Cornelia Templeton Hatcher

Cornelia Hatcher (1867–1953) was an American suffragist and temperance activist. In 2009, Hatcher was named to the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame.

Early life and education Cornelia Templeton Jewett was born on January 2, 1867, in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. In 1909, she moved to Alaska. She attended the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition that year, too. In 1911, she married gold miner Robert Lee Hatcher. becoming one of only nine states to do so seven years before the 19th Amendment. The law stated:

Be it enacted by the legislature of the Territory of Alaska: That in all elections which are now, or may be hereafter authorized by law in the Territory of Alaska, or any subdivision or municipality thereof, the elective franchise is hereby extended to such women as have the qualifications of citizenship required of male electors.

Hatcher was also active in the Temperance Movement, which sought to ban alcohol use in the United States. Hatcher was president of the Alaska chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union from 1913 until 1924. She was editor of The Union Signal, a social welfare journal published by the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Hatcher led the successful fight for prohibition in Alaska. In 1916, the Territory of Alaska held a territory-wide referendum, voting by a two-to-one margin to ban alcohol. The resulting law was called a Bone-Dry Law because it was more restrictive than prohibition laws elsewhere. Starting January 1, 1918, alcohol was banned and saloons and breweries closed throughout the territory.

From 1924 until 1930, Hatcher lived in Long Beach, California. In addition to running her own beauty salon in Long Beach, Hatcher participated in numerous women's organizations in the area and took a leadership role in the Business and Professional Women's Club there.

From 1930 until 1935, Hatcher worked as a Research Secretary for the Women's Division of the Republican Party during President Herbert Hoover's administration.

Later life and legacy Hatcher died on May 5, 1953, in Altus, Arkansas.

In 2009, Hatcher was named to the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame. Hatcher's personal papers reside in the collection of the Anchorage Museum.