Lillian Sedwick was state head of the Indiana Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She was also state leader of the Indiana Women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK). Sedwick became state head of the Indiana WKKK when she replaced Daisy Douglass Barr. Reverend Barr was another WKKK and WCTU leader As a KKK-supported candidate, Ms. Sedwick …
Longtime leader of the Prohibition Party, Earl Dodge, Jr., was born in Malden, Massachusetts on December 24, 1932. He joined the Party at age 19. Later, he became chair of the Prohibition Party in 1979. It was while the party was operating under the name of the National Statesmen Party. It re-instated the Prohibition Party …
Joseph H. Choate, Jr. chaired the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers (VCL), a group of highly influential attorneys established in 1927 that promoted the repeal of National Prohibition (1920-1933). With its urging, the American Bar Association called for Repeal in 1928. Choate and the VCL worked closely with other repeal organizations such as the Women’s Organization …
Edward Donegan was an odd-job laborer in 1919. However, in 1920, he became a millionaire within about four months through his bootlegging scheme. See Also Temperance Movement Groups and Leaders in the U.S. Prohibition: the Noble Experiment Puritans to Prohibition National Prohibition of Alcohol in the U.S. A Social History of Alcohol During National Prohibition …
Dr. Dio Lewis, officially Diocletian Lewis (1823-1886), was a temperance leader. However, he was also a preacher, feminist, social reformer, and food/health faddist. And many considered Lewis to be an eccentric. Background His father had been a “notorious drunkard.” Perhaps that led to his strong belief that alcohol was a great evil. Lewis illegally used …
Daisy Douglas Barr was the fiery Imperial Empress (leader) of the Women’s Ku Klux Klan (WKKK) in Indiana and seven other states. Thus, she led about 250,000 WKKK members. That was in the early 1920s. Barr worked closely with the Indiana KKK‘s “Grand Wizard,” D.C. Stevenson. Together, they worked hard on the governor’s race. Many …
Cora F. Stoddard was a leading proponent of temperance and National Prohibition of alcohol. She served for 30 years as the head of the Scientific Temperance Federation. Ms. Stoddard was the personal secretary of Mary Hunt. Hunt was founding head of the Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction in Schools and Colleges. That was an important …
David Leigh Colvin, usually known as D. Leigh Colvin, was born in Ohio in 1880. He was the son of David Taylor Colvin and Maria Larkin Colvin. In 1906 he married Mamie White, who became politically active in the temperance movement. She was Prohibition Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1918. The …
Dr. Thomas Sewall was no ordinary doctor. And he was no ordinary temperance activist either. Sewall was born on April 16, 1786 in Hallowell, Maine. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1812. His major contribution to the temperance movement was his highly popular eight graphic drawings. He said they showed “alcohol diseased stomachs.” Sewall …
The federal Prohibition Bureau appointed Harold D. Wilson Director of its Massachusetts office in June of 1921. However, the office was reorganized six weeks later and he became Deputy Director. Nevertheless, he remained a highly motivated Prohibition agent. Indeed, a newspaper described Wilson as a “hard-boiled, hard-hitting, Bible-quoting, relentless, dedicated prohibition agent.”1 A minister explained …
