Margaret Ashmore Sudduth (June 29, 1859 – September 21, 1957) was an American educator, editor, and temperance advocate. She was the senior editor upon the staff of the
Woman's Temperance Publishing Association
The Woman's Temperance Publishing Association (WTPA) was a non-commercial publisher of Temperance movement, temperance literature. Established in 1879 in Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana during the national convention of the Woman's Christian T ...
, overseeing ''The Union Signal''.
Sudduth was called in July 1887 to a position as editor of ''Oak and Ivy Leaf'', organ of the Young
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 ...
(Y. W. C. T. U.), and soon became associate editor of ''
The Union Signal
''The Union Signal'' (formerly, ''The Woman's Temperance Union'', ''Our Union'') is a defunct American newspaper, established in 1883 in Chicago, Illinois. Focused on temperance, it was the organ of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a ...
'' also. In 1892, on her appointment as managing editor of ''The Union Signal'', she resigned her connection with the young woman's paper.
Early life and education
Margaret Ashmore Sudduth was born on a farm in
Mason County, Illinois
Mason County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 14,666. Its county seat is Havana. The county is named in honor of George Mason, a member of the Virginia legislature who campaigned f ...
, June 29, 1959. Her parents were Dr. James McCreary Sudduth (1827–1895) and Amanda Elizabeth Sudduth (1828–1898). She had two siblings, a brother, Dr. William Xavier Sudduth, and a sister,
Alice Sudduth Byerly
Alice Sudduth Byerly (June 18, 1855 – February 19, 1904) was an American temperance philanthropist. For several years, she was National Superintendent of the Flower Mission Department of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
Early years ...
. Her father had built up an extensive practice in Central Illinois before giving up the practice of medicine to become a banker and stock raiser.
Sudduth received a B.S. degree in 1880 from
Illinois Wesleyan University
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford ...
.
Career
During the year 1880, she was assistant principal of the high school at
Dwight, Illinois
Dwight is a village located mainly in Livingston County, Illinois, with a small portion in Grundy County. The population was 4,032 at the 2020 census. Dwight contains an original stretch of U.S. Route 66, and from 1892 until 2016 continuously ...
, and in the fall of 1881, she entered
Wellesley College for a teacher's special course of literature and history, where she remained but a few months, being compelled to give up study on account of failing eyesight. Having traveled extensively with members of her family in the South and West, she went abroad in May, 1886, and spent fourteen months in Europe, traveling through England, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, making special study of the German language.
Interested since before her graduation in the
temperance movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
, she spent considerable time while abroad in investigating the cause of drunkenness in the countries visited, and as a special correspondent to
Bloomington, Illinois papers and the ''Union Signal'', she displayed literary ability. In 1887, upon her return to the United States, she accepted the editorship of the ''Oak and Ivy Leaf'', a publication projected by
Mary Allen West.
In 1890, her name first appeared as an editor of the ''Union Signal'', to which her services had been rendered from the time of her arrival in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, and in January, 1892, she assumed the managing editorship, where her journalistic ability and cultured mental and literary qualifications were called into requisition.
Death
Margaret Ashmore Sudduth died in
Los Angeles County, California, September 21, 1957, and was buried at
Olivewood Memorial Park,
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...
.
References
Attribution
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Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sudduth, Margaret Ashmore
1859 births
1957 deaths
People from Mason County, Illinois
Writers from Illinois
Educators from Illinois
American women educators
Woman's Christian Temperance Union people
19th-century American newspaper editors
Women newspaper editors
Illinois Wesleyan University alumni
Wellesley College alumni
19th-century women writers
Burials at Olivewood Memorial Park
19th-century American women