Viola D. Romans | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Ohio House of Representatives | |
| In office 1925-1928 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Laura Viola Doudna April 30, 1863 Spencer Station, Ohio |
| Died | June 29, 1946 Columbus, Ohio |
| Political party | Republican |
Viola Doudna Romans (April 30, 1863 - June 29, 1946) was an American lecturer and politician, chiefly known for her role in the temperance movement. She was the first woman elected to serve as Franklin County's Representative to the Ohio House of Representatives.
Laura Viola Doudna was born in Spencer Station, Ohio on April 30, 1863 to Quaker parents Rachel Lancaster Benson Doudna and Jesse Doudna. [1] [2] [3]
She began her elementary education at the village school in Spencer Station, later attending the Friends Boarding School (now Olney Friends School) at Barnesville, in Belmont County, Ohio. [2] [4] Upon completing her education in Barnesville, she moved to Delaware, Ohio, where she became a teacher at the Commercial School. [5] After her marriage to Dr. Romans, she pursued higher education for herself. Romans attended Columbus Business College's Department of Elocution short course in the Science and Art of Elocution and earned her Certificate of Graduation on September 16, 1887. [6]
After graduating from Columbus Business College, Romans held various teaching positions throughout the state. She taught for a brief period at Cincinnati Wesleyan College before returning to Muskingum County to attend Muskingum College (now Muskingum University) in New Concord, Ohio, where she received her Bachelor's degree in elocution. She became faculty of the college's department of Elocution and Physical Culture in 1892, serving as head of the department for five years. [2] [7] During her second run for Senate, Romans was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature by the President of Muskingum College, the first woman so honored by the institution. [3] [8]
Romans' political activism began with her involvement in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She credited her introduction to the organization to her friendship with Martha McClellan Brown, founder of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union and vice president of Cincinnati Wesleyan College, where Romans was a teacher of oratory at the time. [5] [9] [10] By 1897, Romans had sought and successfully obtained the role of assistant recording secretary for the Ohio WCTU, the first of many positions she would hold during her tenure with the organization. [11] Known for her proficiency in public speaking, Romans used her background in oratory to deliver persuasive speeches as a national lecturer for the WCTU. [12] She not only spoke for the temperance cause, but as a national lecturer, she also argued for female suffrage, which she viewed as the best means to secure legislation against liquor. [13]
In 1920, Romans, by then vice president of the Ohio WCTU, became the Prohibition Party nominee for United States senator. The Prohibition Party believed that she would get a favorable vote as the WCTU had an estimated 45,000 members in Ohio at the time, but her run for office was ultimately unsuccessful. [14] [15]
Romans again ran for office, this time as a Republican candidate for state representative. In 1924, four years after her first unsuccessful Senate run, she was nominated and elected to a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives, the first woman elected to represent Franklin County in the state legislature. [2] When asked what pledges she had made during her campaign for office, Romans replied, "The only pledge I made was to endeavor to study impartially all questions as they came to us and as nearly as possible to render my decisions for the common good of all my constituents." [16]
Throughout her tenure in the legislature, Romans used her office to advocate for the welfare of women and children. During the regular session of the 86th General Assembly, she introduced House Bill No. 358, which established educational and vocational training for women confined in the Ohio Reformatory for Women and obtained an appropriation of $100,000 to erect two new buildings -- a 150-bed dormitory and an assembly hall -- as well as $30,000 to put H.B. No. 358 into effect. [8] Governor Donahey signed the bill into law on April 10, 1925. [2] [17] [18]
Romans won a second term in office in 1926, reelected by a greater majority in both the primaries and general election than she had been in her first election. [17] During her second term, she introduced House Bill No. 210, known later as The Romans Law. It was the first comprehensive legislation for the permanent preservation of the archives of the State of Ohio. Until that point, there were no provisions in the laws of the State for the safekeeping or retention of records; The Romans Law, enacted in 1927, authorized the transfer of documents and historical papers from agencies of the state government to the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection). [17] [19]
Ten years after her first run for senate, Romans ran for state senator against fellow Franklin County representative William C. Wendt and incumbent Paul M. Herbert, who was running for reelection to his third term. [20] It was again an unsuccessful run for senatorship, with Romans coming in third for the Republican nomination. [21]
In 1885, she married Dr. Clarence D. Romans in Muskingum County, Ohio. They had one child, a daughter named Blanche. [2]
Following her career in the Ohio House of Representatives, Romans continued her involvement in social reform and remained active in administrative and legislative work with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. After twenty years of serving as vice president of the Ohio WCTU, she succeeded Florence D. Richard as state president in 1932. [22] Two years later, she was chosen as the delegate to the WCTU world convention and traveled to Stockholm, Sweden, where she delivered an address at the conference. [23] Romans continued to serve as president of the Ohio WCTU for six years before suffering a cerebral hemorrhage, which forced her retirement. She remained an honorary president until her death in 1946. [24] [25]
Romans passed away at the age of 83 on June 29, 1946, at the home of her daughter, Blanche McVey. She was interred beside her husband, Clarence, in the mausoleum at Northwood Cemetery in Cambridge, Ohio. [26]
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-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity." It plays an influential role in the temperance movement. Originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement, the organization supported the 18th Amendment and was also influential in social reform issues that came to prominence in the progressive era.
Marie Caroline Brehm was an American prohibitionist, suffragist, and politician. The Head of the suffrage department for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), she was a key figure in the Prohibition Party and Presbyterian Church, active in both local and national politics, and an advocate of reform laws. Twice she was appointed by the President to represent the United States at the World's Anti-Alcoholic Congress in Europe. Additionally, she was the first woman to run for the Vice President of the United States after the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote.
Martha McClellan Brown was a lecturer, educator, reformer, newspaper editor, and major leader in the temperance movement in Ohio.
Mary Greenleaf Leavitt was an educator and successful orator who became the first round-the-world missionary for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Setting out on virtually non-stop worldwide tours over a decade, she "went to all continents save Antarctica," where she crusaded against alcohol and its evils including domestic violence; and advocated for women's suffrage and other equal rights such as higher education for women. In 1891 she became the honorary life president of the World's WCTU.
Mary Jane Aldrich was an American temperance reformer, lecturer, and essayist of the long nineteenth century. She served as vice-president of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and president of the Iowa union. At the time of the division in the ranks of the WCTU, Aldrich, with the Iowa union, adhered to the non-partisan temperance work, and became evangelistic secretary of the Non-Partisan National Woman's Christian Temperance Union. As a temperance worker, she was characterized as sanguine and practical. As a speaker, she was bright, forceful, entertaining and logical. She was the author of "Church and Sunday School Temperance Work" (1898).
Rebecca Ballard Chambers was an American journalist and social reformer. She served as the editor-in-chief of the Bulletin, a temperance movement newspaper in Pennsylvania, and as president of the state's branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
Josephine Cushman Bateham was an American social reformer, editor, and writer in the temperance movement. The Sabbath Observance Department of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was organized at the St. Louis (National) Convention in 1884, and Bateham, then of Painesville, Ohio, was appointed its first Superintendent, continuing in charge of the Department until compelled by failing health to resign in 1896. In addition, Bateham was a supporter of social reform for women.
Annie W. Clark was an American social reformer and leader in the temperance movement. She served as president of the Ohio Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
Susanna M. D. Fry was an American educator and temperance worker. Her teaching career began in the primary department of the village school, but her superior ability as a teacher led her swiftly into positions of greater responsibility. Fry was a professor who held the chair of English literature at Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois and at the University of Minnesota. She served as president of the Minnesota Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.), and managing editor of The Union Signal, the organ of the National W.C.T.U. During her career as a professor and as an official of the W.C.T.U., Fry was a frequent speaker in Prohibition campaigns and at temperance conventions. Fry was the only woman chosen from the Methodist church to speak before the Parliament of the World's Religions, 1893.
Emor L. Calkins was an American temperance leader and lecturer. After uniting with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.), she served in several capacities including State vice-president of the Indiana W.C.T.U., 1894; and State president of the Michigan W.C.T.U., for 25 years, beginning in 1905.
Nelle G. Burger was an American temperance leader. For 34 years, she served as president of the Missouri State Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.).
Annetta R. Chipp was an American temperance leader and prison evangelist. She served as president of the South Idaho Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.).
Mamie Claflin was an American temperance and woman suffrage leader. In addition to serving six years as president of the Nebraska Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) (1912–18), for 16 years, she was also the editor and publisher of its organ, The Union Worker.
Ella D. Crawford was an American temperance movement community organizer affiliated with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.). She served as president of various county, district, and local Unions in Minnesota and Iowa before being elected president of the South Idaho W.C.T.U.
Lella A. Dillard was an American temperance leader. She served as president of the Georgia State Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.), and afterwards as National Director of the W.C.T.U.'s Peace Department.
Amelia Elizabeth Roe Gordon was a British-born Canadian temperance activist, who was elected president of the Ontario Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) (1927) before serving as president of the Dominion W.C.T.U. She was also a suffragist, and was associated with philanthropic, benevolent, and social reform.
Drusilla Wilson was an American temperance leader and Quaker pastor. She was the second president of the Kansas Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.).
Rev. Emma Pow Bauder was an American evangelist, missionary, reformer, and author. Affiliated with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ in Michigan since 1879, she soon thereafter relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she was also active with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.), the largest women's organization in the U.S. during the Gilded Age.
Althea Gould Quimby was an American temperance activist who served for 25 years as the president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) of the State of Maine (1914–39). In 1927, she became a National W.C.T.U. Vice President. For 20 years, Quimby was a lay preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
H. Anna Quinby was an American lawyer, magazine editor, and business manager. As a social reformer, she advocated for women's suffrage and was active in the temperance movement. She was the first woman from Ohio admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States. She was also the first woman to apply for the position of notary public, from which women were always excluded before the enactment of the amendment to the Ohio constitution providing for female suffrage. Lastly, she was the first woman in Ohio to raise a litter of pigs to a ton of pork in 180 days and so qualified for membership in the Ohio Ton-Litter Club.
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