Mila Tupper Maynard
| Mila Tupper Maynard | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Mila Frances Tupper January 26, 1864 Brighton, Iowa, USA |
| Died | November 12, 1926 (aged 62) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Occupation | Unitarian minister |
| Spouse(s) | Rezin A. Maynard |
Mila Tupper Maynard (née Mila Frances Tupper; January 26, 1864 – November 12, 1926) was an American Unitarian minister, writer, social reformer and suffragist. She is thought to have been the first female minister in Nevada.
Born Mila Frances Tupper on January 26, 1864, in Brighton, Iowa, she was the daughter of Allen and Ellen (Smith) Tupper. Tupper Maynard was greatly influenced by her sister, Eliza Frances Tupper, who was 20 years older and active in establishing churches throughout the Midwestern United States. Tupper Maynard accompanied her sister on these projects and became actively involved in the Unitarian church.
Her ambition was to become a Unitarian minister, but women were not admitted into seminaries for training. Instead, she graduated from Whitewater State Normal School (now University of Wisconsin–Whitewater) in Wisconsin and then went on to earn a Bachelor of Letters degree in philosophy at Cornell University in 1889. Her education allowed her to be ordained as a Unitarian minister. Her first position was pastor in La Porte, Indiana. After serving in La Porte from 1889 to 1891, she moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she remained for about a year.
While in Grand Rapids, she met Rev. Rezin A. Maynard, 12 years her senior, who was an alcoholic attorney and counseled the Unitarian Church. They developed a strong relationship, which led Rev. Maynard to divorce his wife. The affair caused a scandal within the Unitarian Church congregation and Tupper Maynard left for Chicago where she worked at the Hull House under Jane Addams’ supervision. Rev. Maynard soon followed Tupper Maynard to Chicago, there on May 24, 1893. Following her time at the Hull House, Tupper Maynard joined the World's Congress of Representative Women at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. During this period, she became closely associated with Christian socialism and joined Christian socialist Myron Reed at the Broadway Temple.
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