HELD AN I. O. O. F. DEGREE.
Only Woman to Achieve This Honor,
Mrs. S. M. Hanna, Is Dead.
Mrs. Sarah Miles Hanna, 82 years of age, the oldest member of the Daughters of Rebekah, and the only woman upon whom the degree of chivalry was ever conferred by the I. O. O. F., was stricken with paralysis at noon Monday and died early yesterday morning at her home, 1808 East Eleventh street.
She was the wife of the late Philip K. Hanna, for years United States representative from the Forty-eight district of Illinois, w3as a cousin of General Nelson A. Miles, and cousin by marriage of General Philip C. Hanna, present consul general to the republic of Mexico. Her father, Solomon Stoddard Miles, was educated in Athens, Greece, and for years was president of the Presbyterian college at Zanesville, O.
The elevation of Mrs. Hanna to an Odd Fellow degree higher than any other woman ever attained occurred in January, 1903, when the sovereign grand lodge of the world met at Des Moines, Ia. To the state lodge of Kansas fell the honor of escorting Mrs. Hanna to Des Moines, as she had been for twenty years the grand chaplain of the state of Kansas. An official from London, England, conferred the honor. A special jeweled emblem in gold and enamel, embracing a heart and crown set in diamonds, was given her at the time.
Fifty-two years ago last month, in Rock Island, Ill,. Mrs. Hanna took the Rebekah degree, though she was a regularly constituted member of the order long before that. Schuyler Colfax, who was an intimate friend of her husband, and who originated the order, gave her at that time a three-link ring, which she wore until her death. It had long since become so thin that it had to be reinforced.
Having grown up with the Odd Fellows, Mrs. Hanna, commencing half a century ago, had been called upon to organize and reconstruct assemblies in every part of the Union, and the names of the lodges for which she has stood sponsor would, it is said, fill a good sized directory.
When she was raised to the dignity of worthy chaplain that was thought to be an innovation. But this was quite of minor importance compared with her elevation to the degree of chivalry. As no other member of her sex may hope to attain this, her career in the mystic order of Odd Fellows is considered most remarkable.
Mrs. Hanna's only surviving relative in Kansas city is her daughter, Miss Nina J. Hanna, with whom she lived, and two children in Moline, Ill., by a former marriage. They are J. C. Fielder and Mrs. Dr. J. H. Sale. The burial will be in Peabody, Kas., beside her late husband and two sons. While living at one of their ranches in the vicinity of Peabody years ago, the family selected a burial plot there.
The time of the burial has not been arranged, as there is a request that the body be allowed to lie in state in the rooms of the Wyandotte lodge, No. 6, to which she belonged. This will probably be arranged and later a special car will convey the body to Topeka, where for a day, in the quarters of the state lodge, it will also lie in state, before being taken to Peabody.
Mrs. Hanna's birthplace was Newark, O. She was born in 1825. She came to Kansas City first twenty years ago and had lived here almost continuously since.
