With the recent recovery of the 1898 quilt and the celebrations this December to honor this important artifact of our church’s history, interest in that era and our “founding mothers and fathers” has increased.  A brief look at church records and the reflections of some previous archivists reveals what a remarkably active role women had in those formative years.  It is noteworthy that at the time of the founding of our church in 1869, the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote was still fifty years away.  Many states still had laws declaring that upon their marriage, women were the “chattel” or “property of their husbands.”  The women and men of the early days of First Unitarian of Omaha were quite progressive on these and other “reform” issues.  We learn much from the words of some of these pioneer citizens of Omaha
        Mrs Grace Holdredge, one of the ten women and sixteen men who signed the articles of incorporation in 1869, wrote that the beginnings of the women’s group which eventually became the Women’s Alliance, can actually be traced to the years just prior to the signing of the articles of incorporation.  Ms. Holdredge recalls that in 1868 there were regular gatherings of “liberal-minded religious citizens”, many of them women, at Geise Hall located at 13th and Douglas Sreets. It is now the location of The Holland Performing Arts Center, The speakers were often Unitarian ministers from the Western Region of the American Unitarian Association.  There is a certain symmetry to the idea that 145 years ago this location was the site of lectures delivered by Unitarian ministers and other progressives and now is the site of the semi-annual Holland Lectures sponsored by The First Unitarian Church. where twice a year Omahans gather to hear nationally-known speakers on topics of vital social, political, economic and scientific interest.
        During the first twenty years after the founding of the church,, women played an integral part in the governance, financing and general operation of the church.  The group was informally structured and was referred to as “The Ladies Society.”  In 1890 during the first year of Newton Mann’s tenure two important title changes took place.  First, the official name of the church was changed from The Unity Church to its current title, The First Unitarian Church of Omaha.  Secondly, the “Ladies Society” was retitled The Women’s Alliance and was officially chartered with Mrs. Fannie Emerson elected president.  Both the names of the group and its first chief executive seemed appropriately “Unitarian.”
        As has been noted before,  the 1890’s were not an easy time financially.  The Women’s Alliance took a leadership role in fund raising including “taking ads” for a quilt as a fund raiser.  This project and several others helped to pay for essentials such as the minister’s salary and the purchase of an organ.  In 1913 the church sold its building and was without a minister.  There was talk of disbanding.  The Alliance spearheaded the job of saving the church from extinction and financial bankruptcy.  Mrs. Holdredge served as president of the Alliance from 1913 to 1917.  Under her leadership the church was saved through the determination of the Alliance.  It was also on her watch that the campaign to raise funds for a new church began.  I am sure she and her “sisters” were very proud to see the completed Georgian revival edifice we still call home.
        Women were more than “helpers”; they were frequently involved in the worship services.   On February 9th of 1889 a female Unitarian minister named Marian Murdock delivered a sermon.  For a brief period in 1915  a woman minister named Reverend Mary Hollings was hired as an assistant to Reverend Robert Leavens the settled minister.  Certainly, the most famous female Unitarian minister of the early decades of the 20th Century, Rowena Morse, got her start as a congregant of First Unitarian.  She was urged by Reverend Newton Mann to pursue a career in ministry.  She left Omaha in 1902 and went on to study in Europe where she earned her doctorate.  She served several large congregations in Iowa and Missouri.   She was asked by President Wilson to go on speaking tours in support of the League of Nations and later Eleanor Roosevelt engaged her to do a lecture tour in the early 1930’s on the subject of the rise of fascism in Europe. In 1917 she married Reverend Mann who had lost his first wife several years earlier.  Rowena made another visit to First Unitarian in 1929 for the dedication of the bas-relief plaque commemorating her husband who had passed away in 1927.  The plaque hangs in our sanctuary today.
           It is fair to say that those stalwart women of our early years as a church would approve of the work that continues in our church and in the community.  It is by no means hyperbolic to say we wouldn’t be gathering in this beautiful church if it weren’t for their efforts.