Martha White McWhirter
And the Texas Woman’s Commonwealth
1827 – 1904

Suppose you were a woman in the late 19th century living in the small town of Belton, Texas and you wanted to assist those around you. You might do this through your local church, or possibly through secular groups such as those advocating women voting, or the cause of temperance. However, if you agreed with Martha McWhirter you might join her and her group, the Sisters of Sanctification also known as the Woman’s Commonwealth. According to one source this was “a commune based on the doctrines of religious perfectionism, celibacy and Wesleyan sanctificationism.”

Born in 1827 the daughter of a Tennessee farmer, Martha White joined the Methodist church as a teenager, and then later married George McWhirter. They moved to Texas in 1856, settling in Belton in 1865 and would have six children.

At the time many Belton residents, including the McWirters, belonged to the Union Sunday School which served as a sort of non-sectarian religious community before denominational churches were set up. However, though a local Methodist church was established in Belton in 1870 Martha and her husband George remained in the Unity group. There was later speculation that Martha disagreed with the Methodist denomination, but also because she believed she’d had a deep spiritual revelation, that directed her life in a new direction.

Mrs. McWhirter related later that after several family deaths in 1866, she believed that God was disciplining her. Then claimed that the Lord directly communicated with her, and she began the process of sanctification as she saw it.

In the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition, this is considered a spiritual process where after salvation a believer becomes more and more like Christ, in thought and conduct. Whatever it meant to Martha, she wanted to share her personal discovery about the process with friends, and to also urge them to seek revelations from God just as she had. Though interested in spiritual revelation, a few members of the group had more pressing concerns, and that was dealing with drunken and/or abusive husbands.

Sadly, at that time in the U.S. at large as well as sometimes in Belton ,women lacked many legal rights so they were often helpless victims if their spouse was irresponsible. Actually, some of the women in Mrs. McWhirter’s group may well have had to literally beg for money from their spouse, to feed the family or they knew of another woman who had. As time passed the group became known as the Sanctificationist Sisters. They began to work to gain religious, personal and also financial independence, and they began by establishing a fund to assist each other. In fact, the first contribution came from an unmarried teacher—$20.

Besides pooling their own money the group increased the fund by selling dairy products, eggs, and also by members doing laundry for their neighbors. Some worked as home nurses or cleaners. Another way they fulfilled their purposes was eventually they were able to provide housing for themselves and others.

This came about partly because their desire for religious separation from the outside world inspired them to seek secure living space away from what they believed was the secular. It was also because their new belief system sometimes caused family breakups as wives sought security.

One effect of this came from Mrs. McWhirter’s policy that authorized sanctified wives to live apart from the non-devout. This was interpreted as saying that a sanctified wife with an unsanctified husband could remain in their home to do the housework and child care but with no unnecessary contact with the husband.

Occasionally, as some of these husbands objected to their wives’ new attitudes, the wife might leave him— and gradually this began to be an issue. Some of these fearful wives found refuge in the McWhirter home and eventually there were so many that George McWhirter moved out and began living above his downtown store. He died in 1887.

So with the occasional family breakup and wives needing shelter, what happened was that gradually the Sisters began to live communally in homes they either owned or acquired from their members. Then in 1886 the group purchased a hotel as well as other boarding houses. By 1891 there was established the Central Hotel Company, and they also acquired city property and several farms. Their hotel became locally popular especially for its tasty food and it included a steam laundry that served the community as well as the hotel.

By the 1880s the Woman’s Commonwealth was a Belton fixture, but there remained some community resentment—partly because some blamed the group for local martial separations. However, there were some who sought membership but had difficulty with it. Two Scottish men wanted to join for religious reasons but instead locals seem to have abducted them, and after a whipping they were ordered to leave town. Apparently at one point they were even placed in a state asylum. As a possible result, no more men sought to join.

Actually, there was one advantage to the Sisters’ business ventures. They had developed a book collection housed in a room in their hotel and after it became popular the collection was transferred to a new venue to become in 1903 the Belton Public Library.

Though in principle the women were equal in authority, Mrs. McWhirter exerted the most influence.

As to the McWhirters’ separation, local accounts said it differently. They called George “…a man of substance and sound judgment, who had never lost faith in his wife’s integrity although he disapproved of her Sanctificationst activities.” At his death he left Martha half of his estate as well as the position of executrix. This and the group’s continued successful operation of local hotels then began to turn public attitudes to Martha and her group.

By 1899 the group moved their organization to Washington D.C. to be able to take advantage of the larger city’s cultural activities. By using their savings (about $200,000) they purchased a house in Mount Pleasant, Maryland. Once in the capital they incorporated in 1902 as the Woman’s Commonwealth of Washington. After this they had more of a presence in the national media thand at meant more publicity about their development and operation.

Martha died in 1904 and the Commonwealth continued until 1983 when the last member passed away.

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Anne Adams is a retired church staffer. She lives in East Texas and has an historical column for a local newspaper. She has published in Christian and secular publications for more than 40 years.

References:
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Women in Early Texas Edited by Evelyn M. Carrington; Martha White McWhirter by Eleanor James (Researcher Bell County Historical Society) – Texas State Historical Association, Austin, 1994
Texas State Historical Association