The Blanchards and the WCTU

Jonathan supported temperance, but his wife, Mary Bent Blanchard, was even more devoted to the cause. Mary participated in many temperance groups and wrote pieces for the Union Signal, the newspaper of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. 

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union refused to join the Blanchard crusade against secret societies. Many secret societies embraced temperance, which helped the movement gain national momentum. Yet WCTU president Frances Willard and Mary Allen West, editor of the Union Signal, remained close friends and allies of the Blanchard family.