Rev. Emma Pow Bauder (born Emma Smith; March 11, 1848 – July 23, 1932) was an American preacher, missionary, activist, and writer. She joined the Church of the United Brethren in Christ in Michigan in 1879. Shortly after, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she worked with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), which was one of the largest groups for women in the United States during the Gilded Age.

Early life

Emma Pow Smith was born in North Adams, Michigan, on March 11, 1848. She had ancestors who were all from the United States. Her father, John Henry Smith, M.D., (1814–1895), was born and raised in Royalton, New York. He lived with his parents there until he became an adult. At the age of 24, he married Altha Mariah (née Brooks) (1820–1890), who also had ancestors from the United States. In 1843, the couple moved from New York State to a farm in the thick forests of Michigan, where their daughter Emma was born. She was the seventh child in a family of twelve. Emma’s siblings were George (born 1835), Eliza (born 1842), Mary (born 1843), Harriett (born 1845), Alonzo (born 1846), Francis (born 1846), Viola (born 1851), Ella (born 1853), Byron (born 1856), Myron (born 1856), and Carrie (born 1863). As a child, Emma was unusual and often preferred to be alone. Even as a young girl, she showed a deep respect for God in nature.

Career

Smith Bauder was connected to the United Brethren during her religious work. She became a Christian in June 1879 and was allowed to preach shortly after in Doris, Michigan. She closed her dressmaking business and moved from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to California, where she worked for five years as a gospel missionary in San Francisco. Her missionary office was in the Barbary Coast district of the city, at the Silver Star House, located at the corner of Pacific and Sansome streets. For seven years, she led the Oakland Mission Church of the United Brethren. In 1901, she was named Conference Missionary for the United Brethren's California Conference.

In 1887, she was officially allowed to begin her work under the support of the WCTU. A young women's WCTU group existed in Reno, Nevada, another in Carson City, and a third in Elko. The children's Band of Hope was combined with the Loyal Temperance Legion, and many groups included this work in their reports. The most detailed report about this effort was provided by Smith Bauder in 1888. She gave 100 speeches, added 300 members to the WCTU, and organized 200 boys and girls into Loyal Temperance Legions. In May 1888, she was the first speaker at the Nebraska WCTU's annual meeting. She returned in June, August, and October of that year as a guest lecturer in several cities for the WCTU. She was also invited by the WCTU to speak in Texas. At the Sixth Annual Convention of the WCTU of Contra Costa County in Antioch, California, in 1890, Smith Bauder stepped down from her role as County Superintendent of Young Women's Work. In 1892, at the Thirteenth Annual Convention of the WCTU of California, her title changed from State Organizer to State Evangelist. That year, her temperance work took her to Lake, Humboldt, Mendocino, and Shasta counties.

Smith Bauder wrote several books and poems, including Chrysolyte. Other works were Jets of Truth, or, Revolutionary Spokes in the Wheel of Progress, a book about truth, temperance, and reform, and For God, and Home, and Native Land. She also wrote Ruth and Marie: A Fascinating Story of the Nineteenth Century, Anarchy; Its Cause and Cure, and The Inhabitants of Two Worlds.

In 1910, Smith Bauder served as Chaplain, a national officer position, in the Woman's Prohibition Club of America.

Personal life

Smith Bauder married twice. In April 1867, she married a man who was an alcoholic. After seven years of unhappiness, she divorced him and took back her maiden name. On December 14, 1893, in Sacramento, California, she married Thomas Jefferson Bauder (1839–1911). At that time, Thomas lived in Fresno, California, while she lived in Pacific Grove, California. Rev. T. J. Bauder was the pastor of the United Brethren Church in Sacramento before becoming the presiding elder of the United Brethren California Conference.

For 32 years, Rev. Emma Pow Smith Bauder lived in Oakland, California. She died there on July 23, 1932.