Lena B. Mathes

Lena B. Mathes (, Mays; 1861–1951) was an American educator, social reformer, and ordained Baptist minister. She was a pioneer organizer of schools in rural districts of the south. Her principal work, however, was organizing church women for intelligent, informed citizenship and for the purpose of arousing them to their duty at the polls. Mathes lectured for on current, religious, social and civic subjects, specializing on subjects connected with juvenile delinquency, the relation of the church to the community, problems on international relations as well as current legislative measures relating to the moral and religious welfare of the community and the welfare of women and children. Mathes was the author of pamphlets on subjects under discussion in her work and frequently contributed articles to papers and magazines relating to her work. On her mother's side, there was a long line of ministers and missionaries of English ancestry in Virginia. After rumors started spreading regarding possible inappropriate behavior between Mathes and John Forbes, the married president of Stetson University, multiple lawsuits for libel were filed.

By 1905, she had left Stetson University and was selected to start teaching at Turkey Creek School in Hillsborough County, Florida. But the children of the school asked the courts for an injunction to restrain her from teaching them, charging drunknenness and other acts of immorality on the part of Mathes. Some of the acts complained dated 10 or 12 years back. They included the Stetson scandal of three years earlier when Mathes, then a teacher in the Stetson University, and Rev. John F. Forbes, president of the institution, were charged with improper conduct, and left the university. Rarely, if ever in the U.S., and never before in Florida had a teacher been removed from her position by the summary legal process of an injunction restraining her from exercising her duties and powers, the most remarkable part of it being that the suit was brought in the name of the pupils who had been deprived of an education by their parents refusing to send them to a school taught by Mathes.

Social reformer At the age of twenty, she joined the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), and thereafter devoted a considerable portion of her time to the organization of local branches and Legions of Honor.

From 1921, she was superintendent of the Woman's Department of the Anti-Saloon League of Illinois. She was an active speaker for law enforcement and the election of prohibition-mind men to the Illinois State Legislature.

Personal life She married Capt. George McCown Mathes (1837–1906), of Sevierville, Tennessee, on April 5, 1884.

Selected works "A Job for Illinois Women", 1921 "Organizing Women Voters for Victory", 1930