Clara H. Sully Carhart

Clara H. Sully Carhart (1843-1913) was a Canadian-born American educator and reformer. She was affiliated with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Women's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal (MEC). Carhart was a pioneer in establishing girls' clubs, which become an important factor in the lives of the working-girls of New York City and Brooklyn.

Early life and education Clara Hannah Sully was born in Ottawa, Canada, April 30, 1845. She was of English parentage. Her maternal grandfather, J. G. Hayter, who was a government official from the first settlement of that city, was descended from an old family of English nobility of that name.

In early life, Carhart showed an unusual aptitude for books. She enjoyed her schoolwork, and decided to become a teacher. At ten years of age, she was sent to a boarding school in Ottawa, Canada, where she excelled in music. After two years she returned home, and studied in the Buffalo high school, until the removal of her parents to Darien Center, New York, where she attended the seminary. Carhart served as that city's WCTU president. In 1883, she served on the Board of Directors of the WCTU's The Union Signal.

Soon after the Civil War, she went to Texas with her husband, who had been a captain in the Union army, and had volunteered in the work of reorganizing the MEC in the South. They had to work in the face of bitter opposition, but, largely owing to Mrs. Carhart's activity and popularity, large congregations were formed and churches were built in Dallas, Sherman, and neighboring cities. and she was a great factor in its success. For six years, she was sent as a representative to the national conventions, and in 1889, represented that society on the platform of the National WCTU in Chicago. and as chair of the Iowa delegation, she was invited to sit with the conference's Executive Committee.

Carhart was also the founder of the MEC's Deaconess Home in Brooklyn on President Street.

Death She died in Augusta, Georgia on December 24, 1913, survived by her two children, Elsie and Albert. Interment was in Amityville, New York.