Clara H. Hazelrigg

Clara H. Hazelrigg (pen name, C. H. H.; November 23, 1859 – 1937) was an American author, educator and reformer. She began teaching school at a young age, and after marriage and removing to Kansas, she taught school and served as principal of a ward school. She generally wrote under the initials of "C. H. H.", by which signature she was well known in the literary world.[1]

Clara H. Hazelrigg
A "woman of the century"
Born	Clara H. Espy November 23, 1859 Council Grove, Kansas, U.S.
Died	1937
Occupation	Author, educator, reformer
Language	English
Nationality	American
Spouse	W. A. Hazelrigg ( m. 1877)

Early years

Clara H. Espy was born in Council Grove, Kansas, November 23, 1859,[2][3] or November 23, 1861.[4] She was the youngest living daughter of Col. H. J. Espy. Her mother was Melora E. Cook, a teacher in the schools of Sandusky, Ohio. Her father was apprenticed to learn a trade, but ran away at the age of 13 to become a soldier. For more than 10 years, he was a member of the standing army of the United States. He served with distinction in the Mexican war and was Colonel of the 68th Indiana Volunteers during the American Civil War. He was wounded several times and his injuries caused his death shortly after the close of the war. His four children were left orphans, their mother having died in 1861.

Career

From the age of 11, Clara supported herself. When 12 years old, she wrote for the press, but she shrank from public criticism and seldom wrote over her own name.[4] At the age of 14, she began teaching in a private school. She also taught in the public schools of Ripley County, Indiana.[2] During the American Civil War, Clara lived in Indiana. She returned, briefly, to Kansas but, upon the death of her father in 1868, she again went to Indiana, where she attended school.[4][2]

On December 27, 1877, she married W. A. Hazelrigg of Greensburg, Indiana. They had one child, a girl.[4] In 1883,[2] or 1884,[4] they moved to Kansas and located in Butler County, where Hazelrigg resumed her work as a teacher.[2] She was also principal of one of the city schools in El Dorado, Kansas.[4] Hazelrigg attended business college at Emporia, Kansas and was elected superintendent of the Butler County schools.[2] After the family moved to Topeka, their vacations were spent at her husband's ranch in New Mexico.[2] Hazelrigg traveled during her vacations, and wrote constantly during the entire year for the press. She wrote for prominent periodicals in various States. She was a department editor for a prominent Chicago paper, and was a regular contributor to the Topeka Lancet.[4] In 1895, she published a History of Kansas; this was her best known literary work.[2]

In 1897, Hazelrigg was ordained and began holding revival meetings.[5] Hazelrigg was the pastor who converted Jesse Bader.[6] As an evangelist, she devoted much time to act church work, and covered eight states in the West and Midwest.[7] She was known as "the Walking Preacher."[8] Hazelrigg spoke at the national General Missionary Convention held October 10–17, 1901 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[9] Hazelrigg raised the money to build a church in Topeka, the West Side Christian Church.[7] She was its minister from 1914–1931.[10][8]

She supported the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the work of the Woman's Relief Corps.[11] She was an active organizer for the Christian Woman's Board of Missions and served as its Kansas secretary.[7] In 1897, she reported traveling 9,000 miles, speaking before state, Sunday School, and Christian Endeavor conventions.[10]

Hazelrigg died in 1937.[3]

Selected works

• A new history of Kansas : designed expressly for use in the public schools, 1895

References

1. Herringshaw 1890, p. 406.
2. Blackmar 1912, p. 833.
3. "Topeka Cemetery, Shawnee County Kansas Genealogy Trails". Kansas Genealogy Trails' Shawnee County. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
4. Willard & Livermore 1893, p. 368.
5. Casey, Michael W.; Foster, Douglas A. (2002). The Stone-Campbell Movement: an international religious tradition. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. p. 300. ISBN 9781572331792. OCLC 47658771.
6. Hull 1994, p. 35.
7. Hull 1994, p. 35–36.
8. Anderson, Phil (September 25, 2009). "Church celebrates centennial". The Topeka Capital-Journal. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
9. "Pastors and Evangelists". The Christian Evangelist: 1383. October 31, 1901.
10. Williams, D. Newell; Foster, Douglas A; Blowers, Paul M (2012). The Stone-Campbell movement: A global history. St. Louis: Chalice Press. p. 66. ISBN 9780827235298. OCLC 809789660.
11. Willard & Livermore 1893, p. 369.

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Blackmar, Frank Wilson (1912). Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. ... (Public domain ed.). Standard Publishing Company.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herringshaw, Thomas William (1890). Local and National Poets of America: With Biographical Sketches and Choice Selections from Over One Thousand Living American Poets (Public domain ed.). American publishers' association. p. 406.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Moulton. p. 368.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Bibliography

• Hull, Debra B. (1994). Christian Church Women. Chalice Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-8272-0580-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)