*******************************************
Jack Blocker
History, Huron College, University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario N6G 1H3 Canada
(519) 438-7224, ext. 249 /Fax (519) 438-3938
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Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 14:37:58 -0400
From: Michael Pierce <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: H-Net Gilded Age and Progressive Era List <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: ANB -- Bio of the Day
The following biography is from the American National Biography,
published by Oxford University Press. Copyright 1999 ACLS.
Burger, Nelle Gilham Lemon (27 July 1869-24 Dec. 1957), temperance
leader, was born Nelle Gilham Lemons in St. Louis, Missouri, the
daughter of Charles J. Lemons and Irene C. Jacobs. Their occupations
are unknown. When Nelle was ten the family moved to Roodhouse,
Illinois, where she began attending public schools and graduated
from high school with honors. She then began teaching in area public
schools. Two years later, on 1 September 1886, she married Charles
A. Burger, an engineer.
Not long after her marriage a tragic accident changed the course of
Burger's life. A former schoolmate had taken part in a drunken brawl
and was sent to jail, where he died in a fire. Distressed by the
incident, Burger made an "inward pledge" to help curtail the public
use of alcohol so as to prevent other deaths. An active member of
the Methodist church, she joined the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union (WCTU) in 1890 and served as president of both the local and
county organizations. Six years later she attended a national WCTU
convention in St. Louis. There she met and received great
inspiration from the national president, Frances E. Willard.
Later that year the Burgers moved to Clark, Missouri, and Burger
immediately began to organize a temperance union. Clara C. Hoffman,
longtime president of the Missouri WCTU, visited the county in 1897
and stayed in the Burger home. Burger's devotion to the cause and
her organizing abilities were apparent to Hoffman. She encouraged
Burger to speak and to organize local unions. Burger felt inadequate
to the task, but her husband convinced her to try. Hoffman appointed
her state organizer, and reluctantly she set out on her reform
mission.
Burger worked successfully until 1899, when delegates at the
national convention in Seattle elected her national lecturer. In
this important work she traveled all over the United States and much
of Canada speaking on the ill effects of liquor and encouraging the
formation of local temperance unions.
Burger's other WCTU offices during those early years included
secretary of the Young Woman's Branch of Missouri, 1897-1901, and
the WCTU state recording secretary, 1907-1908. In 1910 the Mexican
government requested an American worker to come to that country and
organize a national WCTU. Burger spent two years there as a
missionary, speaking on temperance, recruiting workers to the cause,
and perfecting a national organization. During 1910-1913 she also
served as corresponding secretary for the Missouri WCTU. After
twenty-five years as president of the Missouri WCTU, Clara Hoffman
announced her retirement in 1913. Meeting in convention that year at
the University of Missouri, delegates elected Nelle Burger to
succeed her as Missouri's state president.
Burger served thirty-four years as president of the Missouri WCTU.
During her term of office she successfully directed the organization
and presented bills to the Missouri legislature. She witnessed major
developments in the temperance movement, including the beginning and
end of prohibition. Important early events during her tenure
included a large prohibition rally in Kansas City in 1914 and on 28
March of that year a National Constitutional Poster Day. In 1915
Burger urged the unions to work toward the National Constitution
Prohibition Amendment.
In Moberly, Missouri, during a local option campaign just before
passage of the prohibition law, Burger faced one of her most
frightening challenges. Saloon men had threatened her life if she
returned to that city. Nevertheless when local ministers asked for
her assistance, she attended a gathering in front of one of the
largest saloons the night before the vote. She stood on a wagon
between the ministers and gave what she regarded as the best speech
of her life. An excellent speaker, she used humor, drama, logic, and
spiritual fervor to sway her audience.
Activities increased for Burger in 1918 as voting drew near for the
state prohibition law. William Jennings Bryan delivered three
addresses at a statewide temperance rally in Jefferson City the day
the prohibition referendum was submitted to the Missouri
legislature. Despite wet voters in St. Louis City and County, it
finally passed. Union members then attempted to educate their
congressmen on the benefits of prohibition. They sent petitions to
Washington showing support for the Eighteenth Amendment, which
became law in 1919.
While performing her duties as president, Burger also held the
national office of recording secretary (1926-1944) and edited the
Missouri Counselor. This state publication of the WCTU kept members
informed on current events and temperance issues and helped bind
together a tight-knit organization. After the Eighteenth Amendment
passed, Burger pointed out in the Missouri Counselor other WCTU
concerns: woman suffrage, working and neglected children, mothers'
pensions, and juvenile courts. She also found it necessary to
continually present the benefits of prohibition to help combat
organizations that sought to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment.
When repeal of the amendment eventually did occur in 1933, Burger
said that the "wet vote brought sorrow to our hearts." In order to
carry on the cause, Burger urged temperance teaching in public and
Sunday schools and temperance organizations for children and youth.
She also influenced members to defeat campaigns for Sunday liquor
sales and to support local options in liquor-by-the-drink elections.
Because of a heart condition, Burger announced her retirement as
WCTU state president in 1947. Tributes to her many accomplishments
and effective administration poured in from friends and foes alike.
Meeting in Moberly at their annual convention in 1953, Missouri WCTU
members honored their leader by launching the Nelle G. Burger
Anniversary Fund.
The Burgers moved to Springfield, Missouri, in 1918. There Burger
helped organize the Springfield Community Chest and worked for city
improvement. She also served on the State Board of Charities and
Corrections (1917-1925). Burger's husband died in the late 1930s.
The couple had no children. By the time of Nelle Burger's death in
Springfield, the cause for which she worked during her life had lost
its prestige and power.
Bibliography
The major reference work on the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
in Missouri and the role of Nelle Burger in the union is B. Blanche
Butts-Runion, "Through the Years": A History of the First
Seventy-five Years of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in
Missouri (1882-1957) (n.d.). A biographical sketch appears in Mary
K. Dains, ed., Show Me Missouri Women: Selected Biographies (1989).
An obituary is in the Springfield Leader and Press, 24 Dec. 1957.
Written by Mary K. Dains
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