| Hannah Johnston Bailey | |
|---|---|
 Hannah J. Bailey, "A Woman of the Century", from an 1897 publication. | |
| Born | Hannah Clark Johnston (1839-07-05)July 5, 1839 Cornwall, New York |
| Died | October 23, 1923(1923-10-23) (aged 84) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Teacher |
| Political party | Women's Christian Temperance Union Woman's Peace Party |
| Spouse |
Moses Bailey
(m. 1868; died 1882) |
| Children | 1 |
Hannah Johnston Bailey (July 5, 1839 – October 23, 1923) was an American Quaker teacher, pacifist, activist, and advocate for peace, temperance, and women's suffrage.
Early life
Hannah Clark Johnston was born in Cornwall, New York, in the Hudson Valley, the daughter of David Johnston and Letitia Clark Johnston. Her parents were Quakers; her father was a tanner and a farmer. She was the eldest of eleven children. Although they were Quakers, two of her younger brothers fought in the American Civil War, and one died, cementing for Hannah Johnston a commitment to peace.
Career
Bailey taught school in Plattekill, New York from 1858 to 1867. She ran her late husband's businesses, a factory producing oilcloth and a carpet store, from 1882 until 1889, and 1891, respectively.
In 1883, she joined the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), and worked with Lillian M. N. Stevens to establish a reformatory for women in Maine. She represented Maine at the National Conference of Charities and Correction. In 1887, she became head of the WCTU's new Department of Peace and Arbitration, and through the organization worked to oppose war and violence in all forms, including capital punishment, lynching, prizefighting, military conscription, even toy soldiers and military drills in schools. In 1898 she was elected president of the Woman's Temperance Publishing Association, the publishing arm of the WCTU, succeeding Matilda Carse. She also served as business manager.
She was editor and publisher of two WCTU peace periodicals, Pacific Banner and Acorn (intended for young readers), from her home in Winthrop, Maine. She retired from her WCTU posts in 1916, as World War I began and the WCTU endorsed American involvement.
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From 1891 to 1899, she was president of the Maine Woman Suffrage Association, and from 1895 to 1899 she served as treasurer of the National Council of Women. She was also a member of the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA). In 1915 she joined the Woman's Peace Party, and was a member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom at the end of her life.
Her many other reform interests included the influence of militarism on children, reform of women's prisons, the abolition of capital punishment, and women's missionary work. Bailey also served as an officer of the Universal Peace Union.
Bailey wrote a biography of her late husband, Reminiscences of a Christian Life (1885).
Personal life
Hannah Clark Johnson married Moses Bailey in 1868, as his second wife. They had one child, Moses Melvin Bailey, born in 1869. She was widowed when her husband died in 1882, after a long illness. She died in Portland, Maine in 1923, aged 84. She is buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Winthrop, Maine.
Her papers are archived in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.
Selected works
- Reminiscences of a Christian Life (1885)
References
- Frank L. Byrne, "Hannah Johnston Bailey" in Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, Paul S. Boyer, eds., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 3 (Harvard University Press 1971): 83-85. ISBN 9780674627345
- Yoko Nishimura, Educating Women for Peace: The Life and Work of Hannah Johnston Bailey and Katherine Devereux Blake in the Late Nineteenth Century and the Early Twentieth Century Women's Peace Movement (PhD diss., University at Buffalo 2006); accessed July 11, 2020.
- Mary Ashton Rice Livermore and Frances Willard, eds., American women: fifteen hundred biographies with over 1,400 portraits (Mast, Crowell, and Kirkpatrick 1897): pg. 44.
- "Mrs. Carse Resigns" Inter Ocean (November 19, 1898): 3. via Newspapers.com
- "Collection: Hannah J. Bailey Papers | Archives & Manuscripts". archives.tricolib.brynmawr.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
- ^ Craig, John M. (1995). "Hannah Johnston Bailey: Publicist for Peace". Quaker History. 84 (1): 3–16. doi:10.1353/qkh.1995.0016. JSTOR 41947745. S2CID 161450773.
- ^ Hannah J. Bailey Papers, Swarthmore College Peace Collection; accessed July 11, 2020.
- Hannah J. Bailey, Reminiscences of a Christian Life (Hoyt, Fogg, & Donham 1885).
- "Temperance Leader Dies", Evening News (October 25, 1923): 3. via Newspapers.com
External links
Works related to Woman of the Century/Hannah J. Bailey at Wikisource- The Hannah J. Bailey Papers held at the Swarthmore College Peace Collection
- Much of the periodicals edited by Hannah J. Bailey have been digitized and are available at the In Her Own Right project
