A recent reference request from a researcher got us interested in temperance activity, especially during the 19th century. Three great social reform movements of the period were women’s rights, abolition, and temperance — if you were in one, you were usually also in the other two.

*Temperance involved limiting or even eliminating alcohol use, either by suasion or by law. This was not simply killjoy crankiness — alcohol abuse was rampant in 19th-century America, along with all its attendant ills. One strategy for promoting temperance was to gain control of municipal boards, then simply decline to grant or renew liquor licenses. Canisteo was reported as a “temperance village” (no saloons) in 1896.

*The crowning achievement of the movement was the Prohibition amendment, but whatever its successes may have been, that experiment failed for a host of reasons, including corruption or indifference among many charged with its enforcement.

*Since this was an investigation at Steuben County Historical Society, I limited my research to Steuben. The list below is surely incomplete, but it shows that temperance activity was widespread in the county, though some groups were no doubt short-lived. It’s interesting that I only found one organized temperance group in the grape-growing towns around Keuka Lake!

*KNOWN TEMPERANCE ORGANIZATIONS

*Painted Post Temperance Society already exists 1841; Dorcas Society in Corning formed spring 1841: Men’s temperance society (name unknown) in Corning formed summer 1841; Tyrone Washingtonian Total Abstinence Society 1846. (Tyrone was in Steuben at that time.); Sons of Temperance Lodge at Liberty Corners [Cohocton] 1840s and 1850s; Corning Temperance Alliance formed 2/25/1852; Young Men’s Temperance Institute and Lyceum (Corning, fall 1852); the Hornby Lodge (Hornby, 1855-1856) — male and female; St. Mary’s Temperance Society at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Corning, formed January 1861; reorganized 1866, active to 1868; Lodge of the Sons of Temperance formed in Corning formed 5/9/1867; Father Mathew Temperance Society (St. Mary’s R.C. in Corning) already exists in 1870; Corning WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union) organized 4/9/1874. Opened coffee house/restaurant 1892; Women’s Temperance League Hornellsville [Hornell] already exists 1877; Knights of Honor Hornellsville [Hornell] already exists 1877; Temple of Honor Hornellsville [Hornell] already exists 1877; St. Joseph Total Abstinence Benevolent Society of Corning (St. Mary’s R.C. Church) formed 5/4/1884; WCTU Cohocton organized 1884; St. Aloysius Catholic Total Abstinence Cadet Society organized October 1885 at St. Mary’s R.C. in Corning; IOGT [International Organisation of Good Templars] Gem Lodge Addison already exists 1891; IOGT Victor Lodge Lindley already exists 1891; IOGT Walnut Grove Lodge Presho already exists 1891; IOGT Endeavor Lodge Woodhull already exists 1891; RT of T [Royal Templars of Temperance] Bath already exists 1891; RT of T Canisteo already exists 1891; RT of T Painted Post already exists 1891; IOGT Bath already exists 1893; Ancient Order of United Workmen Bath already exists 1893; IOGT Wayland was formed at a date unknown, but was gone by 1897; WCTU Wayland organized 1897; WCTU County-level organization already existed in 1897; WCTU Lent Hill organized 1901; RT of T Hammondsport organized 1902; WCTU Hornell already exists 1906, still active 1925; Prohibition Party in Corning… dates?; Anti-Saloon League in Corning… dates? Pledge cards from Lincoln-Lee Legion (for children) were still being distributed in 1922; Bath WCTU… dates?

*KNOWN COMPANIES/BUSINESSES REQUIRING TOTAL ABSTINENCE FROM EMPLOYEES

*Corning & Buffalo Railroad 1853; Fall Brook Rail Road 1882; Corning and Painted Post Street Railway 1897

*KNOWN TEMPERANCE LECTURERS WHO SPOKE IN STEUBEN

*Reverend Mr. Abbott; Billy Maxwell; Q.W. Wellington; Frances Willard; Susan B. Anthony; William G. McConnell; Francis Murphy; Rev. Claudius Curtiss; J.P. Coffin; Mrs. Clara O. Hadley

*KNOWN TEMPERANCE NEWSPAPERS

*The Temperance Gem (Kanona); The Southern Tier Farmer (Corning); The Hornellsville Tribune (Hornellsville — now Hornell); The Steuben Courier (Bath)