Sarah Visanska (July 16, 1870 – February 28, 1926) was an American clubwoman, president of the
South Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs
The South Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs (SCFWC) is a woman's club founded in 1898. The name was changed to the General Federation of Women's Clubs of South Carolina (GFWC-SC) in 1990. In 1899 the SCFWC became a member of the General Federa ...
from 1910 to 1912.
Early life and education
Sarah Fredericka Bentschner was born 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 ...
in 1870, the daughter of David and Hannah Jacobi Bentschner. Her German-born father owned a men's clothing store. She graduated from
Charleston Female Seminary
The Charlestown Female Seminary, was a private Christian school for wealthy white girls in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Opened in 1830, the female seminary was the second school in Charlestown for young women.
Background
The establ ...
in 1889.
Club work
Sarah Visanska was a founder and first president of the Charleston section of the
National Council of Jewish Women. She spent six years as president of the Charleston Civic Club, and two years as president of the South Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs. From these and other posts in women-run organizations, she was active in advocating women's suffrage in South Carolina, and for issues such as early childhood education. She was also a member of the Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society, the Society for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, the Charleston Female Seminary Alumnae Association, the Charleston Guild of Arts and Crafts, and the Roper Hospital Auxiliary. She was one of South Carolina's delegates to the
General Federation of Women's Clubs national meeting in St. Louis in 1904.
While she was president of the Kelly Kindergarten Association, the first free kindergarten in the American South opened in Charleston. She was also active in the establishment of the first public playground in South Carolina.
[Solomon Breibart]
''Explorations in Charleston's Jewish History''
(History Press 2005): 88-89.
During World War I she organized Charleston's Women's Division of the Red Cross, and the Community Club for Enlisted Men, and worked especially on wartime food conservation efforts.
Personal life
Sarah Bentschner married businessman Julius Marion Visanska in 1895. He bought a lot of land in 1919 and in 1920 they built a new house on East Battery Street in Charleston on land historically associated with
Fort Mechanic.
[Fort Mechanic]
Halseymap.com, Charleston Historic Society, Retrieved 4 June 2016 She died in 1926, age 55;
["Woman's Club News: Tribute to Mrs. Visanska"]
''Gaffney Ledger'' (March 9, 1926): 3. via Newspapers.com her remains were interred at the
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Cemetery in Charleston, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the American South.
Visanska was posthumously elected to the Charleston Federation of Women's Clubs Hall of Fame.
The 1920 Julius M. Visanska House is a historic yellow brick mansion on
East Battery Street in Charleston.
[Katy Stech]
"Historic Homes Still Fetch Buyers"
''Post and Courier'' (May 14, 2009).
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Visanska, Sarah
1870 births
1926 deaths
American people of German-Jewish descent
American women in World War I
Burials at Coming Street Cemetery
Clubwomen
Jewish educators
Jewish suffragists
People from Charleston, South Carolina
Jewish Confederates
Jews from South Carolina