Remember that old Helen Reddy song from 1972? Well this story is about some strong women that lived about 100 years before that.
To put it simply, these women believed that alcohol consumption was destructive, and the primary contributing factor to domestic violence, unemployment, poverty, family unity, and disease. And therefore, if it was so bad, then it really should not only be limited but literal made unavailable. That was the thinking behind the women involved in what is called the “Women’s War of 1874.”
This movement started in several eastern states but the heart of the “war” was in Ohio. Charismatic speaker and quack doctor Dio Lewis, who traveled around Ohio in the winter of 1873 speaking on the importance of exercise for women and also the duty of Christian women to combat the sale of alcohol, primed these ladies. He told women to ask local saloon and store keepers to sign pledges that they would cease to sell alcohol. If refused, he instructed the women to hold prayer and song services outside these establishments. Well, this seemed to be all these women needed. It was the spark that set them on fire. Eventually there were marches in communities across the country. It worked and many liquor establishments were driven out of business.
In Troy, Ohio, where some of my ancestors lived, things got going in February of 1874. Many of the town’s women got together at the Methodist Church to formulate their plans and form the Women’s Temperance League of Troy. A week later they met to pray for strength to carry out their mission and formed themselves in to nine groups. Each group was to visit two saloons per day.
These ladies would arrive at each saloon and demand that the owner sign a statement agreeing not to sell alcohol. Well, you can imagine that not many were willing to sign away their livelihood! So….. when refused, the women would circle and begin to pray. That wasn’t all, they came back each day and stood outside the saloons singing and praying, even in the snow and rain. This went on for months!
Many of the tavern owners were Germans whose businesses were often combination grocery stores and saloons. They couldn’t understand why anyone would think that alcohol was sinful. Remember that for generations, alcohol was used as a safe beverage in an era when water quality was often suspect. Even the pilgrims drank alcohol! But this was an age in which alcohol abuse and addiction was growing. In fact, by the end of the 19th century the number of saloons in Chicago equaled the total number of grocery stores, meat markets and dry goods stores combined!
In Troy, Mr. and Mrs. Michaelis, recent Jewish immigrants from Germany, were particularly intolerant of the intrusion upon their place of business. Mrs. Michaelis published a sarcastic notice in the weekly paper informing the ladies that perhaps they should say their prayers in Hebrew, a language more familiar to the Michaelises. But the women still showed up each day to pray and sing outside the Michaelises store, with Mr. and Mrs. Michaelis trying to drown them out by banging pots and pans and ringing bells. But, you know, it worked. After a couple of weeks of harassment, the Michaelises sold their building and moved to Dayton, Ohio, where they opened up a new saloon. Apparently the ladies of Dayton didn’t take part in this crusade against alcohol.
The women’s crusade in Troy had some other successes. The owner of the hotel tore out his bar. Sylvester Bell who owned a grocery/saloon signed the pledge and closed his saloon. Eventually the City Council passes an ordinance abolishing the sale of alcoholic drinks. Of course there were protests by other saloon keepers and a local distiller. But by August of 1874, even though the legality of the town ordinance was still being questioned, the prayer/hymn session were now held only occasionally in the Public Square to recruit new members into what became called the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.
These events of 1874 helped to fuel the movement for women to have the right to vote, which they were granted in 1920 by the 19th Amendment. Maybe they had begun to feel a bit empowered with their successes in the war on alcohol. It also helped set in motion the push for Prohibition, which went into effect in 1920 and didn’t end until 1933.
Whether you agree or disagree with them, you must respect that, in essence, these women felt they were fighting for the preservation of their families. Their appeals mentioned “desolated homes, blasted hopes, ruined lives, and widowed hearts.” And like Gandhi, Martin Luther King and other proponents of non-violent movements they saw that even though they had little political power they weren’t powerless.
One of those ladies of Troy Ohio, who was a “soldier” in the Women’s War of 1874, was my GGG Grandmother, Juliet Neale Riley. At that time, she was 68 years old and a widow. She served as president of Troy’s Women’s Christian Temperance Union for 7 years and lived to be 86. I’ve included the only picture I have of her and she looks like she means business. I hope she’ll forgive me that I do enjoy a glass of wine with dinner and a cold beer on a hot day.
-Mary
“I am woman, hear me roar---- In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend----'cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor----No one's ever gonna keep me down again”
“You can bend but never break me----'cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal----And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer----'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul”
The Ohio Historical Society has some great photos of the “Women’s War of 1874”. I don’t want them to sue me for copyright violations so just click on the link and type “temperance” into their search box.
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