Part of the American History & Genealogy Project

Lillian M. N. Stevens 1844 ~ 1914

Lillian N. N. Stevens

Mrs. Lillian M. N. Stevens, national president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, was born in Dover, Maine and has always made her home within the borders of the Pine Tree state. Like so many women of the New England states, Mrs. Stevens' first public work was in the schoolroom as a teacher, but she early left this sphere and at the age of twenty-one married Mr. M. Stevens, of Stroudwater, at that time a charming little suburb of Portland, Maine. Born a prohibitionist, Mrs. Stevens early began her temperance activities and the following data holds an interest for all: "Mrs. Stevens first met Miss Willard at Old Orchard, Maine, in the summer of 1875, and there aided in the organization of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, of which she was elected treasurer. She held this position for three years.

"For many years Mrs. Stevens was reckoned as Neal Dow's chief coadjutor, and since his death she is recognized throughout the state as the leader of the prohibition forces. Indeed, in the well-fought battle of 1884, which placed prohibition in the state constitution, Mrs. Stevens won for herself a fame as organizer and agitator hardly second to Neal Dow himself. Some of the triumphs of the Maine Woman's Christian Temperance Union under her leadership have bees the raising of the age of protection to sixteen years, a strong Scientific-Temperance-Instruction law, and the constitutional amendment to which we have already referred."

Mrs. Stevens, in addition to her temperance work, is prominently identified with many other reform and philanthropic movements of her city and state. She is one of the chief promoters of the Temporary Home for Women and Children in Portland and the State Industrial School for girls. She represented the state of Maine on the board of lady managers at the World's Columbian Exposition. To the executive ability essential to successful administration, Mrs. Stevens adds rare gifts as a speaker. Socially as well as officially, she has won recognition from some of old England's noblest houses and her home is the gathering place for the multitude of her co-laborers, her many friends and the philanthropic people of the city of Portland.

Women of America

Source: The Part Taken by Women in American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.