Clara Brownlee Hutchinson
Clara Brownlee Hutchinson | |
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| Born | January 6, 1850 |
| Died | January 4, 1931 (aged 80) |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Monmouth College |
| Known for | One of the twelve founders of the women's sorority Pi Beta Phi[1] |
| Spouse(s) | Alexis Phelps Hutchinson |
| Children | 4 |
| Parents |
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Clara Brownlee Hutchinson (January 6, 1850 - January 4, 1931) was one of the twelve founders of the women's sorority Pi Beta Phi.[2]
Biography
Clara Jane Brownlee was born on January 6, 1850 to Nathaniel Brownlee and Emily Paine Brownlee.[3] One of five siblings, Brownlee grew up in Little York, Illinois. In 1867, Clara entered Monmouth College where she founded I. C. Sorosis (later renamed Pi Beta Phi), the first national college society of women to be modeled after a men's fraternity, along with her sister Emma Brownlee and ten other young women.[2]
In 1872, Clara Jane Brownlee married Alexis Phelps Hutchinson, a practicing lawyer in Monmouth, Illinois.[3][4] Together they had four children.[3]
Founding of I. C. Sorosis (Pi Beta Phi)
On April 22, 1867, Clara Jane Brownlee, along with her sister Emma Brownlee and friends Libbie Brook, Ada Bruen, and Fannie Whitenack met in the Brownlee girls' room to discuss the founding of the first national women's secret society.[2] As Libbie Brook, a I. C. Sorosis co-founder, describes, "We thought that if young men gained help in this way, young women surely might also. The idea of a secret society among women was novel but we decided to make the effort."[5]
With seven other Monmouth College students Margaret Campbell, Rosa Moore, Nancy Black, Jennie Horne, Jennie Nicol, Inez Smith, and Fannie Thomson, the women officially founded Pi Beta Phi under the name of I. C. Sorosis on April 28, 1867.[2]
Tributes to Clara Brownlee
Following Brownlee's death in 1931, The Arrow, the quarterly publication for Pi Beta Phi, published the following testimony to Brownlee's character: "Knowing her made it easy to believe in God."[6]
A Century of Friendship in Pi Beta Phi 1867-1967 says, "Those of us at Pi Beta Phi who knew and loved her and who found inspiration in each contact with her will not lose the memory of her unfailing gentleness, her spirit of overflowing ministry, her keen zest in each new experience, her youthful spirit, and her sympathetic understanding of youth... She lived the ideals of splendid womanhood which she helped to establish for her fraternity: she gave us a new understanding of how most-of-all worthwhile it is to live beautifully."[6]
References
- ↑ https://www.pibetaphi.org/
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Pi Beta Phi Fraternity (1968). A Century of Friendship in Pi Beta Phi 1867-1967. Pi Beta Phi Fraternity.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Clara Jane Brownlee Hutchinson (1850-1931) - Find..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
- ↑ "Alexis Phelps Hutchinson (1848-1920) - Find A..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
- ↑ Pi Beta Phi Fraternity (1968). A Century of Friendship in Pi Beta Phi. Pi Beta Phi. pp. p. 9.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 Pi Beta Phi Fraternity (1968). A Century of Friendship in Pi Beta Phi 1867-1967. Pi Beta Phi. pp. p. 28-9.
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External Links
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