Bettie Locke Hamilton

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The Leader

Born in New Albany, Ind., on October 19, 1850, Bettie spent her early years moving around the Midwest. Her father, Dr. John Locke, was president of Brookville College in Brookville, Ind., at the time of her birth. He later became president of Baker University in Baldwin, Kan., and then returned to Greencastle, Ind., and Indiana Asbury College (later to be called DePauw University) to assume a mathematics professorship. Bettie's grandmother was also an educator, establishing one of the first girls’ schools in the Terre Haute, Ind., area in the 1830s.

Indiana Asbury admitted female students for the first time in the fall of 1867, and Bettie was among the first five women to enter the college. Their presence was not without some controversy. The local paper wrote editorials questioning the advisability of women in higher education, and a contingent of male students protested their admittance. A member of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity asked Bettie to wear his badge, not as a mark of engagement but to show her support of the group. (Her brother was a Phi Gamma Delta.) She said that only if she could be a fully initiated member would she wear it. The Phi Gams declined, and upon the suggestion of her father, she created a fraternity of her own.

Bettie graduated from Indiana Asbury in 1871, and considered studying medicine. Instead, she became a teacher at the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, now known as the Lincoln Developmental Center. In 1876, she married Edward A. Hamilton, a graduate of Lawrence University, and lived in Jerseyville, Ill., where he was in business. They moved to Greencastle in the 1890s in time for their daughters, Edna and Eulalia (later members of Alpha/DePauw), to attend the university. When Edna was initiated, Bettie also went through initiation, as she had initiated herself at the founding of the fraternity.

Bettie became a fixture in Greencastle and on the DePauw campus, visiting Alpha Chapter on a regular basis. She attended the 1899, 1907, 1924, and 1932 Grand Conventions. Prior to the 1932 Convention, held in Estes Park, Colo., she spent a week at the Beta Iota/Colorado chapter house. Another trip took her to the east coast, where she had been invited to a Founders Day celebration; the weekend trip extended to three weeks, and she visited chapters in New York and saw the boardwalk in Atlantic City.

When she died on September 21, 1939, she was DePauw’s oldest living graduate. She is buried in Greencastle.

A Look Through Bettie Locke's Life

  1. 10/19/1850
  2. 1860
  3. 09/11/1867
  4. 01/22/1869
  5. 1870
  6. 01/27/1870
  7. 03/14/1870
  8. 11/10/1870
  9. 06/26/1871
  10. 1871
  11. 09/14/1876
  12. 02/01/1879
  13. 03/17/1882
  14. 10/10/1884
  15. 1886
  16. 11/25/1887
  17. 06/04/1892
  18. 07/25/1893
  19. 11/13/1893
  20. 08/30/1899
  21. 07/02/1907
  22. 1910
  23. 10/31/1919
  24. 01/16/1920
  25. 1924
  26. 06/27/1924
  27. 01/27/1930
  28. 06/26/1932
  29. 1938
  30. 03/12/1938
  31. 09/21/1939
  32. 06/30/1940
  33. 1970
  34. 2019
  1. October 19
    1850

    Elizabeth “Bettie” McReynolds Locke is born in New Albany, Indiana. She is pictured at age 3.

    Bettie as a baby
  2. 1860

    Bettie lives with her family in Brookville, Indiana, where her father is the president of Brookville College. Pictured are Bettie and her brother.

    Bettie and her brother
  3. September 11
    1867

    Bettie, along with four other women, enters Indiana Asbury University. These women are the first to be admitted to Indiana Asbury.

    Our Four Founders
  4. January 22
    1869

    Indiana Asbury requires upperclassmen to make a public recitation at the end of each term. Bettie presents her paper, “The Fate of the Girondists.” (A political group during the French Revolution.)

    Junior Class Document
  5. 1870

    Bettie lives in Birch Cottage in Greencastle, Indiana, along with her family.

    Old Photo of Home
  6. January 27
    1870

    Bettie, Alice Allen, Bettie Tipton, and Hannah Fitch, found Kappa Alpha Theta.

    Photos of Family
  7. March 14
    1870

    Bettie, Alice, Bettie, and Hannah wear their badges for the first time to chapel.

    Photo of Church
  8. November 10
    1870

    Elizabeth Cady Stanton, leader of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement, lectures in Greencastle, sponsored by the Young Ladies Literary Society, of which Bettie is a member.

    Document Transcription
  9. June 26
    1871

    Bettie graduates from Indiana Asbury.

    Photos of People
  10. 1871

    Bettie teaches at the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf in Jacksonville, Illinois from 1871-1875.

  11. September 14
    1876

    Bettie marries Edward A. Hamilton in Jerseyville, Illinois. He owns a specialty grocery store.

    Man with Mustache
  12. February 01
    1879

    Bettie’s daughter, Edna, is born. Edna is later initiated at the Alpha Chapter at DePauw.

    Photo of Edna
  13. March 17
    1882

    Bettie’s daughter, Eulalia, is born. Eulalia, too, is later initiated at the Alpha Chapter at DePauw.

    Eulalia as a child
  14. October 10
    1884

    Edward buys a grocery store in Independence, Kansas, and moves the family to their new home.

    Home Photo
  15. 1886

    Bettie becomes fully involved in the community, participating in the Ladies’ Benevolent Society, serving as secretary for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and being active in other local organizations.

    Document from 1886
  16. November 25
    1887

    Bettie and her husband host a Thanksgiving dinner to all outsiders who “… so cheerily complied to the committee’s invitation in the last two entertainments of the M.E. Church.”

    Photo of Bird
  17. June 04
    1892

    Bettie and her family move to Greencastle, Indiana, where Edward buys a specialty grocery store on the southwest corner of the courthouse square.

  18. July 25
    1893

    Bettie attends Grand Convention in Chicago, Illinois, held in concurrence with the Chicago World’s Fair, as a delegate of the Greencastle Alumnae Chapter. Ninety-seven Thetas—representing 21 chapters—are in attendance.

    Grand Convention Poster
  19. November 13
    1893

    Bettie entertains the Alpha Chapter members at her home.

  20. August 30
    1899

    Bettie, along with Hannah Fitch Shaw, attends Grand Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. Twenty-five chapters are represented.

    Grand Convention in Indianapolis
  21. July 02
    1907

    Bettie, along with her daughters, attends Grand Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

    Bettie with Daughters
  22. 1910

    The U.S. Census lists Bettie and her family living in Greencastle, Indiana.

    Home in Greencastle Indiana
  23. October 31
    1919

    A newspaper story reports on the surprise birthday party that the Alpha Chapter held for Bettie at her home.

    Newspaper Story
  24. January 16
    1920

    Bettie, along with Hannah Fitch Shaw, attends the 50th Anniversary Founders Day luncheon at the Claypool Hotel in Indianapolis. The Fraternity presents Bettie and Hannah with special pins for the occasion.

    Founders Day luncheon
  25. 1924

    The Bettie Locke Hamilton Fellowship is awarded to Elizabeth Brownell Collier, Lambda/Vermont. Collier from Vermont to Vassar where she received her B.A.; she earned her MA from Columbia, and studied at Oxford. During World War I, she drove ambulances in Italy and worked in war camp community service. After the war, she organized the Brooklyn, New York Women’s League of Voters and taught at Hunter’s College. Her fellowship will fund her further research into the League of Nations (now the United Nations).

    Elizabeth Brownell Collier Headshot
  26. June 27
    1924

    Bettie attends the Grand Convention in West Baden, Indiana. Almost 500 Thetas attend, representing 55 chapters.

  27. January 27
    1930

    Bettie, sponsored by several alumnae chapters, visits Philadelphia for Founders Day. She also visits New York City, Atlantic City, and Alpha Beta at Swarthmore.

    Philadelphia for Founders Day
  28. June 26
    1932

    Bettie attends Grand Convention in Estes Park, Colorado. After Convention, she stays at the Beta Gamma/Colorado Chapter to recuperate and meets Thetas living in the house for the summer.

    Bettie at Grand Convention
  29. 1938

    Bettie is recognized as the oldest living alumna of DePauw University.

    Oldest Living Graduate Award
  30. March 12
    1938

    Bettie attends initiation ceremonies at the Alpha Chapter house which include her granddaughter, Genevieve Hartley.

    Initiation Banquet
  31. September 21
    1939

    Bettie Locke Hamilton passes away in Greencastle, Indiana.

    Bettie Tombstone
  32. June 30
    1940

    Bettie’s portrait, which now hangs at Theta headquarters in Indianapolis, is unveiled at the Grand Convention on Mackinac Island, Michigan with her daughters Enda and Eulalia in attendance. Virginia Cuthbert, Chi/Syracuse, a regionally known artist, paints Bettie’s portrait from photographs and her daughter’s input. It is hung at Alpha Chapter at DePauw.

    Bettie's Portrait
  33. 1970

    The first Bettie Locke Founders Memorial Scholarship is awarded to Rene Anderson, Gamma Nu/North Dakota State.

    Rene Anderson Headshot
  34. 2019

    Theta celebrates the Year of Leadership, recognizing Bettie’s leadership in founding Kappa Alpha Theta.

    Bettie Button

A message from Bettie Locke Hamilton’s great-granddaughter:

“I think Thetas should keep in mind what these women had to do and what they had to go through to do it.”

Carole Cones-Bradfield
Alpha/DePauw

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