William JenningsDemorest , from New York City, was an American magazine publisher, national prohibition leader, and, in collaboration with his second wife, Ellen Demorest, née Curtis, attained international success from his wife's development of paper patterns for sewing fashion apparel of the day. Together, they built a fashion manufacturing and merchandising empire from it. He and his wife launched five magazines and started a cosmetics company. He individually patented a sewing machine and a velocipede. Demorest harbored lifelong political and religious aspirations. He is widely known for being a Prohibition activist and ran for Mayor of New York City on the Prohibition ticket. He also organized the Anti-Nuisance League.
Town named for Demorest
In 1889, a group of people from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Indiana moved to Georgia to found a community which would have high moral standards. They decided that anyone who permitted drinking alcoholic beverages, gambling, or prostitution would forfeit their property.Demorest formed the Demorest Home, Mining, and Improvement Company to make that dream a reality. On November 13, 1889, the town was incorporated and named "Demorest" in honor of the great Prohibition leader.
Magazines
1860: Mme Demorest's Mirror of Fashions was first published as a quarterly
In 1845, Demorest married Margaret Willamina Poole, daughter of Joseph and Jeannette Poole. While living on Varick Street, they had two children: Vienna Willamina Demorest and Henry Clay Demorest.
On April 15, 1858, Demorest married Ellen Louise Curtis — a US fashion arbiter. She was a successful milliner who invented mass-produced tissue-paper dressmaking patterns. With her husband, she established a company to sell the patterns, which were adaptations of the latest French fashions, and a magazine to promote them. She was born in Schuylerville, New York. Her dressmaking patterns made French styles accessible to ordinary women, thus greatly influencing US fashion.
