an entire chapter titled “How to organize a W.C.T.U.” with step-by-step instructions on where to find new members and the proper attitude in approaching them.
Willard warned groups about what to expect: “First, don’t take too much for granted. Don’t think because these are women of general intelligence and Christian experience they are also clear in their respective minds as to the history, mystery and methods of the W.C.T.U. On that subject you had better take it for granted they are outside barbarians.”
Women who came to meetings for the first time would not understand the issues at hand, according to Willard: “You are safe in assuming that your group of good women have minds as vacant as a thimble, and about as much expanded on the scope and working and laws of the W.C.T.U. Their interest is general, not specific; they have come on purpose to find out what it is your business (not theirs) to know.”
The WCTU comes to Bakersfield
The first WCTU chapter in Missouri was in Hannibal in 1882. The first Missouri state convention met in Carthage in 1886 with 200 delegates and Frances Willard in attendance. As a result of Willard’s firm activism, guidance and teaching, the WCTU became the largest organization of women in the world by 1890.
Bakersfield women apparently started the first chapter in Ozark County. On Jan. 8, 1891, the Ozark County News announced WCTU member meetings at 2 p.m. every Saturday afternoon at the Bakersfield school house. The meetings discussed plans for carrying out their mission.
The Bakersfield group also held meetings for the general public every fourth Sunday evening “at early candle light.” A local church usually provided “devotional exercises” to inspire purity and Christian values.
The objective of the public meetings was to teach the dangers of alcohol and tobacco and encourage people to sign a pledge of abstinence: “Some of our best citizens signed the pledge, after being entertained with speaking by some of the honoraries, essays by two of the married ladies, and select reading by the young ladies – music after each speech and recitation.”
A white ribbon worn over the heart demonstrated commitment to temperance and signified purity and peace.
The Bakersfield WCTU occasionally sponsored special events such as a New Year’s oyster supper, described as “most enjoyable” of all past meetings. Members brought “beautiful cakes trimmed with candies,” and Mrs. C. Ferguson brought a cake decorated with the letters WCTU.
A woman dressed as “old grandmother W.C.T.U.” told the story of man from creation to the present, no doubt with a heavy message about abstinence. “Bro. Epley,” Samuel Derrick, Edward Shook, and James M. Smith also spoke at the event.
Gainesville opens a chapter
In May 1891, Ozark County WCTU president Mattie Tyree and Bakersfield members Lizzie Smith, Effie Lester, Susie Nicholas, Rachel Tyree and Mattie Smith started a Gainesville chapter.
The Ozark County News reported that Gainesville’s organizational WCTU meeting was “a very enjoyable and interesting event. The W. C. T. U. captured 20 members, and as the Bakersfield girls and ‘rustlers’ in a good cause, we are hearing of a number of deserters from the ranks of King Alcohol to-day. Three cheers for the girls.”
Weekly articles in the News, probably contributed by WCTU’s publicity chairperson, updated readers on the Gainesville chapter’s Saturday evening meetings.
A “parlor meeting” at the home of Mrs. J. R. Reed was promised for Saturday, July 28, 1900. On Sept. 13, Mrs. H. C. Conkin offered the devotional services and Sadie Jones delivered a paper on the “Importance of Parlor Work of the W. C. T. U.” I assume these meetings occurred at member homes, rather than their regular locations at schools or churches.
Ozark County chapter members appear less outspoken than some in other parts of the country. In 1905, an unnamed but prominent national WCTU member publicly lashed out at former president Grover Cleveland when he criticized women’s suffrage. She reportedly said: “I have no time to speak of things that are dead. My thought is for that which lives and progresses. Mr. Cleveland is a fossil. His views are imbecile.”
The WCTU was influential in building support for the 18th Amendment, which ratified the prohibition of alcohol in the United States in 1919. WCTU members felt betrayed by President Franklin Roosevelt when the 18th Amendment was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.
Wasola’s WCTU chapter
My grandmother, Viola Byerley Hicks, became very active in the Wasola WCTU group from the 1940s until the late 1960s. She and my grandfather owned the Y Store at the “Y” intersection of Highways 5 and 95. I don’t know how she ever managed to work full time in the store while participating in a stream of activities for the WCTU. Luckily, only one of her five children, Norman “Frankie” Hicks, was still living at home when she began working for the union.
A typical Sunday meeting in Wasola would begin at 11 a.m. with a sermon and lunch at the Oak Grove Church. At 1:30 p.m., the group offered musical and devotional presentations. “Department hour” began at 2 p.m., featuring progress reports from members responsible for specific tasks.
A listing of group officers and their volunteer positions gives us a sense of a typical local chapter’s activities and the cooperative nature of WCTU work: Mary Oliver, missions; Lula Hicks, Bible in the public school; Essie Smith, speech contest; Beatrice Smith, Loyal Temperance Legion; Mary Worthy, Temperance in the Sunday school and “Our Honored Girls”; Lillian Clayton, White Ribbon recruits; Viola Hicks, advertisement program and the Mile of Quarters fundraising event; Ray Carmickle, literature distribution.
The Douglas County Herald gave a full report on the Wasola WCTU’s speech contest and program in October 1947, led by my great-aunt, Lula Hicks. After prayer and music, member presentations began, from what appears to be half the population of Wasola (including many of my maternal relatives):
“Telephone Talk,” Theta Beason, Viola Hicks, Zelma Daniel, and Essie Smith;
“Johnny Barleycorn,” Billy Ann Denney;
“The Better Way,” Genevieve Snelson;
“Ten Little School Boys,” Maxine Sievert;
“Two Bottles Argue,” Doris Ann Hicks;
“The School Boy Patrol,” Frankie Hicks;
“How Much is Moderate,” Doin Hicks, Troy Lee Hicks, Wanda Snelson, Lillian Clayton;
“Grace Announced,” Bettie Worthey;
“Questions and Answers,” Charlotte Snelson, Wilda Lou Sherrill.
Estimated attendance at these functions might be up to 50 people.
Granny’s work and the WCTU today
Granny served in many capacities during her years of commitment to the organization. She was president of the Ozark County WCTU, state director of the Youth Temperance Council and state recording secretary. Her busy life included writing many letters to members throughout Missouri.
She organized guest lectures by state and regional representatives, traveled to state conventions, participated in workshops at the WCTU world headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, and hosted local appearances of officials such as state president B. Blanche Butts-Runion.
Granny kept yearly records of her expenses and activities for the union. As director of the Youth Temperance Council she sent brochures for student distribution at Ava and Gainesville high schools and Wasola grade school in 1962-1963. The following year she sent leaflets and wrote letters to congressmen, members of regional churches and newspapers, including a letter of protest to the Douglas County Herald for a series of beer ads.
When the 81st annual WCTU state conference came to Springfield in 1963, my grandmother participated and hosted a dinner at her home in Wasola for WCTU’s state president Mrs. Lon Nielson of Aurora and state recording secretary Mrs. Roger Walwark, Jr., of St. Louis.
By the 1970s time was running out for Granny but not for WCTU.
Today’s WCTU members are busy organizing their 150th National Convention in August. The organization is now concerned with a list of issues well beyond alcohol and tobacco, such as abortion, sexual purity, public worship, traditional marriage and gambling.
In spite of its expanded list of concerns, the current WCTU Pledge remains faithful to its 19th-century roots: “I hereby solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors, including wine, beer, and hard cider, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same.”