Emily Pitts Stevens
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Emily Pitts Stevens (, Pitts; 1841/44 – September 13, 1906) was an American educator,
temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
activist, and early
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suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
. She was the editor and publisher of ''The Pioneer'', the first women’s suffrage journal in the
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, and was a co-founder of the
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Woman Suffrage Association. In addition, she was a businesswoman, teacher, administrator, lecturer, and a founder of women's organizations. In San Francisco, Stevens started an evening school for working girls, and instituted the Seaman's League. After the organization of the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...
(WCTU) in California, she labored on its behalf. She also contributed to the columns of various newspapers, and lectured. Stevens died in 1906.


Early life

Emily A. Pitts was born in New York in 1841.


Career

Stevens removed to San Francisco, in 1865, where she started a popular and successful evening school for working girls, by permission of the superintendent of the city schools. During the first year, the number of students grew to 150. Stevens purchased the ''California Sunday Mercury'' and re-purposed it to be the first written suffrage periodical in the Pacific states. Serving as editor and publisher, she renamed it multiple times, the last being ''The Pioneer'', a woman's paper produced entirely by women, on the basis of equal pay for equal work. This paper sought equal justice for
Laura Fair Laura D. Fair (née Laura Ann Hunt; 1837–1919) was an American murderer, whose death sentence was overturned. Her court case is notable due to her gender and the legal case framed around her gender; it received much attention in the press, and s ...
, who was standing trial on a charge of killing her lover. During the period of 1865 to 1870, she was associated with the all-woman Women’s Cooperative Printing Union, and was the founder of the Woman’s Publishing Company. She was aided by prominent men in placing the stock of the company, and through it, she exercised great influence in advancing the cause of woman in California. Ill-health forced her to suspend the paper. Stevens was a gifted orator, and known throughout California as an earnest temperance worker. She led in the defeat of the "Holland bill", which dealt with licensed prostitution in California. She lectured for three years for the Good Templars and was for two years grand vice-templar, always maintaining a full treasury and increasing the membership. In 1874, she was elected Grand Conductor of the California Grand Lodge of the Sons of Temperance. After the organization of the WCTU in California, she labored earnestly in that society. She contributed to the columns of the ''Bulletin'', ''Pharos'', and ''Pacific Ensign'', and served as State lecturer. She joined the Prohibition Party in 1882, and she led the movement, in 1888, to induce the WCTU to endorse that party. In 1890, Steven attended the national WCTU convention in
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as a delegate, and became one of the national organizers. In the following year, at the request of the president of the
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WCTU, Stevens was detailed for work in that state, and left San Francisco, early in May. Beginning in
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, she spent 44 days in Nevada. During this time, she traveled 1,000 miles, much of it through desert and sparsely populated locales. Owing to the peculiar conditions in the state, Stevens was sometimes obliged to pay for the user of a church and where no Unions existed, she had hotel bills, railroad, and hotel expenses. Stevens gave 44 addresses; fourteen women's and ten children's meetings were held; six Unions were visited and helped, and five Unions were organized. Stevens was active in the benevolent work done in the Silver Star House, in sewing-schools and in various societies. In 1874, she instituted the Seamen's League in San Francisco, with her husband as president and herself an officer. In 1875, the old seamen's hospital was donated by
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to carry on the work, and the institution became firmly established.


Personal life

Stevens was a member of the Presbyterian Church. She married railroad secretary Augustus A. Stevens, before 1870. In 1872, the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
'' made an implied comment that Stevens had been married previously, ergo her
maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also use ...
may not have been Pitts. She died 13 September 1906, age 65, from a cerebral hemorrhage.


Notes


References


Attribution

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Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Emily Pitts 1841 births 1906 deaths 19th-century American non-fiction writers 19th-century American women writers 19th-century American newspaper editors 19th-century American women educators 19th-century American educators 19th-century American businesspeople Woman's Christian Temperance Union people American temperance activists American magazine publishers (people) Writers from New York (state) People from San Francisco American suffragists Prohibition Party Educators from California Writers from California American women non-fiction writers Women newspaper editors Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century