Elizabeth Fulton Hester was an American missionary,

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

nurse, and early

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

who was active in

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

and later the U.S. state of

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

Early life

Elizabeth Fulton Hester was born in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

on January 6, 1839, to Reverend Defau Tallerand Fulton and his wife. Defau Fulton had left

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

to become a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

missionary to the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

in North Georgia. She graduated from the Southern Masonic Female Seminary in

Covington, Georgia Covington is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia and the seat of Newton County, and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, its population was 14,192. History Covington was founded by European immigrants to the Unite ...

in 1855.

Missionary work and teaching

In 1856, she moved to Tishomingo,

Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation () is a federally recognized Indigenous nation with headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma, in the United States. The Chickasaw Nation descends from an Indigenous population historically located in the southeastern United States, in ...

to work at a missionary school. In 1861, she moved with her husband, George Hester, to

Boggy Depot ''Boggy Depot'' is the debut solo album by Alice in Chains guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell. The vinyl edition was released on March 31, 1998, and the CD was released on April 7, 1998, through Columbia Records. The album was named after the ...

Choctaw Nation The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American reservation occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. At roughly , it is the second-largest reservation in area after the Navajo, exceeding t ...

, Indian Territory. She taught at the national school organized by the Choctaw Nation. In 1878, she returned to Tishomingo helped form Indian Territory

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 ...

, South. She advocated for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

. After her George's death in 1901, she moved to

Muskogee, Oklahoma Muskogee () is the 13th-largest city in Oklahoma and is the county seat of Muskogee County, Oklahoma, Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of ...

and founded the city's Muskogee Day Nursery. In 1917, she became the first woman to speak in the Oklahoma Capitol.

Civil War nursing

Hester worked as a nurse for the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, while her husband George was a captain. The Hester's mercantile store became a confederate hospital and top confederates, including Stand Watie, William B. Taliaferro, Samuel Cooper,

Sterling Price Sterling Price (September 14, 1809 – September 29, 1867) was an American politician and military officer who was a senior General officers in the Confederate States Army, officer of the Confederate States Army, fighting in both the Weste ...

, and

Quantrill's Raiders Quantrill's Raiders were the best-known of the pro- Confederate partisan guerrillas (also known as " bushwhackers") who fought in the American Civil War. Their leader was William Quantrill and they included Jesse James and his brother Frank. ...

dined at her home. She was later a chaplain for the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, a ...

of Oklahoma. After the war, George's store was looted by demoralized former Confederate soldiers and then seized by Union Army troops for serving as a Confederate hospital.

Personal life and legacy

Hester married George B. Hester, a merchant, in 1859. Her daughter, Daisy Hester, married U.S. Senator Robert L. Owen. She was the first woman inducted into the

Oklahoma Hall of Fame The Oklahoma Hall of Fame was founded in 1927 by Anna B. Korn to officially celebrate Statehood Day, recognize Oklahomans dedicated to their communities, and provide educational programming for all ages. The first Oklahoma Hall of Fame Induction Cer ...

. She died in August 1929.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hester, Elizabeth Fulton 1839 births 1929 deaths 19th-century American women 20th-century American women American Civil War nurses Suffragists from Oklahoma Educators from Oklahoma Methodists from Oklahoma People from Georgia (U.S. state) People from the Confederate States of America People from Indian Territory Religious leaders from Oklahoma Women in the American Civil War People from Boggy Depot, Oklahoma