Lillian M. N. Stevens
| Lillian M. N. Stevens | |
|---|---|
Portrait by Aaron Veeder, Albany NY
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| President of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) | |
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In office 1898–1914 |
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| Preceded by | Frances E. Willard |
| Succeeded by | Anna Adams Gordon |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Marilla N. Ames March 1, 1843 Dover, Maine, USA |
| Died | April 6, 1914 (aged 71) Portland, Maine, USA |
| Nationality | United States |
| Spouse(s) | Michael Stevens |
| Children | Gertrude Mary Stevens |
| Residence | Stroudwater, Maine, USA |
| Alma mater | Westbrook Seminary |
| Profession | teacher |
Lillian M. N. Stevens (1843–1914) was an American temperance worker and social reformer, born at Dover, Maine. She helped launch the Maine chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, served as its president, and was elected president of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union after the death of Frances Willard.
Lillian, known as "Marilla" in childhood, was the fourth of six children born in Dover, Maine to Nathaniel Ames and Nancy Fowler Parsons Ames. Two of her older siblings died in infancy, leaving one boy and three girls. As a child, “she loved the woods, quiet haunts, a free life and plenty of books." The four siblings "spent many happy hours on the hillside and in the woods where she delighted to be. . . . [S]he came to love the stately pines better than any flower, or shrub, or other tree.” Her father was a teacher, and both parents shared early New England ancestry. She studied, first, at the Foxcroft Academy, founded by the state in 1823 “for the promotion of literature, science, morality and piety.” Her mother died when Lillian was 14. In January 1859 her father married Frances L. Bragdon, a resident of Cape Elizabeth. Lillian’s new home provided easy access to the Westbrook Seminary, which she entered for the spring term two months later.
Lillian Ames was 16 years old when her father died of consumption in late 1859 or early 1860. At about that time she began to teach school. She was hired at the Spruce Street School outside Portland, and then by the Stroudwater School. Lillian Ames was said to be one of the earliest Maine women to continue teaching during a winter season, customarily restricted to male teachers. After teaching for several years she decided to marry, a status in those days judged incompatible with a woman's teaching. In 1911 she was awarded an honorary degree of A.M. from Bates College.
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