The Untold Story of Carry Nation

"Men are nicotine-soaked, beer-besmirched, whiskey-greased, red-eyed devils."-Carry Nation

If you ask any Kansan who Carry Nation was, you probably would get a grin, or perhaps a chuckle with a story about how this crazy woman used an axe to destroy saloons and scare all those who drank "the devil's drink."

What you wouldn't hear is of the mild, God fearing woman that befriended my husband's great-great-great aunt, Jessie Winter Hood, and how she saved a family by feeding them when times weremore than tough for our ancestral family.

This is our ancestor's story. May it set the record straight.

My husband and I moved to Kiowa, Kansas in July of 2008. Much like my husband's family four generations ago, we had hopes of making a better life for our children, and rearing them in a quiet community. We would also have the opportunity to own a house and some land. What I was unaware of is the rich family history that laid in waiting for us here in Kiowa, and how we would come to learn of a story that we are proud of. As we drove into our new little town, I noticed a plaque in dedication to a woman I heard in certain circles when I asked my mother in law about genealogical history of Josh's side of the family. I only remembered the name at this point, and knew nothing else.

So enters the story of Carry Nation and the Hood family.

Carry Nation befriended Josh's great great grandmother Sarah "Sallie" Hood, and later Sallie's daughter in law Jessie Hood, my husband's great great great aunt Jessie and her husband Luke Hood lived near Kiowa in Barber County Kansas. Luke tried to make a go of a farm raising hogs and corn, but Cholera took the hogs and the corn wilted in the dry heat of a Kansas drought. This sparked the addiction to the card tables for Luke, and soon, the saloon would be his second home. Most people looked the other way if you were only going to the saloons to gamble, so Luke was pretty respected in the town nevertheless.

The main reason for such a friendship was both women endured life with a husband to saloon addictions like gambling and drinking, and they lived across the street from each other in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, after Jessie Hood decided she and the children were being neglected by Luke and his all day excursions in the saloon in Kiowa. It is a well known fact that Mrs. Nation had two marriages that failed, one because of alcoholism. They shared many stories between them, and soon a sisterly bond formed between Carry Nation and Jessie Hood.

It is noted and documented in our family stories, Mrs. Nation was always generous with goods Jessie and her children needed to survive. Even though Carry had her financial struggles to deal with, she always made sure that the Hood children had food to eat. One such document is in the form of a news article we have in our family tree book titled, "Carry Nation's Other Side", was written by Luke and Jessie's second child, James Hood, It is further documented in this article that Carry Nation would supply supper on a regular basis to the Hood children so they would not go without. Carry Nation even fed extended family of Jessie that traveled in from Illinois to visit. Mrs. Nation never asked for anything in return. While Jessie worried about the lack of food, there Carry would be, according to James, with a prepared dinner, knocking on the Hood family's door.

One of the incidences of Carry Nation was in dedication to my husband's great great great Aunt Jessie, due to the neglect of the Hood family. Carry hitched up the horse, and went to Kiowa on June 6 1900 and destroyed the saloons where Luke Hood frequented. Upon returning to her medicine Lodge home, Carry said to Jessie, "I did what I promised you. I did something about Mr. Hood wasting all his money in in that saloon. I left it a mess! Maybe things will be better for you and the children now. I mean to defend your home." After Jessie expressed the concern for Mrs. Nation's freedom, Carry just quietly said, "I guess I wouldn't be here now if they were going to jail me, for I did what had to be done by someone." She then said no more, and went home.

You do not hear about this Carry Nation. This is the Carry Nation that I wish to uphold and marvel at. I do not care that this article may not bring me a lot of money, and I did not write it for that purpose; I wrote it because Carry Nation stood up when no one else would, and she cared when no one else would. She was willing to go to jail for her actions, as it states in the Barber county Index June 6, 1900. She asked to be arrested, and the law did nothing at that time. This is the kind of person I would like to be.

"I felt invincible. My strength

was that of a giant. God was

certainly standing by me. I smashed

five saloons with rocks

before I ever took a hatchet."- Carry Nation