Melinda Hamline

Name: Melinda Hamline (Johnson)
Birth Date: Sept 9, 1801
Birth Place: Hillsdale, NY
Death Date: July 1881
Death Location: Evanston, IL
Burial Place: Rosehill Cemetery

Summary

Melinda Hamline came to Evanston with her son in 1866. She was the wife of Methodist Bishop Leonidas Hamline who was her second husband. Her first husband was Arnold Truesdell and with him she ran a female seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. She married Leonidas Hamline in 1836 after Truesdell’s death. Leonidas Hamline died in 1865.

In 1866, she was chosen president of the American Methodist Ladies Centenary Association, whose purpose was to raise funds for a women’s dormitory (Heck Hall) at Garrett Biblical Institute in Evanston. She also served as a trustee of the Evanston College for Ladies. In 1870 she organized the Maternal Association of Evanston, later renamed the Evanston Missionary Union (the first interdenominational organization in Evanston). It merged in 1960 with United Church Women.

Children: Leonidas P. Hamline
Years in Evanston: 1866-1881

Sources: Evanston History Center Subject Files. Evanson Women.: Newspaper Clippings, Author Unknown, Date Unknown. "Something for the Girls: Evanston Women in the Women Movement, 1954 [sic]-1920" Evanston History Centre Subject Files. Evanston Women Pre 1950: Newspaper Clippings.