Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Lucia Serepta Drum Fear, 1863-1927
By Claudia Lopez, undergraduate, University of California, Berkeley
Lucia Serepta Drum was born to Edward D. Drum and Salome O. Rays around 1863. She was the eldest of seven children. She lived in Kansas until after she gave birth to her two children. She married William H. Fear in 1886 and that same year, they had their first child, Lyle Gordon. Not long after, in 1888, they had their second child, Lois Mabel, and sometime after her birth they moved to Oregon where she joined The Portland's Woman's Club.
The Portland's Woman's Club was the largest woman's club in the state and had an active membership of one hundred and twenty-five members. It was the only club to send a "yearbook" or calendar to their corresponding state chairman. She was a part of the personnel of the committee for the club. In 1903, she worked on the domestic committee of the Portland Woman's Club, which was intended to welcome women coming from the Pacific Northwest committees. In 1907, she also worked with the same club as part of a press committee that was in charge of revising the constitution for the Woman's Club. The constitutional changes included better and more accurate press coverage, an increase in the membership fee, and improvements in the method for voting. The committee served its purpose and was successful in its efforts, so Mrs. William H. Fear, along with Mrs. Fredrick Eggert and Mrs. G. M. Gilnes, were congratulated for their contribution to the press committee.
During 1913, she became the chairman of the home economics committee of the Oregon Federation. She gave an annual report, and in this specific report, she stated that men had to be qualified, and had to demonstrate their abilities, before asking for someone's daughter's hand in marriage. She also stated that women could not begin to run a new home before they received the proper qualifications that were needed. During December 1913, since she was the chairman of the home economics committee, she had other state clubs report back answers to ten questions that she created and sent out that were based on public health and food supply, which she used to report back to the club. During May and June 1914, the Convention of the General Federation of Women's Club was to take place in Chicago, and she was a delegate representing her club. She attended many meetings for this club, like one that she attended during November 1914 that discussed plans and considered committees for the National Council's meeting. As chairman for the home economics committee, she also led many home economics classes throughout the years. In 1915, she was a part of the clubhouse committee that established a woman's club building that was used by the woman's clubs exclusively as a meeting place and "club home." Not much is known about her suffragist work after the year 1915. She became a widow when her husband died in 1945 and she remained in Oregon until she passed away on October 8, 1957.
Sources:
Carol S Dibble, "Social and Personal," Daily Capital Journal, October 27, 1915. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn99063957/1915-10-27/ed-1/seq-2/
Edith Knight Holmes, "Programme Arranged For Session of Mother's Congress in Corvallis," The Sunday Oregonian, October 10, 1915. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1915-10-10/ed-1/seq-45/
Edith Knight Holmes, "Woman's Clubs," Morning Oregonian, November 14, 1914. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1914-11-14/ed-1/seq-8/
Harper, Ida Husted, ed. "Chapter XXXVI: Oregon," in History of Woman Suffrage, Vol 6: 1900 920, edited by Ida Husted Harper, pp 538-549. New York, NY: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922. http://asp6new.alexanderstreet.com/was2/was2.object.details.aspx?dorpid=1000686796&fulltext
Mrs. Sarah A Evans, "Convention Delegates Keep Nose To Grindstone on Hoites Day, The Sunday Oregonian, June 21, 1914. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1914-06-21/ed-1/seq-44/
Mrs. Sarah A Evans, "Home Economics Offers Fruitful Field of Knowledge for Women," The Sunday Oregonian, November 02, 1913. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1913-11-02/ed-1/seq-63/
Mrs. Sarah A Evans, "Rivals in Clubdom Snow Unity of Work Around Social Board, The Sunday Oregonian, December 07, 1913. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1913-12-07/ed-1/seq-67/
Mrs. Sarah A Evans, "Woman's Clubs and Work," The Oregon Daily Journal, July 07, 1907. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042444/1907-07-07/ed-1/seq-50/
"1870 United States Federal Census." https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/interactive/7163/4264597_00159/18046386?backurl=ht tps://www.ancestrylibrary.com/family- tree/person/tree/29107234/person/26676088000/facts/citation/125279101441/edit/record
"Woman's Work Planned," Morning Oregonian, May 12, 1903.
http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1903-05-12/ed-1/seq-10/