Celebrating McDonough County’s 200th & the Women Who Made a Difference
As McDonough County celebrates its 200th anniversary and March is Women’s History Month, The Community News Brief is pleased to showcase the McDonough County women of yesteryear who led the change in numerous ways. Part 1 featured Clara Bayliss, Lida Crabb and Rebecca Everly.
On Sept. 12, 2015, the Macomb Woman’s Club GFWC dedicated the McDonough County Women’s Social Services Memorial on the west side of Chandler Park, “Facing the Storm,” which honors, memorializes and celebrates women in Macomb. The bronze statue and monument memorialize the women who made it their life’s work to protect children, women and animals before laws and societal norms were in place to do so. The eight women named on the monument benefitted the Macomb community by stepping out and making a difference: Clara Bayliss, Lida Crabb, Rebecca Everly, Rose Jolly, Dr. Elizabeth Miner, Sadie Moon, Dr. Ruth Tunnicliff and Josie Westfall.
Rose Jolly (1876-1937): A Crusader for Children & Animals One of McDonough County’s great social crusaders during the Progressive Era was Rose Jolly, who was born in Macomb, the daughter of British immigrants. As a young woman, Rose worked in the hotel business with her father, and met a range of people who were visiting Macomb.
Jolly was an excellent student at a time when only a few women were starting to seek careers and even fewer were accepting leadership positions. She worked in Chicago in the mid 1890s, eventually returning to Macomb, where, in the early 20th century, Rose became the organizer and most active leader in the county’s first social organization, the McDonough County Humane Society.
