Sarah Maria Clinton Perkins facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sarah Maria Clinton Perkins
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"A Woman of the Century"
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| Born | Sarah Maria Clinton April 23, 1824 Otsego, New York, USA |
| Died | December 2, 1905 (aged 81) Cleveland, Ohio, USA |
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| Alma mater | Adams Academy |
| Spouse |
Orrin Perkins
(m. 1847; died 1880) |
| Children | 3 daughters |
| Relatives | DeWitt Clinton |
Sarah Maria Clinton Perkins (born Clinton; pen names, S. M. Perkins and S. M. C. Perkins; April 23, 1824 – December 2, 1905) was an American woman who worked for many important causes. She was a Universalist minister, which means she led church services. She was also a social reformer, working to make society better.
Sarah Perkins was a speaker, writer, and editor. She wrote books for Sunday schools. She strongly supported the temperance movement, which aimed to reduce alcohol use. She also fought for women's suffrage, giving women the right to vote. She was an early abolitionist, working to end slavery. Later, she supported Prohibition, which made alcohol illegal.
After her husband passed away in 1880, she moved to Cleveland, Ohio. There, she became a National Lecturer for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She also led other groups, like the Equal Franchise Club in Cleveland, which worked for voting rights. She was also president of the Literary Guild of Cleveland.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Sarah Maria Clinton was born on April 23, 1824, in Otsego, New York. This town was near Cooperstown. She was the seventh of nine children in her family. Her parents were Joel and Mary Clinton.
Her family had important connections. On her father's side, she was related to DeWitt Clinton, a famous politician. Her mother's family, the Mathewsons, were well-known in early Rhode Island and Connecticut. Sarah's mother taught her strict rules from the past.
When Sarah was ten, her father died. He did not leave any money. Her mother worked very hard to support the family. She taught her children to believe in God and that good would win over evil. She also showed them how to be hardworking and careful with money.
Sarah loved books and studying from a young age. She read everything she could find. She also enjoyed outdoor sports. She was a very smart student. She once won a prize for being the best speller in her school. She learned the multiplication table by pinning it to her bed and studying it every morning.
Sarah wanted to become a teacher. She thought being a district school teacher was a great achievement for a woman. She once told a friend, "It is all a mistake that God made me a girl, for if I were a man I could and would preach." At fifteen, she joined the church and became a Sunday-school teacher.
Her Career and Work
Starting in New England
Sarah kept learning whenever she could. At eighteen, she began teaching school in her hometown of Otsego. She used the money she earned to attend the academy in Adams, Massachusetts. She continued this way, teaching in the summers and going to school in the winters. This helped her get a great education.
She was a successful teacher in Savoy, Massachusetts and Cheshire, Massachusetts. She taught many subjects, from algebra to the alphabet. She managed a school of sixty children in one room very well.
While at Adams Academy, she met Orrin Perkins. In December 1847, she married him. He was a Universalist minister. As a pastor's wife, she spent many years visiting sick people and comforting those who were sad. She taught in Sunday schools and kept a welcoming home. She also continued her own studies. She read history, learned French and German, and raised three daughters. Her husband, Rev. Perkins, was the State Superintendent of Schools for New Hampshire for many years.
Later, Sarah and her family took charge of a large school in Cooperstown. Mrs. Perkins taught classes, studied French, and managed many people. Her husband's health became poor, and he was sick for 15 years. Sarah then helped him by writing and preaching his sermons. She also started giving lectures to the public. She spoke about literature and temperance. During this time, her brother's four young children lost their mother. Sarah took them into her home and cared for them.
To earn money for her daughters' education, Perkins began writing children's books. She wrote several Sunday school books, mostly published in Boston. Alice and Her Friends and Eugene Cooper were very popular. She also wrote lectures and poetry.
Sarah's old wish to preach came back when her children grew up. She received permission to preach in Illinois. She was officially made a Universalist minister in West Concord, Vermont, in 1877 or 1878. She also worked briefly in Keene, New Hampshire. In 1880, her husband's health worsened. They traveled west, hoping it would help, but he died suddenly on October 30.
Moving to Ohio
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After her husband died, Sarah Perkins moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Around 1883, she stopped working as an active minister.
For many years, she was a national leader for the WCTU. She was a district president and oversaw work in hospitals for the Ohio WCTU. The National WCTU sent her to Kansas, Texas, and the Indian Territory. Her visits helped start new groups and renewed interest in their cause. She gave lectures about temperance and women's right to vote in almost every state in the U.S. She held many important roles in reform groups. She was president of the Equal Franchise Club and the Literary Guild of Cleveland.
From 1891 to 1904, Perkins was the editor of A True Republic. This was a popular monthly family newspaper. It focused on temperance and women's voting rights. It also worked to improve homes and the lives of women.
Her Family and Later Life
Sarah Perkins' two younger daughters, Florence and Emma, were very smart. They both graduated from Vassar College at the top of their classes. Her oldest daughter went to a school in New England. Besides her own children, Sarah Perkins helped nine orphaned children get an education.
When Rev. Perkins died, half of his large library was given to his hometown. This helped start a free library there.
Sarah Maria Clinton Perkins died on December 2, 1905. She was killed in a traffic accident while crossing a street in Cleveland, Ohio. Her writings and papers are kept at the Western Reserve Historical Society.
Her Published Works
Here are some of the books and speeches Sarah Maria Clinton Perkins wrote:
- Alice and Her Friends, 1875
- Eugene Cooper, 1876
- Objections considered : an address given at Washington, D.C., before the Seventeenth Annual Convention of the National Woman Suffrage Association, Jan. 21, 1885, 1885
- Helen, or, Will she save him?, 1886
- Six of Them, 1898
- The cousins, or, The pulling down of Stronghold
- The child of the snow drift
