Bettie and Her Family: Eulalia Hamilton Hartley, 1882-1957

The exhibit "Bettie and Her Family: Four Generations of Thetas," highlights the lives of Bettie Locke Hamilton; her daughters, Edna and Eulalia; her granddaughter, Genevieve Hartley Cones, and her great-granddaughter, Carole Cones Bradfield. Over the next few months, I’ll share in this blog the story of Bettie's descendants, their connections to Theta, and their lives as leading women.

Eulalia Hamilton was born in 1882 in Jerseyville, Illinois. Along with her sister, Edna, she spent her childhood in Independence, Kansas, and Greencastle, Indiana. She attended the DePauw Academy, the equivalent of today's high school, before entering DePauw as a college student in 1900. She was initiated at Alpha Chapter in the spring of 1901.

Eulalia followed in mother’s footsteps by becoming a teacher; her first assignment was to schools in Hamilton County, Indiana. She married Frank Hartley, an educator and school administrator, in 1910. Eulalia had two children, Myron and Genevieve. She returned to the classroom for several years, teaching in Cicero, Indiana. She also went back to school herself, taking classes at Indiana University and Indiana State University.

For most of her adult life, Eulalia lived in Arcadia, Indiana, and participated in many organizations. She was active in the Arcadia Study Club and the Indiana Federation of Women's Clubs. She served as president of the Arcadia Parent Teacher Organization, worked with her church’s missionary society, and was active with the local chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Eulalia also volunteered with the Arcadia Riley Cheer Guild, a local support group for Riley Children’s Hospital of Indianapolis. Along with her sister, she attended the 1940 Grand Convention and maintained contact with Theta over the years. Eulalia passed away in 1957.