Women’s History Month: Cornelia Templeton Hatcher

Living in or traveling through the Matanuska Valley, people undoubtedly know about Hatcher Pass. It’s a beautiful playground with abundant hiking trails, gorgeous vistas to enjoy nature, and plenty to explore the Independence Mine. It’s easy to find information and legends about the mining history of the area, perhaps tales of Robert Lee Hatcher for whom the pass is named after, but many may not know about his wife, Cornelia Templeton Hatcher. Ms. Hatcher was among the most influential women in Alaska’s history.

Born in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin on January 2, 1867, early on Hatcher expressed an interested in journalism. At the age of 12, she took a job as a typesetter for a small paper, and later worked for The Expositor and The Independent, two local papers in Wisconsin. By the time she was twenty, Hatcher worked her way up to become a proofreader and soon was put in charge of some investigations as well. She moved to Chicago to continue work as a journalist, joining the staff of The Union Signal, an official newspaper of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.). By 1902 she was working as the managing editor for the paper.

Seven years later, overcome by wanderlust, she turned west for adventure. She attended the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, and following her stay, set off on a two-month tour of the Northwest, including a trip to Alaska. The experience proved formative for her and she decided to move to Alaska, stating she had a “desire for further information concerning the country and its future.”

In 1910, Hatcher took up residence in Seward and served as Alaska’s National W.C.T.U. representative, traveling along Alaska’s coasts to speak on the topic of temperance. Soon after, Cornelia organized three W.C.T.U. chapters in Ketchikan, Skagway, and Seward, as well as the Loyal Temperance Legion, a branch of the W.C.T.U. for children.

Having a sense of accomplishment and not one to stay idle for too long, she left Alaska for Tacoma in 1911. During her brief stay Alaska, she met a miner named Robert Lee Hatcher in the Matanuska Valley. The young journalist had left quite the impression on Hatcher; he soon followed her to Tacoma with the idea of marrying her. For her part, she was drawn to Robert and later claimed that he was perhaps the only man in Alaska who did not smoke, drink, chew, swear, or gamble. The two married on March 5, 1911.

Returning to Alaska the winter of 1912 to join her husband, they wintered not far from Knik in the area now known as Hatcher Pass. During these years, Cornelia Hatcher grew more active in the suffrage and temperance movements. In 1913, believing that women should be free to vote, she authored a petition for the Alaska’s Territorial Legislature to grant women the vote.

When confronted by men who opposed the idea of women having the right to vote as being “unwomanly” or “untrustworthy” to vote, Hatcher replied: “There are thousands of women like me who are honestly interested in their government and believe that they should have an equal voice in its affairs.”

According to the Alaska Daily Empire, the petition Hatcher organized was one of the very first to be received by the new territorial legislature, and within months, Alaska’s representatives wrote a bill proposing women have the right to vote in territorial elections. Hatcher took great pride in the fact that women’s suffrage was the first bill passed into law by the first Alaska Legislature, six years before the United States passed the 19th amendment.

Hatcher also led the successful fight for prohibition in Alaska. In 1916, the Territory of Alaska held a territory-wide referendum, voting by a 2-to-1 margin to ban alcohol. The resulting law was called a Bone-Dry Law because it was more restrictive than prohibition laws elsewhere. Starting January 1, 1918, alcohol was banned and saloons and breweries closed throughout the territory.

A constitutional amendment soon followed and received ratification in December 1917; the implementation and enforcement of Prohibition went into effect on January 17, 1920.

Hatcher received national attention as a passionate advocate for prohibition being credited as “the most powerful argument in favor of the passage of the measure ever heard on the subject of temperance in the national capital.” Alcohol consumption remained illegal in Alaska until 1933.

Hatcher also worked to improve Alaska’s educational system. The Alaska Fund, as it was known in congress, collected revenue from liquor licenses and disbursed some of these funds for education in the territory. Though she advocated for a nationwide prohibition, she recognized that Alaska stood to lose much of its education funding as a result of the 20th Amendment. Schools in Alaska already lacked adequate funding and any additional decrease would be detrimental. To ensure funding, she lobbied for an appropriation of $100,000, to be used for the establishment and maintenance of public schools in Alaska. Though the bill failed, congress passed a smaller appropriation for education in Alaska.

Between 1913 and 1924, Hatcher served as president of the Alaska territorial W.C.T.U. Thanks in part to her advocacy, the Alaska legislature passed a law that made women eligible for jury service in the territory by 1923.

In 1922 Cornelia left Alaska once again, moving to Long Beach where she opened a beauty shop, participating in numerous women’s organizations, worked for the Women’s Division of the Republican Party during President Herbert Hoover’s administration.

Though she had not lived in Alaska for over ten years, Hatcher remained an associate member of the Alaska Woman’s Club based out of Juneau, representing them at the convention of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in Detroit, Michigan. While there, she lobbied have the Alaska club classified as a state federation instead of a foreign federation. After her moving speech, the federation voted to make the Alaska club an affiliate of the state federation. On May 5, 1953 she passed away.

Cornelia Hatcher accomplished much during her lifetime. From her leadership roles devoted to women’s rights to her advocacy for prohibition to her career as a writer and journalist, her drive for social change boosted the profile of women across Alaska and elsewhere.