Happy birthday P.E.O. & a nod to Mary D. Smith, too

Doris Christensen/Find a Grave

Monday will be the 150 anniversary of the P.E.O. Sisterhood --- represented in Chariton by Chapters N and O.S. --- organized on Jan. 21, 1869, by seven young women on the campus of Iowa Wesleyan University, Mount Pleasant. So happy birthday!

Chariton's Chapter N came along when P.E.O. was 18 years old, on Feb. 19, 1887, at the home of Gertrude Aughey (Gertrude Aughey Stanton after her marriage to Dr. John H. Stanton).

According to a report in The Chariton Herald of Oct. 28, 1908, the eight charter chapter members were Lulu Smith Copeland, Jessie Millisac Leipsey, Clara Hollinger Culbertson, Laura Putnam Couch, Gertrude Aughey Stanton, Zora Stewart Harper, Rose Freel Muehe and Mollie Freel.

According to The Herald, "The local chapter grew out of an idea conceived by Miss Aughey while visiting her friends in Albia. She was pleased with the P.E.O. chapter and its work in that city and came home with the determination to interest some of her associates in a similar organization, her primary motive being to benefit the town by way of improvements, etc. Three young ladies, members of the Albia chapter, came to this city on the date above mentioned, and in the afternoon, the Chariton girls met at the home of Rev. Aughey, then pastor of the Presbyterian church, and effected the order which has enjoyed such prosperity in the last sixteen years and now numbers nearly one hundred members."

The Herald of 20 years earlier had carried news of the chapter's organization in its edition March 17, 1887, reporting in terms that seem now to be distinctly patronizing: "We are informed that an organization known among the ladies as the P.E.O. has invaded the ranks of the fair sex, and that eight or ten of the young ladies of Chariton have submitted to its seductive influences, through the agency of a bevy of young sisters from Albia. They say our young ladies have a club and wear badges. Whenever you see the badges, look out for the club."

Most likely the editor had not anticipated that all of the male organizations of the day, other than the fire department and the Masons, would dry up and blow away as the years passed. P.E.O. is still here and still focused on good works, however.

Once organized, raising funds for worthy causes began almost immediately. On May 27, 1887, P.E.O members hosted a strawberry lawn party at the M.P. Baker home on West Court Avenue. Strawberry, chocolate and vanilla ice cream was sold; live music was provided. On Saturday, Aug. 27, the women sold coffee, sandwiches, cake and ice cream from 11:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. in a vacant storefront on the north side of the square.

+++

Mary Dungan Smith (1851-1946) was the senior member of P.E.O. in Chariton at the time of her death at the age of 94 --- and believed then to be the longest-lived among the "Women of 1869," the charter members of P.E.O. and those who joined the Mount Pleasant chapter during its first year.

Mary, born in Pennsylvania, was a daughter of George W. and Nancy Dungan, who brought her west to Knoxville when very young then moved to Chariton soon thereafter. George Dungan was a cousin of Warren S. Dungan, pioneer Chariton attorney, Civil War hero and accomplished historian. Mary and her Dungan cousins, Warren's daughters, remained close throughout her life.

After completing the first phase of her education in Chariton, Mary enrolled in the "seminary" for young women attached to Iowa Wesleyan, then was a student in the University program at the time she joined P.E.O.

She returned to Lucas County to teach school and in 1875 married Channing Smith, a young man from New York who after his discharge from the Union army arrived in Lucas County during October of 1867 and found a job as a clerk in G.W. Blake's hardware store where he worked for 25 years. 

Mary was not a consistent member of the Chariton chapter since the Smiths also lived in both Chicago and Ottumwa during their marriage, which produced two sons who died in infancy. But they always returned to Chariton where Channing later worked as secretary and treasurer of the Chariton Telephone Co. and as Chariton city treasurer. Their final home on South 8th Street still stands.

After Mary's health failed, her cousin --- Myra Dungan --- moved in with her and helped care for her. When she died some five years after suffering a debilitating stroke, Myra described her this way: "Her life was characterized by many kindly deeds of charity and good will" and that's probably how one of Iowa's earliest P.E.O. members would have liked to be remembered.