This Day in Georgia History
June 24, 1840
Mary Latimer McLendon Born
To view an image of Mary Latimer McLendon, see the Digital Library of Georgia.
Temperance and women’s suffrage leader Mary Latimer McLendon was born in DeKalb County, Georgia. Younger sister of Rebecca Latimer Felton, she graduated from Southern Masonic Female College in Covington, Ga. in 1856. In 1860, she married Nicholas McLendon and moved to Atlanta. Forced to flee the city in 1864, they returned in 1868. She became active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Georgia Women’s Suffrage Association and fought for both causes the rest of her life. In 1923, Georgia members of the WCTU obtained permission to erect a marble fountain in Georgia’s state capitol in honor of the woman who was credited as the “Mother of Suffrage Work in Georgia.”
