Rebecca Ballard Chambers

Rebecca Ballard Chambers (née, Ballard; March 29, 1858 – April 14, 1920) was an American journalist and social reformer. She served as the editor-in-chief of the Bulletin, a temperance movement newspaper in Pennsylvania, and as president of the state's branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).[1][2]

Rebecca Ballard Chambers
BornRebecca Lavinia Ballard
March 29, 1858
Ohio, U.S.
DiedApril 14, 1920
West Grove, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation
  • journalist
  • social reformer
  • newspaper editor-in-chief
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Alma materPutnam Female Seminary
Spouse
Samuel Kemble Chambers
​
​
(m. 1877; died 1917)​
Children2 daughters
Signature

Biography

Rebecca Lavinia Ballard was born in Ohio, March 29, 1858. She was educated at the Putnam Female Seminary of that state.[3]

Chambers first entered reform work during the "crusade" in 1873, being herself an "original crusader", with her mother, who was secretary of the Canton Crusaders.[4] In October 1900, at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, while serving as State President of the Pennsylvania WCTU, she delivered the annual address to the attending delegates.[5] At the time, the state membership totalled 16,607, with 13,000 additional members of young women and the children's union.[6]

She married Samuel Kemble Chambers (d. 1917) in 1877, president of the West Grove National Bank.[7] They had two daughters, Mary and Helen.[3]

Death and legacy

She died at her home in West Grove, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1920.[8] Interment was at the cemetery adjoining the West Grove Presbyterian Church, in West Grove.[9]

Her papers, including her 1875-76 Putnam Seminary book, as well as European travel diaries and ephemera of 1895 and 1900, are held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.[3]

References
  1. Chase 1899, p. 91, 96.
  2. Friends Intelligencer 1898, p. 778.
  3. "Chambers family papers" (PDF). Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  4. Crawford, Annette (7 October 1899). "SOM ACTIVITIES OF WOMANKIND". Muncie Evening Press. p. 3. Retrieved 21 February 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "DELEGATES ARRIVE AT UNIONTOWN. STATE CONVENTION OF THE W. C. T. U. BEGINS". The Philadelphia Times. 19 October 1900. p. 4. Retrieved 21 February 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "STATE W. C. T. U. CONVENTION". Wayne County Herald. 5 November 1903. p. 1. Retrieved 21 February 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "CHESTER COUNTY". Reading Times. 11 December 1903. p. 3. Retrieved 21 February 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "CHAMBERS". Newspapers.com. The Philadelphia Inquirer. 17 April 1920. p. 17. Retrieved 30 December 2020. open access
  9. "REBECCA B. CHAMBERS". Lancaster Intelligencer. 21 April 1920. p. 3. Retrieved 21 February 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

Attribution
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