Adda Burch (January 6, 1869 – February 18, 1929) was an American missionary-teacher in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. She was also a

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...

(WCTU) leader, serving in various positions in the U.S. as well as president of the World WCTU organization based in Chile.

Early life and education

Adelaide (

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

, "Adda") Grace Burch was born at

Greenville, Pennsylvania Greenville is a borough with home rule status in northwestern Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located along the Shenango River, it lies roughly 80 miles from both Pittsburgh and Cleveland. It is 1.89 square miles in area, and had ...

, January 6, 1869. She was educated in the local schools and at the Edinboro Stale Normal School.

Career

Becoming a teacher in the public schools, Burch interested herself in temperance work and joined the WCTU. She was made county superintendent of the press department,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

State reporter to ''

The Union Signal ''The Union Signal'' (formerly, ''The Woman's Temperance Union'' and ''Our Union'') is a defunct American newspaper. It was the organ of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (National WCTU), at one time, the largest women's organizati ...

'', and county corresponding secretary. In 1896, she was sent by the

Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (acronym WFMS of the MEC) was one of three Methodist organizations in the United States focused on women's foreign missionary services; the two others were the WFMS of the Free M ...

Concepción, Chile Concepción (; originally: ''Concepción de la Madre Santísima de la Luz'', "Conception of the Blessed Mother of Light") is a city and Communes of Chile, commune in south-central Chile, and the geographical and demographic core of the Greater Co ...

, where she became a teacher in the Concepción College. Burch's reports from Chile included information about Humane Prize Contests, and public meetings. At one such public meeting, she translated selections from the contest book of recitations and from the catechism, "Duty of Mercy". She distributed literature in English and Spanish, especially to farmers owning stock. She introduced as a reader in Concepcion College, ''Amigos del Hombre'', and put two copies of it in the college library. Burch gave addresses to young people on kindness to every living creature, also writing an essay on the subject. In one letter, she mentioned a league formed among the business men of Concepcion not to ride on street cars because of the cruelty to horses drawing them. In 1897, in Chile, Burch was elected president of the country's WCTU. Burch promoted the temperance department, and temperance sentiment grew in Chili under Burch's presidency. WCTU work in that country was well represented especially in its educational phases. In Concepcion College, total abstinence sentiment was constantly inculcated and future workers for temperance were being trained. Temperance ideas were carried into other sections of Chili by the students of this College. Medal Contests, the study of the alcohol question in debate and essay, and the circulation of temperance literature, were methods employed by Burch, as well as by Ida A. T. Arms, the college's preceptress, and Arms' daughter. Burch left Chile in April, 1922, on the steamer, ''Tivies'', her first furlough in 15 years. In November and December of that year, she lectured in

about life in Chile. Shortly after returning to the U.S., Burch was appointed teacher in a boys’ school in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. Here, her health suffered, and at the end of the school year, she returned to the U.S. and settled in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. She was at once identified with temperance movements in that city, becoming corresponding secretary of the local WCTU, county superintendent of the Press Department, and also of the City Federation.

Death

Adda Grace Burch died in Los Angeles, February 18, 1929.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burch, Adda 1869 births 1929 deaths People from Greenville, Pennsylvania Educators from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Western University, Edinboro alumni American newspaper reporters and correspondents Presidents of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church American temperance activists American Methodist missionaries