Today, alcohol usage is a persistent social issue, as drunk driving and domestic turmoil, among other problems, haunt American society. It was even worse a century ago, as alcohol consumption was much greater and wreaked even more havoc, including domestic violence described as “endemic.”

Frances Willard devoted her life to stamping out alcohol as the face of the temperance movement in the late 19th century. One source aptly describes her as “a radical social progressive who stood out against gender inequality and fought to give a voice to society’s disenfranchised,” particularly women and children.

Born on Sept. 28, 1839, in Churchville, New York, Willard moved west with her family as a young girl, first to Oberlin, Ohio, in 1841. There, Frances’ father studied for the ministry at Oberlin College before his health concerns induced a move to Janesville, Wisconsin, in 1846.

In Wisconsin, the family converted to Methodism. Frances and her sister, Mary, later attended Milwaukee Normal Institute, where their mother was on the faculty. Abstinence from alcohol was a cherished issue in the Willard household, and the family adopted a pledge for a life of sobriety in 1856.

In 1858, Frances moved on to Evanston, Illinois, to attend the North Western Female Academy, an institution not affiliated with present-day Northwestern University. She was one of two graduates of the school in 1859.

She subsequently taught at various locations around the country after graduation, also traveling extensively in Europe, before returning to Evanston to accept the presidency of a new institution, the Evanston College for Ladies, in 1871.

Two years later, the school was absorbed as the Woman’s College of Northwestern University, and Willard became Northwestern’s first Dean of Women. However, she resigned in 1874 amid professional disputes with Northwestern president Charles Henry Fowler, her ex-fiancé.

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It proved to be a new beginning for Willard. The women’s temperance movement was sweeping the nation, and ladies sought to prevent the effects of alcohol through prayer and moral virtues. In 1855, Northwestern’s charter was amended to prohibit the sale of alcohol within 4 miles of the campus.

The various groups fighting against alcohol came together in Cleveland in 1874 to form the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the first anti-alcohol group operated exclusively by women. The goals of the WCTU were to educate Americans on the negative effects of alcohol, promote legislation banning the sale of liquor, and organize women for the fight.

As Willard had done as a youth, Americans were encouraged to sign a pledge to refrain from liquor. Pledge cards were created for all ages and social groups, often with the familiar slogan “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are pure, think on these things.”

Willard was appointed the first corresponding secretary of the WCTU, and two years later, headed the WCTU Publications Department, where she created a national audience for the group’s weekly newspaper, the Union Signal. In 1885, Willard was one of 47 women who founded the Illinois Woman’s Press Association.

Her prolific writing was matched only by her eloquent oration, as she embarked on a grueling 50-day speaking tour in 1874.

One of her most famous speeches was the stirring “Everybody’s War,” in which she pointedly attacked alcohol usage in America. She traveled an average of 30,000 miles a year, and in one 10-year period, averaged 400 lectures annually.

In 1879, Willard was elected president of the National WCTU and won reelection each year until her death. She argued for female suffrage, believing that a woman’s right to vote was “a means of protection of their homes from the devastation caused by legalized traffic in strong drink.” She also stressed that “politics is the place for woman.”

In the year she was elected, Willard presented the Illinois House with a petition containing 170,000 names, calling for women to vote on issues such as local restrictions on alcohol sales.

In 1883, she launched the Polygot Petition, an international appeal that collected 7.5 million signatures from both men and women worldwide, calling on governments to ban the sale of liquor and opium.

In 1888, Willard created the World WCTU, serving as president until 1893. She was also president of the National Council of Women of the United States from 1888 to 1890.

Though she was an international celebrity, Willard never forgot her hometown, once declaring, “When I get to Heaven, register me from Evanston!”

Willard died of influenza in a New York hotel room on Feb. 17, 1898. Thousands lined the tracks as her funeral train carried her body back to Chicago, and some 20,000 mourners gathered outside the WCTU headquarters in the Chicago Loop.

She is remembered with an impressive array of memorials, including several creations by Lorado Taft, Illinois’ most famous sculptor.

One Taft work, commissioned by the WCTU to honor the 50th anniversary of Willard’s election as president, is displayed in the Indiana State Capitol. Another of Taft’s memorials to Willard, a marble bust, now stands in the Northwestern University Library.

In 1905, Willard became the first woman honored with a statue in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. The statue was designed by Helen Farnsworth Mears, who had previously worked with Taft and was the result of a suggestion by Susan B. Anthony, a longtime Willard friend, that a woman should be its creator.

The Frances Willard House Museum and Archives was dedicated in 1900 in Evanston, which remains the home of the national headquarters of the WCTU. Her former schoolhouse in Janesville is one of several structures relating to her life that are on the National Register of Historic Places.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.