Caroline E. Merrick

Caroline Elizabeth Merrick (November 24, 1825 – March 29, 1908) was an American writer and temperance worker. She is the author of Old Times in Dixie Land: a Southern Matron's Memories (1901). Taking an active part in the charitable and philanthropic movements of New Orleans, she served as president of the Ladies' Sanitary and Benevolent Association, of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and of the Woman's League of Louisiana.

Early life and education

Caroline Elizabeth Thomas was born on Cottage Hall Plantation, East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, on November 24, 1825. Her father was Capt. David Thomas (1777-1849), who belonged to a prominent South Carolina family. A veteran of the Battle of New Orleans, David Thomas was a trustee of the college which later became the Centenary College of Louisiana. Her mother was Elizabeth Patillo, who died in 1833.

She was educated by governesses at home.

Career

Merrick devoted the first 20 years of her married life to raising a family. At that time, the temperance cause was being widely agitated in the South, and some women favored the movement. She became at once president of a local union, and filled the position of State president for Louisiana. She wrote extensively on the subject, but her chief talent was in impromptu speaking. She was a very successful platform orator, holding an audience by the force of her wit and keen sarcasm. Merrick was described by Frances Willard, president of the WCTU from 1879–1898, as a "That is the lady who can make the W.C.T.U. a success, even in the volatile city of the Mardi Gras".