Susan Augusta Pike Sanders

Susan Augusta Pike Sanders (March 25, 1842 – September 8, 1931) was an American teacher, clubwoman, and author, who was prominent in charities and social circles. She served as national president of the Woman's Relief Corps, auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, the largest charitable organization in the world in its day. She has the credit of being the originator of placing a flag in every school house, hers the first school to have a flag in McLean County, Illinois. The legislature changed the plan to putting it on the outside, which law was later repealed.[1]

Susan ("Sue") Pike Sanders, "A woman of the century"

Early years and education

Susan (nickname, "Sue") Augusta Pike was born in Casco, Maine, March 25, 1842.[2] Her parents were Harrison W. Pike (1804–1877) and Susan A. Mayberry Pike (1813–1878).[3] Her paternal grandfather was Noah Pike, farmer of Fryeburg, Maine, and a descent of John Pike, who came from England to America in 1637 and located at Limerick, Maine. The father was born in Fryeburg, August 19, 1803, and was one of a family of twenty-four children, nearly all of whom lived to old age. He was a very strong and practical man, as well as a shrewd and capable business man, and was wholly self-educated. On Mayberry Hill, Cumberland county, Maine, he was married October 1, 1837, to Miss Susan A. Mayberry, who was born February 3, 1813, a daughter of Edward and Mary (Johnson) Mayberry. Her grandfather, Captain Richard Mayberry, served with distinction as an officer in the Revolutionary war. The family was an early and prominent one in New England. Harrison W. Pike owned and operated a farm in Casco, until he and his wife, accompanied by their seven small children, came to Bloomington, Illinois, in 1854. Two brothers, Meshech and Theophilus, also came with him. Here, he engaged in general merchandising and speculating and met with success. He was one of the honored pioneers and highly respected citizens of the town. The family attended the Unitarian church. In their family were seven children, all of whom were educated in Bloomington. They were as follows: Noah H., Sue A., Ivory H., Alpheus H., Anna M. and Mary A.[2] Like most men who went west in those days, Harrison accumulated wealth.[4]

Sanders began her education in the schools of Casco, and after coming west with the family attended the Bloomington schools and the Illinois State University, of Normal, Illinois.[4][5]

She became a member of the International Organisation of Good Templars when fifteen years of age, and took an active part in advancing its principles. When eighteen years old, she was elected to the highest office in that order for women in her State.[6]

Career

Teacher

She taught successfully for six years, the latter part of the time being employed in the schools of Bloomington.[5] The most noted of her schools was that which she taught during the Civil War in the area near her home. It was there she taught children, whose parents were what were then known as "Copperheads," sympathizers with the secessionists. Notwithstanding the sentiment that surrounded her, she kept a little Stars and Stripes hanging over her desk. One day, she returned to her schoolroom to find it broken from its staff and lying upon the floor. She gathered it up and nailed it to the wall. It hung there the rest of the term. That was the first flag-raising in a public school. Ever since that day she advocated the placing of an American flag in every school house and church of the U.S., and her idea has become popular all over the country. She further advocated that the Bible, ballot-box and American flag should accompany one another at the polls.[4]

Civil War

She was secretary of the Soldier's Aid Society of Bloomington, during the Civil War. She also served as corresponding secretary for the United States Sanitary Commission branch of that city.[4] All of her brothers were soldiers of the Civil war.[2]

Post-war

On September 19, 1867, married James Troyless Sanders (1840–1925), of Jacksonville, Illinois. To them were born four children, two of whom died young: Augusta (died in infancy in 1870) and Bernadine M. (1878-1894). Two sons grew to manhood, Harold Pike Sanders (1871–1957), and Royal Woodson Sanders (1873–1936).[2] After marriage, while residing in Delavan, Illinois, her time was principally occupied by home duties, but she was always more or less prominently identified with public affairs along certain lines.[5][6] Her husband was one of the incorporators of the Delavan Homestead Building & Loan Association.[7]

Sanders was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, having been state treasurer of the same for twelve consecutive years. She was also the grand vice templar of the Independent Order of Good Templars in 1865-66-67, the highest office a woman could hold in that order at that time.[5] Her father died June 2, 1877, and her mother, February 12, 1878.[2]

In December 1885, Sanders joined the Illinois Woman's Relief Corps, and became the first president of her corps. In February, 1886, she represented the corps in department convention of Illinois, where she was elected department treasurer of the order and delegate-at-large to the California convention, where she went in August, via Colorado the month before.[8] On her return, she published a journal of her travels. In February, 1887, she was elected department president of her State, and governed with an economy and dignity that placed the order foremost among the States in the country. In February, 1888, she was made department counselor of the Illinois Woman's Relief Corps and a member of the national pension committee, in which she served two years. In the Milwaukee convention, she presented the recommendation for the adoption of the site of the National Woman's Relief Corps house in Madison, Ohio. She recommended the certificate of service for the army nurses of the Civil War, and was afterward appointed by the national president to prepare a design for the same, which was adopted and issued by the national order. She was one of the board of incorporators of the National Woman's Relief Corps Home. In 1890 and 1891, she served as national instituting and installing officer. In the national convention in Detroit, Michigan, in August, 1891,[9] she was elected national president of the Woman's Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, the largest charitable organization on earth.[6][10] In 1892, she presided over the convention held at Washington, D.C.[5]

Bloomington

She always took considerable interest in school work and everything tending toward reform, but on coming to Bloomington, November, 1892, she determined to keep out of public office. This she could not well do, as the people knew her ability as a leader and the success with which she always met in the management of public affairs. Her first public work here was in connection with the Wither's Public Library as a trustee, and in 1894 she was elected its president, which office she filled for three years, later serving as secretary of the same. Sanders became actively interested in the Girls' Industrial home of McLean county for the care of dependent and defenseless girls, serving as president for three years.[5] In April 1898, Sander was elected a member of the Bloomington board of education.[5][11]

Her husband became a well-known realtor of Bloomington.[7] The couple attended and helped support the Unitarian church, of which she served as superintendent of the Sunday school for three years. Sanders was a prominent member of the McLean County Historical Society and prepared for the association a complete account of the work of the Sanitary Aid Society of McLean County, from 1861 to 1866. She was a member of the board of trustees of the Deaconess Hospital, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution,[3] and served as first vice-president of the Woman's Club.[5]

Death

James died in 1925. She died September 8, 1931, at St. Joseph's Hospital, in Bloomington, and was buried at that city's Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. She was the grandmother of Irene Delroy.[12]

Selected works
  • A journey to, on and from the Golden Shore, 1887[13]

References

Citations
  1. Brookhaven Press 1899, p. 181.
  2. Brookhaven Press 1899, p. 179.
  3. Daughters of the American Revolution 1901, p. 18.
  4. Willard & Livermore 1893, p. 630.
  5. Brookhaven Press 1899, p. 180.
  6. Willard & Livermore 1893, p. 631.
  7. Brookhaven Press 1899, p. 178.
  8. Gruen 2014, p. 41.
  9. Woman's Relief Corps (U.S.). National Convention 1919, p. 425.
  10. Woman's Relief Corps (U.S.). Department of Connecticut 1892, p. 135.
  11. "Susan Augusta Sanders". Her Hat Was In The Ring. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  12. "Active Life Ends". newspapers.com. The Pantagraph. 8 September 1931. p. 3. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  13. Kemp 2000, p. 59.

Attribution

Bibliography
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