HISTORY
LCBA was founded as the Ladies Catholic Benevolent
Association by a group of courageous Catholic women in
Titusville, Pennsylvania. These women not only saw the need to
provide financial protection for women, they were among the very
first to act on that need. The original founders of LCBA were:
Kate Woods, Union City, Pa.; Frances M. Mayer, Duke Center, Pa.;
Margaret Seep, Titusville, Pa.; Hannah Shields, Corry, Pa.; Mary
A. Gainey, Erie, Pa.; Nellie Frances Murray, Erie, Pa. and
Regina Graff, Erie, Pa. The Ladies Catholic Benevolent
Association, is the first insurance society (and the 2nd
formally incorporated) owned and operated by women and solely
for the benefit of women, and in the case of LCBA, specifically
for Practical Roman Catholic women.
Once incorporated, the women of LCBA took to churches
throughout the land proclaiming the benefits of LCBA. LCBA was
one of the initial women’s rights movements. LCBA women were
speaking about LCBA from Roman Catholic pulpits in the late
1800’s. By 1910, in just 20 years, without the internet or even
telephone in many areas, the membership had grown to over
117,000!
Over the past one and a quarter centuries, the organization
those women started and built has helped hundreds of thousands
of member families carry on through perhaps the most difficult
times families can have, surviving and recovering from the loss
of a beloved family member. Not only did they create a
successful platform for providing this help, they also expanded
it to create a force for good in many communities. Today, LCBA
remains rooted in Erie, Pennsylvania, just down the road from
its original home, while serving over 33,000 Christians in 35
states and the District of Columbia.