Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Hester Alverson Moffett, 1861-1935

By Diana Romero, student
Harry S Truman College - City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Founder, Elwood Public Library; Co-Publisher, Daily Record (Elwood)

Hester Alverson Moffett was born in 1861 in Indiana to William T. Alverson and Susan Alverson. In 1884, Hester married Alonzo Dale Moffett, publisher at the Daily Record (Elwood). Mrs. Moffett's husband passed away in 1917. Moffett died in 1935 in Laguna, California, and was buried next to her husband in Spencer, Indiana.

Hester Moffett, who frequently went by her married name of Mrs. A.D. Moffett, was an accomplished suffragist and journalist in Indiana. In 1914, she served as vice president for the Indiana Legislative Council of Women that represented 80,000 organized women. These women worked for a woman suffrage bill in Indiana and cooperated with the Woman's Franchise League for legislative changes. Moffett was also one of the founders and first president of the Women's Press Club of Indiana. In the Women's Press Club's Yearbook of 1915-1916, Moffett wrote: "In the Women's Press Club we have a group of women who have an opportunity to voice the new demands and purpose in a far reaching and effective way." She also served as a chair of the Women's Franchise League for Madison County. Along with her husband, she was a co-publisher and editorial contributor to the Elwood Daily Record. In addition to her many accomplishments, she is credited with the founding of Elwood Public Library through her editorials in the Daily Record. She also served as part of the executive committee of the Indiana Library Trustees Association. Aside from publishing and working with the Women's Press Club, she successfully lobbied for bills that helped those that lived in poor conditions and tenements.

Moffett continued to travel and work throughout Indiana until 1919 when she left Elwood, taking a motor trip and arriving in California. According to the 1920 U.S. Census, she had taken residence in San Diego, California, and she was listed as widowed. The 1930 Census noted that she had moved to Los Angeles, California. During her time in California, she worked with libraries in San Diego and Los Angeles. In 1989, Mrs. Moffett was admitted to the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.

SOURCES:

Clarke, Grace Julian. "Prejudice Cast in Pathway of All Big Ideas." The Indianapolis Star. May 25, 1919, p. 44. Ancestry.com.

Find a Grave. Hester Alverson Moffett (1861-1935). Accessed February 6, 2018. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104743057/Hester-Moffett

Harper, Ida Husted, ed. "Indiana." Chapter XIII in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 6: 1900-1920. New York: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922. [LINK]

"Heads Press Club." Anderson Herald (Anderson, IN). April 10, 1960, p. 17. Ancestry.com.

Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. "Hester Alverson Moffett, 1989." Media School at Indiana University. http://mediaschool.indiana.edu/ijhf/hester-alverson-moffett.

Public Library Commission of Indiana. "Indiana Library Trustees Association." Library Occurent. Vol. 3. Oct. 1911-Sept. 1914. GoogleBooks.

United States Census 1910, s.v. "Hester A Moffett." Ancestry.com.

United States Census 1920, s.v. "Hester A Moffett." Ancestry.com.

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