Letitia Youmans 1827-1896

1849

Text from the plaque

Born near Cobourg of Methodist parents, Letitia Youmans, née Creighton, was educated at local schools and at Burlington Ladies' Academy. In 1849 she moved to Picton and taught briefly at a girls' school. Deeply religious and believing that a well-ordered Christian family was fundamental to a prosperous, moral society, she viewed with alarm the threat presented to this ideal by intemperance. She became active in temperance reform and in 1874 formed a "Women's Christian Temperance Union" in Picton. Quickly becoming a leader in women's agitation for prohibitory legislation, she travelled extensively, organizing "unions" throughout Canada. Letitia Youmans was the first president of the W.C.T.U. of Ontario (1877-82) and of the Dominion organization (1883-89). She died at Toronto and was buried in this cemetery.

Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.