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Nation was born in Garrard County, Kentucky, to George and Mary Campbell Moore. Her father was a successful farmer, stock trader, and slaveholder of Irish descent. During much of her early life her health was poor, and her family experienced financial setbacks.
The family moved several times in Kentucky and finally settled in Belton, Missouri in 1854.
She received a sporadic education, moving from place to place in Kentucky, Missouri, and Texas.
From Kansas she traveled to New York and soon became a national figure in the temperance cause.
She presented a formidable obstacle to anyone attempting to stop her; her size (6 ft, 175 lb) and her use of the hatchet to smash saloons became legendary.
Nevertheless, she was often attacked and beaten badly and was arrested 30 times in her life.
Because of her unorthodox tactics, most temperance organizations were hesitant to support her.
She did, however, focus public attention on the cause of prohibition and helped to create a public mood favorable to the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment.
Nation also had concerns about tight clothing for women.
In fact, she refused to wear a corset and urged women not to wear them because of their harmful effects on vital organs.
Nation was a relatively large woman, almost 6 feet (180 cm) tall and weighing 175 pounds (79 kg).
She described herself as "a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn't like", and claimed a divine ordination to promote temperance by destroying bars.
The spelling of her first name varies; both "Carrie" and "Carry" are considered correct. Official records say "Carrie", which Nation used for most of her life; the name "Carry" was used by her father in the family Bible. Upon beginning her campaign against liquor in the early 20th century, she adopted the name "Carry A. Nation", saying it meant "Carry A Nation for Prohibition". [
After gaining notoriety, Carrie officially registered "Carry" as a trademark.
Nation's anti-alcohol activities became widely known, with the slogan "All Nations Welcome But Carrie" becoming a bar-room staple.
She was also a forceful advocate of woman suffrage, although she received little support from suffrage organizations.
Quotations:
Dissatisfied with the results of her efforts, Nation began to pray to God for direction. On June 5, 1900, she felt she received her answer in the form of a heavenly vision. As she described it:
The next morning I was awakened by a voice which seemed to me speaking in my heart, these words, "GO TO KIOWA, " and my hands were lifted and thrown down and the words, "I'LL STAND BY YOU. " The words, "Go to Kiowa, " were spoken in a murmuring, musical tone, low and soft, but "I'll stand by you, " was very clear, positive and emphatic. I was impressed with a great inspiration, the interpretation was very plain, it was this: "Take something in your hands, and throw at these places in Kiowa and smash them. "
She was a radical member of the temperance movement.
In 1867 she married a young physician, who shortly afterward died of alcoholism.
After several years as a primary school teacher in Holden, Missouri, she was married again in 1877 to David Nation, a minister and lawyer, 19 years her senior, who divorced her for desertion in 1901.
It was during her second marriage that Carry Nation became interested in reform movements, centering her attention on the alleged evils of liquor.
