Carry A. Nation

Carry A. Nation (1846 – 1911) = Best known for her hatchet as a temperance crusader. Carry Amelia Moore was born at home in Garrard County, Kentucky, November 25, to George and Mary Campbell Moore. She was a sensitive and strong-willed child.

Her father held Sunday services in his home for his family and slaves in Kentucky. When Carrie was old enough, she took over the Bible reading. Often bored in the meetings, later in life she said she was grateful for her knowledge of the Word.

Carrie moved with her family to a farm near Belton, Missouri when she was nearly nine. It was located in the northwest corner of Cass County close to the Kansas border and south of Kansas City.

Her father became a member of the local Disciples of Christ Christian Church. He persuaded Carry when she was ten to go with him to a revival being held at the Hickman Mills Christian Church across the line in Jackson County. She went to the altar, knowing she was a sinner, knelt, and felt purified at her conversion experience. The next day, she was baptized in a stream with winter ice in it.

Carry married two men. Dr. Charles Gloyd in 1867 who died of alcohol poisoning and Rev. David Nation, an ordained minister and lawyer who pastored a church in Medicine Lodge, Kansas.

Carry believed God had a special mission for her to do in life and was often at odds with the established clergy and law. It was while they lived in Medicine Lodge that her crusade against the evils of liquor began. She called herself the Home Defender and her motto was "Prohibition." She smashed bars with a hatchet in hand.

She died June 2, 1911 and was buried in the Belton, MO. cemetery.

More to Read:

1. The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation. Steves and Sons, Topeka, 1908.

2. Webster's Biographical Dictionary. G and C. Merriam, 1956.

3. Jackson County Pioneers. By Pearl Wilcox. 1975

4. “The Joint Smasher: Carry Nation” By Ellen Miller. Midwest Genealogy Center News Bytes. June 2011.

5. Dictionary of Christianity in America. Editors: Daniel G. Reid, Robert D. Linder, Bruce L.Shelley, & Harry S. Stout, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1990.

6. The History of Johnson County, Missouri Including a Reliable History of the Townships, Cities and Towns. Kansas City, MO, Kansas City Historical Company; 1881. Reprinted 1970. P. 511.
7. Introduction to Carry A. Nation
8. Carry A. Nation's Diary and Scrapbook

9. Carry Amelia Nation's Papers
10. Kansas Carry A. Nation Trading Card!
11. Vintage Photographs
12. Findagrave #756

Places to Visit in MO. and KS.:
1. Belton Museum, 512 Main, Belton, Mo.

2. Belton, MO. cemetery

3. Carry Nation Marker, K-8, south edge of Kiowa, Barber County, KS. 37.007829, -98.489842
4. Carry A. Nation's Home Museum, 211 West Fowler, Hwy 160, Medicine Lodge, Barber County, Ks.