Carry A. Nation

What led Carry to take on the role of crusader?

Two troubled marriages, one to an alcoholic, coupled with strong religious beliefs formed Carry's view of the world. Struggles with poor health and poverty in her early years also shaped her personality.

Carry Amelia Moore was born in Garrard County, Kentucky, on November 25, 1846. Her family moved several times before settling in Cass County, Missouri. Carry said she was a selfish child who at times was sickly. This photo from Carry's autobiography shows Carry at age six (left) with her mother and sister.

At the age of ten Carry attended a church meeting at Hickman's Mill, Missouri, where she experienced a religious conversion. A relative remarked, "Carry, I believe you know what you are doing."

Carry's first love appeared at her parents' house in the form of a boarder, Dr. Charles Gloyd. Charles and Carry fell in love, but Carry's mother and father did not approve because Gloyd drank.

The couple married despite her parents' objections. Charles' drinking quickly worsened. Pregnant with their only child, Carry returned to her parents. Charles protested, "Pet, if you leave me, I will be a dead man in six months."

Gloyd continued to drink heavily, and his prediction came to pass. Charles Gloyd died at the age of 29, less than two years after his marriage to Carry. He left behind a 23-year-old wife and an infant daughter.

Charles Gloyd was not known to be a drinker before he went into the army during the Civil War (1861-1865). He picked up the habit as many did, while idle in camp. General George B. McClellan said, "No one agent so much obstructs this army . . . as the degrading vice of drunkenness." Abstinence "would be worth 50,000 men to the armies of the United States."

Carry also remembered another reason for Charles' drinking. She felt he spent too much time drinking with his fellow Masons (a fraternal organization). When she asked for their help in controlling his drinking, they ignored her request. This instilled negative feelings about the Masons that lasted a lifetime.

The cartoon pictured above depicts Carry's intense dislike of the Masons. It appeared in her autobiography, The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation, published in 1908. In Carry's words, the cartoon shows "the Devil with lies for his mortar is building a lodge, graft being the cornerstone, and points with a wink at 'free,' when in truth it is 'bound.' The results are divorced from Christ and their earthly guardians, their wives." (Click on the image above to view an enlargement of the cartoon).

Carry had little time to mourn the death of her husband, Charles. She was now the sole support for herself, her daughter, and her mother-in-law. She turned to teaching, enrolling in courses at the Warrensburg Normal Institute, Missouri.

After spending four years as a teacher Carry was forced out of her job for improper pronunciation of words. Her replacement was the niece of the man who complained about her. Finding herself once more with no job and three mouths to feed, Carry prayed that God might direct her to a second husband who would be able to support her.

The answer to Carry's prayers appeared in the person of David Nation. A minister, lawyer, and newspaper man, Nation was nineteen years older than Carry. It seemed a loving match at first, but troubles made their life difficult. David was not successful at any of his occupations. Financial difficulties, coupled with poor health, stressed the marriage.

The diary and scrapbook kept by Carry during this time reveal much about her personal side, including her concerns about her family, particularly the health of her daughter, Charlien; poetry that interested her; and expenses and farm products sold. And there were frequent expressions of faith.

Despite her distress over her daughter's problems, Carry, like many mothers, saved mementoes from Charlien's childhood years. The image at left is from her diary in the collections of the Kansas Historical Society. It bears the inscription, "This is Charlien. . . Gloyd's hand + arm when she was 6 years old lacking 16 days. Sep. 11 1874."

Although she must have loved her daughter, Carry had conflicting emotions about Charlien. Carry blamed her daughter's poor health on Charlien's being the result of "a drunken father and a distracted mother." While Carry took Charlien to doctors as far away as New York, she also expressed great concern that her daughter was not a Christian. In her autobiography, Carry wrote, "I often prayed for bodily affliction on her, if that was what would make her love and serve God." Read more about Carry's daughter Charlien.

In 1890 the Nation family moved to Medicine Lodge, Kansas, after failed attempts at farming and running a hotel in Texas. They lived in Medicine Lodge much of the next decade, with the exception of a few years at Seiling, Indian Territory (Oklahoma). David Nation (pictured at right) fared better as a minister, although Carry was not always supportive of his efforts and often corrected him while he was in the pulpit.

Carry's willingness to help the destitute did not always make her popular with her class-conscious neighbors. Known as "Mother Nation" to those she helped, Carry worked with the Women's Christian Temperance Union to close down joints in Medicine Lodge. As jail evangelist for Barber County, she became aware that many of the inmates had drinking problems.

In 1901, after 29 years of marriage and at the height of Carry's prohibition activities, David filed for divorce. Claiming, "I married this woman because I needed someone to run my house," he cited grounds of "desertion."

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