Ella D. Crawford

Ella D. Crawford ( Donelson; November 16, 1852 – January 20, 1932) was an American temperance movement community organizer affiliated with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.). She served as president of various county, district, and local Unions in Minnesota and Iowa before being elected president of the South Idaho W.C.T.U.

Early life and education Martha Ella Donelson (or Donaldson) was born at Baraboo, Wisconsin, November 16, 1852. John Riley Donelson (1820-1859) and Margaret Ann (nee Waddell) (1828-1905). Crawford's siblings were James, John, James, Minerva, Anna, Robert, and William. In 1854, her parents removed from Baraboo to Lyndon, Juneau County, Wisconsin. and, later, joined the Mendotas (temperance society), in both of which organizations she held various offices. She was one of the early Crusaders, having begun her endeavors along the lines of temperance reform as early as 1873, when with others, she drove long distances, and solicited from every settler in Rock County signatures to a petition against licensing saloons in the county.