Lella A. Dillard

Lella A. Dillard
Born
Eleanor Augusta Jackson

November 10, 1863
near Greenville, Georgia, U.S.
DiedJanuary 26, 1935
Cochran, Georgia, U.S.
Resting placeLaGrange, Georgia, U.S.
Other names"Lella"
Alma materSouthern Female College
Occupationtemperance movement leader
OrganizationsWoman's Christian Temperance Union
Spouse
Miles H. Dillard
​
​
(m. 1886; died 1898)​
Children4

Lella A. Dillard (née Jackson; November 10, 1863 – January 26, 1935) was an American temperance leader. She served as president of the Georgia State Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.), and afterwards as National Director of the W.C.T.U.'s Peace Department.

Early life and education

Eleanor (nickname, "Lella") Augusta Jackson was born near Greenville, Georgia, November 10, 1863.[1][a] Joseph Baldwin Jackson (1841-1895) and Margaret Julieka Eleanor (nee Park) Jackson. Dillard had one sister, Theney.[2]

She was educated at the Southern Female College, LaGrange, Georgia (A. B. 1881). Her interest in temperance found expression in her graduation thesis, a temperance poem, for which she received the class medal.[1]

Career

For the next five years she was a teacher in the same institution.[1]

"My connection with the W. C. T. U. was preceded by a distinct spiritual impression that the Lord was leading me into larger service. The impression was so deep as to produce a feeling of awe and so burdened me that I confided the secret to a friend." (Lella A. Dillard, 1914)[3]

In 1892,[b] while living at Conyers, Georgia, where her husband was pastor of the church, Dillard joined the W.C.T.U. Returning to LaGrange, where she had lived as a student, she was made president of the local W.C.T.U., retaining that office until 1909, when she removed with her family to Oxford, Georgia.[1]

She served in various State offices, first as superintendent of the Literature Department, sending out thousands upon thousands of pages of literature in 1903. In 1906, it was reported that Dillard sowed Georgia down with temperance information, and at each Convention, she was so well informed on the literature which was best adapted to the State needs that her table, laden with all sorts of leaflets, books, and periodicals bearing upon the temperance reform, became the most popular rendezvous with the attendees. Dillard sowed down the dry counties with facts showing how impossible it was to enforce the law against the sale of liquor and keep a healthful public sentiment on prohibition while liquor was so accessible in wet counties.[3]

She next served as the superintendent of the Purity Department before being transferred to the Young People’s Branch and made college secretary the same year.[1]

In 1909, she was made State vice-president of the Georgia W.C.T.U., and in 1916,[c] she was chosen president, holding the position till 1924.[4] She brought to this position the many months of experience in the work when her chief had been on a leave of absence through ill-health. In defending the W.C.T.U.'s victories of earlier years, Dillard distinguished herself as an able leader.[1] From at least 1917, Dillard used Emory University as her address.[6]

In 1919, while president of the Georgia W.C.T.U., Dillard was also a columnist for the Georgia Bulletin where she praised efforts being made for women's suffrage.[7]

At the conclusion of World War I, Dillard became the National W.C.T.U.'s peace superintendent,[8] and wrote articles on the topics of disarmament and peace.[9] In 1925, she was listed as Georgia W.C.T.U. Recording Secretary and the National Director of the W.C.T.U.'s Peace Department.[10]

Personal life

In 1886, she married the Rev. Miles Hill Dillard (1851-1898),[2] of the North Georgia Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, South.[1] They had four children: Annie, Lella, Fielding, and Miles.[2]

Lella Dillard died in Cochran, Georgia, January 26, 1935 and was buried in LaGrange.[4]

Selected works

  • "Consciousness of World Citizenship Will Bring World Peace" (July 2, 1925)[9]
  • "Seek Justice, Supremacy of Law and Social Harmony in Paths of Peace, President Colidge Urges" (October 24, 1925)[9]
  • "Armistice Day Appropriate for Peace and Arbitration Programs" (November 6, 1926)[9]

Notes

  1. ^ According to FamilySearch.org, Dillard was born in Meriwether, Georgia.[2]
  2. ^ According to Dillard's obituary in The Macon News, she participated in the W.C.T.U. since 1890.[4]
  3. ^ In 1916, Dillard reported that in Georgia, over 2,500 students were reached by the work of the temperance committees organized, by temperance books contributed to libraries, and total abstinence pledges secured.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Cherrington, Ernest Hurst (1925). "DILLARD, LELLA AUGUSTA". Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem. Vol. 2. Westerville, Ohio : American Issue Publishing House. p. 794. Retrieved 29 December 2022 – via Internet Archive. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ a b c d "Eleanor Augusta Jackson". www.familysearch.org. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  3. ^ a b Lula Barnes Ansley (1914). History of the Georgia Woman's Christian Temperance Union from Its Organization, 1883-1907. Gilbert printing Company. p. 190–. OCLC 181796075. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ^ a b c "Obituary, Lella Dillard. Died January 26, 1935, Cochran, Georgia". The Macon News. 26 January 1935. p. 2. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  5. ^ Woman's Christian Temperance Union (November 1916). Report of the Forty-Third Annual Convention of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Indianapolis, Indiana. p. 157. OCLC 39694016.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. ^ The Anti-saloon League Year Book: An Encyclopedia of Facts and Figures Dealing with the Liquor Traffic and the Temperance Reform. Anti-saloon league of America. 1917. p. 354. OCLC 2069469. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. ^ Ann Short Chirhart; Betty Wood, eds. (2009). Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times, Volume 1. University of Georgia Press. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-8203-3336-6. OCLC 1004587813.
  8. ^ Ian Tyrrell (19 March 2014). Woman's World/Woman's Empire: The Woman's Christian Temperance Union in International Perspective, 1880-1930. UNC Press Books. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-4696-2080-0. OCLC 1100910721.
  9. ^ a b c d Kathleen L.. Endres; Kathleen L. Endres; Therese L. Lueck, eds. (1996). Women's Periodicals in the United States: Social and Political Issues. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 401–. ISBN 978-0-313-28632-2. OCLC 1201906741.
  10. ^ Burghard, M. Frances Meadors (13 December 1925). "W.C.T.U. NOTES". The Macon News. p. 16. Retrieved 29 December 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.