Her mother, Emeline L. (nee Chapman) (1817-1839), died while she was an infant, and the daughter was reared by the father, William Sergeant.

[5] Her first regular instruction was in the district school at Sodus, where, under the guidance of Lewis H. Clark, an ambitious student and teacher, she received a strong impulse to study.

Her school education was completed at Genesee College, in Lima, New York, where she met B. C. Rude, whom she afterward married.

She made her first public address in the State lodge of Good Templars in Rochester, New York and was immediately placed on the board of managers of that order.

[1] At the 1869 Board meeting of the IOGT, State of New York, Rude was elected as an officer alongside her sister, Mrs. M. B. Dickinson (who subsequently became Mrs. M. B.

At the convention called in Syracuse, New York, October 14, 1874, where the state organization was effected, Allegany County was represented by Mrs. Rude of Wellsville, New York, her name appearing as chair of a committee to draft a memorial to President Grant and Governor John Adams Dix.

At a temperance convention held in the old academy at Friendship, July 1879, Rude asked all women who were interested to meet her at a stated time in one of the recitation rooms; 25 or 30 responded.

[1] Encouraged by her success, and cordially seconded by her indulgent husband, there seemed nothing to hinder her from doing more work on behalf of the temperance movement, but returning home one night to find her only child lying dangerously ill, she canceled all engagements, and abandoned public speaking, although repeatedly urged to again enter the field.

[2] For a few years, she lived in St. Augustine, Florida, during which time she published a volume of poems entitled Magnolia Leaves (Buffalo, 1890).