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ARMSTRONG, Mrs. Ruth Alice, national superintendent of heredity for the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union, born near Cassopolis, Cass county,
Mich., 30th April, 1850. Her father, Amos Jones, was from Georgia, and
her mother, Rebecca Hebron, from Yorkshire, England. She was educated in the public schools, and at the age of eighteen commenced to teach, while she was herself a student in the higher branches. Impressed with the injustice done to women in the matter of salaries, she left her native State for California, but not until she had aided in the organization of the first woman suffrage society of her native county. As a teacher she was successful. In 1874 she was married to Thomas Armstrong, a stock-raiser of Trinity county, Cal. For four years they lived in idyllic isolation, with no society except that furnished by a well-selected library. Just before the birth of their only child, Ruth, they moved to Woodland, Cal. There Mrs. Armstrong organized a Shakespeare Club, and then a lecture bureau, of which she was the first president. She assisted in the organization of a literary society for the study of literature of all nations. She was the first woman ever elected to the office of trustee in the Congregational Church of Woodland. In 1891 she united with the Christian Church. To the Woman's Christian Temperance Union she has given abundantly of time and resources, organizing the county and several local unions, her enthusiasm and common-sense making her a leader and inspirer. She began to plan for the education of women in maternity and other allied subjects. She w as made the superintendent of heredity for the town of Woodland, next for the county, and afterwards for the National Union. From her pen go out over all the Nation leaflets and letters of instruction to aid in the development of the highest physical, mental, moral and spiritual interest of mankind. Her lectures on "Heredity" and "Motherhood" carry the conviction that, for the highest development of manhood and womanhood, parentage must be assumed as the highest, the holiest and most sacred responsibility entrusted to us by the Creator. At present she is helping to plan and put into execution a woman's building, to contain a printing office, lecture hall and a home for homeless women and girls. Mrs. Armstrong's helpfulness in the town, in the church, in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and in the world comes from her belief in the powers of the unit and from the fact that her education has been assimilated into her character, producing a culture which has ministry for its highest aim. Possessed of keen and critical acumen, she ever makes choice of both word and action, endeavoring to say and do what is true, honest and pure, holding herself responsible to God and God alone. (American Women, Fifteen Hundred Biographies, Vol 1, Publ. 1897. Transcribed by Marla Snow.) |
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