Matilda Gilruth Carpenter
American activist / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Matilda Gilruth Carpenter (1831–1923) was a prominent member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, known for leading the crusade against alcohol sales in Ohio in 1874.
Matilda Gilruth Carpenter | |
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Born | Matilda Gilruth (1831-08-12)August 12, 1831[1] |
Died | March 1923 (1923-04) (aged 91) |
Other names | Mrs. George Carpenter |
Carpenter is best remembered as the leader of the Woman's Crusade at Washington Court House, Ohio, during which women prayed in local bars saloons in protest against alcohol use.[2] The crusade began in 1870,[3] and Carpenter provided guidance to town's interesed in the movement.[4] On Christmas Day in 1874 Carpenter led the women into saloons and collected pledges from businesses that they would stop the sale of liquor.[5]: 30
1n 1893, she published The Crusade: Its Origin and Development at Washington Court House and Its Results, a detailed account of the movement,[6] which was praised by Marshall Jay Williams of the Ohio Supreme Court and others.[7] Carpenter was also an associate and correspondent of Annie Turner Wittenmyer.[8][9]
In 1920 prohibition in the United States was enacted, by which time Carpenter was 88 years old and she enthusiastically shared her remembrances of the crusade that she led in 1873.[10]