Etta Semple Biography

Etta Semple (née Martha Etta Kilmer September 21, 1854 - April 11, 1914) was an American atheist and feminist activist, editor, publisher and community leader in Ottawa, Kansas. She was the president of the Kansas Freethought Association and in later life, founded a "Natural Cure" sanitorium, for 31 patients. Semple was part of a group of people in Kansas who actively fought the intrusion of religion into United States government, when prominent religious leaders of the time were "pushing to amend the US Constitution and declare America a Christian nation."