Seventeen years before women were granted the right to vote they organized and found a way to enter politics and have their voices heard about laws that directly affected their happiness and way of life.
1903 Women’s Prohibition Petition
The ladies of Longview Appeal to the voters…
We the undersigned ladies of Longview, desire to speak a word to the voters of Gregg County before the pending question is settled at the polls. Of course we are aware that the men must do the voting to make the laws, but we believe we have a right to be heard on the question, because the women must live under the laws that are made by the men. It is an admitted fact that the women and children are the chief sufferers from the saloon business, and this being true it seems only fair that their interests should be consulted in this election. We live day by day in sight and within sound of the Longview saloons, and we see the evils that they do. We see young men continually tempted to drink and older men going to ruin. We have seen troubles and heartaches heaped upon our sisters because men wanted to make money selling whiskey. Happy homes in Longview and Gregg County have been blighted and broken up because of the whiskey traffic, and it seems to grow worse and worse. You may say it is not a woman’s business, but they never ask if it is going to bring trouble upon the women when they go to sell it. We have to hear the oaths and blasphemies of drunken men when we go upon the streets of our town. The law of the land considers the business so bad that a woman cannot visit one of these places. There is not a saloon man who will suffer his wife or his daughter to enter his own place of business. If it is this bad we believe it wrong to license it by law. We know that the saloons are the deadly enemies of our homes and our loved ones. We ask the voters of Gregg County to consider us when they come to vote, and we believe they will. We know that there are men who always curse when a woman says anything about the whiskey traffic, and from such as these we ask no favors and expect none, but we appeal to high minded and honorable men to think of us and the homes we represent when they go to cast their votes. Believing you will do this and praying God’s blessing on you all, we leave the matter for you to decide.
Some of the signers of this petition are as follows:
Mrs. Jno. Zeigler [Marguerite V. Scaife Zeigler, Great-Grandmother of Mike Hilliard]
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| Marguerite Vivian (Scaife) Zeigler |
Miss Zeigler [Romania “Minnie” Zeigler, Great-Great-Aunt of Mike Hilliard]
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| Romania "Minnie" Zeigler |
Mrs. Killingsworth [Noviline Poag Killingsworth, wife of Albert A. Killingsworth. Albert is the 2nd cousin 3 times removed of Mike Hilliard]
Miss Fannie Echols [step-daughter of Maria Alabama Zeigler Echols Alabama is the Great-Great-Aunt of Mike Hilliard]
There were 347 Longview women who signed this petition and all of the names are listed in the article which can be found on the Gregg County TXGenWeb Project website.
The temperance movement was a social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Its intent was to promote complete abstinence (teetotalism) and emphasize alcohol’s negative effects on people’s health, personalities, and family lives. The movement wanted the passage of new laws that either regulated the availability of alcohol or the complete prohibition of it.
The name “teetotaler” came from the capital “T”s that were written next to the names of people who pledged complete abstinence.
Surprisingly, in 1845 there was a law in Texas that banned saloons altogether! Not surprisingly, the law was never enforced and was repealed in 1856.
Just so you know - this is not a personal opinion nor am I advocating any movement. I found the article on the petition while researching the Zeigler family in Longview, Texas and was surprised to find that some of Mike's ancestors had taken part in a historically political movement. I enjoy sharing some fun and interesting little bits of trivia about our ancestors that show some of their character and not just dates and places. Hope to share more again soon!
Sources:
Gregg County TXGenWeb http://txgenwebcounties.org/gregg/Government/1903WomenPetition.html
K. Austin Kerr, “Prohibition,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed August 30, 2020, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/prohibition.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
Wikipedia contributors, "Women in the United States Prohibition movement," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Women_in_the_United_States_Prohibition_movement&oldid=963379838 (accessed August 30, 2020).
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