Ella Hamilton Durley (Mrs. Preston B.) President 1891-92

Ella Hamilton Durley was a charter member of the club and president from 1891-92. She was also president of the Iowa Federation of Women’s Clubs.  Durley was a journalist who wrote for the Des Moines weekly publication, Saturday Mail.  She wrote under the pen name “Judith Jorgensen” for The Des Moines Daily News which she owned jointly with her husband and her brother, John J. Hamilton.  She wrote a column of stories about real life called “Around the Evening Lamp.”

In addition, she was editor of The News Junior and became the literary guide and mentor for the children of Iowa.  She became editor of several other periodicals and became one of the most successful newspaper women in the country.  Her son was born the year before she became club president.

She wrote two novels: My Soldier Lady and The Standpatters and was also a public speaker and lecturer.  She was responsible for the first loan of fine are for an exhibition in Des Moines.

In 1896 she was widowed and in 1911 she moved with her son to Los Angeles. Her son died in 1919 and she died August 14, 1922.

Durley was a suffragist, a peace activist, the founder of the Des Moines Home for the Aged, president of the Women’s Press Club and she organized central Iowa in the work of sending a shipload of Iowa corn to the Russian famine sufferers.