Eliza Jane Trimble Thompson (1816–1905) was a temperance advocate.

Biography

Eliza Jane Trimble was born in

Hillsboro, Ohio Hillsboro is a city in and the county seat of Highland County, Ohio, United States, approximately west of Chillicothe, Ohio, Chillicothe and east of Cincinnati. The population was 6,481 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Hi ...

, August 24, 1816. The daughter of

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Allen Trimble Allen Trimble (November 24, 1783 – February 3, 1870) was a Federalist and National Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the eighth and tenth governor of Ohio, first concurrently as Senate Speaker, later elected twice in his own right. ...

, Thompson was inspired by a December 23, 1873 lecture by

Diocletian Lewis Diocletian Lewis (March 3, 1823 – May 21, 1886), commonly known as Dr. Dio Lewis, was a prominent temperance leader and physical culture advocate who practiced homeopathy. Biography Early life He was born on a farm near Auburn, New York.This ...

to begin leading groups of women into

saloons Saloon may refer to: Buildings and businesses * One of the bars in a traditional British pub * An alternative name for a bar (establishment) * Western saloon, a historical style of American bar * The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francis ...

where they sang

hymns A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

and prayed for the closure of the establishments. These direct, non-violent “Visitation Bands” were successful and quickly spread first across the state of Ohio and then to a total of 22 other states from New York to California. Dr. Lewis, a minister who had a drunken father which contributed to his desire for temperance and abstinence, believed that women needed to be educated on the social evils of alcohol. "Mother Thompson" and others claimed often dramatic conversions by saloon keepers. In other cases, the retailers simply gave up after being picked on for weeks by the Visitation Bands. Within several years the movement subsided. However, it was successful in stimulating the temperance movement, which had declined with the outbreak of the Civil War (1861–1865). The

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) traces its origins to the

Women's Crusade The Woman's Crusade was a temperance movement, temperance campaign in the United States in 1873-1874, preceding the formation of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in November 1874. It was a series of non-violent protests fighting ag ...

against alcohol. Thompson died on November 3, 1905, in Hillsboro.

Gallery

File:Eliza Thompson.JPG, Headstone of Eliza Jane Thompson and her husband James Henry Thompson at Hillsboro Cemetery in Hillsboro, Ohio. File:Eliza Jane Thompson.JPG, Gravemarker of Eliza Thompson. File:James Henry Thompson.JPG, Gravemarker of James Henry Thompson.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Eliza 1816 births 1905 deaths American temperance activists People from Hillsboro, Ohio