Rebecca Ballard Chambers (née, Ballard; March 29, 1858 – April 14, 1920) was an American journalist and social reformer. She served as the editor-in-chief of the Bulletin, a temperance movement newspaper in Pennsylvania, and as president of the state's branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).[1][2]
Biography
Rebecca Lavinia Ballard was born in Ohio, March 29, 1858. She was educated at the Putnam Female Seminary of that state.[3]
Chambers first entered reform work during the "crusade" in 1873, being herself an "original crusader", with her mother, who was secretary of the Canton Crusaders.[4] In October 1900, at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, while serving as State President of the Pennsylvania WCTU, she delivered the annual address to the attending delegates.[5] At the time, the state membership totalled 16,607, with 13,000 additional members of young women and the children's union.[6]
She married Samuel Kemble Chambers (d. 1917) in 1877, president of the West Grove National Bank.[7] They had two daughters, Mary and Helen.[3]
Death and legacy
She died at her home in West Grove, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1920.[8] Interment was at the cemetery adjoining the West Grove Presbyterian Church, in West Grove.[9]
Her papers, including her 1875-76 Putnam Seminary book, as well as European travel diaries and ephemera of 1895 and 1900, are held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.[3]
References
- ^ Chase 1899, p. 91, 96.
- ^ Friends Intelligencer 1898, p. 778.
- ^ a b c "Chambers family papers" (PDF). Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
- ^ Crawford, Annette (7 October 1899). "SOM ACTIVITIES OF WOMANKIND". Muncie Evening Press. p. 3. Retrieved 21 February 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "DELEGATES ARRIVE AT UNIONTOWN. STATE CONVENTION OF THE W. C. T. U. BEGINS". The Philadelphia Times. 19 October 1900. p. 4. Retrieved 21 February 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "STATE W. C. T. U. CONVENTION". Wayne County Herald. 5 November 1903. p. 1. Retrieved 21 February 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "CHESTER COUNTY". Reading Times. 11 December 1903. p. 3. Retrieved 21 February 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "CHAMBERS". Newspapers.com. The Philadelphia Inquirer. 17 April 1920. p. 17. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
- ^ "REBECCA B. CHAMBERS". Lancaster Intelligencer. 21 April 1920. p. 3. Retrieved 21 February 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
Attribution
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Chase, Fanny DuBois (1899). Glimpses of a Popular Movement; Or, Sketches of the W.C.T.U. of Pennsylvania. Leeds Press.- This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Friends Intelligencer (1898). Friends Intelligencer: A Religious and Family Journal. Vol. 55 (Public domain ed.). Philadelphia: Friends Intelligencer.
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