Eva Griffith Thompson
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Eva Griffith Thompson (, Griffith;
pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
, Eva G.; June 30, 1842 – February 6, 1925) was an American
newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...
who conducted the ''Indiana Times'', the ''Indiana Messenger'', and the ''News'', of
Indiana, Pennsylvania Indiana is a borough in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The population was 14,044 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Indiana, Pennsylvania micropolitan area, about northeast of Pittsburgh. ...
. First married and widowed while quite young 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 ...
, she finished her education at the Steubenville Female Seminary before teaching for many years in
Indiana County Indiana County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the west central part of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 83,246. Its county seat is Indiana. Indiana County comprises the Indiana, PA Mi ...
schools, and serving as the county's deputy superintendent of schools. She was affiliated with 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) movement and was embraced by the
Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (United States Navy, U.S. Navy), and the United States Marine Corps, Marines who served in the American Ci ...
, her second husband having been a member of the organization. Thompson served as president of the Presbyterian Home Missionary Society. She died in 1925.


Early life and education

Eva Griffith was born near
Jennersville, Pennsylvania Jennersville is an unincorporated community that is located in Penn Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mi ...
, June 30, 1842. Her father, Abner Griffith, a
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
, died at the age of seventy-two. Her mother, Eliza Cooper Griffith, was Scotch-Irish. She had at least three siblings, a brother, Charles, and sisters, Rebecca and Tabitha. The family later removed to
East Mahoning Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania East Mahoning Township is a township in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 975, a decline from the figure of 1,077 tabulated in 2010. East Mahoning Township was created when Mahoning ...
. Thompson attended schools in the township, and was further educated by reading periodicals and other volumes of literature.


Career

In 1861, at the beginning of the civil war, she married Andrew B. Allison, who joined the Union Army, serving as a member of Company A, 61st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. In six months, on February 18, 1862, she was a widow, at the age of twenty. She continued her education, and in 1865, was graduated from the Steubenville Female Seminary, run by the Presbyterian Church in
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. For many years, she taught in the northern part of the Indiana County, Pennsylvania schools. Samuel Judson Craighead, county superintendent of common schools of Indiana County, appointed her deputy superintendent. That is said to be the first time such an honor was conferred upon a woman. On October 14, 1867, she married Sylvester C. Thompson (born 1840). After living for a period of time near Kellysburg, Pennsylvania, they removed to Indiana, Pennsylvania. For years, she held the office of president of the Presbyterian Home Missionary Society. The
Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (United States Navy, U.S. Navy), and the United States Marine Corps, Marines who served in the American Ci ...
men accepted her as a comrade, and in many of their meetings, she was called upon to make an address. At the inauguration of the WCTU movement in Indiana County, she was appointed organizer. In her role as the State superintendent of franchise, she was an aggressive supporter of the
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 ...
WCTU. Thompson published the ''Indiana Times'' and the ''Indiana Messenger''. As editor and proprietor of the ''News'', Indiana, Pennsylvania, she wrote mostly on behalf of temperance and reform. The paper endorses the People's Party.


Personal life

In religion, Thompson affiliated with the
Presbyterian church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...
. Shortly after being widowed again in 1912, she relocated to the home of her daughter and son-in-law in
Trafford, Pennsylvania Trafford is a borough in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located near Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania, the borough lies primarily in Westmoreland County; only a small portion extends into Allegheny Cou ...
, where she died February 6, 1925. Death was directly due to
pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
, although her health had not been the best for the last two years when she was weakened by recurrent paralytic shocks. She was buried at Oakland Cemetery and Mausoleum, in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Her sister, Rebecca Jane (Griffith) Wolfe, died less than seven weeks after Thompson's death.


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Attribution

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Eva Griffith 1842 births 1925 deaths 19th-century American newspaper editors 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) 19th-century American women writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers People from Chester County, Pennsylvania Writers from Pennsylvania American women newspaper editors Woman's Christian Temperance Union people School superintendents in Pennsylvania Pseudonymous women writers Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century