WILLARD, Mrs. Allie C.

Allie C. Willard.jpg
Allie C. Willard Capital City Courier .jpg
Allie C. Willard Omaha Daily Bee 1895.jpg

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Alice "Allie" C. Rosseter Willard was born on April 13, 1860, near Nauvoo, Illinois.  During her childhood, Allie's family moved to Grand City, Nebraska, then to Loup City, Nebraska.  An avid learner, she dedicated herself to her studies.  Interested in a career in business, Allie studied the field and became affiliated with a printing office. On August 30, 1880, she began her five-year career as the U.S. postmaster for Loup City.

Allie married Osmond Willard in 1881, after a long courtship, and became the mother of five children. Somehow, she also found time to work with Osmond on his newspaper, The Loup City Times, writing editorials and articles.   

After Osmond was assassinated by a rival publisher in May of 1887, due to his paper's opposition to a political ring, Allie became editor of The Loup City Times.  Since she had been working closely with Osmond and had gained a wide professional network by attending conventions with him, Allie was well prepared to succeed her husband.  She boosted her business acumen by attending business college and briefly served as a clerk in the Nebraska Senate.  Allie was a member of the Nebraska Press Association and became affiliated with the Western Newspaper Union in 1889.

In addition, Allie was active with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, advocated for other reforms, and participated in philanthropic work.

After meeting many people during her travels abroad, Allie became associated with The London Signal, owned by Lady Henry Somerset, in 1895.

By 1900, Allie was living in Washington, D.C. and working as a librarian. Ten years later, she was living in Chicago, Illinois, and working as a stenographer in the railroad industry.

Her "Our Own Lady" was published in 1931.  As Allie wrote in the introduction, it was a "little book of biography, history and poetry about (Mrs.) Bertha Baur, because she is our own lady." Bertha Elizabeth Duppler Baur was a successful businesswoman, political activist, and suffrage advocate who was living in Chicago at the time.

Allie passed away in Chicago on September 12, 1936.

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