This article was originally published in the Past, Present and Future-the magazine of the La Crosse County Historical Society.
March 2017, Volume 38, Number 1.
By Anita Taylor Doering and Rev. Maria Rutlund
In 1898 the Rev. Nellie Mann Opdale was called by La Crosse’s St. Paul’s Universalist Church, the largest Universalist church in the state of Wisconsin at the time, to be its first female minister.
Rev. Nellie was invited to preach a few times before she was formally asked to serve as pastor. Usually this means one or more people in the congregation working behind the scenes to bring the potential pastoral candidate to the attention of the search committee. Dr. Abby M. Adams, a tireless supporter of St. Paul’s Church and crusader for many social justice causes, was likely one of these supporters.
Nellie Irene Mann was born May 17, 1860 in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, to Larnard and Jeanette Taylor Mann. She grew up in Racine, where her father was a carpenter and millwright. Nellie graduated from public high school, then taught in the public schools until her marriage to Racine native Julius H. Opdale on August 23, 1883. Rev. Olympia Brown, pastor of the Universalist Church in Racine and renowned advocate for women's rights and suffrage, was the officiating pastor at the wedding.
Nellie’s husband Julius, who had passed the Wisconsin bar, was an up and coming attorney in Eau Claire when he and Nellie met and married. However, records indicate he was a scoundrel and corrupt attorney.
He frequented the saloons of Eau Claire despite the fact that Nellie was active on the local and state level for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the driving force for temperance and prohibition. In 1888 Julius was found guilty of misconduct, and was the first attorney in the history of the state of Wisconsin to be disbarred. Disbarment, however, did not prevent Julius from continuing his antics.
The couple moved to Florida, hoping to improve Julius’ declining heath from tuberculosis. There he became involved in land speculation. With Julius’ health worsening, Nellie gave birth to an infant with severe birth defects in February 1892. As soon as she was able to travel in April, the family boarded a train for Racine. Living with Nellie’s parents, Julius died the following month, leaving Nellie and the baby in significant debt. Then the baby died in October. Fortunately, Nellie’s father Larnard Mann was the executor of Julius' will, and was able to pay off Julius’ debts.
In the space of a few months, Nellie had lost her husband and child. She had to face the incredible scandals of her husband (possibly he was alcoholic to boot) and the stress of his accumulated debts. She was alone, without a job or means of support, and in deepest grief. 1892 was indeed a turning point in Nellie’s life.
Happily, her family, especially her father, was particularly compassionate and supportive. It appears Rev. Olympia Brown was also supportive. In 1893 Nellie Mann Opdale became the state lecturer for the Wisconsin Woman's Suffrage Association, probably at the urging and with the support of Olympia Brown. Imagine traveling the state facing difficult audiences within months of losing a husband and a child. During this time, or possibly during her time in Eau Claire, Nellie Opdale and Dr. Abby Adams could have met through temperance, suffrage, or church meetings.
As a part of her work as state lecturer, Nellie went to Rev. Olympia's business office in Racine to meet with her. On this particular Saturday afternoon, Nellie found Rev. Olympia, who was now running her late husband's publishing business in Racine, confronted with printing press issues. Rev. Olympia had to stay through the weekend to oversee the repairs to the printing press so she insisted Nellie go preach for her the next morning in Mukwonago. Nellie resisted, but Rev. Olympia gave her a book of sermons, told her to pick one out to read to the congregation, and forced her onto the last train heading west.
Nellie quickly decided the book of sermons were too dull and boring to use. She spent the night writing a sermon based on how her Universalist faith had supported and comforted her through the past year of trial and turmoil. The congregation was so impressed they told her she should consider becoming a minister. Rev. Olympia Brown took her in as her protégé, training her in ministry. Nellie was licensed to preach in 1894. This amazingly short apprenticeship may have been an indication of both of the skill of Rev. Olympia Brown and the ease with which Nellie learned the difficult craft of effective ministry.
After Rev. Nellie became the pastor at St. Paul’s Universalist Church in La Crosse in 1898, her tenure as pastor was effective, but the church apparently worked her very hard. There were mentions of weeks in the hospital for an unspecified illness. Meanwhile, her friend and landlord Dr. Abby M. Adams appeared to have a thriving medical practice and large household to keep it going. The 1900 census lists Dr. Abby as head of household, with Rev. Nellie, her father Larnard, and several nurses and servants in the household.
In her pastoral report for 1902, given just before she resigned for health reasons, Rev. Nellie hinted that if certain problems were not addressed in the church, St Paul's would decline. Rev. Nellie accepted a call to a church in Maine within a few weeks of her resignation. The quick move to another church likely indicated that she had already been searching for another church. Likely there was a small negative faction within the church that was making it hard for Rev. Nellie to accomplish anything effectively.
The bond between Dr. Abby and Rev. Nellie was so great that in 1902, Dr. Abby at age 60 gave up her practice and joined her good friend Rev. Nellie Mann Opdale, minister of the Universalist Church, on Nellie’s next call to Orono, Maine, Dr. Abby’s home state. New England was home to many of the suffragists so it seemed like a logical move to be closer to that support base. Mirroring living arrangements in La Crosse, Rev. Nellie became the head of household as a working pastor, while Dr. Abby (17 years her senior, old enough to be a surrogate mother to Rev. Nellie) became the boarder, the person who made the household run, and the co-worker for church and social causes. Rev. Nellie's father Larnard lived with them until his death in 1910. Her ministry took Rev. Nellie and Dr. Abby to Marlboro, Massachusetts, then Newark, NJ, then Chicago by 1920.
Dr. Abby suffered a debilitating stroke about 1918. Subsequent strokes made Rev. Nellie think that she needed to return her friend to La Crosse where their close knit circle of friends could attend to her needs. In September 1921, Rev. Nellie did just that, accepting a call to again be the minister of St. Paul’s Universalist Church.
The duo returned to La Crosse in September 1921. Dr. Abby's health deteriorated quickly with a series of small strokes.
Rev. Nellie discovered that the strong core of Universalists that had resided in La Crosse in 1900 was now absent from St. Paul’s. The state Universalist association was headed by a male chauvinist who belittled her work, treated her with condescension and thinly veiled contempt. Promised funding was erratic and undependable. Added to this was Rev. Nellie’s responsibility and care of her friend and confidante. Unfortunately in 1922, Dr. Abby suffered another debilitating stroke. She was admitted to the La Crosse County Asylum in West Salem (now Lakeview Health Care Center) for care the last two years of her life.
Two years later, Rev. Nellie officiated at her friend’s funeral, making sure she had a ‘proper send off.’ One of Dr. Abby’s most treasured accomplishments was organizing the Associated Charities with a former Universalist pastor and a Catholic cleric. Associated Charities became the Social Service Society.
For two years, Dr. Abby had served as president and physician of the Home for Friendless Women and Children. In 1982, long after Dr. Abby’s death, the successors to the Social Service Society, and the Home for Friendless Women and Children combined to form the Family & Children’s Center, still very active in the La Crosse community today.
Rev. Nellie stayed on at the La Crosse pastorate, celebrating thirty-one years of ministry. She resigned her position suddenly in November 1927 and left for a position in Georgia where she remained the rest of her life. Rev. Nellie's sudden departure was an indication that she knew St. Paul's would not be revitalized, and it was too painful to stay and watch it die. The church structure was sold in 1928, and by 1930 the congregation had indeed disbanded.
Rev. Nellie served as pastor of the Universalist church in Canon, Georgia, and as the editor of the Universalist Herald. She was active on the local school board, serving as its treasurer and supporting increased educational standards for the public schools. Rev. Nellie personally registered all of the women in the county to vote, then escorted them to the polls in case their husbands or fathers attempted to stop them from casting their votes. Although she retired from preaching around 1935, she continued to serve as editor of the Universalist Herald until her death on August 1941. Rev. Nellie was buried at Mound Cemetery in Racine, Wis., alongside her family.
Being the first female minister in La Crosse was clearly a challenge. Rev. Nellie was a strong believer in political rights for women, and an inspired organizer. But while she may have had supporters in La Crosse, she struggled her entire life against powerful conservative forces that did not appreciate seeing a woman in the ministry, or the editor’s chair, or at the election polls. Looking back at her life, one sees a woman of determination, persistence, and faith in the truth of her cause, a woman doing her best and succeeding where she was not expected to.
