Anna J. Hardwicke Pennybacker, known publicly after her marriage as Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker, was the president of the American General Federation of Women's Clubs in the early 20th century, a Chautauqua speaker and a leader in the women's suffrage movement. [1] [2]
Anna J. Hardwicke was born May 7, 1861, in Petersburg, Virginia, the daughter of John Benjamin Hardwicke, a Baptist minister, and his wife, the former Martha Dews. The family moved to Texas when she was 17, and in 1880 she graduated from the new Normal Institute in Huntsville, then taught in Bryan Grammar School. Before 1884 she taught in Missouri. [3] [4] [5]
She and Percy Vivian Pennybacker were married on October 31, 1884, or November 1, 1884, in Smith County, Texas (1856-1899), [6] [7] [8] and they moved to Tyler, Texas, where he became school superintendent and appointed her as history teacher and principal at Central High School. She taught there for nine years, and in 1893 went with her husband to Palestine, Texas, where he had a new position. [4]
She was a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt; they were often guests of each other in their homes. [1] [2] [4]
She died February 4, 1938, in Austin. [3] [9] Governor James V. Allred ordered the flag over the State Capitol to be lowered to half staff as a woman who has endeared herself to the hearts of all Texans." [2] A funeral service was at St. David's Episcopal Church. [10]
She was survived by two sons, Percy V. Pennybacker and Paul Bonner Pennybacker; a daughter, Ruth; and three siblings, A.S. Hardwicke, Mrs. T.T. Holloway and Mrs. B.C. Epperson. [2]
After quitting her paid work, Mrs. Pennybacker became active in the women's club movement; in 1901-1903 she was head of the Texas federation of clubs and in San Francisco in 1912 she was elected president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs for a two-year term. [4] [11]
In 1888, she published A New History of Texas for Schools, which was adopted as the official text for public schools. In 1913, she told the fourth American Peace Conference that the then-current method of celebrating Independence Day in the United States was a "travesty." She suggested that
children form floral processions at school buildings, march to some central point which would be made the scene of a general celebration, in which places of honor would be given to young men who have arrived at the age of 21 within the year. She further advocated that speeches should be made to these young men and that civic oaths containing peace clauses should be administered. [13]
The same year she urged that measures be taken to enforce the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. [14]
In 1915, Mrs. Pennybacker became head of the National Women's Committee of Near East Relief, which had orphanages in Greece and in Palestine. [15]
A pacifist, she reluctantly supported American involvement in World War I. [4]
Afterwards, she set her goals on international peace and disarmament by working as a special correspondent to the League of Nations. She urged the United States to join the World Court and to sign the Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of national policy. [4]
In a 1926 talk in Carnegie Hall, she told of her recent trip to Geneva and Greece. [16] She was noted as "one of the most gifted speakers on the platform today." [17]
Active in the Chautauqua movement, Mrs. Pennybacker persuaded John D. Rockefeller Jr. to donate money that staved off bankruptcy. in 1935. She also influenced President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to speak at a fund-raising event. [18]
In Texas, a rose was named in her honor in 1929. It was noted as "A fine grower, with stout thornless canes coming freely from the base of the plant. Peach-pink with silvery suffusions in color." [19]
She bequeathed $5,000 to Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville, Texas, to establish a Pennybacker scholarship "for the cultivation in the student body of a love for the true and beautiful in life." [20] [21]
Juliette Gordon Low was the American founder of Girl Scouts of the USA. Inspired by the work of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of Boy Scouts, she joined the Girl Guide movement in England, forming her own group of Girl Guides there in 1911.
Alice Hathaway Roosevelt was an American socialite and the first wife of President Theodore Roosevelt. Two days after giving birth to their only child, she died from undiagnosed Bright's disease.
Percy V. Pennybacker Jr. (1895–1963) was a Texas civil engineer who pioneered the technology of welded structures, particularly for bridges.
Helen Catherine Hardwicke is an American film director, production designer, and screenwriter. Her directorial work includes Thirteen (2003), which she co-wrote with Nikki Reed, the film's co-star, Lords of Dogtown (2005), The Nativity Story (2006), Twilight (2008), Red Riding Hood (2011), Plush (2013), Miss You Already (2015), and Miss Bala (2019).
Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit", is a Texas state prison located in Huntsville, Texas, United States. The approximately 54.36-acre (22.00 ha) facility, near downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The facility, the oldest Texas state prison, opened in 1849.
Pennybacker may refer to:
The Texas Federation of Women's Clubs (TFWC) is a non-profit women's organization in Texas which was founded in 1897. The purpose of the group is to create a central organization for women's clubs and their members in Texas relating to education, the environment, home and civic life, the arts and Texas history. Seventy-percent of public libraries in Texas were created through the work of the members and clubs of the TFWC.
The Texas Equal Suffrage Association (TESA) was an organization founded in 1903 to support white women's suffrage in Texas. It was originally formed under the name of the Texas Woman Suffrage Association (TWSA) and later renamed in 1916. TESA did allow men to join. TESA did not allow black women as members, because at the time to do so would have been "political suicide." The El Paso Colored Woman's Club applied for TESA membership in 1918, but the issue was deflected and ended up going nowhere. TESA focused most of their efforts on securing the passage of the federal amendment for women's right to vote. The organization also became the state chapter of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). After women earned the right to vote, TESA reformed as the Texas League of Women Voters.
Anna Goodman Hertzberg was an American clubwoman who served as the co-founder of an all-women's chamber music society, the first women's music association in Texas.
Virginia Claypool Meredith was an American farmer and livestock breeder, a writer and lecturer on the topics of agriculture and home economics, and an active clubwoman and a leader of women's organizations. Dubbed "Queen of American Agriculture" by the citizens of Mississippi in the 1890s, Meredith was also a pioneer in agricultural education. Between 1897 and 1903 she established the home economics programs at the University of Minnesota and served as the program's first professor. From 1921 to 1936 she served as the first woman appointed a Purdue University trustee. Meredith chose an unusual vocation for women of her time, successfully managing the day-to-day operations of her family's Indiana farm from 1882 until 1915. In addition to her agricultural-related work, Meredith was appointed to the Women's Board of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, serving as vice chair of the Women's Board and chair of its awards committee. She was also elected president of the Indiana Union of Literary Clubs, a founder of the Indiana Federation of Women's Clubs, and the first president of the Indiana Home Economics Association, founded in 1913.
Joanna Snowden Porter was an American clubwoman based in Chicago; she was founder and president of the Northwestern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.
Florence Spencer Duryea was an American philanthropist and clubwoman, national secretary of Women's Organizations for Near East Relief, based in New York City.
Effie Adelaide Payne Austin a professional musician and clubwoman.
Georgina Petrina Geertsen Marriott was a Utah teacher and clubwoman.
Anna Marie Valentien, née Buchdrucker was an American sculptor, painter, teacher, illustrator, and decorator.
Emma S. Connor Ransom was an American educator and clubwoman, active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) and the YWCA.
Clara Snell Wolfe (1872–1970) was an American suffragist. She founded the Texas branch of the National Woman's Party and became its president.
Nannie Webb Curtis was an American lecturer, temperance activist, widely-known clubwoman. She wrote essays on the topic and edited a magazine. She served as National vice-president of Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), sat on the National Executive Committee, and was also on the Official Board of the National WCTU, the lawmaking body of organization. Her father having been a Methoidist minister, she made her living lecturing as a pulpit orator on the topics of prohibition and woman suffrage on behalf of the National WCTU, Chautauqua, and the lyceum circuits. Frequently characterized as being "bigger than her state", Curtis was a patriot and a speaker of national fame.
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