Margaret Dye Ellis
Born
Margaret B. Dye

September 30, 1845
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedJuly 13, 1925 (1925-07-14) (aged 79)
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupations
  • Social reformer
  • lobbyist
  • correspondent
Years active1873–1918
OrganizationWoman's Christian Temperance Union
Known for
Notable work"Our Washington Letter" in The Union Signal
Spouse
Jonathan T. Ellis
​
​
(m. 1865⁠–⁠1907)​
Children4

Margaret Dye Ellis (née Dye; September 30, 1845 – July 13, 1925) was an American social reformer, lobbyist, and correspondent active in the temperance movement.[1][2] She served as Superintendent, Legislation, for the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.). in Washington, D.C. for 17 years, looking after reform measures in Congress. Throughout those years, she contributed to the W.C.T.U.'s organ, The Union Signal, a weekly, "Our Washington Letter". She favored woman suffrage and was a social purity activist.[3] Ellis, aided by local and State unions, helped greatly in securing the passage of many reform laws.[4]

Early life and education

Margaret B. Dye was born in New York City, September 30, 1845.[1] Her parents were Clarkson Dye (1909-1865) and Margaret (McLean) Dye (1816-1867).[5] Her parents, who were members of the American Anti-Slavery Society, were also associated with benevolent and philanthropic endeavors.[6] Margaret had three older siblings, Lavinus, William and Elizabeth, as well as three younger siblings, Eliza, Mortimer, and Garrett.[7]

She was educated in the public schools of New York City and at the Van Norman Institute for Young Ladies (New York).[1]

Career

It was in 1873 in Alameda, California that news of the temperance cause reached Ellis. Her home responsibilities kept her busy, her husband and children claiming all her attention. Aroused by the Women's Crusade news from Ohio, the Alameda women of all denominations came together and united in a movement to bring about better conditions in that state.[6][8]

Returning to New Jersey in 1876, she identified herself with the W.C.T.U. of that state.[6] She was appointed State Corresponding Secretary of the W.C.T.U. in 1880, filling that position until 1895.[1] At Mt. Tabor, where Ellis made her first public lecture on the temperance question in 1887, she was a familiar figure among the summer residents, as she was also in Asbury Park, having made many addresses at both places, especially during her years of service as New Jersey state secretary of the W.C.T.U.[9]

1900

Frances Willard requested of Ellis that she undertake the legislative work in Washington, D.C.. When Ellis replied, "I am unequal to the task", Willard exclaimed, "Margaret, I will not listen to any refusal". Ellis arrived in Washington, D.C., in 1895, having been elected National W.C.T.U. superintendent of Legislation and appointed National W.C.T.U. Legislative representative.[8] She retained that position for over twenty years. From the time of her first enlistment in the cause, and especially during her residence in New Jersey and Washington, Ellis did much service on the platform, taking part in numerous campaigns, assisting in the evangelistic movements of the W.C.T.U., and specializing on the legal features of the situation in each particular State. While serving as Legislative Superintendent, she attended the sessions of Congress and numerous committee meetings of the House of Representatives and Senate, where reform measures were under consideration, presenting petitions or filing remonstrances in connection with matters vital to the home and to the well-being of society.[1]

Ellis did much platform work, also, having spoken at Chautauquas and conventions in nearly every state in the union.[6] She wrote a weekly "Our Washington Letter"[8] for the W.C.T.U.'s official organ, The Union Signal. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.),[10] Woman's Welfare Department of the Civic League, Consumers' League, and the Woman's Suffrage League.[5]

(undated)

In 1910, Ellis was a delegate to the World's W.C.T.U. convention in Glasgow, Scotland.[8] In the following year, she was appointed by President William Howard Taft as one of the two women delegates to the Thirteenth International Congress on Alcoholism held at The Hague, Holland, September 1911, an official certificate from the department of state making her a representative of this government.[5]

At the National W.C.T.U. convention held in 1918, Ellis made her 23, and final annual report. That year, she was succeeded by Lenna Lowe Yost, of West Virginia.[8] Ellis' retirement was precipitated by failing health;[9] thereafter, she became an emeritus member of the W.C.T.U.[1]

Personal life

In 1865, she married Jonathan T. Ellis (1834-1907),[7] a merchant of New York,[1][lower-alpha 1] but a native of Maine. They had four children.[6]

After a long illness, she died in Newark, New Jersey, July 13, 1925.[9]

Selected works

  • The canteen : a summary of facts, 190? (Text)
  • Constitution for the proposed state of New Mexico : statements of Hon. William J. Mills, governor of New Mexico, Hon. Henry W. Blair, Washington, D.C., Mrs. Margaret Dye Ellis, Washington, D.C., Hon. S.E. Nicholson, Washington, D.C. : February 17 and 19, 1911 by United States, 1911

Notes

  1. ↑ According to Leonard (1914), the marriage occurred in 1863.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cherrington, Ernest Hurst (1926). Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem. Vol. 3. American Issue Publishing Company. p. 906. Retrieved 20 August 2022 – via Internet Archive. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ↑ Hamm, Richard F. (9 November 2000). Shaping the Eighteenth Amendment: Temperance Reform, Legal Culture, and the Polity, 1880-1920. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 1783. ISBN 978-0-8078-6187-5. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  3. ↑ Stoler, Ann Laura (5 May 2006). Haunted by Empire: Geographies of Intimacy in North American History. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3724-9. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  4. ↑ Gilman, Daniel Coit; Peck, Harry Thurston; Colby, Frank Moore (1909). The New International Encyclopæeia. Dodd, Mead. p. 621. Retrieved 24 August 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Leonard, John William (1914). Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: American Commonwealth Company. p. 274. Retrieved 23 August 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Logan, Mrs John A. (1912). The Part Taken by Women in American History. Perry-Nalle publishing Company. pp. 666–67. Retrieved 24 August 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. 1 2 "Margaret B. Dye 30 September 1845 – 13 July 1925 • LY6Z-81S". ident.familysearch.org. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Gordon, Elizabeth Putnam (1924). "Chapter V. Legislative Achievements.". Women Torch-bearers: The Story of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. National Woman's Christian Temperance Union Publishing House. pp. 87–107. Retrieved 24 August 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  9. 1 2 3 "MARGARET D. ELLIS, W.C.T.U. LEADER, DIES". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. 14 July 1925. p. 2. Retrieved 24 August 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  10. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution (1919). Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Vol. 48. Daughters of the American Revolution. p. 15. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
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