Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard (1839-1898) was a prominent American temperance crusader and women's suffrage leader.

Frances Willard was born on Sept. 28, 1839, in Churchville, N.Y. Her idealistic parents moved to Oberlin, Ohio, in 1841, where both attended college. In 1846 they moved to Janesville, Wis. Frances (or "Frank," as she was called), her elder brother, and younger sister lived vigorous youths, despite the intense moral tone at home. At the age of 18 Frances informed her father that she would thenceforward determine right and wrong for herself. Her views, however, were a modernization of, rather than a deviation from, her parents'.

In 1857 Miss Willard attended Milwaukee Female College, moving the next year to Northwestern Female College. She was class valedictorian. In 1860 she began teaching and three years later taught science at Northwestern. She taught successively at Pittsburgh Female College and Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in New York. She also wrote essays. Her...