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EARLY HISTORY OF P.E.O. IN WISCONSIN
By Margaret McG. March, Chapter V
For Reciprocity Bureau
Original program January 1949 – Updated 2004
Chapter A was organized on March 31, 1906 in the home of Mrs. Imogene Wright in the Martin Apartments, now the US Bank building on the southeast corner of East Wisconsin Avenue and North Van Buren Street in Milwaukee. Mrs. Winona Evans Reeves was Organizer of Supreme Chapter at that time and was in charge of the organization. The charter list was chosen by Mrs. Wright who had been a member of Chapter E, Nebraska and by Mrs. Gene Scott Snodgrass from CR in Iowa. There were eleven charter members. From the very first, Chapter A has been a remarkable chapter and has set a wonderful example for other chapters to follow. Two of their charter members—Laura Simonds Marshall and Lilian Simonds—were still active in 1949 and were most loyal P.E.O.s. Lilian was the first 1st vice president of Wisconsin State Chapter and later was elected president. Chapter A celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 1946 with Mrs. Reeves as guest of honor.
Chapter B gives credit to two Iowa P.E.O.s for stimulating their interest in organizing a chapter in Appleton. In 1905 Mrs. Blanche Giltner from Chapter G, Ottumwa and Mrs. Emma Rector from Chapter BE, Spirit Lake, moved to Appleton. At a church social Mrs. Eva Youtz, whose husband was a member of the Lawrence College Faculty, saw Mrs. Rector’s star and was interested since her mother and two sisters were P.E.O.s. On April 2, 1906, Chapter B was formed with seven charter members with these three women choosing the charter list. Mrs. Reeves went directly from Milwaukee to Appleton for the organization meeting. Chapter A therefore is only two days older than Chapter B. Later at the Convocation in Milwaukee when the State Chapter was organized, Mrs. Mary Keller from Chapter B was elected state recording secretary and for ten successive years Chapter B was represented on the State Board having furnished notable leadership throughout the years in both State and Supreme appointments. Chapter B has a fine record of cultural contributions in both music and literature.
In 1909 four members from Chapter A helped to form Chapter C. For the second time, Mrs. Imogene Wright became a charter member and opened her home for the organization of a second Milwaukee chapter. Chapter C has the distinction of having among its members the daughter-in-law and granddaughter of one of our Founders, Allie Bird Babb. They were Vida K. Babb (Mrs. Max Babb) and Winifred Babb Nolte. Throughout the years Mrs. Ellen E. Morris, a charter member of Chapter C, gave loyal service to P.E.O. She was the first state organizer in Wisconsin and later was state president. Among the supplies of our state historian is a book that Mrs. Morris gave the state entitled, As We Were Saying, by Mrs. Reeves, with the inscription, “From our very dear and devoted friend, the author, Winona Evans Reeves, First Edition, 1944. Presented to Wisconsin State Chapter by Ellen E. Morris, Past State President, for the State Historical Department.”
The coming of Grace Lockhard to Beaver Dam planted the first seed of P.E.O. interest in that community. Her mother and two sisters were P.E.O.s. Delia Pomeroy, a Beaver Dam resident, was a sister-in-law of Nellie Newberry of Appleton and the latter was sponsor for the charter list of Chapter D. So another link was added to the chain of P.E.O. friendships. Fannie Bayley of Chapter D was the first state treasurer and later held the office of 1st vice president.
Then we find a lapse of three years before Chapter E in Superior was organized. Again an Iowa P.E.O., Mrs. May Hare Smith from Original A was the moving spirit. The first state corresponding secretary, Mrs. Lucy Reed August, was chosen from Chapter E. Another charter member, Mrs. A. Vianna Braman was later elected state president. Chapter E has always been a book-loving chapter. It would be hard to surpass the record which they have for excellent programs.
Chapter A comes into the story again when three of their members, three real sisters, as well as P.E.O. sisters, chose a charter list of seven for Chapter F in 1915 in Milwaukee. One of these three sisters, Russella Scott became the first president of Wisconsin State Chapter. Their mother, Mrs. Nellie Hayes Scott, was one of the very early initiates of Original A. She was present at the convocation when her daughter was installed as the first president of Wisconsin State Chapter. She had five daughters who were P.E.O.s.
At the time of the organization of the State Chapter in 1917, charters were granted to G, Beaver Dam; H, Madison; and I, Stevens Point. Sadly, Chapter G was our state’s first chapter to disband, only two years after it was organized. (This, we feel sure, will not happen again as more care is taken now in selection of the charter list and greater attention is given by sponsoring chapters to make sure that a new chapter will be strong….From the original 1949 program)
(I can’t resist the temptation to be personal for a few moments just here for when I mention Chapter H, P.E.O. history really comes alive to me as it was my chapter for ten years. I was asked to be a charter member, but the stork said “no” to that, so a little later I became Chapter H’s first initiate. In 1927, ten of us in Chapter H took our dimits to organize Chapter V. May I say here, too, that although that is a very hard thing to do, it is richly rewarding. Your former chapter sisters still love you and you certainly never lose your affection for them and you have the added satisfaction of having helped P.E.O. to grow by forming a new chapter….From the original 1949 program)
However, Chapter H, organized on September 21, 1917, has been one of the strongest chapters in our state, even to this day. Mary Randall Smith, an initiate of Original A, should be remembered as the one who brought P.E.O. to Madison. She held many state offices including that of president and was at one time recording secretary of Supreme Chapter. Mrs. Reeves once said of her that she was a recording secretary whose minutes never needed “additions or corrections.” Mrs. Smith with three other unaffiliated P.E.O.s, Agnes Royce, Mae Derthick and Emma Wellman were the nucleus of Chapter H. Members of Chapter H have, over a long period of years, been in the front ranks of those women making notable contributions to the work of church, school, and civic organizations not only in Madison, but also in Wisconsin. Mrs. Minetta Hastings held the presidency of National PTA and was sent as one of forty-one consultants to the American Delegation of United Nations Conference at San Francisco.
Chapter I, organized on September 25, 1917, owes its debt of gratitude to Mary Delzell, a member of K, Nebraska for first interesting Stevens Point in P.E.O. She has always been known as the mother of the chapter.
This brings us to the beginning of the State Chapter since with the granting of a charter to Chapter I, the number of chapters necessary for the organization of a state chapter had been reached. And this marks the close of the period which can rightfully be called Early Years of P.E.O. in Wisconsin.
Omitting Chapter G, the disbanded chapter, we have followed the history of P.E.O. through the first seven chapters in the state. We honor Mrs. Imogene Wright, A; Mrs. Emma Rector, B; Mrs. Ellen Morris, C; Mrs. Grace Lockhard, D; Mrs. May Hare Smith, E; Miss Russellaa Scott, F; Mrs. Mary Randall Smith, H; and Mrs. Mary Delzell, I; as our seven Wisconsin Founders whom we honor with the Original Seven.
This has been a summary of the mechanics of organization of our first chapters in the state of Wisconsin. More information can be found in the materials kept with our state historian. Of particular interest is the story that pertains to our first gift to the P.E.O. Educational Loan Fund. This fund was established with a small surplus left from the celebration of P.E.O. day at the St. Louis Exposition in 1903; a little over $600. In October 1909, by which time it had been decided to put this money into an Educational Loan Fund, Chapter A had made a pledge of $25. A payment of $10 was sent to Mrs. Mira Andrews, treasurer of the Fund and in her acknowledgement of the check, Mrs. Andrews wrote that Chapter A was the first to send $10 to the Fund and $25 was as high as any chapter had pledged. (From a paper in the Reciprocity Bureau called “Gateways of the Past” by Lilian Simonds.) At Supreme Convention in 1909 it was reported that the Fund already amounted to nearly $5000 and that 14 girls had received loans. We were on our way to establishing a loan fund that has helped so many women complete their studies.
(You may add the total amount given to ELF and the total number of young women who received loans here, if you desire)
We’ve gone on to support four other wonderful projects that help every level of the education process of women in all parts of the world. Our outreach is amazing and together we are changing the lives of countless women as they advance their studies.
What would our Founders think if they could know that we are a corporation with assets in the millions and an impressive list of women who have continued their education because of the help we have been able to give? Our sisterhood is bound together in the bonds of friendship and loyal to the old-fashioned virtues of Faith, Love, Purity, Justice and Truth. We have a past that is worthy of record.
In that connection, I want to tell you about a charming program I heard not long ago based on Godey’s Ladies’ Book. The young woman who presented it was dressed in a costume of the period of our Founders and throughout the program I found myself thinking of those seven girls. A magazine for women, edited by a woman was unheard of, but Godey’s Ladies’ Book was proving very popular. Excerpts were read in this program of which I speak from various issues of the magazine—Fashions, Etiquette, Recipes—receipts, of course, they were called then. But the whole idea was that the magazine was designed to be what we now call “Escape Literature.” Life was rugged. The Civil War was still a grievous, terrible thing to them, and the Editor’s main idea was to take her readers’ minds away from the harshness of life. Only once the reader said had she been able to find anything that even suggested that theirs were troubled times. But in an editorial column in one issue of 1865 she found this statement. It impressed me as being just as fervid a longing for us today as it was in 1865. This was the editorial:
“In a world charged with destructive power (what would they have thought of the atom bomb), would it not be a blessed relief to find a quiet, cultured garden on which the burning lava had never breathed? There must be somewhere in the heart of society the elements of faith, hope and charity kept in active life where peace and brotherhood and the teachings of the Savior will have room to work for concord and for joy.”
Isn’t P.E.O. just such a place? Where we try to keep the elements of faith, hope and charity in active life and where peace and Sisterhood and the teachings of the Savior have room to work for concord and for joy.
The following text was added in 2004:
WISCONSIN STATE CHAPTER
“Dear home of my kindred, blest state of my birth,
The fairest, the dearest, the brightest on earth.
Where’er I may roam—howe’er blest I may be,
My spirit instinctively turns unto thee.”
The first chapter to be organized in the state of Wisconsin was Chapter A, Milwaukee, organized March 31, 1906, by Mrs. Winona E. Reeves.
Mrs. Imogene Wright was the sponsor for the charter list, having been a P.E.O. in Omaha, Nebraska. She chose the list with much care, and some on that first list have been leaders in the development of the state.
Eleven years after the first chapter was formed, Chapter A was hostess to the organizing convention of the State Chapter, which was called to meet at the new Plankington Hotel in Milwaukee, September 28-29, 1917. The work of organization was done by Mrs. Olga M. Iddliols, organizer and Mrs. Helen M. Drake, president of Supreme Chapter.
The delegates present were: Miss Jessie Cundall, Miss Lilian M. Simonds, Mrs. Mary E. Keller, Mrs. Emma M. Rector, Mrs. Ellen E. Morris, Mrs. Clara C. Gerich, Mrs. Fannie Bayley, Mrs. Lucy R. August, Miss Russellaa J. Scott, Miss Margaret A. Sipley, Mrs. Agnes Royce, Mrs. Mary G. Delzell, Mrs. Bertha E. Leahy.
The officers elected were:
President, Mrs. Russellaa J. Scott Atkinson
First Vice president, Miss Lillian M. Simonds
Second Vice president, Mrs. Mary G. Delzell
Organizer, Mrs. Ellen E. Morris
Recording Secretary, Mrs. Mary E. Keller
Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Lucy R. August
Treasurer, Mrs. Fanny G. Bayley
One of the interesting events of the convention was the presence of Mrs. Nellie Hayes Scott, a member of Original A, which she joined in January, 1870, while attending the Young Ladies Seminary at Mr. Pleasant. She is the mother of Miss Russellaa J. Scott, the first president of Wisconsin State Chapter.
Subsequent conventions have been held in Appleton, Milwaukee, Superior and a second convention in Milwaukee. Those who have served as State Presidents are, Mrs. Russellaa J. Scott Atkinson, Mrs. Ellen E. Morris, Mrs. Mary Randal Smith.
(Book includes a picture of Mrs. Russellaa Scott Atkinson)
From THE STORY OF P.E.O.—1869-1923, “Wisconsin State Chapter”—pages153-154:
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