Clara Cleghorn Hoffman

Clara Cleghorn Hoffman (January 18, 1831 – February 13, 1908) was an American educator and temperance reformer. She became identified with the white-ribbon movement in Kansas City, Missouri, giving up her position as principal of a school to enter the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She served as President of the Missouri WCTU for 25 years. Within the National WCTU, she lectured across the U.S, was chosen Assistant Recording Secretary (Chicago convention, 1893), and Recording Secretary (Cleveland, 1894), succeeding Lillian M. N. Stevens.

Early life and education Clara Cleghorn was born in De Kalb, New York, January 18, 1831. She was the eleventh child in a family of thirteen children, seven daughters and six sons. She was the daughter of Humphrey Cleghorn, a Scotchman. He was an abolitionist and a conductor on the Underground Railroad in the anti-slavery days. Her mother was Olive Ruruham, daughter of Major Elisha Burnham, who served in the Revolutionary War.

She was educated in the public schools of New York and at Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary, later pursuing a course of study for two years in Springfield, Massachusetts. She then went to Keokuk, Iowa to live with one of her brothers. She was the delegate of the National WCTU at the International Council of Women in Washington, D.C. (1888). She was one of the most honored delegates at the Council's London convention (1899). After the convention, Hoffman traveled and lectured for eight months in England, Germany, France and Switzerland.

A biography with several memorial tributes was compiled by Carrie Lee Carter-Stokes, under the title Clara C. Hoffman, Prophet and Pioneer (Kansas City, n.d.).

In the reading room of The State Historical Society of Missouri, at Columbia, is a marble bust statue of Hoffman. It was made by the St. Louis sculptor, Prof. George J. Zolnay. Below the statue are these words: "Missouri's Great Heart" Clara C. Hoffman President Missouri Woman's Christian Temperance Union For Twenty-five Years