delegates from the American branch were present and, with unanimous consent, a union of two bodies into one State organization was effected. Although receiving a majority vote, Mrs. Sewall, Miss Cardwill and Mrs. Harper, for personal reasons, refused longer to serve. The election finally resulted: President, Mrs. Gougar; vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Wallace; secretary, Mrs. Caroline C. Hodgin; treasurer, Mrs. Hattie E. Merrill; chairman executive committee, Mrs. E. M. Seward; superintendent of press, Mrs. Georgia Wright. A resolution was adopted mourning the death of Dr. Mary F. Thomas.
State meetings were held for several years afterward, but the records of them are not available.
In 1899, the State association having been apparently defunct for a long time, a conference of the officers of the National Association was called to meet in Indianapolis, at the earnest request of Mrs. Sewall and a committee. There were present on December 7, 8, Miss Anthony, president, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, treasurer, Miss Laura Clay and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, auditors, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee. Mrs. Sewall gave two receptions to enable the people of the city to greet them; a large one was given by Mrs. Lucy McDowell Milburn, wife of the Rev. Joseph A. Milburn, of the Second Presbyterian Church; and a luncheon at the handsome residence of Mrs. Alice Wheeler Peirce by the committee.
Business meetings were held at the Denison Hotel. The evening meetings, in Plymouth Church, were large and enthusiastic. A new State association was formed and also a new local club for Indianapolis, while the staunch and steadfast old societies of Kokomo and Tipton were aroused to new activity.[1]
At the State meeting in Indianapolis in November, 1900, the old board of officers was re-elected, except that Mrs. Mary Shank was made vice-president and Mrs. Ethel B. McMullen, treasurer.
- ↑ State officers: President, Mrs. Bertha G. Wade; vice-president, Mrs. Mary S. Armstrong; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Alice Wheeler Peirce; recording secretary, Mrs. Hester Moore Hart; treasurer, Mrs. Alice E. Waugh; auditors, Mrs. Grace Julian Clarke and Mrs. Albertina A. Forrest. Among the strong members of the Tipton club are Judge and Mrs. Dan Waugh, State Senator and Mrs G. W. Gifford, Representative and Mrs. W. R. Ogleboy, Postmaster and Mrs. M. W. Pershing, Dr. and Mrs. M. V. B. Newcomer and W. H. Barnhart, editor of the Advocate.
