Background
Mary Augusta Safford was born on December 23, 1851, in Hamilton, Illinois, United States. In 1855 her family moved to Hamilton, Illinois, where she was educated at home and in public school.
Mary Augusta Safford was born on December 23, 1851, in Hamilton, Illinois, United States. In 1855 her family moved to Hamilton, Illinois, where she was educated at home and in public school.
Mary Safford was educated at home and in a public school in Hamilton. Illinois. At age 17 she entered the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa), but due to health and family problems did not graduate.
Mary Safford was a teacher in Oakwood and Hamilton, Illinois. While teaching, she organized and held all offices in the Hawthorne Literary Society in Hamilton, and was a school director in Oakwood.
Mary Safford began preaching in Oakwood and Hamilton, where she organized a Unitarian church in 1878. It was the beginning of her missionary work, which would result in the formation or revitalization of several Unitarian churches. In addition to her ministerial and missionary work, she served as president of the Iowa Unitarian Association for seven years and its field secretary (missionary) for six, and she edited its monthly magazine, Old and New.
Mary Safford was also a director of the Western Unitarian Conference and the American Unitarian Association. She also served as president of both the Iowa and Florida Woman Suffrage associations and was on the board of directors of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Her way, in all areas, was to educate and inspire others to become involved and work for the greater good.
Mary Safford was passionate about social justice issues, and her ardent preaching, managerial skills, and radical idealist outlook doubtless had an impact on the state’s development.
Mary Safford was a member of the informally-designated group of religious figures known as the "Iowa Sisterhood". The Iowa Sisterhood was a group of women ministers who organized eighteen Unitarian societies in several Midwestern states in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Quotes from others about the person
Her obituary in the Des Moines Tribune said: "No death could possibly stir kindlier memories in Iowa than that of the Rev. Mary Safford. She helped to shape the thinking and living of everybody who knew her and always on a higher level. When the world has reached the plane she would have put it on and struggled to put it on, we shall have a much kindlier, a more hopeful, a much more livable world."
