Saline County HEA building up to centennial celebration in 2018

In 2018, the Saline County Homemakers Education Association will celebrate its 100th anniversary. The organization is beginning its journey to the celebration with a year full of remembrances throughout 2017 to be shared each month in this news column.

The year is 1918 and World War I finally ended in Europe with the defeat of the central powers. However, quickly following the tragedy of World War I, a Spanish flu epidemic broke out, killing millions more around the world.

The year 1918 was important to Saline County Homemakers for another reason. This was the year the group was organized. As you follow our progression, you will see that we have changed names, been led by several advisers, and experienced several other ups and downs.

Before Cooperative Extension was created by the Smith Lever Act in 1914, there were many women's groups formed in the late 1800s and early 1900s under Farm Bureaus and the Illinois Farmer's Institute Department of Household Science. As Extension took hold, many of these groups merged into Extension HEA groups; and, by the early 1930s, the Illinois Farmer's Institute Department of Household Science disbanded.

The very first home demonstration agent in Illinois was hired in Kankakee County in 1913, followed by Mercer County in 1917, and six more in 1918, one of which was Saline County. The first Saline County agent was Genevieve Nowlin. She served from September through November in 1918.

In 1913, Saline County had two Household Science Clubs: Saline County Department of Household Science Club with President Mrs. Nannie Bramlet of Eldorado and Secretary Winnie Newcomb of Raleigh; and Long Branch Township Household Science Club with President Mrs. Buleah Reed of Eldorado and Secretary Mrs. Myrtle Rhine of Eldorado.

By 1919, there were three Household Science Clubs listed in Saline County: Saline County Department of Household Science Club with President Mrs. Fayette Burnett of Raleigh and Secretary Mrs. Etta Smith of Raleigh; Woman's Culture Club with President Mrs. J.B. Blackman of Harrisburg and Secretary Mrs. E.B. Webster of Harrisburg; and Raleigh Domestic Science Club with President Mrs. Fayette Burnett of Raleigh and Secretary Mrs. Etta Smith of Raleigh. Undoubtedly, the first hired demonstration agent met with already established domestic science groups.

Newspapers.com is a website that has newspapers from around the world that have been digitized, so you can see them from your own computer. Mrs. Nannie Bramlet appeared in an article in the Harrisburg Daily Herald. It states that Nannie was recognized as the first president of the Saline County Home Bureau Board when it was formed in 1918. So she was our very first HEA president. Mystery solved.

Each month, I will share new information with you as we dig through our past and discover some wonderful gems of information that were either a mystery or long forgotten.