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Part of the American
History & Genealogy Project |
Sarah Doan La Fetra 1843 ~ 1919
Mrs. Sarah Doan La Fetra, temperance and
missionary worker, was born in Sabina, Ohio, June 11, 1843. She
is the daughter of Rev. Timothy and Mary Ann Custis Doan, her
mother being of the Virginia Custis family. In early youth,
religious truths made a deep impression on her mind and heart,
and al sixteen she was converted and became an active member of
the Methodist Episcopal Church. She improved every opportunity
for study in the public schools and prepared herself in the
Normal School of Prof. Holbrook in Lebanon, Ohio for teaching.
She taught in a graded school in Fayette County, Ohio, for some
time before her marriage with George Henry La Fetra, of Warren
County, Ohio. Three sons were born to them, the youngest dying
in infancy.
Mrs. La Fetra was a charter member of
the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, of the District of
Columbia, was the treasurer for some time, and Iron 1885 served
as president for eight years. She was one of the founders of the
Florence Crittendon Hope and Help Mission in Washington. All
local missionary work has had her sympathetic support. She
presided for years over a temperance hotel in the heart of the
nation's Capital, and not only did she make it attractive but
successful financially.
She is connected with the Metropolitan
Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church. She has at various times
been president of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society and of
the Ladies' Association. She is the vice-president of the
Washington District, Association for Foreign Missions. A recent
honor has been conferred on her by the Baltimore branch of the
Woman's Foreign Society in voting to erect a building at Bidar,
India, to be called "The Sarah D. La Fetra Memorial," in
recognition of her effective labors in that society.
Mrs. La Fetra possesses a warm heart and
generous public spirit, so that it has been said of her "every
woman's work is made lighter by coming in touch with her." She
is an intensely patriotic woman and the historic Metropolitan
Methodist Church, so well known as the church of Grant, Logan
and McKinley is supplied with beautiful flags largely through
her efforts.
Women of
America
Source: The Part Taken by Women in
American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle
Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.
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