Sallie Flournoy Moore Chapin (March 30, 1830 - April 19, 1896) was an American author and temperance worker. She was affiliated with the

Ladies' Memorial Association A Ladies' Memorial Association (LMA) is a type of organization for women that sprang up all over the American South in the years after the American Civil War. Typically, these were organizations by and for women, whose goal was to raise monument ...

, Soldiers' Relief Society, Ladies' Auxiliary Christian Association,

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 ...

(W.C.T.U.), and the Woman's Press Association of the South.

Early life

Sarah ("Sallie") Flournoy Moore was born on March 30, 1830, in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. Her maternal ancestors, Elizabeth Martha Vigneron Simons, were Huguenots, who came to the Colonies in 1685 and settled in Rhode Island. Her two great-grandfathers, Vigneron and Tousager, were killed in the Revolutionary War. On her father's side, George Washington Moore, the origins were Scots from Northern Ireland. Her father was a Methodist minister of independent means but lost his home in Charleston fire of 1838, and he moved to the northern part of the State. Moore's father died in the pulpit at a union camp meeting, during the Civil War, after receiving a dispatch announcing the death of his son in a battle. Sallie Moore's sister, Georgia, was a writer and married Felix G. De Fontaine, a South Carolina journalist. Moore was reared and educated in

Cokesbury, South Carolina Cokesbury is a census-designated place (CDP) in Greenwood County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 215 at the 2010 census, down from 279 in 2000. History The name "Cokesbury" is a combination of the names of two prominent bishop ...

, where she attended one of the best academy in the state.

Career

From early childhood she showed a fondness and talent for authorship. Chapin wrote much, but she published only one book, ''Fitzhugh St. Clair, the South Carolina Rebel Boy; or, It Is No Crime to Be Born a Gentleman'' (1872), dedicated to the children of the Confederacy. The war broke her family fortune: Leonard Chapin enlisted in the Fifth South Carolina Cavalry in 1861 and he served until October 1864, when he was wounded. He died in 1879 after the conflict ended. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, Sallie Chapin was a supporter of the Confederacy; she was president of the Soldiers' Relief Society and of the Ladies' Auxiliary Christian Association and worked day and night in the hospitals. After the war, she was active in the Ladies' Memorial Association and as president of the Ladies' Christian Association she was instrumental in saving the local

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

from extinction. After attending a convention at

Ocean Grove, New Jersey Ocean Grove is a unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Neptune Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States.Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where she made a reply to the address of welcome on behalf of the South, ending with a poem setting forth the intentions of the W.C.T.U. She believed in prohibition as the remedy for intemperance, and was recognized as both a writer and conversationalist. In the Chicago W.C.T.U. convention, in 1882, when the Prohibition Home Protection Party was formed, she was made a member of the executive committee, and by pen and voice she popularized that movement in the South. She was at one time president of the Woman's Press Association of the South. In 1888 she campaigned to open a State Industrial School for Girls in South Carolina; her effort led to the opening of the South Carolina Industrial and Winthrop Normal College, later

Winthrop University Winthrop University is a public university in Rock Hill, South Carolina. It was founded in 1886 by David Bancroft Johnson, who served as the superintendent of Columbia, South Carolina, schools. He received a grant from Robert Charles Winthrop, ...

. At first against

Women's suffrage in the United States In the 1700's to early 1800's New Jersey did allow Women the right to vote before the passing of the 19th Amendment, but in 1807 the state restricted the right to vote to "...tax-paying, white male citizens..." Women's legal right to vote w ...

, by 1891 she changed her position and avowed her support. In 1895, already burdened by a failing health, Chapin sent a petition to the State Constitutional Convention to raise the statutory age of consent for women to eighteen years (it was at the time set to ten years). The new constitution raised the age of consent to sixteen years.

Personal life

On August 12, 1847, Sallie Moore married Leonard Chapin while she was still a girl, and her married life was singularly happy. Her husband, of a prominent family of

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

, was one of the founders of

of Charleston, and one of its chief officers for years. The Chapins adopted Elizabeth Vigneron, the daughter of Sallie Chapin's brother, James O.A. Moore. They also adopted George Mendenhall Chapin; ''George & Son'', edited by Nancy Lu Wilson Rose in 2009, are the letters, poetry and diary of George Mendenhall Chapin and describes the difficult relationship with his adoptive mother, Sallie Chapin. George's son, Thurston Adger Wilson, was to become a leading figure in the North Carolina labor movement of the 1920s and 1930s. Sallie Chapin died on April 19, 1896. Her funeral was held at the Huguenot Church in Charleston and she was buried beside her husband in the

Magnolia Cemetery (Charleston, South Carolina) Magnolia Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina. The first board for the cemetery was assembled in 1849 with Edward C. Jones as the architect. It was dedicated in 1850; Charles Fraser delivered the dedication address ...

Legacy

The National Woman's Christian Temperance Union erected a granite monument over her grave at Magnolia Cemetery and in 1904 a drinking fountain at a busy intersection in Charleston was set up in her memory.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chapin, Sallie F. 1830 births 1896 deaths American temperance activists Woman's Christian Temperance Union people Writers from Charleston, South Carolina People from Cokesbury, South Carolina 19th-century American non-fiction writers 19th-century American women writers American women non-fiction writers Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century Burials at Magnolia Cemetery (Charleston, South Carolina)